Mercer County Leadership Academy
Project Guidelines
The topics for your class project have been selected from what the committee feels will
be of interest to you and the Mercer County community. Since your papers will be made
available for community leaders, media, and others to read, we expect a quality job. The
purposes of the written projects are:
1. To give those working on the projects a greater insight to the complexities of the
community.
2. To give community bodies already concerned with the problems possible new
avenues for solution or further insight to the problem.
3. To give Mercer County Leadership Academy participants the opportunity to
discuss community concerns with leaders most involved with those concerns.
4. To give each Mercer County Leadership Academy participant some expertise in
dealing with one concentrated area of community concern.
Written Report
The written report shall:
1. Be a minimum of 5 typed pages (double-spaced) but shall not exceed 15 pages,
not including the title page (see example), table of contents, executive summary,
and bibliography.
2. Include a statement of the project.
3. Include an executive summary (no more than one page) that is separate (not
bound) from the paper.
4. Include conclusions and recommendations.
5. Exhibit appropriate grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
6. Be submitted in 25 copies.
Oral Presentation
The oral presentation will take place at the graduation ceremony and shall:
1. Be strictly limited to a maximum of 10 minutes.
2. Utilize visual aids, handouts, and other techniques as appropriate to the topic.
3. Provide an overview of the written report, including a statement of the project,
conclusions and recommendations.
4. Demonstrate participation of each team member.
SAMPLE COVER PAGE FORMAT
Mercer County Leadership Academy
Class Project 2004
Committee Topic:
(Insert Topic)
Committee Members:
(Insert Names)
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Date
Mercer County Leadership Academy
Project Topics
1.
Agri-Tourism - Tourism could give Mercer County an economic boost. Identify
current agri-tourism attractions in Mercer County. Research various types of tourist
attractions that could possibly be located in or around Mercer County. How could
we draw these attractions to the area? What would be the economic impact? Would
it increase or decrease the quality of life in Mercer County? Choose one attraction
and expand on the how, what, and why's for Mercer County.
2.
Non-Traditional Marketing - What are some ways that we can promote Mercer
County besides the traditional use of newspaper and radio? How do we get the word
out to our surrounding communities? Do we have the resources available for nontraditional marketing? Could this possibly assist in drawing families and new
businesses to Mercer County?
3.
Downtown Revitalization - In the past our focus has been on changing the
downtown area. What are some ways to revitalize our downtown areas? Where do
we start? Can this be done using resources that we already have in Mercer County?
Discuss with the businesses located in the downtown area about the different
possibilities? Should this be the center of the community, how can we make it more
appealing to current and future residents?
4.
Technology - With technology changing at a rapid pace, how can we as a small
communities face those changes? What is available in our communities that we are
not using already? What resources are available now that weren't in place five years
ago? How far ahead or behind are we in technological issues when compared to
other similar-sized areas? How would this impact the economic development of our
communities? How do we get the existing populace to buy into our technological
efforts? By facing these challenges head on, will this increase the amount of traffic
in our communities? Where do you think we will be in two, five, and ten years in
our technologic efforts?
5.
Newcomers - For new families moving to Mercer County, how can we get them to
be active in the community? Would a support group for new residents help? What
committees exist now that would help with the introduction of those new families?
Should a welcoming committee be established? Identify families that have recently
moved to Mercer County and families that have decided not to move here. Research
the various reasons these families choose Mercer County as their new home and the
various reasons the other families choose not to move here. Could Mercer County
take action and improve on the reasons these families choose not to relocate here?
Are there additional amenities that Mercer County could easily obtain that may
attract families to this area? Compare Mercer County to other communities of
similar size. Survey local residents and retailers as well as outlying residents and
retailers to re-affirm your findings.