Community leaders from across Bryan County have recently graduated from the Board of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development’s 2012 Multi-Day Training Program in Region 12.

Bryan County graduates include Noah Covington, Pembroke Advanced Communications and county commissioner-elect, Ron Elliot with Fort Stewart/HAAF, and Jennifer McCorkle with the city of Richmond Hill.

Class participants represented a number of professional and non-professional economic development fields, including elected officials, public servants, business leaders, educators and social service providers from Coastal Georgia. The curriculum provided 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 all 12 service delivery regions in Georgia.

“One of the goals for the multi-day regional academies is to encourage multi-county cooperation,” said Corinne Thornton, director of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development. “Many times the participants discover 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.”

Georgia EMC and Georgia Power provide facilitators for the program, and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs provides staff support. The next Region 12 Georgia Academy for Economic Development will begin in August 2013.

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