Olson: Leadership Academy graduates improve community

The Leadership Academy’s 15th class graduated Wednesday with a ceremony at the Hopkins Park Community Room – but the work of the people in the program is not yet done.

Three separate groups of academy grads – including Shaw Media’s Jaclyn Cornell – are planning projects that will make the community a better place, which you may see in action in the months ahead. All three projects could continue beyond this summer, too.

One group project is a communitywide event called the Annie Glidden North Backyard BBQ, which will feature food, music and activities from 3 to 6 p.m. Sept. 12 at Welsh Park.

“We invite everybody to attend the event,” group member Pamela Rosales, volunteer coordinator at Safe Passage, told the crowd. “That’s the mission of this event, that we just want the whole community to feel that we have each others’ backs.”

Shaw Media, which publishes the Daily Chronicle and the MidWeek newspapers in DeKalb County, has been a proud supporter of the Leadership Academy for years – you may have noticed the class members’ photos in our paper Wednesday. The academy, which DeKalb Chamber Director Matt Duffy helped start, provides a better understanding of how this community works, and just how much work goes into creating the many events and programs that make this a good place to live. I’m a 2013 graduate and recommend it to anyone.

This year, the Chronicle was represented by Cornell, whose group devised the “Art in the Park” project, which will beautify city parks by turning trees that otherwise would be removed into artistic wood carvings. Donations from local businesses including Pappas Development LLC, Lakeshore Recycling Systems, Applications Development Corp. and the Daily Chronicle, generated enough money to pay for a carving this year and at least a couple more.

The first carving is scheduled for Aug. 18 at Annie's Woods, and any businesses or other groups that would like to donate to the effort and keep the carvings coming can do so through the DeKalb Park District.

“We’ll never run out of trees to carve, so if you’d like to be a donor, please get a hold of us,” Tom Slater, sales manager at Redeemed Office Furniture, said.

A third group created the Caring Contractors project, which recruits building trades companies willing to donate services to help low-income seniors remain in their homes. They already have found a contractor and a homeowner in need, said group member Sarah Slavenas, development director at Family Service Agency. The agency plans to take over the program in the future to help the people it serves.

“Already a lot of our seniors are very low-income, so it just makes sense that we would take this project over,” Slavenas said.

Dan Kenney, executive director of the nonprofit DeKalb County Community Gardens, was the keynote speaker Wednesday. He sets an example as well as anyone, in large part through his work, which began with a question: Why do children who live in an area with the best soil in the world go to bed hungry?

It was the right question.

Then, Kenney said he wondered, “What if?” He imagined a network of community gardens at schools and other locations in the county. and enlisted help from others. More people joined, and the effort grew.

What started in 2012 with a single garden that he built at Clinton Rosette Middle School with the help of students on in-school suspension has grown into a network of 58 garden plots around the area, a vocational farm employing young people with disabilities, a mobile “grow mobile” that distributes fresh, healthy food in “food deserts” in DeKalb County and other initiatives.

“I hope you remember the importance of building relationships with your place and the people who share it, wherever you may end up one day, always put down roots even if for a short while between transplants, for building relationships with those who share your place, with those who live in your neighborhood and community, are vital for growth, direction, health and well-being.”

The Leadership Academy is a good first step toward asking the right questions and building the relationships that are critical.

If you're interested in getting involved and helping to make DeKalb a better place, they're accepting applications through Aug. 2. You can find the application online at dekalb.org/leadership-academy.html.

And keep an eye out for the upcoming events planned by this year’s graduates.

• Eric Olson is general manager of the Daily Chronicle. Reach him at 815-756-4841 ext. 2257, email eolson@shawmedia.com, or follow him on Twitter @DC_Editor.