Episode 43: Educating & Empowering Elected Officials
“I always say, I’m trying to plant a seed to grow a tree, to someone else can enjoy the shade later”
“We believe that all of us who chose to be involved in public life, particularly the elected officials, that their actions is really their leadership, and their inability to act is also a sign of lack leadership, so we encourage people to act”
A conversation with Leticia Gonzales (District 4 Supervisor, Madera County) and Victor Griego (Water Education for Latino Leaders) about representation in water governance, service through leadership, and action-oriented education for elected officials. Released March 3, 2023.
guests on the show
Leticia Gonzalez
Leticia Gonzales serves as District 4 Supervisor in Madera County. She is the third Latino supervisor and the first Latina to serve in Madera County Board of Supervisors history. Geographically, District 4 is the smallest district which encompasses from Cleveland Ave to Parksdale to Downtown Madera. Its unique geographic boundaries makes District 4 the heart of Madera County. Supervisor Gonzalez is an alumni of the WELL Untapped program, class 2022. The UnTapped Fellowship program has prepared her to address the challenges and seek out opportunities on this essential statewide public policy issue. She is an advocate for public health, gender equity, veterans, a sustainable environment, and social justice as well as a dedicated elected official to help her constituents and people of California at large. Prior to her time as a Supervisor, Leticia Gonzalez worked at Madera County Department of Social Services where she assisted the public with appropriate referrals to health, social and employment services. Additionally, she served as a Victims Advocate at Victim Services Center where she gained knowledge of the resource needs for mental health, trauma, homelessness, domestic violence, and more. Supervisor Gonzalez is a life-long Madera County resident and a proud daughter of farm workers. She graduated with a B.A. in Criminal Justice and Sociology from California State University Stanislaus in 2003. Follow Supervisor Gonzalez @supergonzalez4.
Victor Griego
Victor Griego is the founder and board president of Water Education for Latino Leaders (WELL), which started in 2012. He realized the gap in water education of leaders that serve Latino communities in California to address the ongoing water crisis. To prepare the next generation of California’s water policy leaders, WELL involves the people who represent >40 percent of California’s population but less than 2 percent of elected water officials—the Latino community. WELL’s goal is to be inclusive and create a benchmark for Latino elected officials who are ready to take the helm and lead California toward sustainable water policies, leading toward a brighter, more equitable future for all Californians. As such, WELL’s programs do not require that participants be Latino, if an elected official represents a Latino community, they can be a Latino leader. WELL is committed to developing local elected leaders who are or will be stewards of the state’s water policies. Follow Victor @DSOGriego
TRANSCRIPT
Sam Sandoval
Bienvenidos a Water Talk. In today's episode, we're talking about water education, leadership and challenges that current elected officials are facing in terms of water. Our guests are Victor Griego, co-founder of Water Education for Latino Leaders. Because of the acronym we call it WELL, pun intended, which is a nonprofit organization focused on educational events.
And we have also, Leticia Gonzalez, Lety, a member of the Madera County Board of Supervisors representing District number four, and an alumnus of the WELL UnTapped program, the professional leadership development program of WELL.
Mallika, Faith, we're talking today about water education, something that escaped our radar similarly, like dams, so I think it's good to talk about it. How should we work on water education? And in this case, educating our elected officials?
Mallika Nocco
Obviously, at least obviously to me, I think it's really important that we are educating our water leaders, especially our local water leaders, as best as we can in California. And also facilitating networking among different communities that might be experiencing some of the same issues and challenges and also that may have successes and failures to share with each other.
One of the things Sam, as I was preparing, and you're telling us more about the WELL program that was really interesting is just how many communities across California are represented by the, I think you call them, the Wellows, the WELL Fellows. And it was really wonderful to just see so many different geographies, to see a lot of interplay between the southern part of the state and the northern part of this state.
