Leadership Lafourche begins anew

After a five-year hiatus, Leadership Lafourche is back and accepting applications.

The program is designed to train a cross-section of Lafourche residents and workers for productive roles focused on the future and well-being of the parish, its institutions and communities.

It graduated its first class of civic leaders back in 1993 and has graduated about 200 since.

The program is co-sponsored by the Thibodaux Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Lafourche and the Bayou Region.

Thibodaux Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Kathy Benoit explained the program went away for a while, because it just didn’t have the manpower to support it five years ago.

Chairman of the Board for Leadership Lafourche Dr. John Doucet also added “saturation” became a factor at one point. Basically, most anyone who could register and graduate from Leadership Lafourche has already done so.

Both of the problems have been resolved in a drastic way.

Benoit said the response for volunteers has been overwhelming.

“We haven’t found jobs for all of them,” said Benoit.

And Doucet said the number of applications received so far has been good.

Benoit said members of the Leadership Lafourche Alumni Association played a pivotal role in bringing back Leadership Lafourche.

Participants in the program will meet eight times from the opening retreat, which will be held Nov. 18 and 19, to the closing retreat and graduation in late May.

The program typically has meetings once per month. It spans an opening retreat, a closing retreat and six one-day sessions.

During the meetings, participants will take seminars on topics revolving around education, healthcare, government, law enforcement and the environment.

Most importantly, the participants will be out and about in the community.

“They’re getting to go places they wouldn’t normally get to go,” said Gwen Cheramie, who chairs the Leadership Lafourche Alumni Association and vice-chairs the Leadership Lafourche board.

During the opening retreat, which is at a retreat center in Robert, La., the participants will spend most of their time participating in SIMSOC program.

SIMSOC is a kind of game where the leadership students will be divided up into teams that represent local communities.

“It’s real effective,” said Cheramie.

Each virtual community has its own set of resource, or lack thereof, as well as its own set of problems.

And the participants have to learn how to work together in a way that benefits both their community and the region of communities as whole.

“You’re going to get to learn about 30 individuals and you’re not going to forget them for the rest of your life,” said Doucet. “The goal is to create an engaged group of people.”

The tuition for the program costs $700.

And the program will only accept about 30 members.

The $700 cost of tuition is an increase from what it was in the past.

Doucet attributed this to the fact prices for many things have gone up over the last five years.

He also said it was on par with other leadership groups in the region.

Participants can apply for scholarships and partial scholarships to help with the tuition.

Applications to join the 2007-08 class are due by Monday, Oct. 15.

They can be obtained through the Chamber of Lafourche and the Bayou Region or the Thibodaux Chamber of Commerce.