For the 20th year in the burg once christened the Hat City, the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce is asking local executives to try on a few other hats.
Leadership Danbury kicked off late last month on the campus of Western Connecticut State University, with 25 participants from area businesses and organizations meeting each other and reviewing their agenda over the next nine months.
In short, the Danbury area”™s agenda is now their agenda. Leadership Danbury is meant to introduce businesspeople to challenges facing municipal and nonprofit agencies, in order to get them more involved in the community.
At a cost of $900, participants devote a full day each month through September to discuss socio-economic issues facing the region, including economic development, education, public safety and transportation.
The cohort gets their hands dirty next month at the News-Times of Danbury, learning about how news outlets cover their communities.
The hope is the seminars will result in a new cadre of civic-minded businesspeople.
“People get burned out,” said Stephen Bull, president of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce, pointing out nonprofit agencies”™ tendency to lean on the same supporters. “There has to be a way to cultivate new volunteers to serve on boards.”
Since former Union Savings Bank head Charles “Chic” Frosch organized the program in 1989, 500 people have participated in Leadership Danbury.
The program is modeled on a U.S. Chamber of Commerce initiative. The Washington, D.C.-based organization maintains a Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC), whose programs include a “corporate community investment” component focused on how to build relationships between businesses and government agencies.
BCBL”™s financial supporters have included Fairfield-based General Electric Co., Hartford-based United Technologies Corp., and Norwalk-based Xerox Corp.
In a May 2007 survey of businesses nationally, 71 percent of respondents told BCLC that their executives participate in their communities and nonprofit organizations. By way of comparison, 65 percent of companies made cash contributions benefiting their communities; 30 percent donated equipment; and 31 percent performed pro-bono work.
While just 3 percent of respondents felt their efforts and resources are wasted, more than 50 percent feel they fall short of achieving desired results.
Programs like Leadership Danbury aim to improve on the latter number by soliciting direct input from business leaders.
In March, the Stamford-based Business Council of Fairfield County renews its Leadership Fairfield County at a cost of $3,000 for corporate participants, and $1,500 for those from nonprofit organizations.
Similar programs in Connecticut include:
Ӣ Leadership Greater Bridgeport;
Ӣ Leadership Greater Hartford;
Ӣ Leadership Greater New Haven;
Ӣ Leadership Greater Waterbury; and
Ӣ Norwalk Leadership Institute.
Bull said the Danbury program has been effective.
“When Union Carbide was here, they were probably the most philanthropic company in terms of both volunteers and resources ”“ they set the standard,” Bull said. “When they downsized and went out of business, there were a number of other companies that had to step up to fill the void. Cartus, Duracell, Boehringer Ingelheim, Praxair ”“ they all really made a big splash.”
