13 On Your Side’s Vanessa Gongola asked two of the attendees to share why this is important to them.
Yuma, Arizona (KYMA, KECY) – Arizona Rural Leadership Center has competitively selected 16 participants from across the state to be part of its flagship program, Project CENTRL Class 32.
The purpose is to empower and empower local leaders to meet the needs of rural Arizona. Project CENTRL has trained over 700 leaders since 1983.
Those selected from Yuma said they were humbled and proud to be selected, saying they had faced many great leaders from across the state.
One of five Yuma natives, Emilia Cortez, the only woman, is active in her community as the director of the Yuma County Girl Scouts.
“I am empowering women, raising girls’ voices and advocating that women need to do more,” Cortez said.
Giving back, she said, gives her a sense of fulfillment and purpose.
“Find your purpose. I love what I do, but I also want to know what I can do to enhance it for others in our community,” Cortez continued.
Cortez and her family are part of the agricultural workforce, so learning more is important to her.
“I grew up in Los Angeles, but I’m also Yuma because we’ve had farming in our lives. So I was a city girl in school, and in the summer, we were We came to Los Angeles and harvested and did everything in the house ‘the field,’ Cortez explained. “We had cotton, and we had bigger farmer investments in Mexico, so we were going back and forth between Yuma and Guadalajara. We were the labor force. Growing up, getting up at 4 in the morning, getting ready, doing whatever I could.” I loved it. ”
She is excited to receive further education in a field that is important to Yuma.
“We can go to Mexico and learn how the agricultural business is done in Mexico,” Cortez said.
Another participant from Yuma, Javier Medina, works as a safety coordinator at Gowan Milling.
He said he was ready to tackle the challenges facing Yuma.
“Affordable housing, broadband access, healthcare. We’re just trying to get the right people to Yuma, Arizona,” Medina said. “Our teachers and doctors are some of the best people in the nation, and we strive to ensure they are well invested in the communities where they want to stay, where they want to stay, and where they want to raise their families.”
Medina looks forward to working with the team.
“My plan is to act like a bridge and help connect some of these people with some of the organizations that are already working in this community,” Medina continued.
He said he wanted to learn more about Arizona and the various obstacles facing each community.
Class 32 travels all over Arizona. Mexico, Sonora. Over the next 12 months in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC, we will explore leadership lessons from all perspectives.
They will attend nine seminars that will help address and solve some of Yuma County’s key issues and challenges.
Seminars include effective communication, natural resources and rural economics, state budget basics: health care, education and corrections, agriculture in international border areas, and public policy in Arizona.
