An interview with Investment / Compliance Associate Bobby Adusumilli, who recently completed the 2022-2023 Signature Program with Leadership Toledo. This interview is part of our Stories of Giving & Achievement Series, highlighting community involvement efforts. If you are interested in learning more about Leadership Toledo, please visit their website.
Bobby, can you tell us about Leadership Toledo and their mission?
Leadership Toledo is an organization that connects individuals with the community, engaging and involving them with initiatives that make the Toledo region a great place to live, work, and enjoy. Their mission is driven by four goals:[1]
Lead - Become a more confident leader
Connect - Become more connected to your community
Grow - Grow stronger in self-awareness
Serve - Identify service that is meaningful to you
Leadership Toledo offers various programs for both students and adults focused on getting more involved in the community. Their Youth Leadership Toledo for high school sophomores as well as their Signature Program for adults involve day-long sessions throughout the year focusing on different community involvement and leadership topics around the Toledo-area. The Youth in Philanthropy Encouraging Excellence (YIPEE) for high school Juniors and Seniors as well as the Spark program for adults aim to inspire philanthropic action. Leadership Toledo also hosts a Youth Conference and a Community Leadership Series.[1]
How did you get involved with the Signature Program? What did you do throughout the year?
A lot of people in the Toledo-area have been involved with Leadership Toledo in some way. My sister as well as a couple of my friends were in Youth Leadership Toledo when they were in high school. Additionally, my colleagues Andrew Schaetzke and Rachel Keesey were part of the Signature Program in the past. Because they enjoyed the program so much and met many people through the program, they encouraged me to apply for the 2022-2023 class.
With nearly 50 people in the program, we met as a large group once a month from August to June, with each day focusing on a particular topic:
August: Meet & greet
September: Opening retreat
October: Project selection
November: SIMSOC - Simulated society
December: Servant leadership
January: Health & human services
February: Criminal justice
March: Education
April: History & regional development
May: Cultural arts
June: Closing retreat
Additionally, each person was part of a small group (4-6 people) that worked on a project with a local non-profit organization. In my case, five of us worked with the Cherry Street Mission Ministries to develop employment training and work opportunities for guests of the organization.
2022-2023 Leadership Toledo Signature Program Cohort at the Opening Retreat at Oak Openings Preserve Metropark. Source: Leadership Toledo.
Did you have a favorite program day?
One of the great things about the Signature Program is that each month has a different focus, so I learned about a wide variety of topics. Even though I grew up in the Toledo-area, I was surprised at how little I knew about the city’s history and all the interesting things going on today.
While there were a lot of great days, I probably most enjoyed the Education Day. That morning, eight of us toured the Toledo Pre-Medical and Health Science Academy, which is a Toledo Public Schools (TPS) high school designed in partnership with ProMedica to help prepare students for careers in a medical profession while still fulfilling their general education requirements. The school is new, but it was very evident that the students have already learned a lot about medical-related topics. Two underclassmen led us through the tour, and we were very impressed by their communication skills and knowledge. This school seems like a good education path to keep students engaged, learning, and moving along to careers that they are looking forward to.
We spent that afternoon at Rogers High School, where we heard a panel of superintendents speak about their daily lives, successes, and challenges of their jobs. Each superintendent serves a different community, so hearing the variety of challenges and the solutions was fascinating to me. We also learned more about Connecting Kids to Meals, which offers after school and summer programs to provide hot, nutritious meals at no cost to kids in low-income and underserved areas throughout the entire year. This day further confirmed to me that there are really great organizations in Toledo serving children and education.
2022-2023 Leadership Toledo Signature Program Cohort at the Criminal Justice Day. Source: Leadership Toledo.
What was your project? How did it go, and what was the outcome?
Cherry Street Mission Ministries (CSMM) is a downtown Toledo-based organization committed to delivering solutions that will reverse the cycle of poverty for people in our communities through providing meals, temporary housing, working development training, and employment opportunities.[2] In order to further enhance their workforce development training and employment opportunities, CSMM is looking to create social enterprise intervention (SEI) businesses for their guests. Their first SEI business - a food truck - is expected to go live this year. Cherry Street Mission Ministries asked our five-person Leadership Toledo team to help come up with the idea and business plan for their second SEI business.
Our team met every few weeks to work on this project. We first discussed potential ideas for the specific business. Once we decided on the business idea, we put together a 14-page business plan covering the products, services, training curriculum, equipment, target market, marketing, organizational structure, potential revenue, expenses, key metrics, and milestones. We presented our business plan to the CSMM team, which they seem very enthusiastic about and feel that this is an SEI business that they could sustain. I don’t want to spoil their plans, but stay tuned to Cherry Street Mission Ministries for their next SEI business within the next year or so!
Team for the Cherry Street Mission project. Source: Cherry Street Mission Ministries.
How can the community get involved with Leadership Toledo?
Leadership Toledo has a variety of events for people around Toledo to attend. Their Community Leadership Series spotlights exceptional leaders and organizations within the greater Toledo region. Additionally, each Fall, Leadership Toledo has an Annual Breakfast where you can meet the team, students, adults, and alumni of the programs to learn more about the organization. I think the team at Leadership Toledo - Anna, Arika, Danielle, Elizabeth, and Nicole - is really spectacular, and it’s amazing to me how well they run the Signature Program; you can reach out to them via the website if you would like to learn more about Leadership Toledo.
I am really grateful to have been part of the 2022-2023 Signature Program. My hope is that one person from the SJS Team is able to participate in the Signature Program each year as a way to further connect us with and support the Toledo community.
2022-2023 Leadership Toledo Signature Program Cohort at the Closing Retreat. Source: Leadership Toledo.
Important Disclosure Information & Sources:
[1] “Leadership Toledo“. Leadership Toledo, leadershiptoledo.org.
[2] “Our Mission“. Cherry Street Mission Ministries, cherrystreetmission.org.
Hyperlinks to third-party information are provided as a convenience.