Saturday, March 25, 2006

Recognizing Young Leaders

I’ve been very impressed with the idea of holding periodic community leadership breakfasts at three of the Lee Newspapers in Decatur, Carbondale and Mattoon/Charleston, IL. Last week I presented “Entrepreneurship as the Paradigm Shift in Economic Development” in Charleston to approximately 400.

Publisher Carl Walworth of the Journal Gazette and Times-Courier started a program to honor 20 under 40, a group that is often ignored in many towns. Of note was that in the first year of the program in 2004, there were 2 of the 20 who were entrepreneurs; in 2005 there were 4 and this year there were 8. I asked the attendees if anyone else noticed a trend taking place in Coles County? This entrepreneurial trend is a growing one in the USA.

What are you doing to encourage young people and entrepreneurs in your town? Do you have a program to honor them?

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