Leadership Perimeter is a regional leadership program, and one of its class projects became the First Annual Perimeter Community Volunteer Fair. In Podcast 327, Dunwoody City Council member and Leadership Perimeter Program Director Catherine Lautenbacher and class member Beth Lehman told me how it came together and how you can get involved.
Leadership Perimeter is a yearlong leadership program serving Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Brookhaven, and the Perimeter area, led by Catherine Lautenbacher. Up to 46 participants learn about government, the economy, education, and social services, then volunteer for a year. A 2026 class project created the Perimeter Community Volunteer Fair.
Listen on Apple Podcasts or watch the full episode above.
The Idea That Turned into an Event
Beth Lehman has a way of showing up. After retiring at 36, she didn’t slow down. She built a volunteer career, co-founded a peer support group called Sober Livers, and led the Liver Life Walk Atlanta at Brook Run Park. When she enrolled in Leadership Perimeter’s Class of 2026, she wasn’t there to fill a seat. She was there to figure out how to do more.
As part of the program, every class member takes on a project. The idea is simple: don’t just learn about your community, do something for it. Beth and a group of five other class members started asking a basic question. What do people who want to volunteer actually need?
The answer they kept coming back to was: a place to start.
“As my group was sitting around trying to think of what we could do to maybe better the community,” Beth said, “we thought, wouldn’t it be great to come up with a fair, a volunteer fair, where local community nonprofits could come and show what they’re all about.”
That is exactly what they built. The First Annual Perimeter Community Volunteer Fair was held Friday, May 1, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Dunwoody United Methodist Church, 1548 Mount Vernon Road. It was free.
14 Nonprofits in One Room
Here is what makes this event worth clearing your morning for. The organizers didn’t just invite a few familiar names. The participating organizations cover everything from arts and conservation to hospice care and food security. This is the full lineup:
- Community Assistance Center
- Sandy Springs Conservancy
- Spruill Center for the Arts
- Art Sandy Springs
- Tommy Nobis Center
- Chastain Park Conservancy
- The Link at North Springs High School
- Sandy Springs Education Force
- Capstone Hospice
- Sandy Springs Youth Sports
- Lake Forest Elementary
- Friends of Sandy Springs Library
- Ronald McDonald House – Atlanta
- Atlanta Community Food Bank
Every one of these organizations will have a table, a representative, and real volunteer opportunities ready to discuss. You can walk in not knowing what you want to do and walk out with a genuine commitment somewhere. And if you have a specific skill, like teaching, coaching, fundraising, or just showing up consistently, there is almost certainly an organization on that list that needs exactly that.
Catherine Lautenbacher, who runs the Dunwoody Nonprofit Roundtable and knows this ecosystem as well as anyone, did a quick count recently. Dunwoody alone has at least 34 nonprofits. The Leadership Perimeter coverage area, which includes Dunwoody, Brookhaven, and Sandy Springs, has far more. The problem has never been a shortage of places to volunteer. It has been knowing where to find them.
“There’s no excuse now to go, where can I volunteer?” Beth said. “You can come to this fair and end up volunteering for 12 organizations if you want to.”
One fair. One morning. No more excuses.
What Leadership Perimeter Does
If you are not familiar with Leadership Perimeter, Catherine Lautenbacher has been running the program for 13 years. She is the best person to explain it.
Each year, the Flagship Program accepts up to 46 participants from across the Perimeter region. The goal is intentional diversity. You’ll have doctors sitting next to teachers. Firefighters next to accountants. Retired professionals next to people early in their careers. Ages typically range from 20s to 70s, though the program is open to everyone who qualifies.
Participants go through a two-day opening retreat where they learn about themselves, each other, and the region. Then it is one full day per month, each session focused on a different pillar of community life: city government, economic development, social services, education, sustainability, and more. There are speaker days, mentor dinners, and a big annual event called the Perimeter Summit.
The speakers are not small names. Catherine mentioned a Georgia Power representative who manages the Morgan Falls Dam in Sandy Springs, original Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Sally Bethea, the head of Second Helpings Atlanta Food Rescue, and Invest Atlanta. At the most recent Perimeter Summit, the class heard from Dan Corso on Atlanta’s role in the 2026 World Cup and what it means for communities across the entire region.
