Community Members Rise Up to Show Others How to Lead

Annie Bierbower; Senior Coordinator of Public Engagement; City of Fort Collins

Local elected officials, community leaders and City of Fort Collins staff are coming together to teach people how to make their voice heard at the local level on any budget or schedule. City staff will discuss feedback tools, City budget, and volunteer opportunities while elected officials tell you exactly how best to reach them and when. Space is still available for the event which is Wed. Aug. 1 in the Colorado River Community Room at 222 Laporte Ave. There will be a light meal and networking at 5:30 with the event going from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Each attendee will walk away with at least one tool or resource to facilitate their involvement in civic engagement whether they have 30 minutes a week of 40 hours a month.

Featured Speakers Include State Senator John Kefalas, District 14; City of Fort Collins Councilmember Kristin Stephens, District 4; and Annie Bierbower; Senior Coordinator for Public Engagement at the City of Fort Collins.

This free training and event was conceived by a group of Leadership Fort Collins alumni that got together after the program to discuss a plan for the next level of leadership. “The importance of involvement in local government and the lack of awareness surrounding how/when to engage kept coming up,” wrote Julianna Kobs one of the alumni. “We thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to create a training event on advocacy that could target anyone who is interested in getting involved.”

“We’ve heard over and over that even five people attending a county meeting together can make a difference in how our commissioners vote. We know that small groups of people can make big change on the county and city level,” Kobs wrote about the inspiration to put this together.

Register for the event at https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4463967/Make-Change-Without-Change- Local-Leadership-on-Your-Schedule-and-Budget