The Winning Communities Big Picture involves big players from each aspect of a community. We strive to create partnerships among Winning Communities, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS), the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, community leaders, elected officials and businesses. These partnerships ultimately lead to better communication in order to accomplish similar goals.
The NCAA has been in the news lately and not always with positive stories. Working with Winning Communities is one way the NCAA can improve its reputation in the media and generate positive news stories. The NCAA strives to emphasize the student in the student-athlete, and I’d like to take that one step further by underlining student leader over athlete.
In places without a college or university, I look to the National Federation of High Schools to step in and provide those student leaders to improve the community. We give them great, practical responsibility as leaders of a public process developing a Community Vision/Action Plan. They learn valuable skills as they work with community leaders as peers during the process.
The “Big Picture” also involves using the resources of leadership centers, such as the Greenleaf Center. These centers can hone in on specific skills that help student athletes develop into leaders within the community. Watch this video to learn more about their instrumental role in making this a successful project.
The process could not be successful without the help of elected officials, businesses and community leaders. These individuals bring the expertise needed to teach student leaders the valuable skills they will take away from the project. It is also important for the individuals to gain a sense of community unity from the project. With the addition of leaders in different fields and industries, the process is guaranteed to represent the different aspects of the community.
Is this something that can make a difference in your community? We think it can! Feel free to contact Winning Communities if you think we can help 
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