Soon Leadership Fort Wayne will be celebrate thirty years of community leadership development with the start of the 2012/2013 program year. As we approach this significant milestone we are energized and excited to share with our alumni, friends and stakeholders that we will be leaving the nest, so to speak, in the next few weeks for a central downtown location.

Now before any rumors or conclusions are drawn, we want to say that we are indeed continuing our long-standing collaboration with IPFW. We are very grateful to have the past and continued support of Chancellor Wartell and IPFW, and we will continue to deliver on our mission to train, prepare and inspire individuals to positively impact our communities through civic engagement.

This significant step is being taken to bring greater awareness to the importance of community leadership and civic engagement and to open up opportunities for diversifying our programs, and opportunities for expanding collaborations and partnerships.

Leadership Fort Wayne is focused on improving existing programs, and has developed specific measurable metrics, newly created programs include, the Regional Leadership Experience and the Best Practices Neighborhood Initiative and the Northeast Indiana Connector’s Project.   We continue to work hard to create a sustainable organizational model that includes ways to engage LFW alumni in programs and activities for the benefit of the greater community.

On behalf of the board and staff, we want to thank all of our alumni for their community service and support. We wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous Holiday Season and New Year.  Watch for more news about our new location in the next few weeks!

Warm Holiday Wishes,

Cheri, Ellen, Becky , Anne and Jamie

October 13-15, 2011, thirty-six business, community, local economic development professionals and elected officials embarked on a community visit to learn about the success of the Denver Metro Economic Development Corp. Denver has been recognized nationally and internationally for its success in creating, supporting and sustaining a regional economic development vision that results in marketing the region first and individual communities second. The lessons of the Denver experience provided insights to the importance of an educated and skilled workforce, a comprehensive transportation plan, and the fierce resolve of humble and committed community leaders.

• The ideas gleaned as a result of the Denver Regional Leadership Experience are already being felt: Mayor Hickman of Angola and Mayor McDonald of New Haven are leading an effort to create a Mayor’s Caucus similar to the Metro Denver Mayor’s Caucus to bring leaders together as a means of working together to address regional issues and challenges.
• Local Economic Developers have agreed to a Code of Ethics which will support promoting the Northeast Indiana region first and individual communities second in an effort to attract new and expanding companies.

Attendees of the Regional leadership Experience will continue to meet to discuss and identify strategies and opportunities to create greater collaboration, cooperation and communication throughout the region.

Denver was the fourth community/regional visit and promises to be just as impactful as the previous visits.

In 2007, twenty-five community leaders visited Chattanooga, Tennessee. Once dubbed the dirtiest city in America, Chattanooga has successfully created a downtown that includes a baseball stadium, an aquarium and a revitalized riverfront.  We learned the importance of joining spaces and places to previous developments through trails and transportations services and the importance of non-governmental champions to bring projects to fruition.

Today, Fort Wayne has a new sense of community connectivity through our local and regional trails system, improved gateways and champions that have supported a 75% increase in community gardens, a continued determination to improve our waterways and rivers and a spirit of participation for the planning process through public forums, workshops and town hall type meetings.

In 2006, thirty-one individuals headed to Providence, Rhode Island to understand how the once declining city fought back from a declining manufacturing base that started in the 1920’s, flooding and the effects of the depression in the ‘30’s, followed by suburban flight and the construction of highway and transportation infrastructure system in the ‘50’s that literally paved over the community’s rivers and swallowed the community’s core. From Providence we heard (and we knew) that the rivers provided a unifying element that the whole community and region could rally around.  IPFW’s RiverFest and the grassroots efforts of Friends of the Rivers bears witness to the importance of our own waterways and continues to be recognized in the Vision 2020 agenda and by the Legacy Task Force as a priority for our community and region.

The Providence visit emphasized how a long-term vision is only successful if sustained through political change. From the Providence Foundation we learned that land banking can help stimulate development and lead to new public private partnerships that support trust and revitalization. The result back home was a renewed determination to create tools like the Downtown Trust, Capital Improvements Board and a designated Cultural District.

