Connect
Designed specifically to recognize and engage emerging leaders for increased community involvement, personal growth, and professional development. Opportunity to network with peers across business sectors. Includes out of town closing retreat.
Applications for this program are now closed. Applications for C-25 will open on April 1, 2022.
Overview
Annual ten-month program designed for emerging leaders who are passionate about our community and ready to fully invest. Connect provides professional development segments, jam-packed program days, and links groups of participants to non-profits and organizations that will benefit from their involvement and perspective.
Participation & Selection
Connect recruits emerging leaders from every sector across greater Huntsville. Class members are selected by a combined committee of Connect graduates, local leaders, Leadership Greater Huntsville Board Members, and Leadership Greater Huntsville staff.
Selection is based on high standards of personal integrity, a record of achievement in community activities, desire to increase community involvement, the ability to set and attain goals, and the commitment of necessary time and effort to complete the program. Connect classes usually include 40-50 participants.
Connect class members are expected to attend all program days. Dates are posted online prior to application and selection.
Connect Class 24
August 2021 - May 2022
Orientation: August 18, 19, & 20, 2021
Human Services: Thursday, September 16, 2021
Public Safety: Thursday, October 21, 2021
Local Economic Development: Thursday, November 18, 2021
Education: Thursday, December 16, 2021
Local Government: Thursday, January 13, 2022
Diversity, Inclusion, & Equity: Thursday, February 17, 2022
Health & Wellness: Thursday, March 10, 2022
I Heart Huntsville: Thursday, April 21, 2022
Impact Retreat: May 11, 12, & 13, 2022*
Graduation: Thursday, May 19, 2022
*Out of Town
Tuition: $3,500
Program Content
Connect runs from August through May with participants meeting one or two times per month, usually between the hours of 7:00 am – 7:00 pm. Each Program Day focuses on one area of the overall community. Small-group Initiatives are completed throughout the year to facilitate community engagement and provide an opportunity for class impact and continued investment in greater Huntsville.
"As a graduate and now a volunteer, I have witnessed and experienced how Connect shapes and changes lives. I have seen how ordinary individuals, with a sense of community service and a desire to give back, have realized that they have the power to be change agents in our community. Once that force is unleashed, great things happen and the character and strength of our community continues to be enhanced because of Connect."-David Little, Keel Point, L-30, C-10, I-3