The Community Education Center’s Leadership Elk County program (LEC) has selected its Community Projects for the spring of 2016. The objective of the project is to provide LEC participants with an opportunity to learn how to make a direct and visible impact in their communities through service to an organization or agency. “We consistently hear that nonprofits and public agencies need added capacity and help for certain short term projects,” said Kate Brock, executive director of the CEC and Leadership Elk County Advisory Board. In the fall, local nonprofit organizations submitted applications to LEC requesting volunteers to assist with a specific need. “We received more requests for volunteers than we can provide, so we had to carefully select and combine the projects where feasible,” says Brock. LEC participants will be volunteering with the following agencies and projects: Headwaters Charitable Trust and Local’Motion will be developing a local Community Supported Agriculture program; the Ridgway YMCA will be updating a pavilion located in their parking lot; Oak Manor will receive assistance in identifying grants to increase accessibility and mobility in their homes; Ridgway Chamber of Commerce will benefit from fundraising events or programs to restore the gazebo on the Courthouse lawn; Dickinson Center will utilize LEC volunteers to facilitate an awareness campaign for aging and mental health issues; Community Nurses and Elk County Catholic High School will partner with LEC to expand Senior Outreach services and explore the creation of a program to provide senior citizens with basic non-food necessities. The LEC program is offered through the Community Education Center in partnership with the Ridgway/Elk County and St. Marys Area Chambers of Commerce.  The ten month program is aimed at educating its participants in the strengths and weaknesses of the county in order to develop informed, civic oriented volunteers to help direct the future of Elk County.  More information can be found at www.leadershipelkcounty.com or by calling the CEC at 781-3437.
 
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