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

Beverly Johnson from the Long County Tax Assessors’ Office and Anthoney Smith with the Long County Development Authority 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.

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.”