LEAD Coalition of Bay County, Inc

The LEAD Coalition of Bay County is a diverse, public-private partnership among cross-sector community organizations. LEAD is an acronym for Leadership, Empowerment, and Authentic Development.

Our vision is to have engaged residents actively working together to develop safe, affordable, and sustainable neighborhoods. We will achieve this by LEADING by example. We will build
trust through a unified effort, based on a common vision that creates safe and resilient
neighborhoods that benefit the people living there.

LEAD had been working in underserved neighborhoods since 2014. The organization's
mission was primarily crime prevention, and LEAD Coalition offered programs or activities
designed to provide positive alternatives for youth and young adults away from negative
influences and dangerous paths. LEAD partnered with Gulf Coast State College and several
community agencies and organizations to offer both after-school and summer programs to
students and their families at two Title I middle schools. Other programs included a Construction
Workers Basic Skills workshop that has more than 120 graduates, a Crime Prevention Summit
held for three years with over 400 attendees, and a forums series Voices Against Violence
attended by more than 650 people between 2016 and 2018.
In response to the Community Development needs after Hurricane Michael, LEAD partnered with
Community Bank and offered Community Credit Workshops to more than 100 attendees. Nearly
60 attendees then signed loans totaling $43,500 to help them improve their credit. Clearly, the
need for such programs was evident. The LEAD Board of Directors adopted this Strategic Plan in
December 2019.