A Partnership That Counts

In 2020, two longtime partners of VCLA (the County of Ventura & Mustang Marketing) connected about creating and implementing an outreach campaign for the Census 2020 count. The U.S. Census Bureau had ranked Ventura County as the fifty-ninth most vulnerable county in the nation out of 3,215 counties at risk of experiencing an extreme undercount…

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Latino Leadership Honorees

Kudos to Armando Casillas (cohort XVII) with Montecito Bank & Trust and Susy Lopez-Garcia (cohort XXVII) with Community Action of Ventura County, both of whom were honored this past Wednesday, September 28, 2022 by El Concilio Family Services at their 32nd Annual Latino Leadership Awards. Lead by VCLA alum Yvonne Gutierrez (class VIII), El Concilio…

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2022 40-Under-40

Congratulations to both Dhruv Pandya (cohort XXVI) from J.D. Power and Caitlin Barringer (cohort XXV) with Food Share of Ventura County for being named as a “40-Under-40” for 2022 by the Pacific Coast Business Times.

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Moorpark Man of the Year

Congratulations to Chris Barrett (VCLA Cohort XXII), for being named 2022 Man of the Year at the Moorpark Community Awards. Chris is the Chief Operating Officer at Insurance Brokers West, Inc. and serves as a Planning Comissioner for the City of Moorpark.  Chris is also an active Moorpark Rotary member.

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Moving Up in Transportation

Congratulations to VCLA alumni (cohort XXI) Cynthia Duque on her recent promotion to Director of Planning & Marketing with Gold Coast Transit District (GCTD). Since joining GCTD in 2011 as the Communications and Marketing Manager, she has led the agency’s communication efforts through a variety of projects, including the rebranding of the organization in 2015,…

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An Impactful Donation

It started at VCLA’s recent session in Sacramento… Michael Shankin (Cohort XXVII), Executive Director for kidSTREAM and Jeremey Shumaker (Cohort XXVI) with American Medical Response (AMR) were able to discuss the possibility of an ambulance donation to Ventura County’s new children’s museum. Earlier this week, a donation was made to kidSTREAM to be used in…

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New Executive Director at HSVC

VCLA sends out a hearty congratuations to Eric Knight (Cohort XXIV) on his new postion as Executive Director for the Humane Society of Ventura County. The HSVC welcomed Eric and hosted it’s 90th birthday on Saturday, June 11th.

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Guiding Our College Students

Thank you VCLA alumni Claudia Wilroy (Cohort XXIV) for assisting and supporting over 140 students, from 20 nations, in VCCCD’s rapidly growing International Student Program (ISP) at Moorpark, Oxnard, and Ventura colleges. Read more about Claudia’s work here

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Moving Ventura County

Congratulations to VCLA Alumna Claire Grasty (Cohort XIX), on her recent promotion to public director at Ventura County Transportation Commission. We love seeing our alumni continue to change our community for the better. Read more about Claire’s promotion at here.

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Record Speed for Longshoreman

Arthur Valenzuela Jr (VCLA Cohort XXII) was recently promoted to a Class B Longshoreman after 6 years of working on call day & night as a Casual Longshoreman. The average for such a promotion at the Port of Hueneme has traditionally been more than 10 years, but Arthur’s work ethic and personal sacrifice combined with…

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