Young professionals in Huntsville want to know how they can help non-profits for an upcoming series of community service initiatives in Huntsville/Madison County.

Connect, the young professionals program of LHMC, is actively soliciting ideas from Huntsville/Madison County’s many non-profits on things they need to be successful and provide services to their stakeholders.

This call is part of Connect’s new “Initiative” program element.

Harrison Diamond, Chair for Connect Class 20, said Initiative is just one way the volunteer program committee is trying to revamp Connect.

“For the past 19 classes, we’ve had projects. We’ve had some successes come out of these, but not the impact we really wanted. With the Initiative, we are taking a market-based approach to identifying real issues facing our community and providing solutions to help solve those problems. This Class of 50 represents the future of Huntsville of Huntsville/Madison County. They are driven, they have skills, and they want to make a difference.”

Andrew Gipner, a volunteer with the program and the lead on the Initiative, added, “Our goal is to have Class 20 learn lessons in servant leadership through the Initiative. They’ll be given a real problem and tasked with solving it. We think this will not only help the class members, but also help worthy non-profits. It’s the ultimate win-win.”

The areas of focus for the class are:

Education/Youth

Healthcare

Diversity & Inclusion

Young Professionals

Environment

Entrepreneurship/Local Business

The deadline to apply is August 25.

Interested non-profits should contact Danielle R. Barnes, Program Director at Leadership Huntsville/Madison County, or e-mail connect@leadershiphsv.org. The application can be found here: http://www.123contactform.com/form-2851249/Initiative-Proposal