On Thursday and Friday, October 8 and 9, Macon-Bibb County will hold a two-day Youth Leadership Summit for its 2015-2016 Georgia Civic Awareness Program for Students (GCAPS) cohort. Thursday night’s activities include a welcome reception at the Hilton Garden Inn with Mayor Robert Reichert and Mayor Pro Tem and District 5 Commissioner Bert Bivins at 3:30 p.m., as well as a tour of Mercer University from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
On Friday, students will be in the Presidents Dining Room at Mercer University for most of the day to hear from the statewide GCAPS coordinator and local government and community leaders, learn about Macon-Bibb County, and discuss the ConnectHome Service Project. At 11:00 a.m., they will be shown a presentation and given a tour of Tattnall Square Park by Dr. Andy Silver. At 3:00 p.m., they will be in Leadership Training in the Stetson School of Business and Economics.
To watch a feature video from MaconBibbTV
about GCAPS, click here.
About Macon-Bibb GCAPS
In September, Macon-Bibb County announced its second cohort for the statewide leadership program, an initiative of the Association County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) . (The former Bibb County participated for the two years prior to consolidation.)
This year’s class of 31 student leaders (a full list that is available by clicking here) came from a pool of more than 60 applicants, and they were introduced at a special event at the Cox Capitol Theatre in Downtown Macon on September 1. To view pictures from that event, check the GCAPS Facebook page by clicking here.
On September 8, the students had their first session, which was hosted by the Emergency Management Agency as part of National Preparedness Month. To view pictures from that event, click here.
Students in GCAPS will see how government works, what’s changing through consolidation, and how they can be involved with and improve the community now and in the future. Throughout the course of the year, students will take part in team-building exercises, attend Commission meetings, tour county facilities, visit the State Capitol, attend the ACCG Conference in Savannah, and interact with local and state leaders.
About ConnectHome
Macon is one of 28 communities across the nation designated to pilot ConnectHome, a White House initiative that calls for a platform of collaboration between local governments, public housing agencies, Internet service providers, philanthropic foundations, nonprofit organizations, and other relevant stakeholders that will product local solutions for narrowing the digital divide.
Among the support for Macon’s ConnectHome designation is a $288,500 grant from the James M. Cox Foundation to EveryoneOn to fund an innovative pilot program providing 1,500 tablet computers, pre-loaded with premium educational content, to local families are are enrolling in Cox Communications’ Connect2Compete Internet service program. Call 478.227.9990 for more information.
EveryoneOn is a national nonprofit that aims to eliminate the digital divide by making high-speed, low-cost internet, computers and free digital literacy training accessible to all unconnected U.S. residents. For more information about EveryoneOn, visit EveryoneOn.org.