The Buckeye Bluegrass Regional Leadership Academy (BBRLA) is a year-long leadership development program for mid to senior level practitioners in the field of Public Health in Kentucky and Ohio. The purpose of BBRLA is to support local health districts in the Ohio-Kentucky region to strengthen their organizational structure and leadership through 1) the development of strategic and succession plans, and 2) the identification and training of high-potential employees for future senior leadership roles.

Buckeye Bluegrass Regional Leadership Academy is an outgrowth of Ohio's and Kentucky's highly successful individual Public Health Leadership Institutes (OPHLI and KPHLI) which are affiliated with The Ohio State University College of Public Health's Center for Public Health Practice and the University of Kentucky College of Public Health. This new regional approach will draw on the best of both states' programs, as well as collaborations with other regional institutes across the country.

BBRLA is designed to address both the well-documented need for continued leadership development and the looming crisis in public health leadership due to pending retirements of current leaders and a decline in the number of young professionals entering the field. BBRLA provides a process to connect leadership development with organizational capacity and the fulfillment of an organization's mission. Utilizing a team-based approach, participants in BBRLA will develop strategic and succession plans for their organization or local public health system, and engage in a process to identify high potential leaders for further leadership development. A second track for individual scholars will focus on individual development and includes working on a project of local public health concern.

Face-to-face sessions between the scholars and guest faculty will occur in September, March and August. In addition to these scheduled meetings, Academy activities will take place via a variety of distance and blended learning modalities.

BBRLA will strive to offer the latest technology and advances in teaching styles, engage in ongoing workforce training and support, emphasize leadership and organizational development, and connect academic advances to public health practice.