“The future of the islands will be decided in the islands”
Dear LSJI Applicant,
Certainly San Juan County is a special place. We have a remarkable degree of citizen participation in the community. Many of our residents commit their time and effort to a variety of organizations and causes. All of us care deeply about the future of our beautiful islands.
Leadership programs train political leaders, agency heads, educators, board members, and volunteers to become effective trustees of their communities. Leadership San Juan Islands is a program that nurtures a trained network of civic, economic, and social leaders to participate in all facets of community life.
LSJI Class VI will begin in 2010 with a select group of up to twenty (20) current and emerging leaders from throughout the county. Five months later, these leaders will graduate from the program and enter a year of volunteer commitment to practice their skills. This program is supported largely by the volunteer efforts of people within the county. All funds collected in support of the program will be applied directly to out-of-pocket costs. We continue to seek organizational sponsorships to defray part of the cost of the program and to fund tuition for selected applicants.
We urge you to consider participation in Leadership San Juan Islands as a commitment to the future. Graduates of the program are asked to select a community service assignment or project for the year after graduation. We will assess the success of our project after this year of service and again after five years. We hope to see our graduates having a long standing influence, actively leading our community in positions of responsibility in employment, government, non-profit enterprise and community action.
Leadership San Juan Islands is here to stay. We begin our sixth year this fall and our long-range plan is to create a county-wide network of educated, skilled leaders to work together for the community good. Future activities to increase the reach of our program include repeating the leadership training annually, expanding our alumni association and holding occasional workshops and conferences to update our graduates on emerging community, state and national issues that affect our island life.
The program is jointly sponsored by Skagit Valley College and the San Juan County Economic Development Council. If you have any questions after reviewing this packet, please contact Program Coordinator Amy Windrope at awindrope@yahoo.com or, Bill Watson at 298-4063 or billwa992@hotmail.com
Please contact either of us if you have any questions.
Warmly,
Bill Watson at 298-4063 or billwa992@hotmail.com
Chair, Coordinating Council
Amy Windrope, 2010 Program Coordinator
awindrope@yahoo.com
Download the application form in Word format here.
Download the application form in PDF format here.
Download this (2009) introduction letter in PDF format here.
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