Civic & Leadership Development

Below you will find regional and county-level civic & leadership development goals, housing baseline statistics, success stories for communities making positive impacts in the civic & leadership realm, and resources for implementing best practices in your community.

Civic and Leadership Development are those items that work to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and develop the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation of our citizens and our leaders. Through this pillar, we aim to assist our communities in developing leadership skills and programs for engaging both citizenry and local leaders in community and economic development. Throughout the Regional Community Strategic Planning Process conducted as part of BRADD’s 2022-2027 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, each of BRADD’s 10 counties set goals and objectives address civic & leadership development needs in their communities. Additionally, BRADD has several regional goals targeting civic & leadership development. A summary of both the regional goals and county goals and objectives can be found in the tabs to the right. 

Civic & Leadership Development at a Glance

BRADD tracks regional data points across multiple categories, including civic & leadership development. A snapshot of civic engagement in the region is displayed here.

0
ky residents volunteer their time
0
KY Residents Do Something Positive for the Neighborhood
0
estimated worth of volunteer service in KY
0
KY Residents Donate More than $25 to Charity
Local Success

City of Scottsville:
Mayor’s Podcast

You can listen to a podcast anywhere, which is one reason Burch thinks they are so popular. Because of this, Mayor David Burch decided that a podcast would be the perfect platform to share news and information with the City of Scottsville.

Additional Resources

For more ideas, tools, and and example projects check out the links below.

Civiccon: Empowering pensacola through civic conversations

This 23-page guide brings ideas from the nation’s leading thinkers and experts on community building via a video series.

mayors innovation project

This 10-page PDF file outlines seven essential steps to take, all proved, with real-world examples and implementation examples for hastening a community’s recovery and building resilience for the future.

harvard business review

In this publication series from CEDIK, researchers examine issues around housing in Kentucky. Including: Housing Availability, Trends, and Commuting Patterns. CEDIK also provides profiles for each county.

Serve Kentucky

This website provides numerous resources for building nonprofit capacity within the Commonwealth.

community toolbox


This toolkit website helps in developing a plan for enhancing leadership and its core tasks. The website also includes a number of example projects and success stories.

Serve Kentucky

Serve Kentucky is a State Service Commission. In addition to overseeing the annual grant competition that awards funding to AmeriCorps State and other community service programs, it also determines social needs in the state, sets policy and program priorities, provides training and assistance, supports national days of service, and promotes service and volunteering.

Community & Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky

This website maintained by UK outlines numerous resources for building community leadership including building youth engagement and resources for downtown development teams.

Leadership Kentucky

This website provides an overview of the various state-wide leadership programs provided by Leadership Kentucky.