In 2005, twenty-four individuals experienced Greenville, South Carolina’s successfully revitalized downtown and riverfront. The result of that trip provided the impetus for a laundry list of downtown priorities, most of which have been implemented. The trip helped support new private investment in the city center and a feeling that renewal, while hard, was possible. We learned the importance of activities to attract people to the city’s center by focusing on people, and improving the look and feel of the city center with streetscapes and updated way-finding signs that promote safety, connection and activity.

Through our community visit experiences we are learning to think BIG and small simultaneously. Parkview Field is an exemplary example of our BIG thinking and as a result it has brought activity, people and revenues back to the city and it stands as a significant point of pride when communities all around the country seek to emulate Fort Wayne’s ball park.

The goal of   each community visit is to learn from a successful community/region for the benefit of our own community/region. It is well understood that what worked in Denver or anywhere else only provides ideas for creating solutions and positive change in Northeast Indiana. We take the lessons learned from other communities/regions and create our own unique strategies and solutions for improving all of Northeast Indiana.

The 2011 Regional Leadership Experience (RLE), a program of Leadership Fort Wayne, was developed in collaboration with the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership.  Watch for details and information on the 2012 Regional Leadership Experience in the coming months.

The Best Practice Neighborhood Initiative Phase One class members were selected in October and the first of six classes started on Tuesday, October 18 at the Public Safety Academy. The participants of Phase One represent the following neighborhood associations:

East Central

Bonnie Andrews (Team Leader)

D. Marie Whitehead

Jeff Wilenski

Cheryl Taylor

West Central

Charlotte A. Weybright (Team Leader)

Michael Walsh

Benjamin Sanchez

Justin Stalter

Bloomingdale

Bud Mendenhall (Team Leader)

Jean Mendenhall

Linda Sackman

Eddie Coble

Oxford

Charlene Jones (Team Leader)

Justin Beal

Barbara Watt

Lawana Cooper

Williams Woodland Park

Justin Vedder (Team Leader)

Tamra Sanchez

Anthony(Tony) Borton

Beth Iserman

Larez, Pontiac Place, Oxford and Renaissance Pointe

Patricia Turner (Team Leader)

Earlene Russell

Anthony Ridley

Mary Morris

Hoagland-Masterson

Jim Obergfell (Team Leader)

Elton Bishop

Richard Berger

Colleen Obergfell

Creighton-Home

Miriam Morgan (Team Leader)

Susan Derkatsch

Dawn Parnin

Hans Derkatsch

The first session included words of welcome from Cheri Becker, Executive Director of Leadership Fort Wayne, a presentation on the concept of neighborhood sustainability from Heather Presley-Cowen from the city of Fort Wayne, and Ellen Cavacini, Program Director of Leadership Fort Wayne involved the class in a learning and leadership styles assessment.  At the second session each neighborhood had the opportunity to report on their “Neighborhood Treasure Hunt” assignments and Lenny Duff, President of the Wildwood Park Community Association reported on conducting successful association meetings.

Session Three included a presentations by Cheri Becker on neighborhood associations’ operations manuals, by Beth Walker of Fairfield Group Realtors on “Marketing your Neighborhood” and by Charles Duckwall from the City of Fort Wayne who introduced the group to new tools of communicating with neighborhood residents through the City of Fort Wayne website.

Session Four was focused on sharing each neighborhood’s newsletters with the rest of the class. The newsletters generated lots of new ideas, all targeted at involving more residents in the associations’ missions. Ryan Chasey and Kate Love-Jacobson of the HPG Network then introduced the New Neighborhood Internet Portal and guided the group through the development of their neighborhoods’ resident opinion survey. Throughout all of the sessions, networking, sharing of ideas among neighborhoods and understanding the power of working together permeated the training room.

Representatives from 38 nonprofit agencies gathered Friday, December 9, for the 8^th annual Nonprofit Legislative Breakfast at the Community Foundation for Greater Fort Wayne. Facilitated by NINA, the breakfast provides a time for the issues of nonprofits to be introduced and discussed with state legislators. A record of six legislators attended: Senators David Long, Dennis Kruse, Travis Holdman, and Representatives Phyllis Pond, Matt Lehman and Phil GiaQuinta. Senator Jim Banks, though unable to attend, is meeting with representatives at a later date. This year’s issue concerned identifiable public safety officers with suggestions focusing on uniform standards for public safety insignias, red and blue lights on public safety vehicles, methods of verifying the action through calls to 911, and the increase of the severity of punishment for impersonating a public safety officer.

