ALF masthead
ALF Mountain Valley Chapter
March, 2012 Update

In This Issue
Fellowship Cmte Chair's Message
Exemplary Leaders 2012
ALF National Leadership Retreat
Committee Reports
Affinity Groups, Tables of 8
ALF National Book Project
Partner Profile: Gilbert Associates
Sr. Fellows' Dues
Checking In with ALFers on the Move
Save the Dates
Quick Links
ALF's
Community Partners


Two-Star Partners

Nehemiah


Western Health Advantage


One-Star Partners

Comcast

Gilbert Assoc

Kaiser block  

PG&E logo

2012 ALF-MV
Star Club Members
Star Club Members support ALF-MV with a gift of $1200 or $100/month

Doni Blumenstock, Class I
Roy Brewer, Class IX
Matt Kelly, Class XI
Martha Lofgren, Class IX

Garry Maisel, Class IX
Kris Martin, Class II

Tom Stallard, Class VII
Stephen Tse, Class VII


2012 ALF-MV  Boosters
ALF Boosters support ALF-MV with a gift of $600 or $50/month

Joe Coomes, Class III
Ed Glavis, Class VI
Jose Hermocillo, Class III

Bill Kennedy, Class IX
Ken Larson, Class V
Randy Reynoso, Class V
Babs Sandeen, Class XII
Fred Teichert, Class III

 
Dear ,

ALF and ALFers continue to keep busy, with plenty of opportunities to engage.  Read on for more info....


Fellowship Committee Chair's Message 
nancy brodovsky
Nancy Brodovsky, Chair, 2012 ALF-MVC Fellowship Committee


What does the Fellowship Committee do?  We get the pleasure of planning opportunities for ALF Fellows to meet, network, broaden your horizons and mostly to enjoy each others company.   This occurs through various programs that we plan:  Tables of 8, Senior Fellows' Retreats, Affinity Groups, Commencement Dinners, New Class Welcome Receptions, and of course the big one our Exemplary Leaders Award Dinner.  We are always looking for Fellows to join the committee which meets monthly on the 1st Monday at 4 pm. 

Tables of Eight are a great way to connect in a small setting.  Definitely attend one soon - I just hosted one two weeks ago and we had the best time getting to know one another!  If you'd like to host one, just pick a time and place and let the ALF staff know, they will handle the details.  Everyone pays for their own meal and who knows who you will connect with.  

Two big events are coming in May and we hope you attend both: On May 4th we'll celebrate the Commencement of Class XV into the Sr. Fellows' Network.  This is pure fun - dinner at Mulvaney's B&L Restaurant then celebrate with Class XV as they give you a peek into their year together.  Then, on May 23rd, help us welcome the new members of Class XVI at a reception in their honor.  Come give the new class a taste of the ALF spirit and welcome them into the ALF family.



SAVE THE DATE: Exemplary Leaders Award Dinner set for OCTOBER 3rd 
 

Join us in honoring three leaders instrumental in laying the foundation for our region   

 

Nehemiah The ALF-MV board of directors is proud to honor three trailblazing, transformational leaders -- Vicki Barber, Joe Coomes, and Tom Stallard -- to receive the 2012 ALF Exemplary Leaders Award on Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at the Sheraton Hotel.  The event is presented by our friends at Nehemiah Corporation of America. 

 

Nancy Brodovsky (Class XIV) and Len McCandliss (Class III) will co-chair the celebration that supports the ALF Scholarship Fund.

 

The Fellowship and Development Committees are hard at work finding sponsors and ensuring the dinner is a functional and financial success. More help is always welcome! Contact the ALF office to get involved.

 

Please join us in celebrating these three exceptional people!  Stay tuned for more information about the event in the coming months.

   

 

ALF National Leadership Retreat

starburst 2Friday, May 4 through Sunday, May 6 
Burlingame, CA (15 miles south of S.F.) 

The ALF National Leadership Retreat will draw leaders from ALF chapters around the country for a practicum on personal, organizational and community change, and, perhaps as importantly, to network with each other as Senior Fellows.

