Local leadership is the foundation for a resilient region. Louisiana Central’s leadership programs engage regional residents around some of our core initiatives, including Food Systems, Outdoor Recreation, and Entrepreneurship. With programs offered annually with workshops that help individuals become empowered to engage within their community on issues of importance to them.
Current Programs:
- Louisiana Food Fellows – introduces food systems from a grassroots perspective. Offers workshops in community food systems, policy, outreach, and community organizing. With more than 50 graduates across the state, our longest-running leadership programs ensure that participants become more confident local food leaders in their community and gain a better understanding of their role in the food system.
- Entrepreneurship – Entry-level entrepreneurs learn all about the mindset of success in the skill-building leadership program designed specifically to take participants from side hustle to growth-oriented business. Learning the ins and outs of how to think and act like an entrepreneur with a program that emphasizes accountability and action!
- Outdoor Recreation Fellows – introduces outdoor recreation from a grassroots community growth perspective. Offers workshops that introduce outdoor recreation possibilities, community organizing, asset mapping, outreach, outdoor recreation entrepreneurship, and community projects. With the inaugural cohort formed in 2021, this program will lay the groundwork for grassroots development of an outdoor recreation economy in central Louisiana; home to the state’s only National Forest, only federally designated wilderness area, multiple national wildlife refuges, the state’s longest hiking trail, and only designated wild and scenic river.