The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce announced yesterday that it will travel to Indianapolis for its 30th Annual Leadership Trip on Oct. 12-14 to learn about the city’s leadership, civic structure, education reform and downtown revitalization. Jacksonville’s top business and civic leaders will see first-hand how Indianapolis’ leaders transformed the city by focusing on several key initiatives.

Those on the trip will meet with various Indianapolis leaders, including those from the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP), which is similar to Jacksonville’s civic council, and the Indy Partnership, which serves functions similar to those of the Cornerstone Regional Development Partnership and the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.

Education is another focus and leaders will learn about Indianapolis’ support of the Talent Dividend program and The Mind Trust, an Indianapolis organization that has dramatically improved public education for underserved students by empowering education entrepreneurs to develop transformative education initiatives. Leadership Trip attendees also will learn about holistic community development, which focuses on redeveloping neighborhoods by creating good charter schools with mixed-use, mixed-income housing and retail and cultural recreational venues.

More information about the 30th Annual Leadership Trip and the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce is available online at www.opportunityjacksonville.com.

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