In 2020, Iliana Nicholas was finishing her master’s degree in city planning and working for Climate Resilient Communities (CRC) when her supervisor suggested she sign up for the Green Foothills Leadership Program. Iliana was well versed in topics such as housing and land use planning, and the Leadership Program offered an opportunity for her to add to her skill set by learning about environmental advocacy, which would be helpful in her role at an environmental justice organization like CRC.
Her supervisor had completed the Leadership Program several years earlier and found it worthwhile, and Iliana says the program lived up to expectations and showed her new ways to make a difference. “It was an opportunity for me to learn how to navigate … the fields of environmental justice and conservation,” she said. “About a year after I completed the program I ended up joining my city (East Palo Alto) Planning Commission. I was an alternate but it still gave me the opportunity to vote and speak on topics that came forward… That was a direct result of my participation in the Leadership Program. I got to work on advocacy in the city that I love and that I live in, and for me that was worth it.”
Besides gaining general knowledge about how advocacy works, one of the most useful things Iliana learned was how to garner support for an issue by using her network to reach key decision-makers. “In the program we talked about how everybody is within six degrees of separation, and that is so true. Our world is smaller than we actually know, and those connections are very useful. You know somebody who knows somebody who can help you or connect you with someone. It’s really amazing when you start looking at community resources and how to use them appropriately… how to find connections.. it really makes a difference in (your success in) what you’re doing,” she said.
The summer Iliana graduated from the Leadership Program, she also graduated from her master’s degree program, and she accepted a position as a Program Manager with East Palo Alto Community Alliance and Neighborhood Development Organization (EPACANDO). EPACANDO focuses on promoting affordable housing and community and economic development in East Palo Alto. Iliana has continued her environmental advocacy through volunteering.
“The Leadership Program solidified my interest in continuing my involvement in the environmental justice world. I’m still involved in Climate Resilient Communities as a volunteer and board member, and the Leadership Program was a way to further ground me in that work,” she said. “I’m very focused right now on infrastructure, how it correlates with climate resilience… anything from flood walls to transportation and to things like the built environment and how it affects everyday health, how it affects the climate, and how infrastructure either works or doesn’t during a natural disaster.”
If you or someone you know is interested in the Green Foothills Leadership Program, you can learn more at greenfoothills.org/lead. Applications for the 2026 program year will open in August.
Supporters of the Green Foothills Leadership Program include Applied Materials Foundation Community Fund, the County of Santa Clara, North Santa Clara Resource Conservation District (NSCRCD), Sand Hill Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Wildlife Conservation Network’s California Wildlife Program, and Green Foothills donors. Please consider making a donation to support the Leadership Program.