Leadership Morgan Hill, a nonprofit organization that has trained hundreds of local community leaders and spearheaded numerous civic improvement projects, marks its 30th anniversary this year, celebrating three decades of fostering community engagement and developing future leaders in South Santa Clara County.
Established in 1995 as a branch of the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce, the nonprofit offers an annual program to develop community leaders by educating them on all aspects of Morgan Hill community life. Anyone can sign up to join the program, and its nine-month curriculum is tailor-made to address the specific needs of its students.
“The idea was that they would become acquainted with all of the services that are available,” said Diane McGinty, a founding board member of LMH. “The business community, the schools, the social service agencies, the churches, every aspect of what was available to be helpful in developing the city government into trying to make Morgan Hill into a dynamic and successful community.”
Known by many in the organization as the “Godmother” of LMH, McGinty was asked to join the first Board of Directors when the nonprofit was founded in 1995 and remained on the board for more than 10 years, while also going on to help found the group’s sister nonprofit Leadership Gilroy.
“They asked all of the major entities in the community to send a person to become the initial founding board members,” she said. “At the time, I was working at Saint Louise Hospital, and I was in charge of the mission programs there. The president of the hospital chose me to represent the hospital on this founding board.”
Michael Brookman, who was a corporal in the Morgan Hill Police Department when the first LMH board convened, also became an early advocate of the nascent program.
“They wanted to send two city employees to kick off the program, one from the police department and one from somewhere else in the city,” Brookman said. “I read about it in the paper, and of course I got the official blurb on it, and I thought, ‘Wow, this is a really good program for building a community, and bridging the gap between the government and the voters.’ So I really wanted to get involved in it.”
Brookman joined the second Leadership Morgan Hill class in 1996, quickly becoming enamored with the program’s mission.
“I had worked in government for many years,” he said. “I worked in the county, and I’d worked for the federal government and I’d worked for the city, and I thought I knew how government worked.
“Well, I did to a degree, but I didn’t know how Morgan Hill worked, even working here and being involved, I didn’t know, and boy, the program sure showed me. I learned so much. It is tailor-made for this community.”
Immediately after graduating from the Leadership program, Brookman joined the nonprofit’s board of directors, and soon after became its president, where he stayed for at least five years.
“I was so impressed with the program, I saw that it was really doing a good deal for the community, I wanted to keep involved in it,” he said. “The biggest triumph that was had was getting the leadership program to become a standalone entity. I think one of the best things that happened while I was president was that Leadership became its own entity, its own governing body. That was a big step.”
Over the last 30 years, Leadership Morgan Hill has graduated more than 500 students, ready to take up leadership roles in the community, and their fingerprints can be seen all over the city in the impacts made by their annual class projects. These include multiple public improvement projects such as the downtown bike racks, utility box art, the mural at the Community Park near the Magical Bridge Playground, and most recently, improvements to the amphitheater park at the Community and Cultural Center.
“It also helps build a stronger political identity for us,” Brookman said. “South County is such a small part of District 1 of the county supervisors’ districts, and Morgan Hill, it used to be, would be overlooked by the county, along with Gilroy and certainly San Martin. Getting people involved in the community through the Leadership program, I think has really done wonders for us with the county. It has given us a much louder voice.”
At their 30th anniversary kickoff event Jan. 22, Leadership Morgan Hill began what they call a “year-long Celebration of Leadership” that will culminate in a community celebration Oct. 4 at Guglielmo Winery.
“These are the partnerships that make Morgan Hill not just a city, but a community,” said Michelle Bigelow, Morgan Hill City Clerk and LMH alumni, at the kickoff event. “A place where people come together to support one another and create a brighter future.
“As a graduate of the 2012 class, I am deeply grateful for what this program has given me, and the relationships I have formed. It is not just knowledge and connection, but a sense of purpose and a commitment to serving my community.”
As LMH looks forward to a year of celebrating, it hasn’t stopped to rest on its laurels, continuing to plan projects and programs to benefit the community, starting with its upcoming Citywide Spring Cleanup Day scheduled for April 19.
To learn how to get involved and help clean up the city, check www.leadershipmorganhill.com for new events and updates.