Senator Dennis Kruse was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation for understanding the issues facing nonprofits and their constituencies and for facilitating connections to help nonprofits improve their services and impact in northeast Indiana. The attending legislators were also asked to talk about the 2012 Legislative session focusing on those issues which would affect nonprofits and their constituencies.

Classroom Shot of Emerging Leaders

As those within the NINA program look back on 2011, the membership should be proud of its development, adoption and implementation of its Guiding Principles for Nonprofit Agencies. The six principles are to act as guide points for agencies as they strategically plan and periodically review their accomplishments.

The Guiding Principles were crafted by a task force of leaders of small and large member agencies, vetted by the NINA Advisory Committee, accepted by the LFW Board of Directors and adopted by the NINA membership.

Members of the Guiding Principles Task Force were Pattiejae Jimerson of The Victory House, Jeff Schumacher of Gateway Woods, Minn Myint Nan Tin of the Burmese Advocacy Center, Kelly Updike of The Embassy Theatre, Ocleva Williams of the Neighborhood Action Center, Kelly Zachrich of Super Shot, and Bobbi Golani of MLK Montessori School.

Not only can the Principles guide the daily work and strategic outlook of agencies, but they can also be used to guide NINA programming options. NINA’s 2012 Emerging Leaders class served as the first application of the Guiding Principles becoming embedded within NINA curriculum. As a final project, the 27 Emerging Leaders students chose one of the Principles to explain its relevancy to the nonprofit agencies. Six teams were formed at the first session in October, and their projects will be presented on the final class day in April 2012.

The Principles are:

• Lead with the mission and vision, aligning programming, policies, and decisions, leaving room for growth and change.
• Govern with integrity through financial, organizational and governance policies.
• Conduct business in an accountable, effective, transparent and ethical manner with all stakeholders.
• Treat all persons inside and outside the organization with dignity and respect with the knowledge that services provided are client/consumer choice-driven and self-determined.
• Incorporate best practices and measurable metrics to demonstrate results.
• Champion the mission through community education and advocacy.

The forty-three members of the Leadership Fort Wayne Class of 2012 met for a two day retreat on Thursday and Friday, October 20 & 21. At the retreat the class created their vision for our community, and as a concrete way to bring parts of that vision into reality, they have designed seven class projects.  The teams have had their first meetings and are starting to work with community leaders who will be vital to bringing these projects to fruition. The following list includes a brief description of the projects and lists the team members. If you have ideas or connections that can help any of these teams, please contact program director Ellen Cavacini at cavacine@ipfw.edu and she will put you in touch with the team. Any help from the community and LFW alumni is welcomed and needed. The class has chosen much needed projects that once completed will benefit our entire community. Best wishes to the Class of 2012!

City Market Project: Plans are in the preliminary stages for building a year round public market in downtown Fort Wayne.  A graduate of LFW is involved in this project and has invited a team from the current LFW class to get involved. (Brian Heck, Brad Skarie, Emily Schwartz Keirns, Brian White, Eric Looper, Nabila Safdar – contact)

Re-engaging LFW Alumni during LFW’s 30th Anniversary Year: LFW will celebrate its 30th year in 2012. In the last 29 years Leadership Fort Wayne has graduated over 1000 people.  Well over 600 of these graduates still live in the Fort Wayne area. This team would look at ways to re-engage these alumni with the LFW organization during its 30th anniversary year. This team would work directly with the LFW executive director and staff to plan and implement a variety of ways to re-engage the alumni while celebrating our anniversary. Some of these ways may include, but are not limited to: educational events, community projects, and soliciting financial support for LFW. (Crystal Thomas, Susan Trent, Chris Rouse, JP Spagnolo, Jason Daenens, Craig Crook – contact)