The program measures what it produces. According to Leadership Perimeter’s own data, 91% of alumni reported stronger strategic leadership skills after completing the program. 87% reported stronger leadership effectiveness. The net promoter score, meaning the percentage who would recommend the program to a friend, sits at 99%. There are now more than 1,000 alumni, and each one logs an average of 42 volunteer hours per year. The program has also helped launch 22 community initiatives and formed 48 cross-sector partnerships.
That is not coincidence. Every participant commits to volunteering for the full year after the program ends. The Volunteer Fair is Beth’s class project, and it is a direct expression of that commitment.
“I’ve taught her about city government and inclusivity, economic development, state government, education, social services, sustainability,” Catherine said. “So this is the thing she’s doing outside of my teachings, and that is her class project. And she came up with a great one.”
Beth’s Experience in Her Own Words
Beth has been on the podcast before to talk about her personal story. She received a life-saving liver transplant in 2021 and has since become a public advocate around liver disease, organ donation, and recovery. Leadership Perimeter added a different kind of chapter to that journey.
“I’ve always known I live in a special place,” she said. “And meeting the people behind that has really solidified that and really, really opened my eyes.”
She talked about small things she didn’t expect to pick up along the way. Like the fact that when you recycle aluminum foil, you need to ball it up first, otherwise it blows away in the sorting process and never gets recycled at all. That came up during a sustainability session and stuck with her. It’s a small thing, but it’s the kind of specific, practical knowledge you only get from the people actually doing the work in your community.
The bigger takeaway was something harder to quantify. “It’s not just about community development,” Beth said. “It’s also about self-development.”
Her husband has a philosophy she shared on the episode. When he walks into a room full of people, he assumes that everyone there can do something better than he can. Leadership Perimeter gave Beth the tools to figure out what those strengths look like in the people around her. And more importantly, it pushed her to figure out what she herself brings to the table.
“Everybody has a strength,” she said. “Everybody has a superpower.”
The Volunteer Fair is Beth putting that belief into practice at a community scale. The idea is that everyone who walks through those doors at DUMC has something to offer. The fair’s job is to help them find where it fits.
From Leadership Perimeter Student to City Council
Catherine’s story is worth knowing, because it shows where this program can take you.
She didn’t start out as a politician. She started as a Leadership Perimeter student. After going through the program, she kept showing up. She got to know the people on Dunwoody City Council. She saw what the job actually looked like up close. She decided she could do it. And eventually she did.
Catherine was first elected to Dunwoody City Council Post 1 (District 1) in 2021 and was reelected in 2025. She is now four months into her second term. Her day job is still running Leadership Perimeter. She also runs the Dunwoody Nonprofit Roundtable, a separate organization where local nonprofit leaders can connect, hear speakers, and share what they are learning from each other.
“I went through the class and then I worked for the program and then I got to know all the city council people and what they did, what it was like,” she said. “And I thought, one day I can do it, and then one day I am.”
That is the through line of this entire episode. You learn. You connect. You show up consistently. And over time, showing up becomes who you are.
Living in Dunwoody, you see this pattern everywhere. The people who make this community feel the way it does are almost always people who started by just deciding to get involved. The Volunteer Fair is your on-ramp.
Why Getting Involved Matters in Dunwoody
As a Dunwoody REALTOR®, I tell newcomers the fastest way to feel at home here is to get involved. Programs like Leadership Perimeter and the dozens of local nonprofits are where neighbors become friends.
My Take: Pick one organization and show up once. That is how it starts. Learn more about the program or nominate someone at leadershipperimeter.org, and find volunteer opportunities at igottavolunteer.com.
Frequently Asked Questions About Leadership Perimeter
What is Leadership Perimeter?
Leadership Perimeter is a yearlong regional leadership program for up to 46 participants from the Perimeter area, including Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, and Brookhaven.
Who runs Leadership Perimeter?
Catherine Lautenbacher, who has served as Program Director for 13 years and is also a Dunwoody City Council member.
Do Leadership Perimeter graduates volunteer?
Yes. Every participant commits to volunteering for the full year after the program ends.
What was the Perimeter Community Volunteer Fair?
A free fair on May 1, 2026 at Dunwoody United Methodist Church, organized by a Leadership Perimeter class, featuring 14 local nonprofits.
How many nonprofits are in Dunwoody?
Catherine Lautenbacher counted at least 34 nonprofits in Dunwoody alone.