A Proud Past and A “BRIGHT” Future Leadership Kentucky’s BRIGHT Program Honors Boyd and Greenup County Leaders

A Proud Past and A “BRIGHT” Future

Leadership Kentucky’s BRIGHT Program

Honors Boyd and Greenup County Leaders

Gwen Akers

The Ashland Beacon

Leadership Kentucky just marked its 40-year anniversary and remains a foremost program promoting ethical leadership and driving innovation across the state. Whether you are a standout leader or a rising member of your community, the Leadership Kentucky program aims to help you on your journey to making a difference.

Since its beginning in 1985, Leadership Kentucky has expanded to offer several different programs targeting leaders throughout the state. As one of the first statewide leadership programs in the country, Leadership Kentucky is practiced at helping leaders expand their horizons and make differences in their communities. The first step is to gather these leaders from across their communities and give them the chance to work together and connect with each other.

“They have all sprung from the original leadership program, and that was designed to join together leaders with a wide variety of career accomplishments, volunteer, community activities, etc., to gain additional insight into some of the issues facing Kentucky,” explained President and CEO of Leadership Kentucky, Janice Way. “We want to connect them with all kinds of people in the region that are like-minded.”

One of the most recent additions to the program is the BRIGHT initiative. Launched in 2019, the BRIGHT class is for emerging leaders ages 21–40 working in one of the 54 Kentucky counties identified by the Appalachian Regional Commission. This year, BRIGHT boasts 38 participants from across 21 counties, including Boyd County’s Jordan Abrams, Eric Griffith, Kaitlin Smith, and Christian Turner, as well as Greenup County’s Gabrielle Boyd, Rob Collins, Dominique Ellis, and Kristin Gleason.

After being selected, participants engage in five three-day sessions where they learn about and discuss current issues and economic influences particular to their communities. Participants also take part in numerous workshops designed to foster strong communication skills, develop a personal mission statement, and even learn how to build a personal brand.

Besides arming participants with knowledge and skills they can bring back to their communities, the program also seeks to show participants different sides of the state by allowing them to travel to several locations for their sessions. This year, the sessions are hosted in Hazard in July, Somerset/Monticello in August, Frankfort/Berea in September, London/Corbin in October, and Ashland/Morehead in November. This allows participants not only to see what strategies are working in other communities but also exposes them to different types of leadership styles, inspiring them to find ideas to bring back to their own communities.

“Our participants are from throughout the state, and we take them throughout the state. For example, if you live in Ashland, you may have never been to Paducah, and if you live in Paducah, maybe you've never been to Ashland. We take people all around the state and try to show them the great things that are happening in the state, and then some of the challenges that we have,” explained Way.

The Leadership Kentucky program is currently offered free of charge to participants and is made possible by the Appalachian Regional Commission and philanthropic support from the Whitaker Bank Foundation and Kentucky Power/AEP. Overall, this is a wonderful opportunity for the leaders and budding leaders in our community, showing once more Ashland’s continued tradition of honoring our Proud Past and reaching toward our “BRIGHT” Future.