Putnam County Leadership Academy

05/27/2026

Great work, Joey!

05/14/2026

05/13/2026

Congratulations 2026 PCLA Graduates!Thanks to all of our Community Partners and to all those who came out to support these leaders today.

05/06/2026

Industry Tours today! Thank you Tad Christy from Buzzi Unicem and Todd Lee from Phoenix for hosting us today. We also heard from Kristin Clary the Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center Executive Director.

04/30/2026

Wow! What a day! Our session was hosted by Jane Hazelton of the Putnam County Public Library. Community Partners were Julie Thompson from 100 Women Who Care, Paul Jedele & Vince Aguirre from 100 Men Who Care and Tammy Keenan from Ivy Tech-Greencastle. We also heard from DePauw University Professor, Dr. Rachel Goldberg who presented on Conflict Resolution. We were able to tour the soon-to-be new 95-seat movie theatre. It was an honor to be the first group to see the space! Thank you Jason Chew for the invitation! We cannot wait to see it completed and go watch a movie in this fantastic venue in the fall! We wrapped up our day with our annual business etiquette dinner at Bridges. Thanks to all who made today a wonderful experience!

04/23/2026

Session 8 found us at the Putnam County Museum! Thank you Rachel Barr for hosting us. Kudos to Mayor Dunbar and Commissioner Woodall for joining us for a discussion about local government. Other topics included parliamentary procedure, nonprofit board member duties and soft skills.

04/18/2026

Thanks to our current class and alumni who joined us at the Emerald Palace 2.0 community service project this chilly, rainy Saturday morning. We ended up missing some in our group photo but are thankful for the many hands who pitched in to make our park playground a better place for all.

04/16/2026

Thank you Jason Chew of DePauw University for hosting us today as we learned about the Growing Green and Gold Together Project. We also heard from Laura Elsbrock of Area 30 Adult Education about the Workforce Training Program and Amanda Laney from Modern Woodman Fraternal Financial who discussed financial management and retirement.

04/10/2026

Saw several PCLA Community Partners, PCLA Alumni and one current leader participate in the Area 30 Career Fair today. This Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center sponsored program had 29 employers and 509 students attend!

04/09/2026

2026 Putnam County Tour. These leaders are troopers! Their ability to be flexible is much appreciated! We started out great as we left Ivy Tech and headed to DePauw Nature Park, Clinton Falls and Portland Mills. Shortly after entering Russell Township the wheels started spinning, literally! We made what was to be a brief stop at Mt. Pisgah Cemetery to visit Jinsie’s Great, Great Grandparents. Let’s just say I hope they enjoyed our visit as it lasted a little longer than we had planned. The wet ground proved too much of a challenge even for the best bus driver in Central Indiana! Lucky for us JR has friends everywhere and within minutes, thanks to the Fordice Family, JR had chains and a tractor and we were back on the road. We stopped to visit with Darrell Wiatt at the Russellville Community Center. Thinking our worries were behind us, it was surprising when 911 reached out to inquire if we were all okay as a life alert button had been accidentally engaged. It could have been a random coincidence, but it appeared we were being escorted out of town by the fine volunteers of the Russellville Fire Department as we made our way to 236. We did make it back to Greencastle on time with plenty of laughs shared and historical wisdom learned. Thanks to JR & Jinsie for grand adventurous day!