Three Local Leaders Chosen for Leadership Now

WARREN, Ohio – Three local community leaders have been chosen to take part in the Leadership Now: Ohio Fellows program, an eight-month program aimed at helping build community networks.

The three accepted through a statewide application process are Sarah Braun, network action team manager for the Eastern Ohio Education Partnership; Hannah Ferguson, vice president of Silence Prevents Education and Knowledge and cofounder of The Colony; and Deaudra Edgerson, an advocate with Headstart and vice president of the Emerging Leaders Alumni Association at the Raymond John Wean Foundation.

Statewide, 24 participants were chosen for this cohort.

Developed by the Ohio Transformation Fund and the Rockwood Leadership Institute – with funding from local and national foundations including the Wean Foundation – Leadership Now engages participants in workshops covering communication, relationship management and network mapping, as long as individual coaching “to build community networks to drive statewide strategy.”

Braun is a licensed social worker with a master’s degree from Columbia University and a baccalaureate from Brown University. As a manager for the Eastern Ohio Education Partnership, she works to improve education and career readiness in the Mahoning Valley. She also works as an adjunct professor at Youngstown State University’s social work department.

In addition to her work for Speak and The Colony, Ferguson is a recent graduate of the Women in Entrepreneurship program at the Youngstown Business Incubator working to open an urban winery in Youngstown. She has a bachelor’s from Kent State University and an MBA from Keller Graduate School.

Edgerson, with a degree in applied science from YSU, has worked with several organizations in the Valley to advocate for low-income families. She has worked as president of Bridges Out of Poverty Student Union at YSU and assistant director of Trumbull County Take Flight.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.