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While COVID-19 has put a number of community events on hold, the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce is going ahead with its annual Leadership Beaufort program.

Spanning several months, the program is designed to expose participants to the various interlinking facets that make Beaufort County work, including city and county government, the court system, law enforcement, the business community, educational institutions and local nonprofits.

“We feel like it’s important to have Leadership Beaufort because it educates future leaders about the community, hoping that they get involved more,” WBCCC Executive Director Catherine Glover said.

Now in its 10th year, the program has exposed professionals from a wide variety of businesses to the overall community and its inner workings. This year’s class, scheduled to commence in October, will look a little different than previous years, however.

“We’ve actually pushed the ‘getting to know you’ meeting back a month and the interactions with other people another month, in hopes we have more guidelines for what we can do,” Glover said. “We know that this year, people will probably have to drive themselves instead of being in transportation all together.”

Glover said the numbers have been limited to approximately 10 participants this year to help maintain social distancing. The cost to participate is $400, and Glover says that local businesses may be willing to help cover the cost for their employees. The meeting schedule for the upcoming year is as follows:

• Oct. 20 — Get to Know You
• Nov. 17 — Beaufort County Government Day
• Dec. 15 — City of Washington Day
• Jan. 19, 2021 — Business, Industry and Agriculture Day
• Feb. 16, 2021 — Economic Diversity and Tourism
• March 16, 2021 — Nonprofit Day
• April 20, 2021 — Education Day
• May 18, 2021 — Health Resources & Graduation

“We have a lot of people in all different job titles that go through the program,” Glover said. “Even though I’ve lived in Beaufort County all my life, I learn something new every year we put the program on.”

For more information, or to apply to participate in the 2020-21 Leadership Beaufort program, click here.