The Kentucky Leadership Summit was held at the KSU Benson Farm on May 24, 2023. Nearly 80 participants representing 32 leadership programs from across Kentucky participated in the summit. To host the event, University of Kentucky and Kentucky State University Cooperative Extension partnered with the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Executives to invite community leadership program planners to this important networking event. Core planning was organized by Daniel Kahl, UK Community and Leadership Development and Ron Catchen, Montgomery County Extension Manager, with the support of an exceptional planning team that included Adriana Palmer, Kentucky State University, Amy Cloud, Director of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Executives, Sarah Congleton, Montgomery County, and advisors of leadership programs in Kentucky.

In conjunction with event registration, summit planners distributed a poll to assess community leadership program issue priorities. At the summit, a facilitator was assigned to each of these topic areas. Participants addressed how the issue is a challenge to community leadership programs and solicited successful responses to the issue.

During the summit, Dr. Nicole Breazeale, Associate Extension Professor, introduced Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) as a tool to assess the community impacts of local leadership programs, engage alumni, jump-start a planning process, and tell the story of program successes. 23 leadership groups expressed interest in an Extension-supported REM process. Two community leadership programs were randomly selected to begin this evaluation service in the summer of 2023.  Additionally, 11 individuals volunteered to attend a REM train-the-trainer, which will be offered in Fall 2023.

Impact Summary:

1. A new statewide social media network was created for Community Leadership Program Coordinators with 75 initial members.

2. Priority concerns Community Leadership Programs were identified through the survey.

3. Successful practices and resources were documented related to the Community Leadership Program priority concerns.

4. Community assessment and impact evaluation tools were introduced.

Community leadership program coordinators will benefit from this Extension effort in many ways.  First, the initiative identified common issues confronting local leadership programs and started conversations around successful responses to these issues.  A closed network was started on Facebook social media to assist program leaders with sharing ideas and information. Community level impact assessments begin in the summer for two communities, and local leadership priorities assessments have been distributed to all of the leadership programs for their use. Information from assessments and evaluations will be compiled by UK Cooperative Extension and shared back to the network to inform their programming.