Leadership is crucial to the success of any community.  There must be a deep pool of leaders with various backgrounds and passions to fill necessary leadership roles.  Extension leadership continues to identify developing leaders as an important function of the extension service.  There had not been a  “leadership program” offered for the general public in Butler County for many years.   The Butler County Extension Service partnered with the Morgantown-Butler County Chamber of Commerce to offer the “Leadership Butler County” program.  The 2019 pilot program was developed to provide information to participants about their community, and the importance of leadership and volunteers.  The content of the 4 session program was developed by the Butler County Agriculture Agent with input from the chamber of commerce executive director and a volunteer who is a leadership development professional.   The extension service facilitated each of the 4 sessions.  A CEDIK extension professional presented at a session and the agriculture agent presented at 2 sessions.  3 of the 4 sessions were held at the extension office.  Topics covered included economic development, communication, public speaking, local govt. non-profits, history of extension service, chamber of commerce activities, working with media, parliamentary procedure, a police ride along, and lots of networking and current event discussion.   Participants paid a $50 fee to be part of the class.  The chamber of commerce handled the funds.  A local bank sponsored one session and hosted it in their facility.  Local businesses provided food for each session.  The target audience was people who would be interested in helping community groups succeed.    Ten members of the community participated.  They were from a variety of professions and backgrounds.  They learned from classroom activities, preparing and giving speeches, tours, riding with a local police officer for 2 hours, and networking.  Written evaluations were used to determine levels of knowledge gained at each session.   A pre-program written evaluation was completed before the first presentation and an end of program written evaluation was given after the last session.  The final evaluation instrument allowed participants to tell us what they learned and what we might do to make the program better for future participants.   It also asked if they would be more comfortable taking on a leadership position after completing the program.   We also asked if they would be willing to help facilitate future “Leadership Butler County” program sessions.  Some testimonials were also gathered during the program sessions.   After the first session one participant told me “I already got my money’s worth”.  100% of participants reported increasing their knowledge of the topics presented at each session.  80% indicated they felt more comfortable speaking in public.  100% responded they felt more informed about manufacturing and agriculture in Butler County.  83% said they would help facilitate a session of a future “Leadership Butler County” program.   100% of responders on the final evaluation said they would be more comfortable accepting a leadership role as a result of the program.  Participants who attended 75% of the sessions and did their police ride along will be recognized at the chamber banquet in the fall of 2019.  The extension service and the chamber of commerce plan to offer the program again in 2020.