Founded in 1990, Leadership Alabama is a statewide nonprofit organization that each year brings together a class of 50-60 participants for four two-and-one-half-day retreats over a nine month period. The program develops participants' leadership skills through a series of issues-oriented forums on politics and government, education, business and economics, and quality of life, among other topics. Class members visit communities across the state, and as they seek a mutual understanding of the problems and priorities facing the state, they also seek to invent vital solutions to the challenges that define the future of the state.