City of Taylor revamping its leadership program

TAYLOR, Texas (KXAN) — The City of Taylor is revamping its leadership program to help develop its community for the future.

Taylor has had a leadership program for a while called LEAD Taylor, which stands for:

• Leadership
• Exploration
• Advancement
• Development

The program will be overseen by Daniel Seguin, who is the communications director with the City of Taylor. Seguin emphasized that revamping the program was needed to bring real engagement to the community.

"The [previous] program wasn't accomplishing those values and those goals, and so this year we really decided we wanted to make it something special," Seguin said. "We wanted to make it something that is engaging community members and helping to build leaders, that can, bring Taylor into the future."

The revamped program will begin in January and consist of nine total classes. Each class will happen once a month for an entire day across nine months. Here are what the different classes would be about:

• Personal and professional development
• Local Government
• Education
• Industry
• Economy
• Nonprofit and Healthcare
• Quality of Life and History
• Public Safety

"We are facing significant growth, we're just ahead of it," said Rachael Westerman, the membership director of the Taylor Chamber of Commerce. "To put something like this in place and then let this grow with the physical growth of the community is going to be a game changer."

In 2019, Taylor population was estimated to be 17,383. According to the CAMPO 2045 Plan, its estimated the population could increase up to 45,611.

To apply and qualify for the program, you must live, work, or own property in Taylor. People who are running for political office during the class would not be able to apply.

Click here to apply for the program.