Faith Kearns
I'm pretty excited to learn more about the WELLprogram in general. I know about it primarily through Sam and seeing some of the events and pictures and tweets that he's been doing from those. And so, I'm excited to hear just more about it. And I do think that there's a lot of room for, and need for, not quite informal, this as a formalized learning program, but sort of learning about water outside of a more formal, say, higher ed context. And so, for people who find themselves having to work on water issues at a later stage or coming at it from a totally different framework, I think it's super useful to have these kinds of programs available.
Sam Sandoval
One of the things that I learned as I've been working with WELL is that it really came from a more professional perspective. So, basically, it wasn’t more of these typical educational training, which is you bring the people then we provide the lectures, the content, and off you go. This was more learning how to learn. So providing the tools so the people, the elected officials who take some of these courses, they learn how to learn. And I think that was impressive, because it's not providing the fish but letting them know how to fish. To me, that was very important. The diversity of people.
Mallika Nocco
I think the social and the cultural aspect too of it being Latino leaders specifically is interesting and exciting. And I was curious, I don't know how long the organization has been around, or what was the spark that led to its founding.Was there already a Latino leadership network within the water community? That kind of thought, hey, we have a need for this. Or how do you know anything about that the history of the organization, Sam?
Sam Sandoval
I do know a little bit and later, Victor will explain it. But I think it's more than 10 years, and at the beginning was just organizing conferences. Water Education for Latino Leaders is not only for Latinos, it helps any elected officials that serve the Latino community. And in California, it’s everyone. WELL wanted to bring the feeling of being upfront on thinking of the Latino community. So, I think that that was important.
I think the rationale of this is that, perhaps Victor will mention it, but only 2% of the decision makers in California are Latinos. Out of a 46% - 47% state that ethnically identifies as Latino. So, the difference there is staggering. There is a lot of people working in water that is Hispanic or Latino in California. That doesn't mean that is at those higher levels. And I think that was the need that they wanted to reach.
Bienvenidos, Lety, Victor.
Victor Griego
Gracias.
Leticia Gonzalez
Thank you. Thank you for having us.
Sam Sandoval
Yes, you know, we are very excited. I think it’s a good sign that for three academics working on education, we haven't been able to talk that much of education given that there are so many water problems that we were touching before. As I've been working with, WELL, I've been thinking how to bring to our audience’s radar Water Education for Latino Leaders. So, Victor, could you explain to us, what is WELL, what is Water Education for Latino Leaders? What is the audience? And what are the main activities and programs that WELL puts out?
Victor Griego
Yes, thank you. So, WELL is an initiative that started with a conversation I had with my daughter about 10-12 years ago, when she was studying environmental science. And I asked her mija, what are you going to do with your college degree in environmental science? And she said, “water.” She said, water is critical for California, dad. And I wanted to work with my daughter. I thought it was important to work with young people, because they represent the future, they represent the best of us.
I started doing research on water in California, and realized that Latinos were not involved in water policy, or that less than 4% of the water industry had Latino employees. They were not on water boards, they were not on water agencies delivering water to residents, and realized that we needed to do more to make sure that Latinos were involved because Latinos being 40% of the population in California, and not involved in a critical industry doesn't make sense for the future. It just didn't make sense.
And so, I thought, what could I do for solving that challenge here in California? I have a history of community organizing, I worked with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union when I graduated from college. And so, I believe that education leads to action. All education should lead to serving other people. And if we could better prepare our elected leaders on water, we would be able to be of service to them. And so, the organization was found to provide education and training around California water policy to Latino leaders here in California.
And just a side note, we believe that a Latino leader is anyone who represents a Latino constituency. So, we have African Americans, we have white farmers, we have Asian Americans as part of our organization. We do not discriminate against anyone who wants to participate in our programs.
Mallika Nocco
This is such an amazing organization. And it's really wonderful that it's serving the needs of education for water in California and just filling a gap.And I just was thinking, related to needs and this gap, Lety, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your job and what some of the challenges that you were facing in your position on the board of supervisors?
