Dear Friends and Colleagues, TLUC's Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Monica Villalobos as our New Executive Director. Most recently, Monica served as TLUC's Community Outreach Director, where she lead our community engagement and outreach efforts for planning and community visioning projects. The Board and I look forward to working with Monica as we embark on an exciting new time of change and growth. Monica brings to the position an entrepreneurial approach to planning and tremendous energy and enthusiasm for TLUC's mission. The Board and I were particularly impressed by Monica's ability to think creatively about our region's most vexing challenges, and her passion for building local and regional equity through meaningful community and stakeholder engagement in planning. Before joining TLUC, Monica was Community Development Coordinator for Working Partnerships, U.S.A., where she developed strategies for coalition building and advocacy in the areas of equitable development, healthcare, and government accountability. Monica has served as a Public Affairs fellow at Coro Northern California. She holds a Masters degree in Regional Planning from Cornell University, and a B.S. in Community and Regional Development from U.C. Davis. Since our founding in 2003, TLUC has remained committed to improving the quality of life for people who live and work in Southern California by ensuring that there is balance between growth, economic development and environmental stewardship. Our projects have sought to forge unique connections across issues and constituencies, and provide education, outreach and advocacy on the importance of methodologies and policies that are essential to realizing this balance. In 2006 TLUC was active in engaging community members and stakeholders, in a number of ground breaking participatory planning projects. We are currently gearing up to unveil new and exciting programs for 2007, which we hope you will be a part of. You will be hearing more from Monica about our new programs and initiatives in the weeks and months ahead. Thank you for your continued support. Sincerely, Katherine Aguilar Perez |
