Washoe Tahoe Academy

What is the Washoe Tahoe Academy?

Over the course of five weeks, participants in the Washoe Tahoe Academy will come together to learn, collaborate, plan, become inspired, and take action! The Washoe Tahoe Academy will launch in 2025 and will focus on local government and leadership principles with an eye on Washoe Tahoe, a unique area within Washoe County encompassing Incline Village and Crystal Bay, with its own set of challenges and opportunities. This program is a collaborative effort by Washoe County, University of Nevada, Reno Extension, and the Incline Village Crystal Bay Community & Business Association.

Approximately 25 individuals from Incline Village and Crystal Bay will be selected to participate in the inaugural cohort.

What does the program cost?

The program is completely free to selected participants.

Why Participate?

Get a close-up look at how local government works, better understand the breadth of services available to constituents, and how the county and other governing bodies impact your everyday life.
Grow your network by gaining new business and community contacts.
Walk away with increased knowledge of the community, new friends, and inspiration for taking on tomorrow's challenges!

Dates & Themes

April 30, 2025 - Collaborate with Your Community – Lesson and group discussion led by Dr. Marlene Rebori from the University of Nevada, Reno’s Cooperative Extension. Themes include dignity dialogue, conflict resolution, collaboration skills, and setting the stage for a productive and bridge-building series across the cohort. Identify the “echo chamber” atmosphere to gain an understanding that there are diverse views in the community. Team building and networking will be a key function of this session.

May 7, 2025 - Know Your Community: The acronyms can feel overwhelming… TTD, TRPA, TPC, TMT, IVGID, TNTNV, NTCA, IVGID, Clean Tahoe, Washoe County – what they do, what they don’t do, how they serve you, and how you can become involved? Which organization does what, how do these entities serve Washoe Tahoe, how do they work together to create a functioning community? Learn about these organizations and learn the best way to communicate with them on concerns in order to achieve results and learn opportunities for personal involvement.

May 14, 2025 - Plan Your Community: Your Roadmap to Policy Change! Jurisdictions, Area Plans, how policies are made, how you can influence policy and create real change in your community. Washoe County planners will provide information about the master planning process, the area plan process, what the community provided feedback was received during the planning process, and how ordinances are created, including “findings” pertaining to planning and growth, the concept of government overreach, and identifying and changing NIMBY mentality in a housing crisis.

May 21, 2025 - Love Your Community: Opportunities for involvement on boards and committees in Washoe County and the various entities identified on Day 2, timelines, how to apply, and promote yourself for appointment. This session will also highlight area nonprofits and clubs, helping residents to feel ownership in creating community and neighborliness, volunteerism opportunities. Today we highlight what we love about living in Washoe Tahoe, and how we can lean into this to do even more of what we love.

May 28, 2025 - Sustain Your Community & Graduation: Lake stewardship and dialogue with tourism agencies, tourism agencies, environmental agencies, Sustainability Manager of Washoe County, and UC Davis Science Center. What does it mean to be a good steward of the environment? How can we teach visitors to the area how to be good stewards? The history of the lake, how we can come together to keep Tahoe blue, a roadmap to what the next 10, 20, 50 years will look like in this beautiful area. This session will end with a graduation ceremony.

Application Information

** Important expectations and requirements you should know prior to applying to the Washoe Tahoe Academy:

Each Washoe Tahoe Academy session will take place on Wednesday evenings, from 5:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.
Regular interaction with your cohort partners and Washoe County staff is expected. Being inquisitive is a plus!
Ensure you can commit to attending the Washoe Tahoe Academy sessions by reviewing the session dates. While participants are encouraged to attend every session, no more than one session may be missed in order to graduate. The first session, taking place on April 30, is a prerequisite to taking the remainder of the courses, and cannot be missed.
Applicants should have the goal of increasing their knowledge of local government, their personal and professional networks, or other personal reasons for participation. Applicants should not expect the opportunity to promote services to their classmates, promote personal opinions about policies, or promote themselves for the purposes of political or personal gain. Due to the nonpartisan aspect of this program, active candidates for elected positions or sitting elected officials will not be accepted for a position within the Washoe Tahoe Academy.
Applicants must live in Washoe Tahoe to be considered; employment or conducting business Incline Village/Crystal Bay alone does not qualify an applicant for consideration.

Application period will open soon!

Review Period & Participant Selections:

A committee assessment of the applications received will occur.

Applicants that may need accommodations to participate in the Academy are encouraged to contact Commissioner Support prior to applying.

Applications Coming Soon

Questions? Contact the Washoe County Commission Support Team at 775-328-2003 or email commissionersupport@washoecounty.gov.