Leadership Eden Prairie is a program of the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of the program is to organize a group of people who either live or work in Eden Prairie and then to provide them with a number of planned educational opportunities in which they learn about what makes Eden Prairie tick. For example, the program hosts a local government day in which participants tour City Hall, meet key City staff, meet with County government staff and then end the day with a table top study exercise that is relevant to a contemporary local political issue. This year’s group learned/studied about the proposed Southwest Light Rail Transit line project.
The group will also have an Education Day, a Health care Day, etc. The idea is to take people away from their everyday workplaces and immerse them in a sector of the community which they ought to know more about. At the end of the program the participants are better citizens and better leaders in Eden Prairie because they know more about the issues, and perhaps more importantly, they know the people behind the issues. It’s functional community networking at it’s best!
I really appreciate the Chamber running this program. They do a nice job with it too. The photo was taken at this year’s recognition event for the Leadership Eden Prairie Class of 2008. I wish that I had everyone’s name, but I don’t. But I do want to point out to City staff members who graduated with High Honors this year: City Clerk Kitty Porta (4th from the left in the purple) and Communications Manager Joyce Lorenz (4th from the right in black). I appreciate the time and energy that Kitty and Joyce put into their Leadership Eden Prairie studies. They’re better leaders, employees and citizens because of it.
