Community Leadership: Leadership Development

Issue:

The world is becoming increasingly complex. People communicate more quickly, are increasingly interdependent, and turn more quickly to litigation when they are in conflict. As Maryland's communities adjust to these changes, the value of effective leadership rises.

Actions:

UME provides public leadership development programs for various communities in Maryland. Our standard practice is to provide knowledge and skills to our learners, which will help them solve future problems. We have created several programs designed specifically to increase leadership skills of participants:

LEAD Maryland, which focuses on developing leaders for Maryland agriculture; and
The Water Resources Leadership Initiative (WRLI), which focuses on establishing a network of informed and effective leaders who are water resource stakeholders from public and private sector organizations.

Impacts:

The long-run impacts of public leadership development programs are difficult to gauge. One indicator is that participants from prior groups in the LEAD Maryland and WRLI programs have continued their involvement by helping to teach, host field trips, and facilitate learning events for subsequent groups.

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For more information, contact Dr Nick Place

Last updated: 11/13/2009