Leadership Lafayette is an eight-month leadership program offered by the LOU Chamber of Commerce that provides business, non-profit, educators, community, and University leaders with a deeper understanding of our community. Through monthly meetings, workshops, and projects, the class members learn about the economic, government, educational, healthcare, and community elements that shape the LOU.
The class is divided up into teams with each group selecting a project which can be accomplished by August of each year. This may range from helping a non-profit build support for a new project, organizing capacity-building resources, fostering collaboration on a mutual goal, or addressing an emerging need in the community.
Past projects have included helping launch the Yokna Sculpture Trail, highway welcome signs for Lafayette County, assisted LOFT in creating the Night for Nonprofits event to name a few.
Leadership Lafayette is accepting project ideas from the community for the class to consider for 2024. The project may be to help evaluate and energize an existing program, help launch a new project, or aid in finding resources to help the organization be more effective in their mission.
Any project submitted should be able to be completed no later than the end of August (approximately 6 months from start to finish). Each team will be provided with a list of proposed projects at the February meeting. Teams will then have the opportunity to reach out to possible community partners to evaluate
and adopt the project.
All that is required for consideration is a summary of your project outlining your needs and goals
What is Leadership Lafayette? It is an eight-month program, running annually from January through August, that features a series of monthly training sessions and activities, designed for establishing active and engaged community leaders. The Leadership Lafayette program introduces participants to a wide variety of assets within our Lafayette County area, exposes them to current community needs, and strategic leadership skills training. The class will meet for an all day session once a month, typically the first Thursday of the month, from 8am-5pm. In addition to the monthly sessions, class members participate in a community based team project that aims to solve a current community problem and leaves a lasting impact on the LOU community.
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