Leticia Gonzalez
Again, my name is Lety Gonzalez, I'm serving my first term as a county board of supervisors. I was elected in 2020. So, just to paint the picture: We were in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, we were dealing with catastrophic wildfires, and we were dealing with this ongoing drought. So, it's been really busy coming in as a new supervisor. Luckily, I was the Chief of Staff to the previous supervisor for 13 years. So, county government was not new to me, nor was Madera County. So, I was really able to hit the ground running.
But Madera County is in the heart of California. So, where the palm tree is the pine is where you'll find Madera County. We're about 160,000 in population, 60% Latino, and I'm the first woman Latina to serve on this board. And so, it's been quite an experience.
The timing of participating in the WELL program couldn't have come at a better time because we had to tackle the implementation of SGMA, which I'm sure you've talked about in your podcasts, in your previous shows, and so it was very helpful because it's complicated, right? And there's, there's a lot of emotion, there's a lot of livelihoods that are impacted. So, coming into WELL helped build that confidence, helped build that base, that education. It's been wonderful.
Sam Sandoval
And I have to say that it is literally where the palm meets the pine. Because if you're thinking if you're driving on California 99, as you're driving north to south, you're gonna see along the highway, the pine, and the palm, and that is basically half of the state.
So, I would like to share with our audience, specifically one of the programs that you are working on. That is the WELL UnTapped program, and how that program is providing tools and skills to elected officials that are making all of these decisions. So, Victor, could you help us? Could you share with our audience what the WELL UnTapped program is?
Victor Griego
Yes, the WELL UnTapped program is a six-month fellowship, where we bring local elected officials to different watersheds throughout California to understand water policy from those different watersheds’ perspectives. And the reason behind it is because traditionally, for the first four years of WELL, we would hold conferences statewide, we'd hold regional workshops. And a conference will last about a day and a half, a workshop would last about three hours. And we found that that wasn't enough that that wasn't enough for the elected official to really understand the challenges. So, we decided to go a little deeper and provide a six-month fellowship, where monthly, the elected officials would come and spend two days understanding water policy from those different watersheds’ perspectives.
So, we go to the Coachella Valley, we go to Central Valley, we go to the Bay Delta, and we'd find out a different policy for those different regions. And what we try and do is we try to respect the fact that they're not going to learn everything in six months, or in the two days that we have them per month.
So, we teach them a theory of learning called constructivism. We've developed a method of inquiry, where based on the local elected officials' experience, relationships, and past knowledge, they receive new information. And when you combine this new information with their existing knowledge, and experiences, and relationships, they develop new knowledge. And so, we teach them to try and ask provocative questions based on their needs. Questions that can expand their knowledge. Questions that could expand the opportunities for their communities. And so, we call that the WELL method of inquiry. And so, that's one of our outcomes and tools that we put in our UnTapped program.
The other is Public Narrative. And Public Narrative is a leadership tool that was founded by Marshall Ganz, who actually grew up in the Central Valley, in Bakersfield. He's now a professor at Harvard University. And what he's come up with in the last 25 years is this leadership tool called Public Narrative, where the leaders that we bring together are taught how to tell their story, not based on knowledge, but based on what motivates them, what got them to become a leader. And if you combine the knowledge and motivation, that provides a lot of energy, and resources for productive leadership. And so we provide training around public narrative as well. So, these are the two leadership tools that we use to learn the content of California Water Policy.
Sam Sandoval
So, you provide the tools, then you provide the narrative, or you help them out with that, but then put them on the road like, now let's use these in a specific event. And I think that is the water workshop project. I think at the end each of the Wellows, excuse me, each of the fellows of WELL, the Wellows, they have to put together a workshop. Tell me what is the rationale for that?
Victor Griego
Yes, as I said earlier, Cesar Chavez taught us that all education needs to lead to service. And so, we don't expect the information and knowledge that the Wellows receive in the fellowship should stay between their ears and be for them. We expect them to go into the community and share this knowledge with other people. So, we support their leadership by having them do what we call a legislative workshop, where they work with their local legislator and they invite other local leaders in their community either on their council or the board of supervisors or school board members, or even water directors to come to a workshop for two or three hours to talk about local water issues in their community.
