By MATT PIKE
St Joseph Post
Funds received from the Patterson Family Foundation will help further the mission of Leadership Northwest Missouri.
Board President Rachel Davidson says Leadership Northwest Missouri is extremely honored to receive these funds.
"The board and our executive director are going to work hard to do a lot of things on a very small budget," Davidson tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "But specifically, those funds are going to be used to help us continue our programming for up-and-coming leaders in the northwest region."
Davidson says the $2,000 grant will be a tremendous help
"So, our mission is to build, strengthen, and inspire leaders, and those generous funds from the Patterson family are really going to help ensure that each of our classes of leaders has an exceptional experience," Davidson says.
Davidson says the mission of Leadership Northwest Missouri is to help educate community leaders to help the region grow. Leadership Northwest Missouri covers 19 counties.
Davidson says while the mission of Leadership Northwest Missouri focuses on the classes, some of the bigger successes it has seen came outside the classroom.
"There's a lot of big names that I can think of who are alumni, we have over 400 alumni in our region now, and they've done things like create Great Northwest days down at the capital in Jefferson City," Davidson explains. "And lots of other really amazing initiatives that are really improving the lives of those in our communities."
Davidson says the classes that Leadership Northwest provide are more than professional development training, they become an inspirational journey of personal growth
"It's all about the relationships that we build with those who we work with, both at our job and in our community, and relationships are so key in our society right now," Davidson explains. "It's about really getting to know someone on a different level and understanding what their needs are, rather than just having autocratic leadership of telling somebody what to do."
Davidson says she knows from personal experience that these classes work in changing lives, being a graduate of the class of 2019.
You can find more information about Leadership Northwest Missouri HERE.