Chatham County Officials Convert Learning Moment into Teaching Moment through Leadership Class
Chatham County government employees used the team building and empowerment skills they had honed during their participation in the Institute's Management Development Program (MDP) to inspire positive change in their community. The employees raised funds to purchase and erect a stone bench memorializing victims of violent crime. The group dedicated the Memorial Bench, which is located at the Chatham County Citizens Center, on October 14, 2011.
During MDP Course 2, participants are asked to plan and implement a community service project. James Aberson, Chatham County Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator, said the MDP group discussed different projects but settled on memorializing victims of violence after they learned more about each other.
"The MDP program does a great job of breaking down barriers between class members. During that process, we discovered that one woman's father was murdered, another woman's brother was murdered, and many of us knew people who had lost loved ones to violence. So, we settled on memorializing victims of violence," Aberson said.
The memorial is engraved with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible."
Aberson said the Chatham County group hopes the bench serves as encouragement to those who have survived violent crime as well as support to the families left behind.
Chatham County government supervisors, managers, and department heads have been participating in Institute development programs since 2005. The Chatham County MDP participants graduate in December.
The Management Development Program is one of many customizable local and state government training programs designed by Institute faculty to help current and future municipal and county government managers and supervisors improve their leadership skills. The MDP, like many of the Institute's government-specific training programs, can be designed to suit client needs.
