The San Benito County Chamber of Commerce has initiated a
leadership program to help newcomers to the county as well as
long-time residents understand life in one of the fastest-growing
areas in California.
The San Benito County Chamber of Commerce has initiated a leadership program to help newcomers to the county as well as long-time residents understand life in one of the fastest-growing areas in California.
The program was proposed by Kathy Johnson, who had gone through a similar program in Osceola County, Fla.
“What a leadership program does is to help foster the continued leadership among the existing leaders and helps emerge new leaders,” said Johnson, chairperson of the Leadership Steering Committee. “We want to add more leaders to the existing pools because it enhances the community when you have people who present good skills and knowledge to develop a stronger community.”
With much of Hollister’s suburban population made up of newcomers to the area, many residents do not understand the county’s history, Chamber officials said, while many long-time residents with five generations of roots have realized the county of old is not the one they live in today.
“Most often it’s the lack of understanding of how each hand works and how to work together. It is important for new residents to know the county’s history,” said Theresa Kiernan, the Chamber’s executive director. “Equally important is long-term residents need to understand how the community is changing and what direction the county is heading because the future of San Benito County relies heavily on the entire community.”
Volunteers often accept positions on boards of directors without knowledge of the positions, but the leadership program prepares people for the positions they want to fill.
“There is a pool of resources within the community that could benefit from the leadership program,” said Katherine Vais, president of the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce.
Under the program, employers such as Milgard Windows, San Benito Bank or Hazel Hawkins Hospital would select employees with a desire to sit on a community board.
“They could go through the leadership program and have some knowledge of that position,” Vais said.
The chamber does not see the program as grandiose idea to solve community problems. Rather, Kiernan said, it is an opportunity for individuals to grow into a leadership capacity.
“Many people don’t have the vision of all the different pockets within the community that really do interact with each other and sometimes not favorably,” Kiernan said.
Johnson said the program is an educational tool that teaches different skills from different perspectives. For instance, to better understand law enforcement in Florida, Johnson spent time at a jail and in a courtroom.
“It was very much hands-on experience, which makes the program sink in,” she said. “People from different sectors learn other perspectives.”
In Johnson’s case, she was accustomed to the workings of non-profit organizations but found herself dealing with for-profit groups.
“It was a real eye-opening experience for me,” she said.
Leadership programs have existed for several years to meet the needs of citizens and to foster ethnic and cultural diversity. “Anyone can go through the program,” Kiernan said.
Hundreds of communities throughout the nation have leadership programs, including Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Salinas.
Since November 2002, a small group of community leaders have served on the steering committee, including Superior Court Judge Steve Sanders, Aromas-San Juan Unified School District Superintendent Jackie Munoz and Kathy Flores from Community Services and Workforce Development.
“Leadership programs are very positive,” Johnson said. “There isn’t anything negative about it because you’re investing in people.”
