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| Carlos with his certificate |
Congratulations to our own DSS CES Supervisor, Carlos Gonzalez, for completing and graduating from the Leadership Santa Maria Valley (LSMV) class of 2020! Read on to learn more about the program and activities that Carlos took part in.
LSMV is an 11-month program designed to foster future community leaders. The program allows participants to increase their understanding of local issues, challenges and solutions, while expanding their personal and professional networks and refining their leadership skills. Each Class gives back to the community with their own unique Legacy Project.
Founded in 1995, LSMV has over 330 graduates serving on boards of local organizations and in a variety of leadership roles within government, service, non-profit and business sectors today. Participants engage and interact with community and civic leaders in areas of Military/Aerospace, Cultural Arts and Diversity, Public Safety, Youth and Education, Health and Human Services, Business and Economic Development, Government, Media and Technology, and Agriculture.
The unique mix of monthly day-long seminars and small-class atmosphere give participants an unprecedented opportunity to learn about the issues facing their community and to engage with civic leaders. DSS employees who are LSMV alumni include, Maria Gardner, Margery Gallegos, Laura Mejia, Nancy Saengjaeng, Mekala Manus, Jose Clemente, Emma Duncan, Devin Murguia and Frank Mejia, who also serves on the LSMV Board of Directors.
The LSMV class of 2020 had a safe and properly social distanced drive-through graduation atop the third floor of the Santa Maria Town Center Mall parking structure on June 26th, where the LSMV Board of Directors, Chamber of Commerce CEO Glenn Morris, and Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino presented each graduate with their certificate of program completion, a box of cupcakes from Orcutt’s Cups and Crumbles, and a $50 gift card to the Santa Maria Inn. Carlos had a schedule conflict and was unable to attend the graduation, but his Division Chief Frank Mejia presented him with his certificate of completion the following Monday, along with the cupcakes (Frank kept those cupcakes in his refrigerator over the weekend and barely resisted not eating them) and gift certificate.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the last few topic days of the class by restricting their ability to meet in person (LSMV class of 2020 has 20 members), but as all good leaders do, they improvised and figured a way through the challenges, resulting in monthly Topic Days in April, May and June being delivered via Zoom and including excellent speakers from various industries, and several local politicians who spoke to the group about leadership and community stewardship. Speaking of which, check out the links below to two Santa Maria Sun articles that were recently published describing the two legacy projects that the class of 2020 is working on:
Congratulations again to Carlos and the entire LSMV class of 2020! For more information about LSMV, contact Frank Mejia.