Among 32 participants of Locate South GeorgiaLEADS were three from Colquitt County: Dug Schwalls, Tommie Beth Willis and John Mark Mobley.

AMERICUS, Ga. — Locate South Georgia is actively recruiting for participants to join their efforts in developing a strong leadership pipeline across South Georgia. With Locate South GeorgiaLEADS, presented by Electric Cities of Georgia, recruiting the class for the 2017-2018 program, Locate South Georgia seeks to link business and civic leaders, as well as elected and public officials, to the region’s economic development agenda and efforts.

Locate South GeorgiaLEADS (LSGL) is a 21-county regional leadership development program for South Georgia designed in 2015 as a partnership of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development at the University of Georgia, and the region’s economic development professionals and affiliates that make up Locate South Georgia.

“LSGL is particularly timely this year as the Georgia Chamber recently opened its regional office focused on rural Georgia in Tifton this past May and launched its Rural Prosperity Council to focus on the issues and priorities of rural communities around our state,” Mary Beth Bass, LSGL’s executive director, said in a press release announcing the recruitment effort. “Additionally, the General Assembly continues the efforts of the Georgia Rural Development Council who are simultaneously evaluating policy and legislative issues that will be taken up during the upcoming legislative session.”

South Georgia is raising the bar for leadership, economic development and civic engagement for existing leaders, Bass said. LSGL, the largest regional leadership program in the state, is an eight-month leadership experience for leaders throughout South Georgia designed to facilitate awareness of issues that are essential to the future success of the region by giving participants the necessary skills and training needed to effectively lead South Georgia in the 21st century economy.

With applications currently available, the program will start in August 2017 and run through March 2018. This year’s class will join the alumni of LSGL at a kick-off retreat in Sylvester-Worth County on Aug. 17-18.

LSGL links regional site visits and issue awareness to relevant leadership development content within the framework of the Locate South GeorgiaLEADS priorities. Emphasizing regional priorities throughout the program, each session directly links leadership skills training to issues of critical importance to South Georgia, including regional identity and influence; workforce development; and collective visioning and planning.

Tuition is $1,250 per participant, with scholarships available through Electric Cities of Georgia and the One Sumter Economic Development Foundation.

For more information about Locate South Georgia, please visit their website at http://www.georgiaresourcecenter.com/LocateSouthGeorgia/2/communities.html.

For more information about Locate South GeorgiaLEADS, please contact Mary Beth Bass, Executive Director, One Sumter Economic Development Foundation, Inc., at (229) 815-1669; or at marybeth@onesumter.org.

Interested candidates may also contact the Moultrie-Colquitt County Chamber of  Commerce, (229) 985-2131, for further information.