NEW BERN – Community leadership takes commitment, resilience, an understanding of the truth about local challenges, and most importantly, a pledge to work with others to create positive change.

“Nobody is talented enough to do it alone,” said Brandon Pitman, a member of the Cooperative Extension Strategic Planning Council. “You have to work hard, and you have to work with other people. When you bring people together, it makes it easier.”

Pitman was one of about 100 North Carolinians who attended the 2022 Grassroots Leader Conference, held Nov. 2 at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center by Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T. Each year, the conference brings together elected and civic leaders, volunteers, Extension professionals and audiences, farmers and business owners, families and youth to network, learn about community development initiatives, and identify strategies that support equitable decision making and problem solving in their communities.

With the theme of Developing Community Resilience through Grassroots Empowerment, the one-day event focused on discussions and strategies for grassroots leadership in rural areas and the importance of developing skills that can be used to help and empower others. The conference featured breakout sessions on issues such as capacity building, resiliency for small farmers, and creating pathways and connections that result in community change. Martha Walker, Ph.D., a retired community viability specialist at Virginia Tech University and Virginia Cooperative Extension, delivered the keynote address, focusing on how to be a leader who is trusted and inspires others to take action and use their own leadership skills.

“This conference is about putting knowledge to work,” said Tharesa Lee, a community leader in the New Bern area who attended the event. Lee said she has introduced others to the yearly GLC, including those interested in voter registration, programming for youth, and nonprofit leaders looking to sharpen their skills.

“One of the best things about it (the Grassroots conference) is they focus on leadership at the grassroots level in rural North Carolina and believe our rural counties are worthy enough to receive this knowledge and do things with it,” Lee said. “They teach you to look beyond yourself, to listen to people and talk to people.”

Marian Booth, a strategic planning council member, an Extension volunteer in Beaufort County and a former Extension 4-H program assistant and educator, has attended several Grassroots conferences and said she routinely brings what she learns back home.

“I’ve seen youth and adults grow from this experience,” she said. “And I’ve taken what I’ve learned and shared it with local leaders, and they’ve used it. When you instill these skills in people it’s going to mean good things.”

Michelle Eley, Ph.D., center, greets constituents including Shelina Bonner, left, extension agent, family and consumer Sciences, during the 2022 Grassroots Leadership Conference at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center in New Bern. Eley, the conference organizer, is a community and economic specialist at North Carolina A&T’s Cooperative Extension.

Michelle Eley, Ph.D., community and rural development specialist with Cooperative Extension at A&T, said the conference was created to help communities create opportunities for their residents and meet new challenges head on. This year’s conference offered 19 speakers addressing a wide range of topics, including health equity and access, affordable housing, disaster preparedness and how to write grants for community improvement projects, she said.

Pitman, who lives in Mitchell County near the Tennessee border, has attended several GLCs and uses ideas from the conference to work with local leaders in his community interested in programming for youth and adults.

“It’s the best kept secret in North Carolina,” he said. “If you get people to attend one conference, they’ll be hooked for years to come.”

Added Booth, “It’s empowering and it’s from the heart. That’s the difference.”