Student‑led 'Building a Vibrant Community' class forms alumni group to sustain civic engagement

Emily Evers, an economic development staff member and student at South Florida State College, told the board about the Building a Vibrant Community sessions the EDC/IDA helped organize. Evers said she led session seven in October 2024 and is co‑facilitating session eight, which reached its third week earlier this month.

Evers described the program as a community‑focused book study based on the work of Quint Studer, a leadership and community‑building practitioner; the curriculum emphasizes civic engagement, downtown revitalization, education, housing, healthcare and infrastructure. Evers said the class combines chapter readings with facilitated discussion and application exercises meant to prompt local problem‑solving.

Evers said recent class sizes ranged from about six who attended one prior session to roughly 20 signups for the current session, with about 10 attendees consistently participating. She presented an image of five of eight graduates and said staff want to turn the class into an ongoing alumni network that would meet quarterly to sustain engagement, share insights and support county initiatives such as downtown revitalization. The alumni group is inspired by Studer’s CivicCon concept, Evers said.

Board members praised the program for broadening participation across different community networks and for introducing residents to economic development work. The chair and other members encouraged board members to read the book and participate when possible.