So, it does two things: It expands the conversation around water challenges in their region and their community. But it also allows them to practice leadership by bringing other people to the conversation. Other elected officials. And then many times some of those elected officials then join the UnTapped program. And so, it's a way to continue expanding the conversation about water challenges in California.
Mallika Nocco
Victor, I can tell that you have infused your community organizing expertise into this program. Even as you were describing the training, it sounds so different from so many of the other types of leadership development training that I've heard that I've participated in, just so place based. And I think that's fantastic. Can you give us some examples of some of the workshop topics that have taken place in the past?
Victor Griego
I do want to mention the workshop that we did for Senator María Elena Durazo that Lety participated in. Senator Durazo invited six other Latino legislators to a conversation that WELL had. And we explained some of the challenges to the state legislators. From that conversation, she was so touched, moved, and inspired, that she invited all of her staff members.
We had about 22 staff members, both from Sacramento and Los Angeles. And she wanted to train and educate her own staff about the water challenges of California. And so, Lety came down to that workshop that we had for the senator, and I heard them talking earlier, and when Lety mentioned that she was from Madera, the senator says, oh, I was born in Madera. So, we take every opportunity to educate those who want to be educated. But that's a little bit different than our legislative workshops. And I'll let Lety the talk about her opportunity to lead a legislative workshop.
Leticia Gonzalez
Yeah, so I'm currently working with supervisor Eddie Valero from Tulare County, just to the south of me, to do a combined workshop because the Central Valley is going through the SGMA implementation now. And so, we find a lot of challenges. There's so many different avenues. And without getting into the specifics of what's happening in Madera County. I mean, we have five pending lawsuits. So, it's very challenging. It's a difficult area to navigate. But bringing together these elected officials and experts, I mean, we work with our, our water agencies, with our Water and Natural Resources director has been a wonderful asset to us and can person to come to to learn from, but bringing all these folks together to learn and to grow, because it's not easy. I attend the California Association of Counties, workshops, and conferences and when we start talking about water it goes in every direction. So, there's a lot to work on, a lot to do.
But one of the things that I wanted to talk about with the method of inquiry that we learned through the program is that I didn't have any expectations, I didn't really know what to expect. And I didn't know that I was going to learn, I knew I was going to learn something, but I didn't know that I was going to learn how to learn. And so, it's been such a great tool for me, because I've built that confidence. Because if I have the question, then there's other folks who probably have that question, but they're too embarrassed to ask. And so, it's been a great tool, and we don't just use it for water, we use it in everyday life. I mean, my husband gets frustrated with me when I practice the method of inquiry on him. It's such a wonderful tool and the public narrative, also as well, so that we can really connect with people, because when you're making these policy decisions, we have to find ways to relate to others. So, it's been wonderful to use that in an environment that's not so great.
Faith Kearns
I have a follow up question. The way you describe this program just sounds so beautiful, and synergistic. And there's a lot of focus on almost emergent relational ideas that come out of this process. And then I just was wondering, in terms of thinking about building community past the fellowship program, how are you thinking about how people keep in touch? And keep some continuity and ongoing learning as the water field just changes? Especially as the water policy landscape changes constantly.
Leticia Gonzalez
Sure. So once we've completed the program, we still keep in touch. We have a group text message going. We celebrate not just the wins, but we talk, I mean, I text the group when I got married, and when I announced my pregnancy. And so there's this great, wonderful network of people. It's been great that the one of the other things that I didn't mention was the networking that it allows, because we meet people from all over the state, and different perspectives, different backgrounds. And so, the group has really meshed together.
And then just recently, we met some of the previous cohorts. And then I reached out to the newest cohort, I've reached out to a couple of the new members that will be participating. And so, it's treated like a family, you don't always see each other, you don't always get to participate, but when you do see each other, and you get together it's like family and you welcome each other. And like I said, when I'm struggling with an issue or something, I can pick up the phone, I can send an email. I can reach out to Victor, I can reach out to Dr. Sam. The networking and all has been invaluable.
