Our Impact
Leadership Vallejo has more than 200 alumni. Many currently holding leadership roles in their place of business, in the community, on boards, commission, and elected positions.
During this nine-month program, the class is divided into groups where they work in teams to develop meaningful projects intended to have a lasting positive impact on the community. Below is a shortlist of projects from previous years.
By designing the curriculum in conjunction with responding to community-needs, we ensure that participants focus on meaningful and measurable change as well as gain valuable insight into the avenues of service and leadership. Do you know a nonprofit or community group in need of support?
Arts & Beautification
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After trying to bring outdoor art to downtown Georgia Street, the Art Project shifted gears to help with the Trolls Under the Bridge project, (an independent group) which was unveiled at the Vallejo Waterfront Weekend. This group worked on finding a permanent location to display the Trolls Under the Bridge Art.
[Year 8]
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GVRD purchased a yurt, which was built at McIntyre Ranch, (during the program year) for GVRD groups to use for outdoor events. Our group wanted to help promote the use of the yurt to other local organizations and the yurt could function as a “headquarters” for Leadership Vallejo moving forward. We plan to host an afternoon fundraising event for Leadership Vallejo Alumni and contacts from local organizations to showcase the new yurt at McIntyre Ranch.
[Year 8]
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This group wanted to help create a festival in the City of Vallejo to showcase our beautiful City. They began working with GVRD on an Arts Festival that was in the works, and helped secured vendors, artist, etc. for a one day event on Saturday, September 10th. This event not only showcased a beautiful City park, Children’s Wonderland, but also the great people and artist from our City.
[Year 4]
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This group had a love of our beautiful waterfront. Their idea was to clean up the waterfront, add and replace planters, add doggie doo stations, and more. They have had two very successful clean up dates where the walkways were high pressure washed, planters were replaced, benches were repaired and repainted, curbs were repainted, etc. They did install the dog doo stations.
[Year 3]
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This group came together to beautify Tennessee Street. They worked on getting Christmas lights in the trees, planters on the streets, murals, etc. The group is still active but is somewhat “dormant” at this time.
[Year 1]
Community Resources
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The goal of Skilz is connecting kids to local opportunities for immersive learning via a centralized website that showcases the activities available in our community. A quick reference guide was created on the Skilz Vallejo website, sorted by categories, that makes it easy for kids and parents to identify local activities they can participate in.
[Year 14]
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ResourceFULL’s objective was to find a forum where the group could provide important educational and health resources for Vallejo students and their families. They attended resource fairs at many of the local high schools, where information was given from the LV participants respective areas of expertise: higher education, City of Vallejo representation, as well as other local resource information.
[Year 12]
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The goal of the Waterfront Weekend group was to increase youth participation at the Vallejo Waterfront Weekend. They partnered with local youth and community organizations to bring youth activities down to the festival, as well as planned their own activities such as a Karaoke Contest, Zorb Races and a Video Game Truck. The participation of youth and families exceeded expectations.
[Year 10]
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LV eView Book’s purpose was to Celebrate 10 years of Leadership Vallejo by showcasing an online tool of past LV participants, sponsors, projects, and encourage new student enrollment. Although they experienced challenges with gathering alumni information, they still hope to complete the online project.
[Year 9]
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This LV Project aims to create an electronic monitor or kiosk that provides daily and weekly information on what services are available to homeless and low income citizens, such as housing, meals, haircuts, medical support, job reentry, etc. The information will be fed by a website that service providers can update on a regular basis. The Participatory Budgeting RFP process that seeks to provide funding for a coordinated homeless strategy now includes the information kiosk concept as part of the plan.
[Year 8]
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Team E3 was designed to create a tool that would assist the community with resource that would help address the VCUSD drop out rate. The tool would list all the free/low cost tutoring programs, along with helping to increase the number of volunteers to help with these tutoring programs, while also identifying the gaps between all of the current tutoring programs in the City.
[Year 3]
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The group was formed to have a central place for parents to go and find out what activities there are for kids to do in Vallejo. They formed a website and attempted to spread the word about this website through web and schools.
[Year 2]
Economic Development
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This group focused on small business partnership and resources to boost economic development and work with established businesses that needed help increasing business, specifically in the downtown area. They worked with businesses such as Empress Theatre and Liled’s Candy Shop.
