John Ebneter was a member of the first-ever Green Foothills Leadership Program class in 2013-14. In 2015 he became a Planning Commissioner for the City of San Mateo, a position in which he continues to serve today. He also volunteers with a housing advocacy group. With a background in construction and a dedication to social...
In the heart of East San Jose, next to the Hwy 101 and I-680 interchange, sits a vibrant urban oasis where rows of lush, green vegetables flourish under the California sun. This is Veggielution, a 6-acre community farm that provides fresh, affordable food for underserved communities. The acting executive director of this nonprofit, food-justice based...
Santa Clara County has enacted a new ordinance requiring mining operations to maintain a 50-foot protective buffer from groundwater. We’re celebrating this important step by the County to protect our groundwater resources from the potentially harmful impacts of mining. And we’re proud that the initial idea for this ordinance came from a Green Foothills Leadership...
Each year, participants in the Green Foothills Leadership Program complete a capstone project. The project involves planning an advocacy campaign that benefits open space, farmland, or natural resources and advances race equity. Participants spend several months designing their campaigns individually or in small groups. Some later develop their projects in the real world, while for...
Tamara Smith-Jones is the founder of Helping Others Maintain Earth (H.O.M.E.), an organization whose mission is community empowerment. She participated in the Green Foothills Leadership Program in 2022 and created a capstone project focused on social justice in East Palo Alto. “The Leadership Program lit a fire under me in terms of realizing the urgency...
Many of us dream of ditching our day jobs to follow our passion, but few people actually do it. Former software developer Peter Ruddock is one who successfully made the leap. In 2011 he switched fields to focus on organic food, initially volunteering with a number of organizations, including Slow Food and the San Mateo...
Wendy Chou is a climate change advocate who works as the Coalition and Project Senior Manager at Acterra: Action for a Healthy Planet. In 2022, she participated in the Green Foothills Leadership Program. At the time, she was working as Acterra’s communications manager, and she wanted to gain more experience and training in advocacy and...
Isabella ‘Amne Gomez is a Muwekma Ohlone Youth Ambassador and a first-year undergraduate student at Santa Clara University. Because of her youth leadership work, she was accepted into the Green Foothills Leadership Program during her last semester of high school. She plans to use the skills, knowledge, and connections gained in the Leadership Program to...
October marks another transition at Green Foothills! After four years of service bringing the reimagined Green Foothills Leadership Program to life, Andrea Fraume Valencia is transitioning from her role as Leadership Program Director to pursue a career in the public sector. Please join us in welcoming a new staff member, Ben Estrada, as Leadership Program...
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Green Foothills Leadership Program, and we were excited to celebrate the graduation of our 10th cohort of program participants on August 12. We are also excited to announce that applications for 2024 are now open! Application forms are available in English and Spanish on our Leadership Program...
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