The retreat will kick-off with lunch on Friday and end at noon Sunday. The curriculum includes critical concepts of personal change, dialogue and U Theory, as well as skills development and opportunities for applying learning in dialogue that explores the emergent opportunities for the work of ALF in the coming years.

Cost is $600 per person and includes program, meals and lodging. Spouses and significant others are welcome. Registration is limited to 60 participants. Payment is due in full by March 31st.

For more information or to register, visit www.alfsv.org/nationalretreat or call 408-554-2000.


Committees


Fellowship
flip chartEarlier this week, the Fellowship Committee invited the Exemplary Leader Award honoree's nominators, classmates, and Sr. Fellows from Yolo and El Dorado Counties to a Dinner Kick-off Party.  Two dozen Sr. Fellows gathered to start plans for the dinner on October 3rd.  Discussed were how best to recognize our honorees and begin brainstorming ideas for outstanding auction items.
 

Community Leadership
Studio Sacramento rolls on, with tonight's show focusing on emerging leaders and development programs for them in the region. Potential ALF-partnered shows in the works will look at teen leadership programs, immigration, criminal justice funding, and state budget cuts.  Have an idea for an ALF-partnered Studio Sacramento show? We'd like to hear from you!

Development
The committee's recent meeting focused on developing community partnerships with the region's corporations and approaching potential sponsors of the Exemplary Leader Award Dinner. 

The committee is pleased to welcome the return of PG&E as a community partner for 2012.  Keep an eye out for a profile in this newsletter soon.   


ALF Members Connect Through
Tables of Eight, Affinity Groups

Pick a restaurant and a date for a Table of Eight or make a reservation to join a table;
Join or start an Affinity Group

forksTables of Eight
Nancy Brodovsky was joined by seven ALF members at Restaurant Thir13en for a Leap Year's Dinner.  Here are some pictures of the fun from Stephen Tse.

No agenda, no topic, no facilitators -- this is a low-key yet fun opportunity to meet and mingle with a small group of ALFers.  You pick the restaurant and the date, the ALF office sends out and tracks the invitations and everyone pays for their own meals. Contact the ALF office any time to get started!
 
ALF EaglesGolf Affinity Group Announces 2012 Season Schedule
Chair Michele McCormick has been busy lining up a season of golfing experiences for the group, including rounds of 18 at Teal Bend (4/5), El Macero (5/22), Empire Ranch (7/20), Granite Bay (9/6) and Apple Mountain (10/19), plus "Nine & Dines" at Northridge (4/24), Del Paso (6/15), Ancil Hoffman (8/16), and Serrano (9/27).  Enjoy a day on the links with other ALFers with the same passion.  And, of course, there is the 19th hole....

Women's Affinity Group Sharpens Focus, Sets Dates
Chaired by Susan Frazier, the group, after a number of discussions, has identified that their sessions focused on sharing are a really important part of this group.  Additionally, the gathering at Martha Lofgren's place recently was an important reminder of the incomparable value of forging trusted relationships.  So the group has married those two things into a series of dates that are "sharing only" nights and will continue programmed event nights as well, though those will be driven by participant ideas and will not be on a regular schedule.  Feel free to share any ideas you have and want to help organize, and the group will be sure to keep those going.  The group has scheduled regular gathering dates - they are all Thursdays and are spaced six weeks apart to accommodate the possibility of programmed evenings.

Interested in joining or want to start an new affinity group? Email Scot at the ALF office to be added to a listserv or to get a new group started.



ALF National's Book Project
typewriter

Can you help us tell ALF's story? 


Many Fellows feel that ALF remains a well-kept secret, even in the Houston area where our sister chapter has thrived for 30 years!  There are now nine ALF chapters scattered across the United States and the ALF-National Board decided that it was time to tell our story so people in other communities might learn from what we have learned over the years.  The board has contracted with Jeff Golden, a Senior Fellow from ALF-Oregon, to do just that.  His first step is to get input from Senior Fellows throughout the country.  An email will follow shortly with a 12-question survey, but if you have a story that you'd really like to share but don't want to spend time writing in detail, he can be available for a 15-20 minute phone conversation.

Keep an eye out for the survey email coming from the ALF-MV office - we hope you'll be willing to participate in telling the ALF story!

