Excelsior Springs, Mo. – Thrive Excelsior is opening applications for its 2026 Citizens Leadership Academy, a free sixteen-week program designed to help residents, workers, and students understand how Excelsior Springs really works. The spring cohort runs from February through mid-May and offers both daytime and evening options, depending on applicant availability.
The academy is designed for anyone who considers Excelsior Springs their community. Kim Halfhill, the Citizen’s Academy organizer and owner of KH Consulting, said Thrive’s definition extends beyond the city limits. “We see our community as the full zip code and the school district,” she said. “Anyone who lives, works, or learns in Excelsior Springs is part of it.”
Sessions rotate through locations many participants may have never been to before, despite living here for years: the library, the hospital, the water treatment plant, various city departments, nonprofits, and more. They are designed as two-way, engaging exchanges, not presentations. Community leaders explain their work, and participants ask questions, float ideas, and get firsthand answers.
Each week focuses on a specific theme, with speakers who explain both the work they do and the challenges behind it. A health and wellness session might include the hospital, the SAFE prevention coalition, and first responders. A civic session might walk participants through budget decisions, rate setting, and how departments overlap.
Halfhill said this is intentional. A major goal of the academy is to help people see Excelsior Springs as an interconnected system rather than a collection of unrelated issues. As an example, she said, “the attendance rate in the school district is connected to economic vitality, which is connected to health and wellness.”
The academy’s impact is already visible. Several cohorts have completed the program, and last year they doubled the number of graduates, many of whom have begun stepping into local leadership roles throughout the community. “Three of the five city council members have been through the Citizens Leadership Academy,” Halfhill said. Others now serve on boards and commissions or have become active in their neighborhoods.
High demand in recent years has led Thrive to expand. For 2026, the organization hopes to run both a daytime cohort (meeting weekly for 1.5 hours) and an evening cohort (meeting twice a month for two hours). Each section needs at least 10 participants to launch, and final session times are chosen after reviewing applicant availability to make schedules accessible for as many people as possible.
Thrive is also exploring future expansions, including an alumni track for returning graduates and a student version of the program geared toward high schoolers. But for now, Halfhill said the priority is offering a strong 2026 class and encouraging residents to take the first step toward getting involved.
“Communities are run by the people who show up,” she said. “This is a great first step for anyone who wants to understand their community better and figure out how to be part of it.”
Applications for the spring 2026 Citizens Leadership Academy are open now at thriveexcelsior.com.
If you appreciate the value our local journalism brings to the community, please consider making a recurring contribution to the Excelsior Citizen!
