Leadership Morgan Hill and Leadership Gilroy
Two dynamic organizations inspire
citizens to follow their passion in
community service and leadership
W
e’d like to recognize the Class of 2017 graduates
from Leadership Morgan Hill and Leadership
Gilroy, two very active and effective leadership
development organizations that foster volunteerism, board-
level leadership, mentoring, and philanthropy that contributes
greatly to the quality of life we all enjoy in South County.
Both organizations offer proven leadership training
programs with lots of opportunities to meet the movers and
shakers from business, education, healthcare, government, and the nonprofit sector. Participants learn how our cities
operate and thrive, and discover challenges and opportunities
of our local and regional economy. But it’s not all about
studying and networking. Each year’s class is tasked with
conceiving, planning, fundraising for, and implementing a
community service project before graduating.
TODAY invited each class to share with our readers
the experience of undertaking their selected class project.
GILROY LEADERSHIP CLASS OF 2017 Aphabetical:Rob Allen (NP), Crystal
Callahan, Marty Cheek, Michelle Conlon, (NP), Laura Correa-Hernandez, Gloria
Dela Merced, Nita Edde-Mitchell, Jeff Guenther, Rosemary Guerrero, Rhonda Jones,
Laura Langton, Mike Luevano, Linda Mylchreest, Waseem Rabih, Lisa Rodriquez
(NP), Claudia Sandoval, Jason Smith, and Scott Winant. (NP-Not Pictured) MORGAN HILL LEADERSHIP CLASS OF 2017 Alphabetical: Sara Alanis, Lori Allen,
Natalie Beaumont, Kirk Bertolet, Sam Carlson, Salvador Cortez, Brigitte Crawford,
Jim Crawford, Yolanda de la Cerda, Jan Dommer, Jeanne Gilliard, Vera Gomes,
Dwight Good, Tim Hansen, Megan Thompson Jalufka, John Lang, Cathy Moss,
Yvonne Randolph, and Susan Rife.
gmh
Leadership Morgan Hill Class of 2017
Lending a Hand to the Morgan Hill Police Department
Written by Brigitte Crawford, Class Project Champion
Our class of nineteen was very diverse, with educators,
firefighters, a police officer, high tech professionals, a realtor,
people in local government and the nonprofit sector, and more.
Over the course of our nine-month leadership program we got
to know each other well, particularly through our work on the
class community service project.
We hit the ground running. In one session, starting with
a blank slate, our class generated a list of over thirty project
ideas. Our process of elimination was intensely collaborative.
We narrowed the list, refining the more popular ideas to
make sure they met LMH class project criteria, and through
numerous rounds of voting, we came up with three finalists.
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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
Our final votes were influenced by our best estimate of
the time, money, and level of class participation each project
might require. But above all, our vote was influenced by the
expected benefit it would have for our community.
Our three finalists for the class project included:
continuation of work on the Community Oasis Garden at
Central High begun by LMH Class of 2016, an art installation
at the Morgan Hill Sports Complex, and an improvement
project for the Morgan Hill Police Department’s Canine
Impound Facility.
In a close vote, the Canine Impound Facility was chosen,
and the “Pups In Need” project was born. We were confident
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
gmhtoday.com