Released: February 17, 2003

Community Leadership Day Highlights Kansas Communities

MANHATTAN, Kan. – More than 20 Kansas communities and hundreds of citizens who have received leadership training will be recognized during the first-ever ‘Community Leadership Day’, March 28 at Kansas State University.

Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at K-State, said the event will honor community leadership programs and provide additional leadership training.

Since 1998, Huck Boyd officials have awarded mini-grants – typically $200 – to help communities establish local leadership training programs. Wilson said the Huck Boyd National Institute hoped the money would help communities provide leadership training to 500 Kansans in five years: "That goal has been accomplished beyond belief," he said.

Registration for the Community Leadership Day begins at 9 a.m. in the K-State Student Union and the program will end by 3 p.m. The event is open to all interested persons.

The program includes:

* Small group discussions on new ideas in leadership;

* Talks by Terry Woodbury, the president of the United Way of Wyandotte County; and K-State student Leslie Small (a recent recipient of the prestigious Truman Scholarship) on her ideas for leadership in the future;

* An interactive activity by Pat Fultz, a Kansas 4-H and Youth state specialist;

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback also has been invited to talk on why community leadership matters.

The cost to attend is $18 for adults, $10 for youth and college students. The registration fee includes lunch, refreshments, materials and training.

In addition to the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development, the event is sponsored by the Kansas Leadership Forum, K-State LEADS team, Kansas PRIDE, Kansas Association of Counties, and the League of Kansas Municipalities.

The event also is supported by a ‘Good to Great’ grant award from the Self-Help Network and the University of Kansas Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development.

For more information on Community Leadership Day, interested persons can call Wilson at 785-532-7690; send email to rwilson@oznet.ksu.edu; or visit the Website at www.oznet.ksu.edu/huckboyd/.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Pat Melgares, News Coordinator
pmelgare@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News