Category: Leadership Program

the 2024 Leadership Program graduates gathered in a group
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Congratulations to the 2024 Leadership Program Grads. We’re Now Accepting Applications for 2025!

Congratulations to the Green Foothills Leadership Program 2024 participants, who graduated on August 17. We are excited to announce that applications for 2025 are now open! Application forms are available in English and Spanish on the Leadership Program web page. Each participant in this year’s class of 19 graduates used what they learned in the...

John E. headshot
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John Ebneter: Addressing Housing, Environment, and Equity

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...

Emily S. headshot
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Emily Schwing: Building a Collective Food System

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...

Photo of Lehigh Quarry
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Protecting Our Groundwater From Mining Contamination

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...

Leadership Program class
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Leadership Program Announces 2024 Capstone Projects

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: The Need for Healing
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Tamara Smith-Jones: The Need for Healing

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...

Peter Ruddock with Fonzie the baby goat
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Peter Ruddock: A Passion for Sustainable Food Production

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 C. headshot
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Wendy Chou: Becoming an Advocate for Environmental Justice

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 G.
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Using Her Leadership Skills to Help Her Tribe: Isabella ‘Amne Gomez

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...

Andrea and Ben
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Welcome Ben Estrada, Gratitude to Andrea Fraume Valencia

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...

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