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Leadership Columbiana looks to inspire new class members
A man who took the program said it opened his eyes.
LISBON — Leadership Columbiana County is poised to take off.
The program that began in the county in 2002 is both looking for new class members and helping to change the county for the better.
Jessica Borza, the chief operating officer for the One Stop job programs in Columbiana and Mahoning County, is a board member of LCC. She is looking for new members for a class to begin Sept. 15 that could accommodate about five more people.
Under the nine-month program, a worker will take part in monthly sessions that may include meeting with officials, touring the federal prison in Elkton and taking part in team-building exercises. About 75 people have been through the program so far.
Each class picks a project at the end of its session. The latest class may do a theatrical program to benefit the Drug Abuse Resistance Program, Borza said.
But what is more important is what the graduates of the program do after they complete the LCC.
Graduates don’t work as a group, like a social service organization. The graduates do go out and get involved in the community.
As the program has grown, Borza said alumni of the program “have been taking it to the next level.”
People who have participated in the program come from all points of the large county.
“The reality is that we need to be thinking regionally,” Borza said.
The county has long been divided between the north and south. That has been changing with other organizations as well, such as the cooperative effort by chambers of commerce in the county that created a joint Web site to attract businesses and residents if the proposed $5 billion Baard Energy coal-to-liquid fuel plant becomes a reality.
The LCC program costs $1,000 per person, which is typically paid by an employer. Financial help was available for some participants.
The program changes people, Borza said.
For example, if the participants are taking team-building programs, and someone doesn’t want to take part, there can be discussion on what that can mean, Borza said.
David Hughes of Salem, the owner of Specialty Fab Inc. in North Lima, said the program changed him. He took the program in 2006. He said the LCC, “opened my eyes to other businesses in the county” instead of just the steel industry.
Hughes said he sent one worker to the LCC program last year and will send another this year.
“It makes you a little more conscious of what you have and what others don’t have,” he said.
Hughes added that the LCC “leads to cooperation, and to get something accomplished.”
wilkinson@vindy.com