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.
Applications for this year have closed. Meet our 2025 Growing Local: Emerging Leaders cohort.
For more information
Khou Lor
(320) 583-6579
[email protected]
2024 Growing Local: Emerging Leaders cohort graduates 13
“It has been a humbling experience to grow alongside these 13 leaders. Through our cohort sessions, 1:1 interactions and intense laughing I have been able to witness each one of them share their growth and passion for what it truly means to be a leader in rural southwest Minnesota,” said Southwest Initiative Foundation Rural Equity Specialist Khou Lor, who launched this program in 2023 and serves as its coordinator.
New this year, all Growing Local: Emerging Leaders sessions were hosted in person, giving participants a chance to visit eight communities in the region.