ARCH – Adopt an Endangered Architectural Site Project: This team will work with ARCH to find ways to support one of the sites on their endangered list. (Garien Hudson, Katrina Kay, Doug Roth, Stan Pflueger, Tracy Duncan, David Lorenz – contact)

Farm My Yard Project: The idea for this project has been implemented in other cities as a way to connect senior citizens who have space in their yards for gardens, the expertise to plant gardens, but lack the energy and ability to plant gardens with young people who have the energy, but lack the space and knowledge. (Holli Seabury, Brian Ternet, Sara Nelson, Will Murphy, Alisa Pearson, Melissa McConnell – contact)

Literacy Project: This project team plans to work with United Way or some other literacy program to develop a project that meets this need in our community. (Darren Renier, Carrie Gillenwater, Pone Vongphachanh, Dan O’Connor, Carol Hicks, Angie Mapes Turner – contact)

Public Art Project: This team will work with the existing public art group to identify a project for downtown Fort Wayne and work toward making it a reality. (Ashley Steenman, Patrick Buesching, Fred Bean, Roscoe Spencer, Rob Sturtz, Mike GeRue, Cyndy Elick,– contact)

Pop Up Retail: This team will research the possibility of utilizing empty space in downtown Fort Wayne for potential small businesses, retail vendors or community members to sell their goods and fill a space with value as a means to help the city and the downtown move forward.  Their first steps will be to research the concept and identify the stakeholders. (Sharon Pohly, Brian Heflin, Jim AcAtee, Karlee Schultz, Tim Wiggins, Mary Jo Hardiman,– contact)

This year’s LEAD facilitators finished their work with three area middle schools:  Harding, Portage and Towles.  The two day program included activities to help students  understand the concept of servant leadership, to develop leadership skills, to accept and appreciate diversity, to learn decision-making skills, to make a commitment to stay drug and alcohol free,  and to perform an anti-drug and alcohol service project at their school.  Thanks to a generous grant from the Drug and Alcohol Consortium, the middle school students are currently working on their projects to promote living a drug/alcohol/tobacco-free life to the students at their school.  Most projects include students signing a contract pledging to stay drug/alcohol/tobacco-free and posting a banner in the school with the names of those committed students.

Our LEAD facilitators will have a training in January to learn new skills that will help them to work with the new Youth Leadership Fort Wayne Class of 2012.  An orientation for the new YLFW class members and their parents will be held on January 29, 2012.  We look forward to meeting a new group of youth and learning about their talents as we teach them skills that will help them to become servant leaders at their schools and in our community.

Moving potential to reality, NINA’s Emerging Leaders program for 2012 will be encouraging 27 participants from member agencies to learn together about six areas of leadership development.
Those areas are Integrity and Ethics, Interpersonal Skills and Communication, Critical Thinking, Nonprofit Finances and Fundraising, Program Development, Management and Measurement, and Human Resources Development.

The program, which is one full day of training a month for six months, incorporates project learning, consultant, experienced nonprofit leaders and community leaders to help the class grow professionally and personally. The textbook, Leadership Skills for Managers, supplements the class learning and serves as a guide for discussion.
Class members are chosen by their executive directors/ CEOs to participate; the participants’ selection acknowledges the leadership potential of each chosen member. The first class will be October 6, the group will be welcomed by Cheri Becker, executive director of LFW. Class members include:

