Balancing Two of Ventura County’s Biggest Challenges

Peschka Darrin

Darrin Peschka Ventura County Transportation Commission, Government and Community Relations Program Manager What are two of the biggest challenges facing Ventura County? Jobs and affordable housing.That’s what I took away from the third session of the Ventura County Leadership Academy, when Cohort XXVII took a dive into housing and the local economy. If you’ve been…

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Session Review of the Economy & Transportation

Thompson meridith

Meridith Thompson Assistant Controller, The Trade Desk The November 2021 cohort 27 session was jam-packed with regional information about transportation, housing and how the two intersect. We started our day in Ventura, with a series of speakers that focused on leadership and housing-relates topics.  Tracylee Clarke lead us in a discussion of leadership styles, challenging…

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Homelessness in VC

Erika Singletary, VCLA Cohort XXVI  Operations Specialist II, Ventura County Office of Education The temperatures this winter in Ventura County have been higher than average and we are behind in the average rainfall. For some, this represents drought conditions, to others however, it means that they may be able to cope with the elements a little…

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Learning, on an Unnerving Day

By Crystal Stratton The day started off a little unnerving. With the fires burning, we all had to rearrange our personal schedules a bit, whether that was traveling, daycare, work or even freeway access – they were small issues, but affecting us all. I was checking my email constantly that morning. Coming from West County,…

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Day One, Taking the Leap

By Deborah Meyer-Morris Driving home from work on Thursday  September 12, 2019, the night before VCLA Day One, I was giddy with excitement and gratitude thinking about VCLA starting the next day. I have worked continuously, one way or another since I was 12 years old when I first starting delivering magazines on my bike.…

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The Expectation of Leadership: Re-orient

By Theresa McKenrick Thirty-two individuals took the first steps to becoming a team months before the first session this past Friday. In preparation for applying to become a part of Cohort XXV, I visited the VCLA website and read thru the curriculum. When submitting my application, then again as I prepared for my panel interview,…

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4 Degrees of Separation

By Merrill Whatley Shortly after our January 11 VCLA session, I took a trip to Pittsburgh for work. As I write this, I am on Southwest Airlines, flying to Denver on my way back home via Burbank. In the morning portion of the Local Government focus session, the subjects we covered about city government, county…

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Ahoy Matey!

By Franki D. Williams After a morning focusing on local government in Thousand Oaks, I drove the back way through the agricultural fields of Camarillo, a part of the city unfamiliar to me, and met the rest of the cohort at the Port of Hueneme. Upon arrival, we were greeted by

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Water, water everywhere

By Jon Gathman, Installation Program Integrator at Naval Base Ventura County How much water comes from the San Joaquin Valley (ie Sacramento) to support the Metropolitan Water District (serving you, me and the 18.999998 million people in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties)? 4% 10% 30% 60%

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