Meet Your Neighbor - Patricia Minnis

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Patricia Minnis and I retired as a Business Manager from AT&T in 2009.  However, since I was too young to “retire”, I got involved in the San Leandro community by volunteering.  I started at Friends of Fairmont Animal Shelter and Building Futures with Women and Children.  It has pretty much snowballed from there! 

I was hired by the San Leandro Education Foundation (SLED) earlier this year to act as their Business Ambassador in the community.  It is important that the business community understand how important it is to get these great programs to our kids since our kids are our next leaders. 

I also serve as a Human Services Commissioner representing District 5 until a permanent Commissioner is appointed.  I take that job very seriously as we just went through a funding exercise which was very difficult and time consuming.  There were approximately 30 agencies asking for grants from a finite amount of money.

I am a member of the Leadership San Leandro (LSL) Steering committee.  LSL is a great program that will only get better.  It is an excellent source for San Leandro people to make connections.

In addition, I am a board member of the San Leandro Downtown Association, the San Leandro Improvement Association and the Estudillo Estates Neighborhood Association.

So, even though I say that I am retired, I am busier now than when I was working full time!  It’s crazy!  But it’s good stuff.  It’s stuff that I believe in that will make a difference in San Leandro.

What do you love about San Leandro?

The sense of community.  I know that Chris Zapata (San Leandro City Manager) said at some time that San Leandro is the littlest big city that he has ever worked in.  I feel that way also.  Whether I’m cruising down E. 14^th st. or pop into Zocalo’s, Mama Lupe’s, Cleophus Quealy or wherever, I know people.  It is so cool.  There is just a lot of connectivity because there are so many good things that are happening in San Leandro right now.

I agree, it is an exciting time in San Leandro right now.  The schools are really interesting right now as well.  I know that SLED is supporting the Season of Service.  Can you tell us a bit about that?

Yes, the Season of Service, Period of Peace (Facebook) project takes place over a ten-week period from Martin Luther King Day in January through Cesar Chavez Day at the end of March.  The idea behind the project is that students can utilize this opportunity to take responsibility for the culture and climate of their school campus and take a stand for the way that they want to live.  The kids use different media to express their own voices.

The project will be celebrated with “An Evening of Student Voices” which will be held on Wednesday May 20, 2015 7pm – 8pm at the Performing Arts Center at San Leandro High School.  It is a free event (no ticket required!) and I encourage all to come see what these kids have accomplished.  These kids are our future leaders so the more tools that we can give them to inspire them, the better off San Leandro is going to be.

What else are you doing with SLED?

Again my title is Business Ambassador.  The idea is to get out into the business community and raise funds to support the San Leandro schools.  We are very proud of the fact that we raised over $188,000 last year and are proven good stewards of the resources we raise.  This money goes to support programs that are aligned with the district’s curriculum and also programs that are sustainable in three areas: Positive Youth Development, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) enrichment and Volunteerism. 

SLED’s goal is to inspire students, support our schools and strengthen the San Leandro community.  To me, those goals all work together and feed off of each other so it really does make total sense.

Another program I manage is the Eat Out for Education program.  We’ve done a couple of experiments this year (laughs) which worked fabulously in raising money for our San Leandro schools but the model didn’t quite work.  We are returning to the multi-restaurant model for the first Wednesday of every month but we upped the ante from 10% to 20%.  However, the Habit Burger supports us every Wednesday!  We really appreciate the generosity of all the participating restaurants and we will always list the current participating restaurants on our website and Facebook pages – we will add restaurants as more wish to participate. I just need to remind folks that they must turn in a current coupon in order for the restaurant to donate.  Current coupons are always available on our website (www.sledfund.org) and on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SLEDfund).  And I know you (This is San Leandro) share our Facebook posts with your followers which we appreciate.  We love it when people share our posts!

Describe your position as a Steering Committee member for Leadership San Leandro (LSL).

There are currently 10 steering committee members and all are alumni of the program.  Jack Papazian and Carole Rinaldi crafted a fabulous program in 1995.  They retired two years ago and Breanna Hatcher, who is a life coach, is now the Program Director of LSL.  Even though it was a fabulous program to begin with, Breanna brings an incredible nuance to the program where it further enables you as a student to look inside yourself and recognize your best leadership potential and qualities.

The Taste of San Leandro is the sole (so far!) fundraising opportunity for the Leadership San Leandro program.  Under the leadership of Marguerite Mazzitti who is the event chair, we raised $30,000 at the event last month for the program.  An evening of food, wine, local San Leandro craft beer and San Leandro people – what more can you ask for.  It was THE event to be at in San Leandro!

Why is volunteering so important to you and how does volunteering in so many places help you see the “big picture” for San Leandro?

When Stephen Cassidy was elected mayor and I was hearing more about Patrick Kennedy and OSISoft and the fiber loop and the city being involved in that, I could see, the wheels were starting to turn.  There is just so much happening now and Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter is carrying that momentum forward for San Leandro.  The Maker move and getting kids involved in that – it is REALLY exciting!  The things that are happening at the Gate.  21^st Amendment coming to town.  The things that WILL be happening downtown are going to be fabulous!  Again, things don’t happen overnight.  You’ve got bureaucracies you have to deal with along the way.  We have a huge challenge with the calming of downtown traffic.  The city does not own E. 14^th St., CALTRANS owns it.  But, speaking specifically about the San Leandro Downtown Association and the San Leandro Improvement Association, you are going to see some pretty cool dramatic improvements in Downtown San Leandro.  I will say that in the next 2-5 years, you won’t even recognize downtown San Leandro. 

Downtown already has a different vibe with the outdoor seating at the Village. 

It does!  It does!  Just wait.  You are going to see more cool things!

Any final words?

I think what I said earlier, San Leandro and specifically Downtown San Leandro will be transformed over the next few years.  I know.  I sit in on many of those meetings discussing our future.  Like you said, the vibe downtown is already changing – for the better.

Thank you so much Patricia.  You do so much and you are such an inspiration.

Oh, thank you!  I appreciate that. I sometimes can’t describe it all the way or tell you how we are going to get there but it’s people like you Paul that take the time…….it’s a community effort.  There are so many folks out there that appreciate what San Leandro has to offer and see a vision for it.  It will happen.  It will absolutely happen.