Spartanburg leaders reconnect to recognize 15 years of Grassroots Leadership Development Institute

The Spartanburg County Foundation held its first reunion to reconnect graduates of the Grassroots Leadership Development Institute (GLDI) in recognition of the initiative’s 15th year. The event featured a special presentation by Mary L. Thomas, chief operating officer of The Spartanburg County Foundation, and Gladys Washington, deputy director for the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation in Winston Salem, NC. Thomas and Washington were integral to the development and implementation GLDI and spoke about the initiation of the Institute and will discuss the importance and impact of the program in Spartanburg County.

“I have seen leaders emerge in our area due to their participation in the Grassroots Leadership Development Institute,” said Thomas. “The beauty of the Institute is that it is for diverse individuals who are deeply rooted and want to make a positive difference in their communities. We have seen nonprofit and faith leaders, young people, and newly retired people graduate from the program. Strengthening the leadership skills of a wide range of people will help maximize the positive reach throughout Spartanburg County and beyond. This program was designed to build the capacity of changemakers, and it is powerful to see so many of them here in one room tonight.”

Since 2004, Spartanburg individuals have had the opportunity to participate in GLDI, a special initiative of The Spartanburg County Foundation, which emerged out of the Strengthening Voices Initiative. Strengthening Voices was developed and implemented by Mary L. Thomas and The Spartanburg County Foundation upon the release of alarming statistics released in Community Indicators V, a report published by the Spartanburg Community Indicators Project in 2002. In its infancy, Strengthening Voices sought to build the capacity of nonprofits working with Spartanburg families and to build the individual capacity of the people served by those organizations. The Foundation leveraged $80,000 of its limited grant dollars and formed successful partnerships on the regional level with the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, and Clemson University’s S.C. Center for Grassroots and Nonprofit Leadership to initiate GLDI.

Today, GLDI is a free program that helps strengthen individual leadership skills and is designed to equip participants with the knowledge, skill-set, and resources to be effective in leading change throughout the greater Spartanburg County community and beyond. Participants commit to the seven-month program where they meet one Saturday per month to increase their ability to make a positive difference on the local, regional, and national levels.

For the past 12 years, the City of Spartanburg has joined the Foundation as a sponsor by sending several of the City’s local neighborhood leaders through the Institute, thereby increasing their ability to bring about significant change in their neighborhoods.