Sheila  Anderson, Big Brothers Big Sisters

Heather Barth, Girl Scouts of Northeast Indiana – Michiana

Danielle Blake, Easter Seals ARC

Russell Borkosky, Park Center

Rachael Caslow, Girl Scouts of Northeast Indiana – Michiana

Tabitha Durham, YMCA

Stephanie Feldman, YWCA

Tiffany France, Children’s Hope House

Lauren Gardier, Fort Wayne Philharmonic

Lynne Isenbarger, The Rescue Mission

Angela Keppol, Early Childhood Alliance

Chanda Lichtsinn, Turnstone

Sarah McClure, SCAN

Veronica Mertz, CANI

Jessica  Patton, Fort Wayne Center for Learning

Tammy Pifer, CANI

Chariee Reason, Erin’s House

Diane Richardson, The Rescue Mission

Daniel Richardville, Consumer Credit Counseling

Lisa Rommel, Lutheran Social Services

Danielle Ronges, Vincent Village

Jennifer Rutkowski-Smith, SCAN

Jennifer Sexton, Family & Children’s Services

Heidi Sims, SCAN

Julie Tutwiler, Science Central

Paige Wilkins, CANI

Randy Wolf, Goodwill Industries

Leadership Fort Wayne is the preeminent source for businesses, community-serving organizations, local governments and nonprofit organizations to train as board members, volunteers, future community leaders and staff.  Leadership Fort Wayne was established in 1983 through a grant from the Lilly Foundation and in collaboration with IPFW and the Corporate Council.

Starting September 15th, class participants will meet one day each month for the next nine months to learn about the greater Fort Wayne Community, hear from community leaders about significant issues and organizations and learn from noted and experienced trainers who will help them hone their leadership skills.

Leadership Fort Wayne is the preeminent source for businesses, community-serving organizations, local governments and nonprofit organizations to train as board members, volunteers, future community leaders and staff. The result of this training provides individuals with a greater understanding of the importance and impact of corporate community involvement and individual civic engagement, philanthropy and service.

The following forty-three individuals were selected on the basis of their professional and volunteer leadership abilities, commitment, and experience. Members of the 2012 Leadership Fort Wayne Class are:

The Best Practice Neighborhood Initiative provides training and tools to help committed residents and neighborhood leaders work successfully with community development agencies, developers and local government for the benefit of their neighborhood and ultimately the entire community. Training is designed to provide the framework, insights and lessons for working together to revitalize and improve Fort Wayne and Allen County neighborhoods.

The Neighborhood Leadership Academy will equip committed neighborhood leaders with new knowledge, skills and tools to engage residents to identify strengths and improvement opportunities.  Participation in the program will provide insights and lessons for working together to revitalize and improve Fort Wayne neighborhoods. Participants will learn the foundational lessons that will empower them to create a plan for a neighborhood improvement project. At least two (2) of the neighborhood projects will be selected by the city to receive a grant to implement the project in Phase Two. Neighborhood improvement projects will be selected by the city to be implemented by the neighborhood association team. Total grant pool available is $100,000!

Class size is limited to five teams of four individuals per team and open to teams from neighborhoods in the CDBG area. Each team will represent a neighborhood. Once the participating neighborhoods are identified, Leadership Fort Wayne (LFW) may research those neighborhoods to determine if any LFW alumni reside in the represented neighborhoods and whether they are willing to assist their neighborhood team as mentors.

Click here to download the brochure

Click here to download the application

Eligible Neighborhoods Include:

Anthony Wayne

Beacon Heights Tenants Council

Bloomingdale

Breconshire

Brentwood Park

Broad River

Brookview Civic

Casselwood Terrace Community

Chapel Oaks

Congress-McKinnie

Continental Park Community

Creighton Home

Crestwood Colony Civic

East Central

East Side Community

Eastland Gardens Community

Fairfield

Fairfield Terrace Belmont

Ferndale

Five Points

Frances Slocum

Greater McMillen Park

Hamilton Assoc for Neighborhood Development

Harvester Community

Hickory Grove

Highland Park Forest Community

Hoagland Masterson

Irvington Park

Lafayette Place Improvement

LaRez

Lincolnshire Community

Maumee Terrace

Maysville Heights

McCormick Place

McKinnie-Senate

Memorial Park

Michigan Avenue

Mount Vernon Park

Nebraska

North Sherwood Terrace and Silver Maples Addition

North Triangle

Oakland Park

Oxford

Park Place Condos

Pettit-Rudisill

Pontiac Place

Poplar

Renaissance Pointe

Rolling Rose

Rudisill-Plaza

South Calhoun Place

South Suburan Civic

South Wayne

Southtown Meadows

Spy Run

Suburan Heights

Summerfield

Tall Oaks

Tara Co-op

Vesey

Victoria Park Community

Village Woods

West Central

Westchester

Westfield

Williams-Woodland Park

Williams Park

Wilmarbee

The Best Practice Neighborhood Association Initiative is a collaborative project of: