Leadership Council San Mateo County

Connecting, Inspiring, and Transforming San Mateo County

News & Upcoming Events

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Letter from the Co-Presidents

Dear Leadership Council SMC Community,

This month's newsletter is filled with stories of our work and important announcements of upcoming events.

In January we partnered with Thrive Alliance to host a District 4 Candidate Forum. It was offered in both English and Spanish, with recordings captured for those who may have missed it or want to view it again. Also in January, our Human Services Learning Day was inspiring as members of our Emerging Leaders and Leadership CORPS classes did a deep dive into the services available across San Mateo County and spent part of their days visiting nonprofits on the Coastside. And as we write this, we are in the middle of our two-part “Leadership Lab: Talents to Strengths” program with over forty participants! We’ll share more about this event in our next newsletter.

On Friday, March 1, we will open applications for the Class of 2025 for our two Immersion Programs: Emerging Leaders and Leadership CORPS. Please use this Nomination Form to recommend someone for our programs. Also please share our schedule of Information Sessions to help candidates get to know us. More information is below.

Registration is now open for our March event, “Conversation Strategies for Challenging Times,” a free, 90-minute discussion led by our DEIB partners, Inclusion Counts. With election season upon us, there’s never been a better time to learn skills to navigate difficult topics with colleagues, friends, and family. We hope you will join us for this lunchtime workshop via Zoom.

April marks the launch of an important innovation for Leadership Council SMC as we develop programming for the Elected Leaders in our County. On April 26 and 27, we will host “Leadership Lab: When Everyone Leads,” a two-day, professional development workshop designed to offer a new perspective to leaders and shift their mindset about how to exercise leadership effectively, particularly from a position of authority.

We are energized by the enthusiasm we feel for the work we are doing. We welcome and thank See's Candies, our newest sponsor. In addition we are thrilled to share with you that this month the Fundraising Committee of our Alumni Advisory Council will launch the Future Leaders Fund to help ensure that our programs will be accessible to all individuals in San Mateo County who aspire to lead, regardless of their financial means.

Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming event.

Leading together,

Kaarin Hardy and Margi Power

Leadership Council SMC Co-Presidents

Upcoming Events

Applications for the Class of 2025

Emerging Leaders and Leadership CORPS

Open on March 1

Are You Ready to Be Inspired?

Applications for the Emerging Leaders Program and the Leadership CORPS Program Class of 2025 will be available on the Leadership Council SMC website on Friday, March 1, 2024.

How Do I Learn about Your Programs?

Our website is your primary source for information on our Leadership Immersion Programs. In addition to details such as program content, goals, topics covered, etc, you will find information on who should apply and the Learning Day calendar for 2024 - 2025. Don't forget to check out our Events and News pages to see what's going on and gain insights into the Leadership Council SMC experience.

We hope you will consider joining us for a one-hour Information Session via Zoom in March and April. At these sessions you will hear from members of the Leadership Council SMC team and from alumni who will share their experiences. You will also have an opportunity to get your questions answered. Click on a button below to register for your preferred date.

Nominate Someone to the Class of 2025

If you know someone who you think would be perfect for one of our programs, please use this Nomination Form to tell us. A member of the Leadership Council SMC team will reach out to your nominee to let them know they've been nominated and to share program and application information with them.

Have Questions?

We'd love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected].

Conversation Strategies for Challenging Times

March 14

Do you wish you had tools in your pocket to navigate difficult conversations?

We live in a world full of topics on which opinions can vary widely and raise emotions. With the presidential election around the corner, it’s imperative that organizational leaders know how to effectively engage in difficult or emotionally charged discussions.

Join us over lunch to discover strategies you can use to be a courageous conversation leader.

This is a free Leadership Learning Event hosted by Leadership Council SMC. Facilitated by Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging consultants Inclusion Counts .

Leadership Lab: When Everyone Leads

for Elected Leaders in San Mateo County

April 26 and 27

Calling All Elected Leaders in San Mateo County!