 

Partner Profile: GILBERT ASSOCIATES, INC.
Gilbert Assoc
A look at one of ALF's Community Partners

Gilbert Associates has served the diverse needs of California individuals and organizations for over 25 years. They're passionate about what they do and the clients they serve. It's what drives them to an unmatched level of expertise. Gilbert has a deep understanding of your unique challenges and are ready to apply the best practices to ensure your success. With their team by your side, you can relax.

Gilbert provides a host of accounting, auditing, tax, consulting and financial services ranging from training programs to fully outsourced processes, providing a blend of big-firm expertise with personalized, small-firm service, and focus on ensuring that both their work and processes are easy to understand.

The firm believes in being good citizens both inside and outside the office. They organize and participate in charity events and volunteer their time to local causes with the goal of making Sacramento a better place to live and do business.  Their team is involved in more than 50 community organizations as backers, members and directors. They want their employees to lead a full life in and out of the office, and believe that community service is vital to that goal.

When you partner with Gilbert, you get a team of more than 60 professionals, including nine shareholders, devoted to making your life easier. And since they're an independent member of CPA Associates International, they are able to draw on the resources of 52 CPA firms across the country and 93 firms around the world. So sit back. Gilbert Associates is ready to help with anything life throws your way.

Find out more at www.gilbertcpa.com

 
Thirty-Six Percent Have Sent Their Sr. Fellows' Dues So Far: Please Send Yours!

checkbook
Consider an additional gift to celebrate 15 years of ALF-MV   

Dues invoices went out in February along with your advance copy of the 2012 member directory, a benefit of your paid dues.

Many thanks to those who have responded so far - your support is critical to the operation of our chapter and providing services to our 350 (and growing!) members!  A second request will follow shortly to those who have not yet responded. 

Over the past fifteen years, our chapter has awarded a cash value of nearly $1.1 million in scholarships for participants in our First Year Fellows Program, a program that costs us $12,500 per Fellow to provide. This commitment to our community supports the widest possible representation of diversity in our ever-expanding network. Scholarship funds are raised from the Exemplary Leader Awards Dinner and through Senior Fellows' gifts and contributions.

With dues at just $20/month, we hope all members will be able to participate in this level of support for ALF, but also ask you to consider giving more in celebration of 15 years of ALF in the Greater Sacramento region.  We value your membership -- if there are conditions that prevent you from contributing your dues, scholarships are available.  Please contact the ALF office to request a full or partial scholarship.



Checking In with ALFers on the Move

Here's a look at what some of your fellow Fellows are doing over the past several months...


EVENT PHOTOS
Thanks again to Stephen Tse for his magic behind the camera!
CLASS II

Fel Ramey's photographic and narrative exhibit, We Stand on Their Shoulders, just wrapped up at the Library Gallery at Sacramento State.  The exhibit consisted of elder African Americans -women over 90 years of age and men over 80 years of age -from all parts of the country.  Fel met them where they resided and was able to record parts of their personal histories and what they attributed to their longevity.   

 

Mike Ziegler's PRIDE Industries continues to receive accolades. The latest award: the Manufacturing Leadership (ML 100) Award in the Game Changing Technology category.  Mike notes that recognitions like these help to reinforce that their social enterprise can compete and win, while fulfilling their mission: creating jobs for people with disabilities.   

 

CLASS IV

Craig McNamara received the very prestigious James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award, recognizing and supporting individuals who are advancing innovative and effective solutions to significant state issues, as founder and visionary of the Center for Land-Based Learning, based in Winters. It's a great ALF story: Class XV's Mary Kimball leads the CLBL, Mario Gutierrez (Class I) serves as it's board chair and Bob Slobe (Class XI) is a board member... AND the presentation was made by former Food and Ag Secretary and Class XI Sr. Fellow AG Kawamura!  Learn more about the award and CLBL.

CLASS VI

At their Legacy Feast on May 16th, Valley Vision will recognize Lial Jones, director of the Crocker Art Museum, for outstanding achievement in bringing the new Crocker to fruition. The museum expansion has further enhanced one of our region's most treasured civic amenities with its contemporary design and additional space for exhibits and programs. The expansion has brought national recognition to the museum along with record attendance levels.  

