Erin Larner Manager of Operations – Ventura, Aera Energy LLC At our most recent VCLA session, I learned so much about the breadth and depth of what the Public Works Agency does to keep the County running. A huge thank you goes out to David Fleisch and the Ventura County Water & Sanitation Department in…

Nathan Hickling Community Impact Officer and Executive Assistant to the COO, Ventura County Community Foundation Each member of our cohort is required to blog or “reflect” on an individual session, and my assumption was that most of my fellow cohort bloggers would share about our time at the Situation Room Experience at the Ronald Reagan…

Kyle McIntosh Lecturer & Program Director for the MBA/EMBA/MSM Programs, California Lutheran University The Community Exploration session with VCLA on October 6, 2022 was a day that I’ll remember for years to come. Let’s start with the morning. As a member of Team Oxnard, I was privileged to spend time at the Boys and Girls…

Natalie Hernandez Public Information Officer, Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Our 2nd VCLA session really communicated to me the profound effect that everyone has on their wider community and how what we do and the choices we make are much more far reaching than what we may perceive. Jennifer Duston’s exercise on societal trust made me…

​Misty Perez Council member, City of Port Hueneme The first session of VCLA’s cohort XXVIII was a day full of “information overload”; from learning about fellow cohort members, to group sessions and starting our first group assignment.  The drum circle was a nice mental break but still, at the end of a great day, I…

​Dr. Lorelle Dawes Director of Expanded Learning, Ventura Unified School District The first day when Ventura County Leadership Academy (VCLA) Cohort 28 met as a group at the National Search Dog Foundation training site was a hit! We learned about each other-our experiences, our fears, our hopes-and we planned to make this an epic year…