Save-the-Date for "Leadership Lab: When Everyone Leads," a workshop for individuals elected to city and county councils and special districts in San Mateo County.

As leaders, you face tough challenges every day, and solutions can often seem unreachable. For progress to happen, everyone needs to exercise leadership.

After this workshop you will:

Feel energized by the idea that leadership is an activity available to everyone
Embrace a growing desire and motivate others to exercise more leadership
Authorize yourself to exercise more leadership more often for the sake of what matters most.

Join your fellow elected leaders in this unique professional development opportunity. Build your skills that will accelerate your impact as a leader while also expanding peer relationships that will strengthen our County.

In Person: San Mateo Public Library

55 West Third Avenue, San Mateo, CA 94402

Friday, April 26, 2024, 1:00 – 4:30 p.m., with Happy Hour following
Saturday, April 27, 2024, 8:30 a.m. – 12 noon

Virtual: Two subsequent specially designed 90-minute group coaching sessions will be held to help participants deepen their application of their learning. (These sessions will be scheduled with input from program attendees.)

Training is based upon the best-selling book When Everyone Leads and facilitated by experts from KLC.

Registration information is coming soon! Questions? Please email us any questions at [email protected].

Announcing the Future Leaders Fund

On behalf of the Fundraising Committee of the Alumni Advisory Council of Leadership Council San Mateo County, we are thrilled to announce the launch of the Future Leaders Fund (The Fund). The goals of The Fund are to help ensure that others can benefit from the powerful Immersion Program experiences of the Emerging Leaders Program and Leadership CORPS. The Fund aims to:

Help keep tuition low
Provide scholarships
Support equity in program access

The Fundraising Committee will launch this campaign during the month of February with outreach to alumni from the Classes of 2022 and 2023.

If you'd like more information or want to know how you can get involved, please email [email protected]. We can't wait to hear from you!

Community Connections

District 4 Candidate Forum

District 4's Candidates for San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, from left to right: Antonio Lopez, Maggie Cornejo, Lisa Gauthier, Celeste Brevard, and Paul Bocanegra.

Thrive Alliance and Leadership Council SMC hosted a District 4 Candidate Forum on Tuesday evening, January 30, 2024, with all five candidates in person, with simultaneous Spanish translation, at the Menlo Park Council Chambers. It was also broadcast via Zoom with Spanish translation and on Thrive Alliance’s YouTube channel. Leadership Council SMC Co-President Kaarin Hardy and Thrive Alliance Senior Director of Programs Petra Silton were moderators, with community members and nonprofit leaders asking the questions.

If you missed the District 4 Candidate Forum, you can view it on Thrive Alliance’s YouTube channel, in English or Español. Read the full story on our News page .

Don't forget to vote! Ballots in San Mateo County were mailed on February 5 and the primary election is March 5, 2024. Please visit San Mateo County's Current Election website for more information.

Human Services Day

Emerging Leaders visit Senior Coastsiders: Left to right (back): Gabe Aponte, Diego Terreros Arroyo, Manika Lall, Alejandra Ortega; (front) Sarah Meier-Heredia and Valerie Barnes.

Leadership CORPS visits Coastside Hope, Left to right: Rafael Avendaño, Ana Avendaño, Tanisha Hughes, Halley Crumb (front) and Noah Christman.

January's Learning Days gave our Emerging Leaders and Leadership CORPS participants an understanding of the "safety net" of human services available to meet the needs of individuals across San Mateo County. Both Learning Days included field trips to nonprofits on the Coast.

"We got a real feeling for the mission of Coast House, the nonprofit that we visited," said Amy McHugh, Leadership Council SMC's Director of Finance and Operations and a member of the Leadership CORPS Class of 2024. "We met the people doing the work each day. For me, it was my favorite Learning Day of the program so far."

Read Amy's first person account of her Human Services Day experience on our News page .