 

CLASS VIII

Pam Stewart is working as an advisor on a project to transform human resources in the Sacramento and Fremont Unified School Districts.   She says she was linked to the project by Jim Brown (ALF National Board of Trustees and Silicon Valley Sr. Fellow), which shows how ALF connections transcend our region.    

 

CLASS IX

Folsom Lake College President Thelma Scott-Skillman - the college's founding president - has announced she plans to retire from her position effective June 30, 2012. Thelma was appointed President of Folsom Lake College July 1, 2001, after  previously serving in progressively responsible positions in four colleges and the California Community College System office, spanning four decades of administrative and instructional experience. As the founding president of Folsom Lake College, Thelma guided the college to full accreditation status in January, 2004.  In addition to her service at Folsom Lake College, Thelma is active in local, state, regional, and national organizations, including the Folsom Economic Development Corp, American Association of Community Colleges, and the national President's Round Table of African-American CEOs.
 

CLASS XII

After more than a year of preparation and incubation, Greenwise Joint Venture left the umbrella of Valley Vision and launched as an independent nonprofit with Julia Burrows as its Executive Director. The Greenwise Regional Action Plan was developed with input from more than 275 active policy committee members, including residents and officials from 22 cities and six counties around the Sacramento region. As a stand alone nonprofit, Greenwise Joint Venture is empowered to implement their plan's goals and transform the Sacramento area into the greenest region in the country and a hub for clean technology.
 

CLASS XIII

Valley Vision will recognize Bobbin and Patrick Mulvaney with the Regional Social Equity Leader Award at the organization's Legacy Feast on May 16th.  Bobbin and Patrick's commitment to and support of Plate's Caf� has empowered homeless women to a position of self-sufficiency. These two restaurateurs are also supporters of the Slow Food movement and sustainable agriculture, as well as organizations such as Cristo Rey and Alchemist CDC, both of which do hands-on work to improve lives in underserved communities.
 

CLASS XIV
Joe Hoffman has announced he is a candidate for El Dorado County Judge, Office 7. 

CLASS XV
Bishop Parnell M. Lovelace, Jr., Senior Pastor of the 3000-member Center of Praise Ministries, will be inducted into the Martin Luther King Board of Preachers and Collegiums Scholars at Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA on April 12, 2012.  The event will take place during the 27th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. College of Ministers and Laity.  The 2012 College of Ministers and Laity is unique in its juxtaposition of scholarship, service and leadership as requirements for ministry; whether that ministry is performed through formal religion or any other field of endeavor. The four-day program will provide a creative learning environment in which clergy and laity from diverse backgrounds, distinct faith traditions, and different generations all come together as students of Dr. King's philosophies.

*******

SHAMROCKERS
Did you here that low rumble in Downtown Sac last Sunday? Several ALFers ran in the Shamrock'n Half Marathon, including (but probably not limited to) Kim Box of Class XI, Class XII's Babs Sandeen and Kathy McKim, and newsletter editor and Class IX'er Scot Siden

NONPROFIT RESOURCE CENTER's "VISION 2015"  

On Feb. 22, several community leaders, funders, and supporters of the nonprofit community met to hear "Vision 2015", presented by the Nonprofit Resource Center. The Center articulated its plans for reinvention to address the new and changing needs of the region's nonprofit organizations. ALF Senior Fellows in attendance included the Center's Board Chair Dave Ljung (XIII) and Board member Garry Maisel (IX), along with Dave's fellow Class XIII mates, Veronica Blake, Tim Ray, and James Beckwith. Also present was 2010 ALF Exemplary Leader Award honoree Fred Teichert (III), Ruth Blank (XI), and Michelle Odell (XIV).  

 

 

SAVE THE DATES  
 calendar
Class XV Commencement Dinner
Friday, May 4
 
Celebrate with Class XV as they join the ranks of the Sr. Fellows


Class XVI Welcome Reception

Wednesday, May 23
 
Welcome the new class as they begin their journey through the ALF program


ALF Exemplary Leader Awards Dinner

Wednesday, October 3
Presented by Nehemiah, join us in honoring Vicki Barber, Joe Coomes & Tom Stallard with the Exemplary Leader Award