Day Two: Crossing Borders

We had crossed the border at Otay Mesa. We had checked in at our hotel and then returned to the border, this time to Mexican immigration for a visa that would enable us to visit the Medtronic maquiladora inside Mexico. We were crossing borders within borders it seemed. And within the Medtronic maquila, yet more borders of a different sort, separating us by clean rooms and security from the workers painstakingly sewing stents and building medical devices to save lives across the world.

Day Two: Los Ninos' New Office

Los Ninos has moved into a new office space in Chula Vista. Trustees visited on their way to Tijuana. Left to right, Bill Bramley, the immediate past president of the board; David Chung, microenterprise volunteer; Jeanette Leehr, board president; and Elisa Sabatini, Los Ninos executive director.

Day Two: Los Ninos Board

Board members, Joan Bryden and Jeanette Leehr, take time to catch up. The board membes share a strong culture of close relationships and often express their experience as being that of a family. As Los Ninos grows and its governance needs expand, the board will be contemplating how to bring on new members in a way that maintains the culture they so value yet is open to change and encouraging of self-assessment and innovation.

Day Two: Los Ninos Board

Cheryl Sesnon, left, one of the facilitating team members; Jeanette Leehr, center, the Los Ninos Board President; and Elisa Sabatini, right, Los Ninos Executive Director.

Day Two: Los Ninos Board Begins Gathering

Friday for lunch we gathered at Elisa Sabatini's home in San Diego. Joan Bryden had a chance to talk with David Clemmons the voluntourism director. David has provided visionary leadership for the emerging field of voluntourism.

Day One: Los Ninos Board Planning Session Begins

Thursday morning, November 1st Joan Bryden (left) and I arrived around the same time at the airport where Elisa Sabatini, the Los Ninos Executive Director (right) met us. She took us to lunch in the Little Italy section of San Diego. It was a chance for me to get to know Joan, a Los Ninos trustee, who has served on the board for 16+ years. Joan has experienced Los Ninos's redirection from a "direct aid/welfare type of organization to one that is changing the lives of the WHOLE families for our neighbors in Mexico." From welfare to development, Los Ninos has undergone a transformational change guided by field staff leaders who remain vital to the Los Ninos program. Joan came to the planning meeting with concerns that Los Ninos's burgeoning venture into voluntourism might turn the organization into "a tour company and not a community development organization." By the end of the weekend, she had come to see this innovative approach, being pioneered by Los Ninos, as a way of "connecting with people throughout the world through education."

Former Trustee Guides Community Foundation's National Certification

Lindsay West, the founding president of the Community Foundation of the New River Valley (CFNRV), received flowers and accolades from the board for guiding the foundation through the Council on Foundations National Standards certification process. West, a member of the CFNV's Council of Former Directors, engaged board members, staff, and university interns in the rigorous process of documenting compliance with national standards for U. S. community foundations. The review process required the Community Foundation to demonstrate compliance with standards in policy, operation, procedures, organization and systems management. Fewer than a third of American community foundations have passed the National Standards process.

Top, board members toast Lindsay with sparkling cider during the monthly October meeting of the trustees.

Bottom, Lindsay with board colleagues and foundation staff.