Mayor Pro Tem Dave Emanuel was one of the graduates from the 2019 Region 3 Multi-Day Training Program hosted by the Board of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development.
Participants represented a number of professional and non-professional economic development fields, including elected officials, public servants, business leaders, educators, and social service providers from ten counties.
"This series of classes provided excellent, useful information, much of which can be applied to Snellville," Emanuel said. "In addition to classroom presentations, we saw first hand what other cities have done to attract new businesses and support existing businesses. Each city's situation is unique, but there is a common thread of assessing the current business and community environments, formulating plans to improve them and putting those plans into action."
The Academy provided each of the graduates an opportunity to gain a unique understanding of the complexities of economic and community development on the local, regional, and state levels.
Created in 1993, the Academy assembles a cross section of economic development professionals and resources to provide this training in all 12 service delivery regions in Georgia.
"One of the goals for the multi-day regional Academies is to encourage multi-county cooperation," says Kelly Lane, director of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development. "Many times the participants discover the issues facing their community are the same as those facing other communities in their region, and can then combine limited resources to address the issue."
The Academy's multi-day program, taught one day a month over a four-month period, includes training in the basics of economic and community development, plus specialized segments on business recruitment and retention, tourism product development, downtown development, planning, and other essentials for community success. In addition, the curriculum features specific leadership skills such as consensus building, ethics in public service, collaborative leadership and other segments needed for effective community leadership in economic development. Local elected officials may receive certification training credits through the Association County Commissioners of Georgia and the Georgia Municipal Association for completion of this program.