Bryan Beck is an accomplished computer engineer who has always been passionate about helping the environment. His first foray into local environmental advocacy also happened to be his introduction to Green Foothills: when the Cargill company was fighting to build 12,000 homes on salt ponds along the bayshore in Bryan’s hometown of Redwood City. Bryan...
Category: Leadership Program
The Importance of Nature and Giving Back
Ravi Pathak is someone who seems to always have a smile on his face. With his presence alone, he offers a generosity of spirit to anyone who says hello. This graduate of the Green Foothills Leadership Program sat down to chat with me in July 2022 about his leadership journey. Ravi grew up in and...
Green Foothills Leadership Program: New Name, Alumni, and Recruitment Cycle!
We are proud to announce that the program previously known as the Community Advocates Leadership Academy (CALA) has a new name. Drumroll… Green Foothills Leadership Program! We chose this more straightforward name after careful consideration by the Leadership Program Advisory Committee and Green Foothills staff, along with input from program alumni. The 2022 cohort is...
From Fed to Local: Planning for a Better Future
When Cherise Orange took a job as a Planner with Santa Clara County’s Parks and Recreation Department in 2016, she knew that she would be working with vastly different populations from those she was used to in her previous life as a military planner. “Transitioning to the County … I had a huge learning curve...
Welcome 2022 Leadership Program Cohort
On January 8, we kicked off our 9th annual Leadership Program cohort, a group of 22 community members who want to learn how to become more effective agents of change. Participants meet monthly to learn how to prepare and plan an environmental advocacy campaign for a local cause. Upon completing the program in August, the...
Chris Sturken – Keeping a Broad Perspective for Change
Chris Sturken applied to the Green Foothills Leadership Academy at the recommendation of his cousin, Andrea Savage (class of 2014). “It was right up my alley,” says Chris (class of 2017) who was taking a grassroots organizing course as an Environmental Studies major at San Francisco State. “I was excited and ready to soak up...
We Are So Proud of Our Leadership Academy 2021 Cohort!
From climate resiliency teams in North Fair Oaks to the protection of Juristac, the 2021 Leadership Academy cohort shined in their efforts to create environmental protection campaign plans through a racial equity lens. As part of the training program, participants formed 5 separate workgroups around these current issues: Establishing Climate Resiliency Block Action Teams in...
Ofelia Bello – In Service of Community in EPA
The daughter of Mexican-born immigrants, Ofelia Bello knew at a young age that she wanted to make an impact through community organizing. She studied Urban Planning and achieved early career success as a regional housing policy analyst. But she felt that the work she was doing was too disconnected from her home and her community....
From Retirement to Reach Codes
After a long career at the Environmental Protection Agency, Kathleen Goforth had a 35-year backlog of personal projects to do. Yet, she decided to add one more to her list: she applied to Green Foothills’ Leadership Academy. “I was just starting to consider retiring and thought it would kick-start my thinking about what I might...
Kyra Brown: More Than Just a Bench
Kyra Brown had been working at Youth United for Community Action (YUCA), a social justice and environmental justice organization, when her supervisor suggested Green Foothills’ Community Advocates Leadership Academy. “Oh, hey look. Is this something you’re interested in?” she quotes. “I had never heard of the program, but when I saw the words ‘community advocates,’...