Signature Program Graduation Requirements

Attendance

We want our Signature Program participants to get the most out of their investment – so we require attendance at the following:

  • Opening Retreat (held over 2 days in August)
  • Nine monthly class sessions, September through May
      • Class sessions typically last from 8:20 am until 4:30 pm. Cohort members are expected to attend the whole class period, but may miss up to 16 hours of class time over the course of the program year.
      • Cohort members will receive detailed agendas with exact times and locations prior to each class session. 
  • Closing Retreat (held over 2 days in June)

Dates for each program year are set before the application period for that year, so potential applicants can decide whether they are able to commit to those dates.

Community Meetings

Being an informed, engaged leader means knowing and understanding what’s going on in your community. So, we require all participants to attend two (2) community meetings over the course of their program year.

These meetings can include but aren’t limited to:

  • City or Town Council
  • County Commissioners
  • County Council
  • School Board
  • Non-Profit Boards: YMCA, Red Cross, Hamilton County Tourism, HCLA, Prevail, Boys & Girls Club, Janus, United Way, etc.
  • Events discussing the state of our local communities (e.g., State of Tourism, State of the Workforce, etc.)

Note: meetings that a participant already attends as part of their job and/or volunteer service do not count toward this requirement. 

Community Collaborative 

During each class day, we take a deep dive into topics that are key to understanding Hamilton County. We can’t cover everything in a class day, though – and that’s where the Community Collaborative comes in.

Through the Community Collaborative, cohort members take a deeper dive into a class day topic of their choosing. Each Community Collaborative group is led by a mentor, typically an HCLA alum, who is a subject matter expert in that topic area.

The groups are expected to meet at least four times over the course of the program year. Meetings will last about 90 minutes. Participants are expected to make every effort to attend these meetings. Missing 2 or more meetings may impact a participant’s ability to graduate from HCLA.

At the Closing Retreat, each Community Collaborative group will give a 10-15 minute presentation on what they learned over the course of the year.