Page 6 - Work Force June 2021

Celebrating
CSEA
LEADers
CSEA activists from across the state recently celebrated their completion of our union’s Leadership Education And Development (LEAD) Program.
LEAD is an intensive, 12-month program that helps prepare activists with the skills and knowledge they need to continue to build and strengthen our union and the labor movement.
“Congratulations
to all of the
activists who have
completed our
LEAD Program,”
CSEA President
Mary E. Sullivan
said. “[The success]
of the program is
due to the quality of
the professional staff who have kept this program going, and to the people who have [graduated] from LEAD and urged others to apply. Our union really needs a program like this.”
Over five weekend-long sessions, participants completed numerous educational, interactive workshops on topics including union skills, team building, labor history, economic issues, social justice, public speaking and strategic planning. CSEA staff from the Education and Training
and several other departments presented the programs, along with
CSEA LEAD graduates, union officers and staff celebrate the accomplishments of the 2020 CSEA LEAD class.
Sullivan
representatives from AFSCME and other groups.
LEAD participants also completed assignments between sessions. Class members also created and implemented projects that not only built their local or unit, but the labor movement.
The 2020 LEAD class, CSEA’s 8th class, faced additional challenges
in getting to graduation. While the coursework had been completed
by early 2020 and the graduation was scheduled for that spring, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed their graduation, which was held virtually this spring. AFSCME International
President Lee Saunders served as the keynote speaker at the virtual event.
“Education,
training and
leadership
development are
such a critical part
of the growth and
success of our
union,” Saunders
told graduates.
“You are stepping
up at such a pivotal time, with
this public health crisis making everything we do more difficult. We’ve never needed passionate and dedicated leaders more urgently than
we do now.”
Saunders spoke at length about
CSEA members’ activism in getting federal aid through the American Rescue Plan, as well as how union members successfully adapted to the pandemic. Playing no small role are CSEA activists who have graduated from the LEAD Program, many of whom have gone on to be elected to union offices on every level, among other leadership roles in CSEA.
“Thank you for doing so much on so many fronts when the stakes are so high,” Saunders said.
— Janice Gavin
CSEA Executive Assistant to the President Sharon Lovelady-Hall helps award certificates to 2020 CSEA LEAD class members.
Saunders
CSEA LEAD Program Class of 2020
Congratulations to the following CSEA activists on completing our union’s Leadership Education And Development (LEAD) Program:
Stacey Baldwin Deyo Kathryn Bayer
Tina Buono
Lori Cheatom Thomas Cohn
Sol Colon Ali Cottrell
Crystal Davidson Anitra DiMascia Thomas Fry
Brett Furnia Kimberly Grover Kimberly Hollister Jamie Hungerschafer
Shameeka Hunter Clair Hurst
Matse Jenkins Abraham Johnson III Sara Johnson Michele Kiuber Paula Love
Jennifer Murdza
Kelly Otis
Justin Pincoski Evelynn Reid
Thomas Robinson Ebony Rose
Stevee Kaye Savignano
Scott Shugarts Carmen Sno Alphonzo Stubbs James Sullivan Maria Tyler
Susan Watson-Amos
6 The Work Force
June 2021