Leadership Mountain View is much more than just a leadership program to Mountain View resident Lynne Hansen – it’s a program that gave her a sense of home and belonging.
“It made me feel like I was important in my community,” she said.
Hansen moved to Mountain View “in 2010 or ’11,” but she wasn’t sure how to get involved in her new community, she recalled. That was, until she happened to meet the former Leadership Mountain View director, who encouraged her to sign up for the nine-month leadership program.
“I was tired of being in my own little world and felt like I was just taking and not giving as much,” Hansen said. “So, I went to the program and just loved it.”
Through the program, Hansen learned all about city government and local community agencies, “really what makes Mountain View Mountain View,” she said.
Now, Hansen is on the Leadership Mountain View Advisory Council and is organizing a wine-tasting fundraiser at Savvy Cellar Wine Bar & Restaurant in downtown Mountain View Oct. 12. The fundraiser supports the program, including the ability to provide partial scholarships for future students. While many Leadership Mountain View students have their employers cover the tuition through their Education Reimbursement programs, some students have to pay for it out of pocket.
“Having the ability to give folks a little bit of a break through a scholarship provides someone an opportunity who might otherwise have had to say, ‘No, I can’t afford to be able to participate,’” Hansen said.
Hansen welcomes everyone to come to the wine-tasting fundraiser but asks that those interested RSVP on Eventbrite by Friday so that Savvy Cellar has the appropriate stock. Appetizers will be served at 5 p.m., and the tasting will include one sparkling wine, two whites and two reds, all selected by Savvy Cellar, a wine bar that Hansen loves and at which she said she’s “pretty much a regular.”
“If you’re interested in Leadership Mountain View, and you want to hear more about it, it’s a great opportunity for that,” Hansen said. “If you just like the idea of having a wine tasting, come on in. We’ll probably still tell you about LMV, but you don’t necessarily have to sign anything by coming into it.”
Community connections
Many current Mountain View City Council members have participated in the Leadership Mountain View program, including Ellen Kamei, Margaret Abe-Koga, Emily Ann Ramos and Lucas Ramirez, according to Hansen. The program is for all ages, typically mid-20s and up, and for anyone with a connection to Mountain View – whether they live or lived there, work or worked there or live in an adjacent city.
“Some live in Los Altos. We all know they want to be in Mountain View,” Hansen joked.
Program participants can be from all walks of life. Retired residents looking to get involved with the community, parents whose kids left for college and have extra time on their hands and people whose employers want to strengthen their relationship with the city are just some examples,
Hansen said “You have everyone from maybe a potential CEO or VP to someone who has been a homemaker and not really out in the corporate world per se, and everything in between comes through,” she said. “So that’s what’s neat, too, that you’re getting a perspective, not just the courses you’re going through, but the perspective from the people who are here in town.”
One of Hansen’s favorite aspects of the program is that it uplifts community members’ ideas instead of shutting them down.
“You can go somewhere and say, ‘I want to put together a 5K run that’s going to benefit the Stevens Creek Trail,’” she said. “People are not going to say, ‘You can’t do that.’ They’ll be like, ‘What a great idea! Let me help you connect with the people who may be able to help you get that into fruition, or maybe there is a program like that – why don’t you work with them and you can make it even bigger and better?’”
Hansen hopes to see both new and familiar faces at the upcoming wine-tasting fundraiser.
“It’s a really neat way to be able to go and taste things that you haven’t tried before,” she said. “And what I’m hoping to share with everyone who comes out for the tasting event is some good wine, a little bit of food and camaraderie and fellowship with one another.”
The Leadership Mountain View wine-tasting fundraiser is scheduled 5-8 p.m. Oct. 12 at Savvy Cellar, 750 W. Evelyn Ave. To RSVP, visit tinyurl.com/en46888h.
