CAC Goes Green for St. Patrick's Day
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The County Administration Center was lit in green Wednesday night in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
Get to Know CSDFEA President Josyl Wong
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The County has 10 great Employee Resource Groups (ERG). They are each led by respective presidents who all demonstrate commitment and stewardship of its members to the various sectors of our community.
Get to know our County of San Diego Filipino American Employees Association ERG President Josyl Wong, legislative assistant:
Q: How long have you worked for the County and what departments have you worked for?
A: Since 2002. I started as student worker. I’ve worked in the Department of Public Works, Treasurer-Tax Collector, Clerk of the Board and Board General Office.
Q: What do you do in your role/what are your job responsibilities?
A: I manage the Board General Office. I assist the districts with their administrative and fiscal tasks, human resources and payroll.
Q: What are three words that best describe you?
A: Determined, accountable, outgoing.
Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: My family loves the outdoors. Before the pandemic, we loved to explore new places. Nowadays, we are either hiking, mountain biking, or just relaxing at home.
Q: Tell us about your ERG.
A: CSDFEA is a nonprofit organization. Our main purpose is to:
Promote individual growth and career development for all County employees through training and mentorship.
Establish an effective communication, networking and support system among Filipino-American employees.
Develop career opportunities by maintaining collaborative partnership with County departments, managers and labor groups.
Assist the County with its diversity effort and programs (Live Well Initiative).
Establish partnerships with different community groups in building better and stronger communities.
Q: Why are ERGs important?
A: ERGs are important because it brings together employees with diverse backgrounds. The ERGs help employees make connections, and it helps increase employee engagement.
Q: What is your favorite part of being a member of your ERG?
A: My favorite part of being a member of my ERG is having the opportunity to help my peers and the community. Also, I made real friends that I will treasure forever.
Q: What are some resources that you find useful and recommend to others?
A: The resources that I find useful and recommend to others are the professional development trainings we offer not just for the members but to all County employees and members of the community. Also, all County ERGs promote diversity, inclusion and social justice awareness.
Q: Who can participate in your ERG and how can employees join?
A: We are a nonprofit organization. We are inclusive to all ethnicities, County, or non-County employees.
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Get to Know APACE President Athena Buensuceso
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The County has 10 great Employee Resource Groups (ERG). They are each led by respective presidents who all demonstrate commitment and stewardship of its members to the various sectors of our community.
Get to know our Asian Pacific Alliance of County Employees ERG President Athena Buensuceso, an information technology analyst with Housing and Community Development Services:
Q: How long have you worked for the County and what departments have you worked for?
A: Eleven years total—nine years as a permanent employee (Housing and Community Development Services, Air Pollution Control District, and A&C Office of Revenue & Recovery), and four years as a temp (SDCERA, Agriculture, Weights and Measures, and Public Health Nursing (when it still existed—remember the Askew Building?))
Q: What do you do in your role/what are your job responsibilities?
A: I manage multiple IT projects and help with the day-to-day support of my department, Housing and Community Development Services. I identify and address the technological needs of my department to help my colleagues do what they do best—serving the public and helping families find safe and affordable housing.
Q: What are three words that best describe you?
A: Resilient, Creative, Learner
Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: Depends on the weather and my mood! I love to play the piano, but I also have been learning how to play the guitar and ukulele. I enjoy painting and drawing, and I like to hike. And of course, connecting with my APACE family, preferably over boba.
Q: Tell us about your ERG.
A: Asian Pacific Alliance of County Employees (APACE) seeks to understand and celebrate Asian and Pacific Islander (API) cultures that make up an important part of our country. As we learn and appreciate the uniqueness of these cultures, we recognize the similarities that bind us all. We welcome all County employees—API or not—as we connect with our colleagues and discover API culture and history, grow professionally, and serve the community. (P.S. We like to serve food!)
Q: Why are ERGs important?
A: ERGs are formed out of a need for an inclusive and safe place for employees who share common interests and backgrounds to meet and support one another in a social and professional way. Through ERGs, employees have a collective voice that ultimately influences County policies and initiatives. The events that ERGs host provide opportunities for professional development, community service, and networking that lead to employee engagement and retention.
Q: What is your favorite part of being a member of your ERG?
A: I cherish the relationships that I’ve built through my ERG. They have been my support in many different ways, even and especially during the pandemic. The diversity of people I’ve met have helped broaden my perspective at work and in other aspects of my life.
Q: What are some resources that you find useful and recommend to others?
A: APACE is an official Live Well San Diego partner, and their website has tons of resources for the local community. We’ve repeatedly partnered with PacArts and the San Diego County Library with our cultural and community events. Convoy District Partnership is a good source to learn about the greater Convoy area as a cultural hub.
Other resources include: Union of Pan Asian Communities, Balboa Park and its House of Pacific Relations International Cottages, and local colleges and universities and their student groups.
