Hello! WE ARE GOING TO BE HAVING A PARTY!!!! G²L is Growing Guthrie Leaders and we are having a Kick Off Party at the Granny Had One Event Center, 312 W. Oklahoma Ave, on April 6, at 6:30 to let you know about our new programs for this year! Growing Guthrie Leaders is a program of The Guthrie Chamber of Commerce designed to develop leadership skills.
Chamber President Mary Coffin
The purpose of the program is to encourage civic involvement and responsibility in Guthrie’s future leaders, from high school through 40 years old, and up, with an emphasis on mentorship by our community elders and current leaders. Most of us will admit that there is a marked lack of involvement in city affairs, local politics, or community building efforts. The turnout is embarrassing when we have local elections and it is difficult to convince qualified people to run for public office, yet we never get to the end of the complaining about the quality of our office holders and community issues on social media outlets. Our theory about this is that people aren’t uninvolved in creating a solution because of a lack of desire to as much as a lack of knowing how to!
Our initial outreach is going to consist of two distinct avenues: a team for high school juniors through college sophomores and a team for anyone over twenty years of age. Greg “Heady” Coleman has developed a positive program called Dream Guthrie for the younger group, which we will be starting this fall. When I was growing up as a school kid we didn’t understand that our home town was a great place to live and work. We were always told to get out of town, explore the world and start your life. Most of the people I graduated with did just that, including myself. Time eventually brings us back home for one reason or another. I think it’s important to know what other towns, cities and countries hold so you can appreciate your own home town. We want our youth to go off to college then come back to Guthrie to start their business. Guthrie has a need for workforce growth and new businesses, and there will be a greater need in the future. We are looking for young people who have potential, we are looking for young people who haven’t yet discovered the leader inside of them. We are hoping that our young people will see it’s ok to stick to their roots and be a future leader of Guthrie; our Dream Team.
The second part of our program consists of a leadership development program for individuals from the age of twenty and older. This will consist of an intensive course called Leadership Revolution. Terry Morris will be the facilitator of the Revolution Team which will meet in the Chamber Boardroom on Wednesdays at noon for six one month sessions. The course consists of a set of 4 DVD’s and a book for each month. Terry will meet with those who sign up for the classes weekly to discuss the content of each DVD. At the end of the month we will have a general meeting for anyone who would like to be involved but may not be able to commit to the noon meetings. Terry will give a summary of what has been discussed during the month and it will serve as a networking opportunity for the community. The DVD sets and books can be obtained at a cost of $50 per month for each set if the first set is purchased before April 1, 2015, after that date the sets will increase to $67 each. The books are available for purchase even if you aren’t able to come to the classes, as well. We hope to have scholarships available for those who would like to make the commitment to Guthrie’s future, but may not be able to afford it yet.
One of the most important parts of our Growing Guthrie Leadership Initiative is mentorship. We will be looking for chances to pair up our Revolution Team with members of the Dream Team to provide support, encouragement and stability as they grow and learn about things that they can do to change their world. We will also ask our current City Elders and Leaders to mentor members of our Revolution Team as they learn what it takes to keep
Guthrie going in the right direction. The wisdom that can be provided by these men and women is an invaluable resource for our community and we hope to provide an occasion for that wisdom to be shared.
If you or your company are interested in making an investment in Guthrie’s future leaders by providing a scholarship, please contact us at The Chamber as soon as possible so that we may be able to purchase the set at the lower price. If you feel that you would like to
take the training but need help, please let us know. If you are a City Elder or Leader in some facet of Guthrie’s life, please volunteer your wisdom for those who will be taking up your cause in the future. Please share the information about these programs with anyone you believe would be a candidate for them.
This week’s Chamber Coffee will be hosted by Eskridge Chevrolet located at 5307 S. Division at 9:30am. Everyone is welcome!
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