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The Winpisinger Center is soliciting entries for the 2026 Chris Wagoner Memorial Leadership Grant. The grant provides financial support for locals that want to send current and emerging leaders to Leadership training, but lack the resources to do so.
Official Circular 908, which established the grant, provides funding to one Local from each IAM Territory annually. As of 2025, this means the Eastern, Midwestern, Western, Southern, Canadian and Air Transport Territories, as well as Headquarters and vicinity, including the Rail Division. The grant will reimburse all incurred costs associated with the local sending a member to a Leadership program at the Winpisinger Center.
The grant is renewable for each local selected, and the member chosen by the local may attend all four Leadership programs, one annually, provided they have satisfactorily completed the previous program and the local submits an accountability statement affirming that the member has participated in, and contributed to, the local’s activities.
Seven locals from across North America were selected to receive the inaugural Chris Wagoner Memorial Leadership Grant in 2025:
Canada: Local 550 (Surrey, British Columbia)
Eastern: Local 4538 (Towson, Maryland)
Air Transport: Local 1894 (South Ozone Park, New York)
Southern: Local 2916 (Corpus Christi, Texas)
Headquarters/Rail Division: Local 104 (Huntington, West Virginia)
Midwest: Local 1613 (Vandalia, West Virginia)
Western: Local W38 (Shelton, Washington)
The Wagoner Grant was created by delegates to the 2024 IAM International Convention to honor the work and memory of Chris Wagoner, who served as Director of the William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center before his passing in 2022. Brother Wagoner, a 30-year member of the IAM, believed that expanding opportunities for Leadership training was critical to our future growth and strength as a union.
Click here to read the full Official Circular and for application forms. The deadline to apply is Nov. 30, 2025.