[Year 3]
Environment
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As a group meeting during the COVID pandemic, meeting and creating a project was limiting. At this time, the City of Vallejo initiated a program called “Give Litter the Boot” where they team up with local nonprofits to adopt a location in the city. This Leadership Vallejo group met once a month for 9 months to clean up areas with a great need.
[Year 13]
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Team Littership’s purpose was the explore interest and identify entities interested in forming a coalition to address litter issues in Vallejo on a long-term basis. The group received great feedback and involvement from numerous entities in Vallejo, including Recology Vallejo, local non-profits, and the City of Vallejo. They helped to create a litter ordinance and anti-litter campaign, as well as coordinate this coalition.
[Year 12]
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The main idea of the Creek Corridor QR Signage project was a desire to help preserve the natural areas of Vallejo, and include modern technological aspects to a public trail. The group coordinated high school students to assist with the labor, and installed the informational QR signs so the community has the opportunity to learn about the environment and history on the Hann’s Park Trail.
[Year 10]
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This group worked to help begin the process and education of a City of Vallejo bag ordinance. They began with informational flyers and reusable bags that they handed out at local events as well as distribution in local neighborhoods. The process has and will include outreach to residents and local businesses on the hazards of single use bag.
[Year 5]
Health & Wellness
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The CPR group selected this project because it had the ability to not only help educate the community, but also to save lives. Their goal was to increase the survival rate of Cardiac Arrest victims in Vallejo through outreach and education on Hands-Only CPR. In connection with the Vallejo Fire Department, this group helped with the PR of the program and attended numerous community events to educate the community.
[Year 10]
Safety
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It came to this group’s attention that there was a major safety issue with many of the children attending Grace Patterson Elementary School. Many of the children that attended the school had to cross Highway 29 while walking to and from home. At the end of the project, the group purchased lighted crosswalks, street signs, A-frame boards, and assisted with a bus schedule review, and worked with the City of Vallejo and local agencies.
[Year 10]
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This group created a survey that they distributed online, through social media, and at local events to find out what mattered most to the citizens of Vallejo. After learning that the most important category was safety, this group interviewed numerous safety organizations in the city. The group then chose two, the Guardian Angels and the Vallejo Volunteer Police Offices, both non-funded volunteers, to create a fundraiser for. On Friday, August 26th, the Taste of Vallejo event was held. This event involved local restaurant tastings, wine and beer tastings, safety demonstrations, live entertainment, etc. It was a huge success.
[Year 4]
Training/Development
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The CPR group selected this project because it had the ability to not only help educate the community, but also to save lives. Their goal was to increase the survival rate of Cardiac Arrest victims in Vallejo through outreach and education on Hands-Only CPR. In connection with the Vallejo Fire Department, this group helped with the PR of the program and attended numerous community events to educate the community.
[Year 10]
Transportation
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This group focused on a need for transportation between Vallejo and Mare Island. At the same time, they wanted to approach the idea of creating a bus or trolly system that would wind through Vallejo’s waterfront and downtown, then to Mare Island and back. Unfortunately, the cost was extremely high and challenging to find sponsors.
[Year 7]
Vallejo Life & Culture
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Created a podcast where we conversed with residents and members of the Vallejo community in order to learn more about the people that live, work, or were born in Vallejo. The goal of the podcasts was to highlight the positive aspects of living in Vallejo and help continue a positive perception of what it is like to live, work, or be born in Vallejo.
[Year 14]
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The Positively Vallejo group found a need to develop a web presence focused on promoting and informing people of the positive happenings and resources in Vallejo. Their goal was to promote civic pride, awareness and positive information, and encourage others to promote their events, and information. Their most effective platforms included Facebook and Instagram.
[Year 12]
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This group developed a magazine for new residents and business owners coming into Vallejo. They wanted to create a welcome magazine, using information from both the Visitors Bureau and Chamber of Commerce to create a collaborative magazine, inserted in the newspaper, as well as given out at Real Estate offices. This group worked with the Times Herald as well as the Chamber of Commerce to market the magazine.
[Year 7]
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Team P.U.R.E came up with the idea to help bridge the gap between Vallejo elementary schools and the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum by hosting an open house (with the hopes that more schools would take advantage of the free field trips offered by the Museum). Team P.UR.E. believed that learning the history of Vallejo is a crucial part in creating a better future. This endeavor led to a very successful Book-Drive (by one of the Team P.U.R.E. members) for the James L. Capoot Library (in honor of fallen Officer Jim Capoot) at Starting Gate School.
