experiencing the City Hall Fellows’ Civic Leadership Development Program

For my Fellowship year (2010-2011), the Civic Leadership Development Program (CLDP) encompassed City Hall Fellows’ learning objectives, educational talks, hand-on tours, and reflection debriefs. Through the CLDP, my cohort got exposure to multiple layers of San Francisco politics. Examples include:

• learning about San Francisco Ballot measures and touring the Department of Elections the day after election day,

• receiving a breakdown of the components of legislative reports, Civic Engagement as well as the evolving structures of political participation,

• touring the SFPUC Sunset Solar installment, which is placed over a SFPUC Water Enterprise reservoir. It stretches several acres, and provides energy to most of San Francisco governmental municipalities.

We also toured San Francisco Recology, the city’s waste collection and management agency. The massive piles of recycle and garbage really put things into perspective for me, making me a lot more mindful of the amounts of daily waste generated in the city. Another unforgettable piece of the CLDP was visiting Sacramento, our state’s capital, during the time when redevelopment was a hot topic, and then Washington D.C., our nation’s capital, meeting with representatives, think-tanks and federal governmental agencies like the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

The Civic Leadership Development Program component of the City Hall Fellows curriculum truly exceeded my expectations – I had no idea how much I would learn and be able to apply in my current position working with the city, as well as in my future career in law and policy. Thank you City Hall Fellows for providing such an incredible opportunity to the next generation of political leaders!