By Hilary Morefield

The spring sun shone brightly through the windows of Shawna’s car as we stepped out into the end of 37th Street in Normal Heights. Today was the canvassing session of the Institute, where the fellows would get the opportunity to get to have face-to-face contact with community members about a particular issue. I quietly trailed SDLA Fellows Luis Osuna and Shawna Held as they made their way down the block, trying to make sense of the address list in hand.

By Hilary Morefield

As soon as I arrived at the seventh session of the Institute, I could see the SDLA fellows had already eagerly started into an engaging and informative day of talks on public policy. After an active team building break outside to kick off the mid-morning, the group jumped into discussions of all kind of policy approaches, ranging from healthcare to environmental impacts and coalition building. The day served as a continuation of the public policy discussion in the 3rd session of the Institute.

By Hilary Morefield

A consultant, a fundraiser, and a rabbi. Not usually the first figures you have in mind as experts on the field of communication.However, for the Communications session of the Institute, SDLA took the path of the less obvious and opted to pull from a diverse spectrum of experience and expertise, making it an interesting and informative jump from speaker to speaker throughout the day.

2014 San Diego Leadership Alliance Fellow Jeff Graves has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Lambda Archives, an organization that collects, preserves, and teaches the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual,and transgender people in the San Diego and Northern Baja California region.  

"There is no doubt that my gained experience, skills and overall participation with the San Diego Leadership Alliance has played a positive role and will continue to help me achieve my goals in moving forward a progressive agenda via community activism in San Diego," Graves says.  

In its mission to develop the next generation of progressive leaders in San Diego, the SDLA encourages and equips Fellows with the skills necessary to join boards and commissions.   

More information on the Lambda Archives can be found at their website, http://www.lambdaarchives.us/.  

Thank you to the more than 100 alumni, faculty, mentors, board members, prospective fellows, and guests who joined us Thursday, October 9 at Ryan Bros Coffee in Barrio Logan to celebrate the San Diego Leadership Alliance's 5th Anniversary!