Victor Griego
Yeah, we have what we call the WELL UnTapped network. And Lety just mentioned we got together in October in Burbank. And we brought together all different cohorts with this is our fifth cohort that we're involved with now. And once they graduate, they began to belong to the WELL UnTapped network. So, we brought all the graduates to a session in Burbank that has been our second convening. COVID was difficult, obviously, we couldn't get together. But once it kind of opened up, we got together and many of the graduates got together and participated in the network.
So, we do two things. The network has two purposes: one to continue their education. So, thank you for the question. So, we're committed to ongoing education. And they participate in many ways. Not only do they come to a retreat and stay connected, but they're involved with our conferences, they're involved with our panels, they become moderators, they become speakers. We just had a young council member from Indio speak to the San Bernardino Municipal Waters Conference. So, he was one of the guest speakers. So, we continue investing in them, and they continue to spend time on water policy.
And the other thing is they then refer people to the program so that we keep the program going. So, that's the network. The other thing that's important is this July, we're having our Asian American Pacific Island UnTapped program. So, some of our graduates from the Asian Pacific Island community asked us to put together a cohort for the Asian American community. So, we're now putting together a cohort of about 20 Asian Americans to put together the UnTapped program for them. We've also had conversations with Indigenous tribes here in California to talk about how we can provide this similar training to Indigenous tribes here in California.
Faith Kearns
Awesome. So, you know, we've had a few discussions about things like water diplomacy and leadership on our Water Talk Podcast. And I'm curious how both of you think about and sort of approach leadership? So, maybe we can start with you, Victor, can you talk a little bit about how you approach leadership?
Victor Griego
Well, we try to practice that leadership is not a position or a title. It's a practice. So, it's not a noun, but a verb. And we believe that you're given many opportunities to lead throughout your public life. And quite honestly, in your private life, as a spouse, as a mother, as a sibling, there's many opportunities to serve others. We believe that leadership is about serving others. And since everyone can serve others, that really means everyone can be a leader.
So, we really believe that all of us who choose to be involved in public life, particularly the elected officials, that their actions are really their leadership. And their inability to act is also a sign of lack of leadership. So, we encourage people to act, and that's why we have that legislative workshop at the end of the fellowship. Because it's not just about learning the information, getting the knowledge, and keeping it in your head. But what are you going to do with it? How are you going to act on it? And how are you going to serve other people through it? But I'll let Lety continue.
Leticia Gonzalez
Yeah, so, this was an interesting question. Because, when I think about what's my leadership style? I don't know, I just want to try to do the right thing. I consider myself a servant leader. Just like Victor mentioned, I try to learn what I can, it's my responsibility.
You know, being the only woman on the board, being the first Latina, and in carrying that, it's a responsibility that I don't take lightly. And so I do my best to learn what I can, understand what I can, ask those questions, and then make decisions based on science, based on what the needs of our constituents are. So, it's very compelling. And again, it's nothing that I take lightly. So, that's how I approach it. And I utilize the tools that I have. And so, growing that toolbox has been great again, the networking and learning to ask those tough questions and to not be afraid to speak.
There's not a lot of me, there's probably one Latino per county in the Central Valley, and then dealing with a lot of the issues in the Central Valley. You know, we have a group we meet with the Latino Caucus for the California counties, because we know that the decisions that are made today are going to impact future generations.
Faith Kearns
The way you all describe that is so wonderful thinking about that public service mindset when it comes to leadership. And, Victor, I really appreciate your sort of continued emphasis on action based on what you know, because I think particularly in the university, we can get kind of stuck in that knowing things for knowing sake. And I think that action part is really so important. So, thank you both for your service and the work that you're doing. I kind of want to be part of the WELL program now.
