From June 4-6, 2024, Melissa Zenz, Community Engagement and Data Management Specialist for the Land of Sky P20 Council, attended the NC Rural Center’s Homegrown Leaders program in Sylva. The training attracted existing and emerging leaders from a 13-county region, including the four counties that the Land of Sky P20 Council serves: Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, and Transylvania.
Homegrown Leaders is a three-day regional leadership and community economic development program that develops and supports highly motivated leaders committed to regional collaboration. Ms. Zenz was humbled to have been chosen to attend.
Class participants included local government and health professionals, government officials, and faith and nonprofit leaders. Among the participants were representatives from some of P20’s valued partners:
- Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College
- Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC)
- myFutureNC
Upon completion of the training, the thirty-one participants received graduation certificates.
Melissa Zenz (left), Community Engagement and Data Management Specialist for the Land of Sky P20 Council, receiving her certificate of completion for Homegrown Leaders from Olaunda Green (right), Director of Leadership Training for the NC Rural Center.
The NC Rural Center’s approach to economic development aligns very well with P20’s goals. Both organizations endeavor to eliminate barriers and expand opportunity for marginalized populations and the future economic well-being of North Carolinians and their communities. The only difference is in the geographic focus: the NC Rural Center covers the entire state, whereas P20 covers only four counties in the western part of the state. From our Goals page:
The P20 Council realizes that the ability to make significant gains in the targeted educational and workforce attainment efforts must include an equity lens in which diversity, inclusion, and accessibility to all resources must be a major component of each strategic goal.
NC Rural Center’s Framework for Community Economic Development comprises five building blocks (physical assets, business growth, social + civic vibrancy, talent development, and authentic leadership), all of which much be approached through the lens of four principles (equity, inclusion, regional connectivity, and resilience).
Crucially, both P20 and the NC Rural Center also value collaboration, particularly regional connectivity, in our economic development goals, and this is reflected in our Mission statement.
The Land of Sky P20 Council fosters collaboration among employers, educators, and community members in the spirit of enduring economic prosperity, through the alignment of innovative cradle-to-career skills and resources that lead to life-sustaining job opportunities in our four-county region of Western North Carolina.
The first day of the training contained sessions on The Regional Economy & Forces Driving Change in Rural NC, From Scarcity to Abundance: Building Vibrant Rural Communities with Asset-Based Development, and Emotional Intelligence. Day two included a deeper dive into The Building Blocks of Community Economic Development, and several sessions focused on leadership development topics (Collaborative Leadership, Dynamics of Privilege and Power: Why It Matters, and Handling Conflict). The second evening included a networking event for participants in the current cohort, Homegrown Leaders alumni from past cohorts, and NC Rural Center staff. On the third and final day, participants worked in groups to apply all they had learned in a case scenario that required them to design and build a better future for a rural community.
