Leadership Evanston Celebrates 20 Years with 28 New Graduates
On June 14, the Evanston Community Foundation’s Leadership Evanston program celebrated the graduation of its 20th Signature Leadership Evanston class. The group of 28 graduates consisted of local residents, workers and business owners who are now more engaged, more connected and more inspired. Leadership Evanston currently boasts over 560 alumni, developing an ever-expanding network of citizen leaders.
“As a relatively new resident of Evanston, I feel like this program gave me a 5-7 year ‘boost’ in terms of getting to know the history, primary institutions, key figures, and current community dynamics of Evanston as well as connecting me to a network of friends and colleagues that I will draw upon for years to come,” reflected class member Tim Eberhart, faculty member at the Garrett Evangelical Seminary.
In addition to Eberhart, the distinguished graduates of the Leadership Evanston Signature Class XX include:
- Gabe Brooks, Angel Touch Media
- Sidney Chapon, Leo Burnett Worldwide
- Jessica Cobbs, Rotary International
- Kurt Condra, Unity on the North Shore
- Hernan Cuevas, St. Athanasius Church
- Julianne Dieterich, Lighthouse Rotary Club
- Timothy Eberhart, Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary
- Natalie Furlett, Northwestern University
- Nichola Goss, Dance Center Evanston
- Seth Green, Y.O.U.
- Alicia Hart, Evanston Township High School
- Missy Hedges, Human Resources Consultant
- Paul Heinrich, Evanston Township High School
- Connie Heneghan, Evanston Public Library
- Les Jacobson, Writer and editor
- Charles de Kay, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church
- Aline Lauture, Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti
- Jim Mizell, Community Volunteer
- Sue Murphy, Interfaith Action of Evanston
- Jennifer Paul, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
- Richard Rykhus, Evanston/Skokie District 65 School Board
- Kathy Spellman, Metals Service Center Institute
- Joanne Telser-Frere, Cogfit-Quest; DTM, Toastmasters International
- Mary Trieschmann, Kohl Children’s Museum
- Malik Turley, Hip Circle Studio
- Mike Turner, Senior Helpers of Niles Lincolnwood
- Molly Verble, Youth Job Center
- Sandy Williams, Family Focus
Leadership Evanston programs encourage meaningful community engagement by building participants’ understanding of Evanston and leadership skills. Leadership Evanston has had a noticeable impact on several different aspects of our community. Besides serving as Evanston aldermen and school board members, graduates have been instrumental in creating significant local initiatives and organizations, such as Downtown Evanston’s gift card and the West End Farmers Market. This year class project teams focused on environmental sustainability, socioeconomic development, promotion of local businesses and equity and diversity in quality education.
“The best part of Leadership Evanston was connecting the loop of our activities into a broader win-win for other community groups, sustaining the effort for others to follow up on,” says class member Jim Mizell, volunteer producer and board member for the Evanston Community Media Center.
As this class reflects on their year of working together, recruiting has begun for the 21th class of the Signature program, which will run from September 2012 through June 2013. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply online. The application deadline is July 15, 2012. To learn more about the program, please take a look at this past year’s brochure or e-mail leadership@evanstonforever.org.
Many Evanston non-profit and civic boards and organizations, such as the Evanston Chamber of Commerce, the Center for Independent Futures, the Evanston District 65 School Board, Seniors Action Service of Evanston, the Evanston Environment Board, Evanston/North Shore YWCA, and the Youth Job Center, benefit from the infusion of skills and perspective from Leadership Evanston graduates
