Programs

Established by Mayor Michael B. Coleman in 2012, the mission is to develop the city leaders of tomorrow by providing an orientation of the City of Columbus to include Science, Technology, Arts, History, Education, Health, Nutrition, Social Services, Law Enforcement, Safety, Government, Economic Development and Community Service through hands-on learning opportunities and meetings and mentoring by current city leadership.

Audience:

This leadership opportunity is open to CITY OF COLUMBUS middle school age children, grades 6-8 and ages 10-15. Academy nomination forms will be distributed through the schools, recreation centers and other youth serving agencies beginning in February each year. Participants will need to be recommended by an administrator or teacher in order to be considered.

Goals:

Introduce up to 20 middle school age children (age 10-15) each year to the Discovering Columbus Summer Camp and the school year City Leaders Academy.
These children must be residents of the City of Columbus.
The hope is the selection process will render a very diverse group of forward-thinking children, eager to learn all about their city.
Partnerships with schools and youth serving agencies.
Explore the city with field trips to various places that make Columbus tick.
The greatest goal is to display how great the City of Columbus is and impart a sense of pride so these children remain in the City of Columbus by attending college here and maintaining their residence here to be the next wave of city leadership or just good, productive citizens.
Introduce the City Leaders to a leadership project to promote both individual growth as well as foster team building. Currently, we are looking to focus on studying childhood obesity as well as planning for the first Middle School Summit to occur in the Fall of 2013.