Team News

‘I Do Have a Voice’: Lessons From Leadership Eugene Springfield

July 6, 2024

Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson

Writer & Digital Content Coordinator

Kate Mock, our Video/Photo Production Manager, wasn’t exactly sure what she was getting herself into when she accepted an offer to participate in Leadership Eugene Springfield (LES). Like many people, she’d always felt somewhat disconnected from anything involving government or civic leadership.

After joining, however, she was meeting people of all ages and backgrounds from many types of local industries and found the LES speakers and topics to be interesting and insightful. She began to better realize how she and others could be a part of the public process.

“Most surprising to me is I had no idea how much information I would learn in such a relatively short amount of time!” she says.

Kate Mock

Topics Build on Each Other

LES is a joint program between the Eugene and Springfield Chambers of Commerce that has promoted and fostered civic leadership for nearly 40 years. Participants broaden their knowledge and awareness of communities and hone their leadership skills through an eight-month course of monthly day-long sessions.

Class subjects include public safety, government leaders, health and human services, economic development, transportation and land-use planning, education, and arts and culture.

The topics build on each other and it was interesting, she says, to find out more about the wide array of public services directly from decision-makers. She had a chance to meet and talk to numerous local leaders from the neighborhood level to the city, county and state levels.

A Trip to the Legislature

Kate learned and practiced giving public testimony as part of LES, which is an example of how the course pushes people to do things outside of their comfort zone. She also traveled to Salem to learn more about the Oregon Legislature. While there, she saw a few familiar faces, including someone she had grown up with, as well as representatives of one of our clients participating in a hearing.

The experience heightened her sense of belonging and the realization that government was more accessible and open than she had previously thought. “It made me feel like ‘OK, I do have a voice, and I can be part of the process if I wish,’” she says.

Future Involvement

Upon successfully graduating, Kate was so taken with the overall LES experience that she joined the program’s steering committee to offer support and planning for future cohorts.

“I was sad it was over, and I thought it was such a great program that I wanted to do anything I could to pay it forward,” she says.

To learn more about Kate and her role as our Video/Photo Production Manager, check out her TG bio.

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