Malvern chamber classes promote citizen service
MALVERN — From now through May, 10 residents of Hot Spring County are going to take one day each month to learn more about their community and about leadership in the annual Leadership Forum sponsored by the Malvern/Hot Spring County Chamber of Commerce.
“It is a nine-month series where on a Thursday, they will attend the chamber’s monthly breakfast meeting, then spend the entire day getting to know their community better, how it works and what are its strengths and needs,” said Nikki Launius, executive director of the chamber. “We then hope those citizens will want to find a way to serve to help their community improve and prosper.”
The class for 2013-2014 had 21 members, but Launius said that large size was unwieldy for transportation and during tours in the county.
“We often had to break the class up into two or three groups,” she said. “This year, everyone can stay together.”
Launius said all the class members hold jobs in the area, and it is important that their employers support the members taking time to attend the classes.
“Diamond Lakes encourages their employees to be involved in the community,” said Jamie Brown, head teller of the Diamond Lakes Federal Credit Union in Malvern and a member
of the 2014-2015 Leadership Forum. “I am looking forward to the leadership training and finding out more about my hometown. I have lived here all my life, but I have already seen there is a lot I don’t know.”
The group had its first meeting Sept. 18 at the Hot Spring County Museum in the Boyle House on Third Street.
“We met with members of the Hot Spring County Historical Society, and they talked about the history of the area,” Launius said. “Dr. Schoonmaker started his leadership workshop with an introduction.”
Stephen Schoonmaker, president of College of the Ouachitas in Malvern, will hold monthly sessions on the types of leadership and ways to increase leadership skills.
“Having had a class on the foundations of leadership, we will be covering things like problem solving, decision making, coaching, team and group dynamics, communication and civic responsibility,” he said. “We want to awaken what motivates the class members about being leaders and help them get in touch with what kind of leaders they would like to become.”
Along with attending the leadership classes, the 10 members of the forum will meet with the Hot Spring County Quorum Court, mayors, school district superintendents in the county, and judges, as well as area police and fire chiefs, along with the Hot Spring County sheriff.
The group will also tour Baptist Health Medical Center Hot Spring County, one of the Acme Brick factories, the National Guard Armory, the Arkansas Capitol and the Clinton Presidential Library.
“The class members get to know how the city and counties run,” Launius said. “They learn how many people are involved, the incredible jobs they do to serve the community and how the services they receive are funded and managed.”
Brown said she had never really gotten involved in the community until she volunteered to work on the Brickfest Committee to plan the annual festival in Malvern last year.
“I want to be involved. I don’t know in what — Brickfest or economic development,” she said. “I might want to get into local government. I just need to find my spot, but this is the best place to start.”
David Cross, a member of the leadership class of 2013-2014 and owner of a construction company, has also taken a big step in community involvement. Shortly after the class ended, Cross ran, without opposition, for a position on the Malvern City Council. With a vacant seat open, he was appointed to take his seat on the council for the unfinished term. The term for which he was elected will begin in January.
“My biggest impression from the course was Dr. Schoonmaker talking about the different kinds of leadership, including group leadership,” Cross said. “Next year, there will be a new mayor in Malvern working with the City Council, and each member will have their own perspective on the job. I want to help the group work for the citizens.”
Cross, another Malvern native, said the idea to run for a seat on the council came during one of the classes.
“It was a question to [Malvern City Council member] Wayne Reynolds about what it takes to run for City Council that made me think about it. I just didn’t know it would be that quick,” Cross said. “It should not have been that easy. There should have been others preparing to run. I didn’t know this was available, but after the class, I got involved.”
The connections made in the class are the building blocks of alliances that could lead to important advancements for the community, Launius said.
She said the close connections of spending a year together learning about the community and discussing leadership helps to bring in new people and new ideas to community programs.
Brown said she is especially looking forward to a trip to the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock to see the Legislature in session and meet with the county’s representatives in the Arkansas General Assembly.
“I have never been to the Capitol before,” she said. “I want to see the Legislature at work.”
Many chambers in the region offer leadership classes within their communities. Some classes include a community-service project by the class members.
Several years ago, the Clark County Leadership Class took up the need to improve the Arkadelphia Farmers Market. The class received the support of the city and helped fund a covered facility in a city park that doubled the size of the existing farmers market. Projects like the one in Clark County help hold the classes together into the next year, or longer, until the projects are finished.
Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 2444460 or at wbryan@arkansas online.com.