[Year 5]
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This team partnered with the Vallejo Convention & Visitors Bureau (VCVB) to reach out to service clubs, churches, schools, etc. to not only improve Vallejo’s self-image but to gather support for community branding. They have prepared a Powerpoint and CD highlighting what the city has to offer (golf courses, dog park, Discovery Kingdom, ferry service, diversity, three colleges, etc.) that they hope to use to “spread the word” and reach out to the entire city.
[Year 2]
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The My Kind of Town group created many different elements, all focused around the love of our City. They created a website to increase awareness of what is happening in our City, they worked with GVRD promoting and manning the summer movie series, and they hoped to create bumper stickers and t-shirts. The project is not active and did not go further than the website and the movie nights.
[Year 2]
Youth Development
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This group created a 4-part Leadership Vallejo program for high school youth. They took the Leadership Vallejo and re-worked the curriculum to suit youth. The group partnered with GVRD for assistance with the location, Bambinos for food, and some of the Leadership Vallejo program speakers to visit the Youth Leadership. Click here, to learn more.
[Year 14]
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We invited the Youth of Vallejo to come to attend a morning event at the JFK Library with many inspirational and influential leaders and hear their stories about how they are living proof that you can be and do anything you put your mind to!
[Year 11]
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The goal of this group was to work with local schools and building trades organizations to help introduce the trades to high school students. They worked closely with both organizations, as well as the Robby Poblete Foundation to make the connection.
[Year 11]
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This team created a youth job directory for the City of Vallejo to enable youth to find career paths and gain employment experience. The group had the guide printed and planned to present the guide to the Vallejo City Unified School Board and work with VUSD to find a place to include on their website.
[Year 11]
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This group’s vision was to promote the pursuit of a higher education among Vallejo students by raising awareness of scholarship opportunities. They worked with VEBA (Vallejo Education Business Alliance) to share their vision.
[Year 9]
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Leadership Vallejo Group ‘Team Believers’ wanted to focus on bringing art education into Vallejo schools. Their focus was to divide into three groups: elementary school, middle school, and high school students. They asked local artists to work with 3-4 students each, thus having 18-24 interested students paired with 6 artists. These students worked with many different artists in Vallejo, including Jeannette McCree, Goodie Goudeau, and many more, doing many different types of art. At the end of the program, the Leadership team coordinated an Art Expo June of 2013 to display the art created by these students.
[Year 6]
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The Team Infinity group decided to work with Vallejo youth, and in conjunction with GVRD, created a Vallejo Youth Leadership Academy. As a team, they decided on 5 core leadership values that they wanted to teach middle school youth. With the help of GVRD and their Teen Leadership Council, the Team members would meet these students once a week, and work on a different leadership value. After the 5 week program was over, the group was approached by VCUSD’s after school program director to collaborate in creating similar after school programs within the middle schools.
[Year 6]
Special Needs Response
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As a group meeting during the COVID pandemic, meeting and creating a project was limiting. At The Griffin Academy is a public nonprofit charter school in Vallejo. Their mission is to prepare the diverse student body for success in College, careers, and civic engagement. However, they were in need of furnishing new classrooms for incoming 8th grade students and teachers, (8th grade was new to Griffin and in need of volunteers to scout out, pickup, deliver and install desks, tables and chairs for up to 8 classrooms). This group helped solicit furniture donations from a variety of avenues such as local business, community, charitable organizations. Although, the school received a grant for furnishings, those monies wouldn’t be accessible for over a year.
[Year 12]
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These 5 class members choose to raise money and awareness of the Leadership Vallejo program and re-unite alumni though a family friendly fundraiser. Their original idea was to collaborate with another local organization to increase attendance and awareness of two events and organizations at once, but experienced challenges with the other organization. They changed courses and had the Oktoberfest De-Bocce-ry Tournament as a solo LV event, thanks to GVRD, raising over $1500.
[Year 9]
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A group of LV, City, and community leaders came together to try and put together a central place for citizens to go and learn where and what volunteer opportunities are available in our city. It was a very well supported program/idea.
[Years 1 & 2]
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This group focused on helping to create a “fast track” for obtaining building permits. They dealt with many different challenges with City Hall and unfortunately didn’t make progress.
[Year 1]
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A mentoring program with Vallejo High students and Vallejo Retirees, through the Vallejo community centers. They surveyed both groups for interest in working together to try and bridge the generation gap. It has been on hold but recent Vallejo Together groups have expressed interesting in restarting the program.
[Year 1]
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
— African Proverb
