The Rural Voice, 1985-01, Page 11sminmomt
jects funded by the organization.
Foundation bylaws, Hannam notes,
"are structured very well so no one
group controls it; it is a truly co-
operative effort all the way around."
Since the foundation's funding base
is limited, Hannam adds the founda-
tion must limit its activities to just a
few projects.
"With the size of the leadership
project and the book project, we have
just committed all the resources we
have at the moment."
As rural Ontario is facing new
challenges, which means that future
leaders should be well-educated in
provincial, national, and interna-
tional affairs, this fall the foundation
and three co-sponsors announced the
ground -breaking Advanced Agri-
cultural Leadership Program.
The program will choose 30 men
and women between the ages of 25
and 40 from farms and agri-business
who have already demonstrated
leadership qualities and a potential
for further leadership development.
During a two-year period the leader-
ship trainees will be immersed in
workshops and seminars around On-
tario. The topics that the future
leaders will discuss include structure
and issues of Ontario government
and economic policies in Ontario,
fiscal and monetary policies of the
federal government, the media — its
influence and effectiveness,
Canadian -American relations, and
trends in agriculture and society. Or
as the foundation's brochure says,
"The aim of this project is to groom
informed and understanding leaders,
capable of successful organization
and perceptive decision-making on
public issues affecting Ontario's
agricultural and rural communities."
The prestigious U.S. organization,
the Kellogg Foundation, initially re-
quested the University of Guelph to
consider establishing a rural leader-
ship development program similar to
programs offered in U.S. states, Han-
nam says. But by the time Ontario
people applied to the U.S. foundation
for seed money, the foundation "had
decided not to fund anything outside
of the United States, except in under-
developed countries. Canada didn't
qualify," Hannam says with a smile.
But as the Foundation for Rural Liv-
ing board and the University of
Guelph had done so much planning
on the proposed leadership program,
"We decided to find out some way of
Peter Hannam,
president of the
Foundation for Rural
Living: "We searched...
for a vehicle by which
we could co-operate
and bring a lot of
resources Together to
benefit new projects
which would benefit
agriculture."
JANUARY 1985 9