Victor Griego
You know, one of the things that I've noticed over the last 10 years now working with WELL, the participants, there's a lot of anger. They've been through a lot. I don't want to speak for Lety or anyone else, but in conversations, they face a lot of challenges. Not only personally, but for the community. And so, they've taken that cold anger, they've taken that cold anger, and they married it with the love for people. I mean, you can see it in Lety's smile how she's just a loving person, and she loves people, and she wants to serve them. But that energy comes from anger. She knows what's going on her community. And she knows what's going on in her own life. And so, we marry that cold anger with the love for people to develop our programs.
Faith Kearns
I've often heard that referred to as sort of like a righteous anger, and so I totally appreciate the perspective that's coming from.
Leticia Gonzalez
I'll just add that I tried to really humanize this role. You know, I'm an elected official, but I'm human. And so again, we make the decisions based on what we know, what the experts recommend, what the needs of the community are. And so, I tried to humanize it. And I tried to bridge all of those people and try to meet them in a common place. And I always say, you know, I'm trying to plant a seed to grow a tree so that someone else can enjoy the shade later.
Sam Sandoval
A thanks to both of you. And I think also in terms of the local elected officials and all the people around the state, I think it was in our last season or two seasons ago, Pablo Ortiz was talking about the work that he did with some of the local elected officials related to climate change in the San Joaquin Valley. And he brought the name of Jose Ornelas. Jose Ornelas, who was also a former Wellow, an alumnus from WELL, and I don't know at that point, we just explained it really briefly. Victor, would you mind explaining about Jose Ornelas and what he did at WELL?
Victor Griego
Yeah, so, Jose Ornelas was a city of San Joaquin councilmember. He passed away in 2020. Due to COVID. He was visiting family in Mexico. And he passed away. He was a member of our first cohort in 2017-2018. He was a voice and conscience of farmworkers and farmworker towns in the Central Valley. San Joaquin is adjacent to the State Water Project. And his city, you know, doesn't tap into that. And it was so ironic that in his town, he had contaminated water for the residents. He would bring bottled waters that were brown, to our meetings, and, again, was the voice and conscience of small, neglected towns in the Central Valley.
But yet we’re contributing to the huge agricultural industry and the food of the nation as we know, what the Central Valley and Coachella Valley provides in terms of our economy. So, we certainly missed him. He actually ran for county supervisor in Fresno, and he made water a major issue. And when he passed, the community had a very nice mural. And the WELL logo is part of that mural because he really believed in the work that WELL was doing. And again, he was a member of our first cohort in 2017.
Sam Sandoval
Yeah, thank you. Thank you Victor.
Mallika Nocco
So, this has just been very inspiring to talk to the two of you today. And one of the things that we like to do on our podcast is just ask our guests if there's anything more that you want people to know about the work that you're doing and ask how we can support your efforts. So, I'm not sure who would like to go first, but it'd be great to hear how we can all support you.
Victor Griego
I think the thing I believe that could be helpful to us and the people that we serve and work with is that we're all stewards of the earth. And that as we think globally, we act locally. So, the water we waste in Los Angeles, where I'm from, is impacting Madera County. The water that I don't appreciate is affecting the salmon in the Bay Delta. The water that I don't respect is impacting the Salton Sea in the Coachella Valley. So, I think as we know, the challenges in California are really no different than those who live off the Mississippi River, those who live in Egypt, those who live in Mexico, Central America. We have water challenges around the world. So, if we are concerned about challenges, then we need to really know what can we do locally? What can we do in our lives to impact other people? That's what I would say.
Leticia Gonzalez
Well, I'll say that it's important not to lose sight of the Jose Ornelas of the world to continue that work. And there's a lot of work to be done. So, I would say that being in this role, that I'm open to anybody and everybody that's willing to share information, teach me something, educate me on the things that I don't know about, because I will definitely use that and take that back in the decision-making process. Because again, we are trying to make some major decisions based on the information that we have, and to do what's best for our community. So I would just say that don't be afraid to reach out to share. There's so many different ways to connect with folks nowadays, whether it's through email, through text messages, through social media, so we're accessible and definitely open to all of that.
Sam Sandoval
Yeah, thank you. And thank you, both of you. And muchas gracias, Victor, Lety.