Leadership Monroe County has selected 24 participants for its 34th class, bringing together community leaders from across the Florida Keys for a yearlong program focused on the people, issues and institutions that shape Monroe County.
George Garrett, president of Leadership Monroe County, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about the organization.
Leadership Monroe typically selects about 22 participants, but the latest group was strong enough that the selection committee decided to accept all 24 candidates.
“We usually do 22 slots, and we just all agreed, ‘Look, they’re all great. Let’s take them all,’” Garrett said.
Garrett said the quality of the applicants stood out during the selection process. He quoted Lou Caputo, a former undersheriff with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and a member of the Leadership Monroe County board, who said he had never seen a class in which it was so difficult to separate candidates from one another.
“I’ve reviewed a lot of classes, and I think 17 now, and he said, ‘I really have never seen a class where I couldn’t just immediately separate out some members of the requesting class,’” Garrett said.
The new class includes representatives from a wide range of businesses, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, education, health care and other community institutions.
Garrett said the diversity of backgrounds is one of the things that makes the Leadership Monroe County program valuable.
“We have some folks with just a broad spectrum of the county, which I think is always what makes Leadership Monroe County classes that much more interesting and fun,” he said.
The program consists of intensive single- and multi-day sessions held throughout Monroe County. Participants learn about the county’s major industries, government agencies, environmental challenges, military presence, history and other issues affecting the Keys.
The first session for the new class will focus on tourism and will be held in Key West in early October.
Garrett said Leadership Monroe County has increasingly incorporated history into each session to give participants a better understanding of how the Keys developed.
“Each session has a historic component,” Garrett said. “We’ve started to try to build a history component into each of these sessions.”
The tourism session will include a look at the history of the Keys’ tourism economy, including its development during the Great Depression.
The second session will focus on the Everglades and will span three days. Participants will begin in the Upper Keys, visit the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority to learn about the county’s water system and then travel to Everglades City, where they will stay at the Rod and Gun Club.
Garrett said organizers are also hoping members of the Miccosukee Tribe will participate in the session and share some of their history and connection to the Everglades.
Another session that Garrett said consistently captures participants’ attention is the military-focused program.
This year, the military session will include a visit to Joint Interagency Task Force South, commonly known as JIATF South, which coordinates efforts involving drug trafficking and other transnational threats in the Caribbean, Central America and South America.
Garrett said the organization provides participants with an opportunity to see how international cooperation works firsthand.
“There are over 25 countries represented in the JIATF South buildings,” he said. “Literally people from those countries … can take action on the part of their country.”
Garrett said a member of JIATF South will also be part of the new Leadership Monroe County class.
The program also includes a community project, with Garrett saying last year’s class was particularly proactive from the beginning.
“They just gelled,” Garrett said of the previous class. “They walked in the door already knowing what their class name was going to be. They walked in the door knowing what they thought their project was going to be.”
Leadership Monroe County was founded in 1992 and has produced hundreds of graduates who have gone on to leadership roles throughout Monroe County.
Garrett said the organization is approaching 1,000 graduates.
“Each class starts out, and just as part of a team building, each class is the best class,” Garrett said. “Really takes nothing away from previous classes. It’s really just a statement that you build on the shoulders of the people that precede you.”
In addition to the educational sessions, Leadership Monroe County holds fundraising activities, including a festival planned for early March. The organization also begins looking for candidates for future classes as the current program year progresses.
Garrett encouraged residents who are interested in community leadership to consider applying for the 35th class or a future class.
The program requires a significant time commitment, but Garrett said participants benefit from the opportunity to learn directly from people and organizations throughout the Keys.
Leadership Monroe County’s 34th class will now begin its yearlong program, with sessions covering tourism, the environment, military affairs and other aspects of life in Monroe County.
For more information, click here: https://leadershipmonroecounty.org/