Leadership Sullivan, in sponsorship with the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce, is celebrating its 20th graduating class!

The mission of Leadership Sullivan is to develop informed and committed leaders from all segments of the community who will apply their collective experience and skills to serve, strengthen and improve the quality of life for all people who live and work in Sullivan County.

This group of emerging leaders has spent the last several months learning from current leaders and training to address the challenges facing their communities. This included taking classes in tourism, agriculture, education, media and communications, healthcare, government and politics, as well as economic development.

In addition to the education components of the program, each Leadership Sullivan class is required to complete a community service project. This year's class members are working on a project to create hygiene kits for Safe Homes to utilize in their Sullivan County location.

Founded in 1986, Safe Homes is a not-for-profit agency dedicated to assisting survivors of domestic violence, teen-dating violence, and human trafficking by providing free and confidential services. Safe Homes expanded their services into Sullivan County in 2017 and now has an office located at the County Government Center.

To date, the class has held a paint and sip fundraiser at the Liberty Firehouse and raised over $2,000, which will go toward purchasing items for the hygiene kits. In addition, there are donation boxes located around the county and the community has generously donated much-needed items to help make the project successful. Later this month, the class will work to put the kits together and hand them over to Safe Homes.

Class President Courtney Cross said, “Our class took a great deal of time picking our project and did not take it lightly. Although there are many organizations that we could have helped, Safe Homes was the one we all felt was right.”

Cross is also proud to be involved with the program. “As President of this year's Leadership Sullivan class I would say that we are certainly learning a lot about the county that we live and work in! I was born and raised in Sullivan County, but yet am learning so much about the ‘hidden gems' we have here and what obstacles the county is facing. Being a part of Leadership Sullivan is important to me because I want to help spread the good news of our wonderful county and help it grow.”

Class Facilitator Lisa Schmidt is also proud of the class. “As an alumni of Leadership Sullivan (class of 2003) I know firsthand what an amazing impact this program has in shaping the leadership of our community. Through this program, participants dedicate ten months and learn every aspect that our county has to offer. The program not only covers multiple topics, but also provides participants with access to our county leaders in each respective area, proving and ‘insider's view' into how their area of specialty works and interacts with all the other overlapping areas. This holistic approach to how the county works has created an opportunity for class members to think more critically at home, at their workplace and in the creation of their class project.”

Class Members

Katherine Barnhart (Forestburgh Planning Board), Colette Berger (Catskill Regional Medical Center), Isabel Braverman (Sullivan County Democrat), Allison Cappella (Newburgh Community Land Bank), Maura Caycho (SUNY Sullivan), Timothy Coalla (Orange and Rockland Utilities), Courtney Cross (Center for Discovery), Yolanda Diaz (Rye City School District), Stephanie Elberth (New Hope Community), Bobbi-Ann Kanoff (Care Center at Sunset Lake), Kristen Kitson (Care Center at Sunset Lake), Kristin Lockwood (Jeff Bank), Danielle Mann (Sullivan County Department of Family Services), Amber Novikov (Jeff Bank), Kassondra O'Brien-Ambrosi (Sullivan County Division of Planning and Community Development), Colleen Osterhout (Wayne Bank), Sandi Rowland (Sullivan 180), Anne-Louise Scandariato (Sullivan Renaissance), Allison Simpson (Granite Associates)