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Milwaukie reports strong enrollment for Leadership Academy; city invites council participation
Summary
City events staff reported that the Milwaukie Leadership Academy has strong enrollment for 2024–25, will run October–June, and aims to connect residents to municipal operations; staff invited councilors to meet participants at sessions.
Milwaukie’s events and volunteer coordinator told the council on Sept. 16 that the city’s Leadership Academy is running again with strong interest and an expanded roster of participants, and invited council members to sit in for individual sessions.
"I am Dan Harris. They, them," the coordinator said in the opening of the presentation. Harris described the program as a multi-session course designed to familiarize residents with how city government functions and to encourage civic involvement. The 2024–25 cohort opened with roughly 33 registrants; historically the program begins with about 25 registrants and finishes with roughly 20–25 who complete the majority of sessions. Harris said about 16 participants had completed more than half of the sessions in the most recent year and that the current cohort may settle at approximately 25 attendees after typical attrition.
Classes run October through June, generally on the third Wednesday of each month from 5:45 to 8 p.m., and include three field trips (the Public Safety Building, the library, and the Johnson Creek campus) and presentations from multiple departments. Harris said organizers try to avoid scheduling that conflicts with commonly observed holidays and intend to offer hybrid participation when feasible. The coordinator noted graduates of past cohorts have gone on to serve on neighborhood associations, community groups, planning commission and as council president.
Why it matters: The Leadership Academy is an outreach and civic-education program that prepares residents to participate in boards, commissions and community groups and helps diversify the pool of applicants for volunteer roles. City staff said the program is open to residents and, in practice, tends to include a small number of people who live in nearby unincorporated areas; staff follow up with applicants whose ZIP codes indicate non-city residence to confirm they understand the program’s focus on city government.
What’s next: Harris said registration will open again next August/September and invited council members to attend individual sessions; he said the program will continue to coordinate schedules to avoid excluding residents who observe different holidays.
