The board of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development recently announced graduates from the 2013 Region 12 multi-day training program.
The graduating class included representatives from Liberty County.
Class participants represented a number of professional and non-professional economic development fields, including elected officials, public servants, business leaders, educators and social-service providers from Coastal Georgia.
The academy’s multi-day program, taught one day a month over four months, includes training in the basics of economic and community development, plus specialized segments on business recruitment and retention, tourism product development, downtown development,  quality planning, redevelopment and other essentials for community success.
In addition, the curriculum features specific leadership skills such as consensus-building, ethics in public service, collaborative leadership and other economic-development segments.
Created in 1993 by then-Gov. Zell Miller’s Development Council, the academy assembles a cross section of economic-development professionals and resources to provide this training in all 12 service-delivery regions in Georgia.
Since its organization, the academy has provided training for thousands of professional and non-professional economic developers. Georgia EMC and Georgia Power provide facilitators, and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs provides staff support.
“One of the goals for the multi-day regional academies is to encourage multi-county cooperation,” academy director Corinne Thornton said.  “Many times the participants discover the issues facing their community are the same as those facing other communities in their region and can then combine limited resources to address the issue.”
For more information, call 478-278-9434 or email tina.hutcheson@dca.ga.gov.