Commentary: Leadership programs in Colorado important to keeping

The Colorado Leadership Alliance (CLA) is an organization that includes most of the leadership programs at the state's higher learning institutions.

There are nine schools in Colorado with leadership programs, including Colorado State University at Pueblo's Presidents Leadership Program, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs' Chancellor's Leadership Class and the Air Force Academy's Center for Character Development.

All three local programs are members of CLA.

I wasn't aware of the overall group until last week, when I attended a luncheon in Denver during which Colorado Springs' very own Marta Erhard received the 2007 CLA Outstanding Friend of the Year Award.

While we here in the Springs are afraid that our young people are moving to Denver, Denver is concerned that they are leaving the state.

Metro Denver's economic development Web site sums it up like this: "The Metro Denver Story is the tale of two regions. The first is a thriving and diversified economy propelled by the growing technology sectors and containing one of the highest average education levels in the nation. The second is a pipeline into the work force from the school systems that is increasingly 'leaking,' resulting in a low percentage of Metro Denver's students finding their way to the high skill, high wage jobs that are being created in the region. These two different regions are on a collision course, as the failure of the pipeline becomes the failure of businesses in the region, and ultimately the failure of the regional economy. The phenomenon has become known as the 'Colorado Paradox' and the recognition has caused increased anxiety among business, government officials, economic developers, educators and other community leaders."

Gov. Bill Ritter said in a statement included in the program that "it is always encouraging to hear of Colorado's business leaders meeting and working with our student leaders. These events are beneficial for both parties and help move Colorado forward with the forging of new partnerships and the mutual distribution of ideas."

I figure the university leadership programs are a great step toward growing our own talent for Colorado's work force. The first university leadership program was founded in 1972 by William Coors (Coors Brewing) and William Douglas (Boettcher Foundation) at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The El Pomar Foundation also is a financial supporter of CLA.

Now pretty much every institution of higher learning has a program. Colorado College has a program called the Public Interest Fellowship that supports a graduate working for a nonprofit organization.

The CLA rolls up under the Denver Metro Chamber's foundation. From the business leaders in attendance at the luncheon I could tell that investment in our future work force is solid in Colorado. As Joe Blake, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce said, "young people are 20 percent of our population but 100 percent of our future."

These leadership programs can really make a difference and help build our communities. I was somewhat surprised that Colorado College was not represented at the CLA luncheon. We need to work on getting them involved.

I hope that all the great young people in our state's leadership programs choose to stay in Colorado and continue using their skills in our business community.

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