The local nonprofit Kentucky Center For Leadership has received a financial gift from Houchens Industries, money that KC4L head Greg Coker said will help the organization improve its services at its Western Kentucky University Innovation Campus training center.

“We just, quite frankly, didn’t have the technology to be able to meet the needs of clients,” Coker told the Daily News. “We inherited some furniture that was already in that space, but it wasn’t enough furniture nor did it fit our needs.

“What the generous gift from Houchens industries is doing for us is allowing us to properly outfit that space to better meet the needs of our membership,” he said.

KC4L has been in the Innovation Campus for a bit over a year. The organization was started by Randall Capps and Cecile Garmon in 2020 and provides leadership development training statewide.

The amount received by KC4L was not disclosed. Coker said one of the things that will come out soon from the organization will be distance learning, something he said will help connect leaders statewide with resources from the organization.

“With the generous gift from Houchens Industries, having that facility out there just gives us a lot more opportunity to do it and a lot more of a professional and inviting environment,” Coker said.

Coker said the training facility will be up and running in around 30 days. Once it opens, it will be named the Houchens Industries Leadership Center.

Coker summed up the hopes for the new facility.

“When people attend our workshops … We want to make it where they leave going, ‘wow, I feel like I want to be a better version of me as a leader.’ That’s an experience,’ ” Coker said. “Right now we offer experiences, but what the Houchens gift will allow us to do is even accentuate and enhance that experience.”

In a press release sent to the Daily News, Houchens Industries CEO and board chair Dion Houchins stated his company is pleased to work with KC4L.

“It is our desire that the Houchens Industries Leadership Center will serve as a catalyst for the Kentucky Center for Leadership to become the preeminent source for leadership training in our region,” Houchins stated.