Discover your strengths, elevate your local leadership.
Growing Local: Emerging Leaders is a six-month program designed to help up-and-coming leaders discover and build on their unique strengths so they can make a difference through local boards, commissions and elected positions.
When local leaders thrive, so do the communities they champion. By investing in the next generation of leaders, we empower individuals with the skills and confidence to address the unique challenges and opportunities facing our rural areas. These homegrown leaders understand the local context and are passionate about shaping a vibrant future for their communities. The Growing Local: Emerging Leaders program helps cultivate this vital leadership pipeline for southwest Minnesota.
Growing Local: Emerging Leaders is one part of our larger community engagement work bringing people together with innovative approaches to build vibrant and welcoming communities.
2026 Growing Local: Emerging Leaders Program Sessions
- May 19 – Launching Your Community Leadership (Granite Falls)
- June 23 – The Self-Aware Leader: Reflecting to Rise (Redwood Falls)
- July 21 – Understanding Community, Culture, and Engagements (Madison)
- August 3 – Willmar City Council (Willmar)
- August 18 – Organizing Committees that Work and Navigating Conflict (Pipestone)
- September 29 – Elevating Impact: Leading to Make a Difference (Wanda)
- October 14 – Visionary Leadership, Action, and Celebration (New London)
Mentors in Growing Local: Emerging Leaders
Many Emerging Leaders are first‑time civic leaders. Mentors support them not by directing or fixing, but by listening, reflecting, and sharing perspective. Over six months, mentors and mentees engage in three intentional conversations. These conversations create space for emerging leaders to make sense of new responsibilities, build confidence in their voice, and explore what leadership can look like in their own communities.
Mentors in this program:
- Are locally rooted and invested in the future of Southwest Minnesota
- Lead with humility, curiosity, and a willingness to learn alongside others
- Understand that leadership is evolving and context‑dependent
- Are comfortable building relationships across racial, cultural, and generational differences
- Share their leadership stories honestly, including challenges and missteps
- Support emerging leaders by asking thoughtful questions rather than offering quick answers
Mentorship in Growing Local: Emerging Leaders is relational. Mentors help cultivate confidence, encourage reflection, and model leadership rooted in care for community and place. Their role is not to define leadership for others, but to help emerging leaders recognize their own capacity to lead.
For more information
Khou Lor
Email Khou or call (320) 583-6579