Thirty-four community leaders attended the first Civic Circle hosted by the Community Foundation of Hancock County in 2023. Registration is now underway for this year’s eight-month session, which kicks off Feb. 21
HANCOCK COUNTY — Community leaders are invited to register for an upcoming series called the Civic Circle, hosted by the Community Foundation of Hancock County.
The series — designed to foster a sense of collaboration within the county — will take place throughout the course of eight monthly sessions starting Feb. 21.
Each free session takes place from 12:30-4 p.m. the third Wednesday of each month at the foundation’s Thrive Center in Greenfield.
The Civic Circle is one of four modules within the Community Foundation’s Talent Pathway, which debuted last year, offering multiple ways for people to get involved with propelling the county forward.
As a community callout for the Civic Circle states, “in addition to gaining knowledge about various civics topics, you will form or strengthen valuable connections in the community with other participants.”
Renee Oldham, executive director of the Mt. Vernon Education Foundation, said attending last year’s session was a nice way to network with fellow leaders who share a passion for serving the community.
“It was great meeting with a group of people you hadn’t met with before,” said Oldham, who was among the 34 people who participated in the first Civic Circle last year.
“There was a high caliber of individuals that are working intentionally to make Hancock County the best place to live, work and raise a family … Hearing different perspectives and coupling that with data was really interesting,” said Oldham, whose career has been based in community development.
“Getting people to be able to collaborate collectively is a needed function in our county. It provides a better understanding of how and what makes the community work and how it can work better and more efficiently,” she said.
Kathy Locke, a member of the Greenfield Board of Works, also appreciated the opportunity to network with fellow leaders at least year’s sessions.
“It’s been a really great opportunity for me,” she said. “I learned a lot of new things and had the opportunity to meet several people around the county that I did not know, so I felt like that was a real positive, and I thought that all the speakers were really quite good.”
Last year’s series featured participants from all four corners of the county, said the community foundation’s president, Mary Gibble, who hopes the same will be true this year.
Networking is a huge part of what the Civic Circle is all about.
“We hope to prepare and inspire people to use their talents to elevate daily life, civic leadership and business leadership across Hancock County,” said Gibble before the inaugural series kicked off last year.
Registration for this year’s series runs through Jan. 31.
Participants can mark their calendars for the following sessions to take place throughout the year:
Civics — Feb. 21
Markets — March 20
Communications — April 17
Issues — May 15, June 19
Quality — July 17
Practices — Aug. 21
Teamwork — Sept. 18
For more information or to register, contact visit CelebrateHancock.org/events.
