Colorado State University-Pueblo’s Center for Leadership and Community Development will host its second annual leadership conference, “Leadership, Civic Engagement, and Advocacy: Getting Involved and getting Results,” on Saturday, May 9. The day long workshop will build on earlier leadership sessions conducted by the Center and will link neighborhood residents with those in the community who have been successful in making changes in their neighborhoods and in the city.
The conference will be held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Occhiato University Center Cottonwood Room and will include sessions on leadership training and using that training to make neighborhood improvements. Participants will have the opportunity address their concerns with representatives from the Pueblo City Police Department, Pueblo Sheriff’s Office, District Attorney’s Office, and the Pueblo City-County Health Department. Attendance at the morning sessions, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m., requires registration. Lunch will be provided for those who register for the morning sessions from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Registration must be made by Wednesday, April 29.
Morning SessionSession I: Developing Leadership Skills: Dr. Deborah Watson Trujillo
Session II: Neighborhood Improvement - Representatives from Pueblo City Police Department, County Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office and from the City/County Health Department.
Afternoon SessionThe afternoon session from 1:40-4 p.m. is open to the public with no registration required. It will feature individuals who have been successful in influencing government entities and in making significant change in Pueblo. Among the presenters will be:
Chris Nicoll, using petitions to make changes in your local government;
Margaret Barber: Grassroots organizing for local change: Environmental Issues, PepperSauce Bottoms Flooding;
Roger Gomez: Chair of CALM, Committee to Assess Local Mayorship;
Theresa Trujillo: Colorado Progressive Coalition;
Isaac Medrano: Colorado State Director of Democracia, U.S.A., and
Deborah Watson Trujillo and
Sal Acuna: Director and Consultants for Colorado Trust Grant, CSU-Pueblo-The Center for Leadership and Community Development, Health Advocacy Project for 22 Southern Colorado Counties.
To register for the morning sessions or for other information, contact Gayle Berardi, professor of political science and co-director of the Center for Leadership and Community Development at CSU-Pueblo at 549-2679 or gayle.berardi@colostate-pueblo.edu or Colette Carter, assistant professor of political science and co-director of the Center, at 549-2426 or
Colette.carter@colostate-pueblo.edu Over the last few years, the CSU-Pueblo Center for Leadership and Community Development, led by CSU-Pueblo Professors Gayle Berardi and Colette Carter, conducted leadership training for residents of the Y-neighborhoods, with the intention to engage and develop leadership resources in the less advantaged city neighborhoods. The May 9 conference will create a platform for collaboration and cooperation among the neighborhoods and among the citizens of Pueblo. Ultimately, the Center’s vision is a city with more self-sufficient neighborhoods engaged in civic matters.