The 2019 Class of Leadership Venango met on November 14 at the Cranberry Place in the Cranberry Mall. The third session of the nine-month program was focused on understanding community caregiving. The class started their day by working on class projects with their teams and were then joined by Deb Lesko of Venango Catholic High School to focus on project management.

The next guests, Kathleen Ellwood and Joe Croskey of KECoaching and Consulting, LLC, connected with the class to explore diversity. They had the class participate in a few activities that concentrated on the dimensions of diversity and discrimination.

Before lunch, Susan Williams, President & CEO of the Venango Area Chamber of Commerce, facilitated a panel discussion regarding Venango County caregiving. The panel guests included: Mary Jean Gavin of Community Services of Venango County, Jane Byham of Wesbury Retirement Community, BreAnn Chisholm of Child to Family Connections, and Rina Irwin of Child Development Centers Inc. The panel focused on the 40 Developmental Assets and their connection to each stage of life.

The class took a break mid-day for lunch, after which they heard a presentation from Joyce Fosdick, Executive Director, and Libby Hansford, Service Learning Director, of Keystone SMILES Community Learning Center. Their presentation centered on their involvement with AmeriCorps, as well as leadership practices and understanding the different components of poverty.

This session was very interactive and had the class on their feet and participating in different role-playing activities. Many class participants felt this session was one of the most impactful and emotional yet.

The next session is scheduled for December 12 at PennDOT, where the class will focus on maximizing clean communications. For more information, visit leadershipvenango.org.

This article was published in the Venango Area Chamber of Commerce’s December 2018 edition of the VenangoWorks! Newsletter.