From providing professional clothing and career training to high school students to creating new funding opportunities for classroom teachers, this year’s Leadership Ascension participants are working to ensure their community projects continue making an impact long after the program ends.
The Ascension Chamber of Commerce’s leadership development program divided participants into four teams, each tasked with identifying a community need and developing a project to address it.
The teams—Threads of Opportunity, Pencils and Possibilities, Ascension Impact Initiative and Spark Ascension—will present their projects Thursday at the Ascension Chamber’s regular monthly meeting as the program’s latest class prepares to graduate next week.
Threads of Opportunity is helping Ascension Parish high school students prepare for the workforce by providing free professional clothing and career development workshops.
The eight-member team established career closets at Prairieville and Donaldsonville high schools, where students can select business attire for job interviews, career events and other professional opportunities.
Susan Kliebert, Threads of Opportunity’s project manager, says the initiative grew out of discussions about education, workforce preparation, and creating a sustainable resource for students.
Over three months, the team collected more than 2,500 articles of clothing through donation drives at local businesses, community events and social media outreach.
The group also developed workshops focused on resume writing, personal branding and mock interviews, helping students build the skills and confidence needed to enter the workforce.
Kliebert says the initiative is particularly relevant as Ascension Parish continues attracting industrial and commercial development, creating new employment opportunities for local residents.
“We have got lots of opportunity coming to the parish,” Kliebert says. “We need to set these kids up for success, and we can do that by aligning the resources that we already have in the parish, and then basically helping these students.”
The program began at Prairieville and Donaldsonville high schools, but Kliebert says the team has already received interest from Dutchtown High School and other community organizations.
River Parishes Community College has agreed to continue the career development workshop component, while team members explore creating a nonprofit organization to sustain and expand the career closets.
Pencils and Possibilities partnered with the Ascension Fund to expand financial support for local educators while creating new opportunities for community involvement.
Chad Gomez, the team’s project manager, says the nine-member group wanted to develop a project that would continue benefiting students and teachers after the leadership program concluded.
“When we got together, we had nine different ideas, and the only thing we could agree on at first was that we wanted to do something that we can make a difference in and have something that’s going to be sustainable,” Gomez says.
The team helped establish an annual grant-reading event that brings volunteers together to evaluate classroom grant applications submitted by Ascension Parish teachers.
The group also organized the inaugural Ascension Fund Feud, a locally themed game show fundraiser held at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center.
The event generated a positive financial return in its first year and helped the team reach its goal of establishing a $10,000 endowment through the Ascension Fund.
The endowment is designed to provide recurring financial support for classroom grants, increasing the resources available to educators seeking funding for instructional materials and improvements.
Gomez says the goal is to help the Ascension Fund award grants to a larger percentage of applicants. He estimates that roughly 60% to 70% of teachers who apply currently receive funding.
The other two Leadership Ascension teams focused on nonprofit organizations and public safety:
- Ascension Impact Initiative: The team partnered with five nonprofit organizations, completing projects for the Ascension Council on Aging, Ascension Community Theatre, the Alzheimer’s Association, The Arc of Donaldsonville and Volunteer Ascension. Projects included repairing a gazebo, organizing theater props, improving an outdoor living space and supporting Alzheimer’s awareness efforts. The group also helped Volunteer Ascension launch an online platform connecting volunteers with nonprofit opportunities. The platform registered approximately 70 volunteers and 13 organizations in its first month. Atmos Energy has committed to funding the volunteer platform’s second year after the team funded its first.
- Spark Ascension: Led in part by project manager Jesse Wingate, chief of training for Ascension Parish Fire District 3, the team developed a fire safety education curriculum for elementary schools. The program includes interactive lessons, activity books, take-home exercises and Spanish-language materials, along with sensory packs for students with special needs. Bluff Ridge Primary served as the pilot school, with plans to expand the curriculum to other Ascension Parish elementary schools following a meeting in May. The team also established an endowment through the Ascension Fund to support emergency services education and help sustain the initiative beyond the leadership program.
Read a previous Ascension Business Report article on Leadership Ascension.
