The Status Quo is Nowhere to Be Found During a Pandemic

jess

Jess Weihe Director or Marketing, Mustang Marketing VCLA Cohort XXVI “Listen to their voices,” rung in my head — a sentiment expressed from an earlier speaker, as Michael Jump, chief deputy district attorney and director of victim and community services for the  County of Ventura, shared with us why the ceilings in the new Ventura County…

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Agriculture, Water, and the Environment

Dhruv Pandya VCLA Cohort XXVI Information Security Specialist, J.D. Power Terri Anderson VCLA Cohort XXVI Labor Relations Manager, County of Ventura What a day! Ventura County is known for many things, but one of THE top things for which our county is known for is Agriculture. And of course, how agriculture grows is affected by…

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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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Cohort XXIII Reflections

By Nerissa Stacey, Communications Strategist, Mustang Marketing It seems like only yesterday that I took my seat at Camp Arnaz for Cohort XXIII’s very first session. I remember looking around the room at a sea of unfamiliar faces, not sure what to expect but excited to find out. And now I’m preparing to sit among…

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