Two Liberty County leaders recently graduated from the Georgia Academy for Economic Development’s 2011 multiday training program in Region 12.

Barbara Martin from VanDuser, GeoVista Credit Union and Daniel Clark with the Liberty County Chamber of Commerce were among the class participants who represented a number of professional and nonprofessional economic development fields, including elected officials, public servants, business leaders, educators and social-service providers from Coastal Georgia.

The curriculum provides insights into the complexities of economic and community development on the local, regional and state levels.

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 the 12 service delivery regions in Georgia.

"One of the goals for the multiday regional academies is to encourage multicounty cooperation," said Corinne Thornton, director of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development. "Many times, the participants discover (that) 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."

The next Region 12 Georgia Academy for Economic Development will begin in September.

For more information, call Teresa Concannon at 912-536-5723.