Leadership Lexington is a program of Commerce Lexington designed to hone individual leadership skills and group dynamics. Participants learn from community leaders and one another in a school-year setting, August to June. The first graduating class was the 1979-80 group. Since 2007 an integral part of the curriculum has been a community project.
“The service project for each group usually ends at the conclusion of the class year,” said Amy Carrington, director of leadership development with Commerce Lexington. “We really see the projects as a way not only for students to give back to the community but to learn group dynamics, develop new skills and work with different personalities.”
Sometimes a class project gains traction beyond the program. The Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden started as a Leadership Lexington project, as did Nourish Your Neighborhood and Vision Lex, among others. Bluegrass Wellness at Work, a six-week fitness challenge, is another project still going strong. It came out of the 2012-13 Leadership Lexington class as a simple exercise challenge to improve activity levels.
“You feel better, you feel more prepared, you sleep better when you exercise or work out,” said Elizabeth Croney, one of six Leadership Lexington members who worked on the first Bluegrass Wellness at Work project. “It also brings employees together to work together to do it as a company. Everybody loves competition.”
Croney is president of KVC Kentucky, the bene ciary of the fitness challenge. A subsidiary of KVC Health Systems based in Kansas, the nonprofit KVC Kentucky is headquartered in Lexington and has approximately 200 employees in eight offices across the Commonwealth, providing services for children and families in crisis, such as foster care, adolescent substance abuse treatment, medical and behavioral health care and other social services.
“There is a huge need for our services with the number of children in foster care going up because of the heroin epidemic,” Croney said.
The fitness challenge is the biggest fundraiser each year for KVC Kentucky. “We are able to reach out and better our Kentucky community, making workplaces healthier, all while raising funds for the children and families we serve as an organization,” said Meredith Meyer, KVC Kentucky’s marketing and outreach coordinator.
Any Kentucky business or nonprofit organization can sign up for the Bluegrass Wellness at Work challenge, in Lexington or anywhere else in the state. A record 4,000 individuals from 40 organizations participated in the 2016 challenge.
“Many Lexington companies have great programs promoting wellness for their employees but no way to share their successes,” Meyer said. “The Bluegrass Wellness at Work challenge gives those organizations a chance to communicate their ideas and, hopefully, help others follow in their footsteps, all while creating a little competition, reward and a social aspect.”
The fifth annual Bluegrass Wellness at Work challenge will begin in May and last for six weeks. Companies will compete as a team against other organizations of a similar size, classified as small (fewer than 25 employees), medium (25-99) or large (100 or more). Employees can sync a Fitbit fitness tracker device with the Bluegrass Wellness at Work smartphone app to input their activity, receiving one point for every 15 minutes of exercise.
“This year, we are providing more opportunity for the participating organizations to interact with each other and become recognized,” Meyer said. “We will have dedicated social media platforms, a weekly email update and an awards celebration where employees can meet their competition and interact with each other. We have also updated our technology, allowing for more convenient point tracking.”
Sponsorship opportunities are being offered in 2017 for the rst time since the fitness challenge began.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for agencies or companies to get their employees involved,” Croney said of the challenge. “Kentucky’s children are everybody’s responsibility, and it’s a great way to help out. They’re our future.”
For the 2016-17 Leadership Lexington pro- gram, 20 pitches were made at the overnight orientation session. After a vote, four were chosen. Then class members select which project they want to commit to. This year’s Leadership Lexington members are currently working with felony expungement, a manufacturing career fair for high school students, a program building positive relationships between volunteer police officers and third-graders, and a series of community discussions in mid-March called “On the Table,” in partnership with Blue Grass Community Foundation, to provide data for the city’s 2018 comprehensive plan.
“It coexists well with some of the organizational health plans and health incentives for getting out and getting moving,” Carrington said of the Bluegrass Wellness at Work project. “I think that’s why it has done so well.”
Register for the 2017 Bluegrass Wellness at Work fitness challenge at https://kentucky.kvc. org/impact/bluegrass-wellness-at-work.