CIS of Georgia COO Carol Lewis (center) poses with CIS of Fitzgerald/Ben Hill ED Becky Gay (left) and CIS of Turner County ED Lisa Kingry.
Communities In Schools (CIS) of Georgia executive directors Becky Gay of Fitzgerald/Ben Hill County and Lisa Kingry of Turner County were recently selected to participate in CIS National’s Executive Leadership Development Program. The program, in partnership with the Research Center for Leadership in Action at New York University, is designed to ensure strong and visionary leaders within the CIS network.
The leadership program contains five main components: learning sessions, assessment, coaching, action learning projects and networking. Over the course of the nine-month program, participants will meet as a group three times, twice in a face-to-face meeting and once in a virtual “gathering” program.
Through the program, Gay feels she, her program and community will benefit. “I see it as a chance to not only improve my personal leadership skills, but also improve our affiliate and our community as well,” said Gay.
The purpose of the leadership program is to advance CIS’ mission to empower students to stay in school and achieve in life by:
- Building the capacity of affiliates to implement their core functions.
- Enhancing expertise to organize and increase resources.
- Growing the talent pipeline, increasing the attractiveness of CIS as a place for talented people to work and improving staff retention.
- Advancing business planning, organizational strategy, and community impact.
- Providing participants and, through their networks others across the organization, with a reusable set of tools and frameworks for making improvements in selected areas of management.
Kingry looks at this opportunity as a way to prepare others throughout the network and her own community to become better leaders. “Being a part of the program has probed me to reflect upon my leadership style and to identify my strengths and weaknesses. One of my goals is to take what I learn, share it with others and hopefully empower them to become great leaders,” said Kingry.
This is one of many initiatives provided by Communities In Schools National.