Megan Miers, Manager, Leadership Programs
LEAD YP is a six-month leadership development program the DRC designed to help young professionals gain a better understanding of their personal leadership styles, as well as new insight into leading and inspiring others throughout their careers. A key component of the program is community improvement projects, which incorporate the DRC’s mission to make the Dallas Region the best place in the United States for all people to live, work, and do business. The projects allow program participants to create plans to solve real-life issues in the DRC’s focus areas of economic development, education and workforce, public policy, quality of life, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
As business leaders, this year’s LEAD YP class members are uniquely positioned to advocate for improvements in the community and to support companies that are doing the same. Like their peers who worked on economic development issues, four class members took on a project in the area of education and workforce.
Education & Workforce Group
Haley Coates-Huseman, Jubilee Park & Community Center
Jorge Garces, Arcosa
Melanie Guthrie-Sanders, Team One
Sarah-Michelle Stearns, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Considering the many acute challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the LEAD YP education and workforce team focused on the impact on education from pre-kindergarten through high school. The group connected with administrative staff at the DRC, the Dallas Independent School District (DISD), and local nonprofits to identify the main ongoing concerns for students, most notably retention and learning loss. The project objective was then to provide young professionals with specific, ongoing opportunities to get involved locally to address these concerns. The group highlighted four organizations in Dallas young professionals can dedicate their time to:
To learn more about the education and workforce group’s work, read their complete research paper and watch their full project video.
If you are a young professional or work with outstanding young professionals at your company, contact Megan Miers, Leadership Programs Manager, at 214.746.6751 or mmiers@dallaschamber.org to learn more about the DRC’s YP programs and see how you can impact change in the Dallas Region.