City Seeks Applicants for Emerging Leaders Program

You are on eastlansinginfo.org, ELi's old domain, which is now an archive of news (as of early April, 2020). If you are looking for the latest news, go to eastlansinginfo.news and update your bookmarks accordingly!


 

Friday, January 18, 2019, 12:12 pm
By: 
Jessy Gregg

Above: Emerging Leaders participants from a previous class.

East Lansing residents interested in learning more about East Lansing City Government still have ten more days to apply for the 2019 East Lansing Emerging Leaders Program. This program, which was started in 2007, is aimed towards encouraging civic engagement and is taught by a variety of local business, community and government leaders.

“The East Lansing Emerging Leaders Program provides opportunities for citizens to learn more about their local government and prepare themselves to become more civically engaged in the community they call home,” said Assistant City Manager Eilis Seide, who has taken over running the program following the departure of former City Clerk Marie Wicks.

In an ELi interview Seide quoted Wicks as saying, “we have always had a very interested and engaged populace, but we tend to have the same people applying [for the different volunteer service opportunities in town]. We need fresh faces, we need fresh excited new faces.”

Seide told ELi that she has a good pool of applicants so far but added, “we’d like to see 10 or 15 more applications, if possible, in order to get a good selection.”

Encouraging people who might be on the fence about applying Seide commented, “You’ll come out with a great understanding and confidence to become a leader,” and then added with a chuckle “I’ll feed you.”

East Lansing has an ordinance which requires at least one student on each commission and those positions have proved especially hard to fill to fill because of the time commitment involved with serving. Most East Lansing boards only meet once per month but the Planning Commission meets twice a month and meetings are frequently long. Seide said she would love more student applicants to the Emerging Leaders Program.

The program is funded by a $4000 allocation from the City’s General Fund, but Seide said they never use the entire budget. Since the Emerging Leaders program is funded by taxpayer dollars it is only open to residents of East Lansing.

According to Wicks, the idea for running a citizen academy started in 2006 when the City Council was looking for new ways to recruit residents for the City’s many boards and commissions. She credits the idea to East Lansing’s former City Manager Ted Staton, who tasked Wicks and several other city employees with developing the program.

Seide told ELi that the program has evolved based on feedback from participants, growing to encompass issues like public art and placemaking. She said this year she’s inviting someone to address the group on the topic of civil discourse. In addition to in the in-class presentations participants are encouraged to pursue out-of-class activities such as touring the Fire Department or riding along with a police officer.

Interested applicants can fill out a short online application form on the City’s website. The program will start in February and run for 8 weeks on Thursday evenings, with one additional class on a Saturday.

Related Categories: 

eastlansinginfo.org © 2013-2020 East Lansing Info