First Quarter 2013 • This issue is sponsored by:
Leadership’s Human Services Session has Far-reaching Effect
Key Program Dates
Building Community Caring and Competence
MARCH 19
IMAGINE…
Government Leadership Academy Luncheon
A two-parent family is evicted from family home after Dad loses job A job location switches and is no longer on bus route Grandparents struggle to get medical help for dependent grandchildren A Single dad working full time, raising two children, and challenged with childcare during summer vacation A teen-ager gets arrested when caught stealing from neighbor While these may be common scenarios for 14% of Stark County’s individuals and families living in poverty, they are unfamiliar to most of the Leadership Stark County 26th Class members who participated in the Human Services Day session in December. These corporate execs, attorneys, bankers, and business owners had their eyes opened to the day-to-day struggles of families in need through the TANF Town (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) poverty simulation. The nationally recognized module
is facilitated by LSC’s program day committee, headed by Molly Moriarty of the Stark County Department of Jobs & Family Services, and by Leadership Stark County staff. As a result of the simulation, class members came up with a Top Ten list of new realizations (see pg 7). But the class didn’t just let their new realizations rest, they took action. The group collected $844.00 in donations for the Fuline Center and a class member is also donating a microwave oven. In the photo (see pg 7) 26th Class members Kathy Feichter and Lori Lewitzke show some of the items donated to the center. Another outgrowth of the Human Services day session is that other non-profit organizations have begun to ask Leadership Stark County to present the poverty simulation for their employees and LSC staff has facilitated the simulation for school district employees. This year nearly 100 attendees of the Mental Health Services and Recovery Board’s annual conference experienced the simulation. These and other customized programs help Leadership Stark County reach more people and train more leaders.
MARCH 20 Signature Program Information Breakfast Alumni Canton Food Tour
APRIL 17 Timken Faircrest Steel Plant Tour
APRIL 26 Last Day for Signature Program Applications
JUNE 13 Signature Program Graduation
(continued on page seven)
Volume 4, Issue 1 | Page 1