I also like to look for volunteer opportunities in my personal time, and I recommend using JustServe.
Q: Who can participate in your ERG and how can employees join?
A: Anybody and everybody! If you’ve ever been influenced by Asian/Pacific Islander cultures in any way, shape, or form, we want you as a member. If you’ve never been exposed to Asian/Pacific Islander culture, we absolutely want you so we can learn from one another. Send us an email at apace@sdcounty.ca.gov to connect with our friendly leadership team. You may also download our membership application form from APACE’s InSite page.
Also Read:
Get to Know AAACE President Keisha Clark
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The County has 10 great Employee Resource Groups (ERG). They are each led by respective presidents who all demonstrate commitment and stewardship of its members to the various sectors of our community.
Get to know our African American Association of County Employees (AAACE) ERG President Dr. Keisha Clark, a staff development specialist with Human Resources:
Q: How long have you worked for the County and what departments have you worked for?
A: 8 years; Self Sufficiency Services, Child Welfare Services, Human Resources
Q: What do you do in your role/what are your job responsibilities?
A: Professional Development/Provide soft skills training for 6,500 employees.
Q: What are three words that best describe you?
A: Charismatic, Strategic Leader, Compassionate
Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: Community Service, Volunteer, Adjunct Faculty, Leadership Consultant, Mexico Tour Guide
Q: Tell us about your ERG.
A: AAACE recruits, promotes and inspires African American employees to connect and succeed through education and charitable causes to accomplish County initiatives and unifying goals that result in improved career opportunities.
Q: Why are ERGs important?
A: They provide human connection around common cultures and communities that aid in a sense of inclusion and belongingness through a welcoming environment.
Q: What is your favorite part of being a member of your ERG?
A: I get to lead county initiatives and drive organizational culture change.
Q: What are some resources that you find useful and recommend to others?
A: Insite, ERG’s, Community Leadership Teams
Q: Who can participate in your ERG and how can employees join?
A: Everyone is welcomed! Visit our website.
Also Read:
Discuss Your 'Minor Feelings'
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Join the County of San Diego Filipino American Employees Association (CSDFEA) for a discussion of “Minor Feelings” by Cathy Park Hong on Wednesday, April 21, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Register to attend via Eventbrite. Online event details will be provided to registrants.
Please note that registration is limited. See flyer here.
Book Synopsis (Penguin Random House):
Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, this collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative—and its relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality, will change the way you think about our world.
Binding these essays together is Hong’s theory of “minor feelings.” As the daughter of Korean immigrants, Cathy Park Hong grew up steeped in shame, suspicion, and melancholy. She would later understand that these “minor feelings” occur when American optimism contradicts your own reality—when you believe the lies you’re told about your own racial identity. Minor feelings are not small, they’re dissonant—and in their tension Hong finds the key to the questions that haunt her.
With sly humor and a poet’s searching mind, Hong uses her own story as a portal into a deeper examination of racial consciousness in America today. This intimate and devastating book traces her relationship to the English language, to shame and depression, to poetry and female friendship. A radically honest work of art, Minor Feelings forms a portrait of one Asian American psyche—and of a writer’s search to both uncover and speak the truth.
Get to Know Your ERG Presidents
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The County has 10 great Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). They are each led by respective presidents who all demonstrate commitment and stewardship of its members to the various sectors of our community.
Meet the presidents:
Vargas to Speak on Ethics
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Ethics Awareness Month provides us an opportunity to pause and reflect on the importance of ethics in our public service! This year the Office of Ethics and Compliance is hosting a series of virtual ethics events.
Join the next virtual event with guest speaker Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Nora Vargas:
Date: March 22, noon
Link: On Zoom (ask a question)
Link: On YouTube (watch live)
Mark your calendar for upcoming Ethics Awareness Month events.
Meet Your ERG Presidents
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Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are an important resource to the County. They help enhance cultural awareness; support workforce outreach, recruitment and retention; promote County initiatives through partnerships with departments and community-based organizations; and provide professional development and networking opportunities for their members. In addition, they offer an opportunity for employees to exchange ideas.
The County has 10 great ERGs: AAACE, APACE, CSDFEA, DiverseAbility, EWA, LGBTQ&A, MEERG, PISCE, SDCLA, and VALOR. They are each led by respective presidents who all demonstrate commitment and stewardship of its members to the various sectors of our community.
We invite you to meet the ERG presidents. Q&A profiles with all 10 ERG presidents will be posted to InSite over the next two weeks. Come back Monday to meet the first president.
ERG Then and Now Q&A Panel Conversation
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Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) have played a vital role in advancing the work we do in our County and the communities we serve. In this conversation with founding and current ERG council chairs, we learn more about the ERGs’ history, how being a part of an ERG has helped their careers, and hopes for the future.
Safeguarding Customers' Personal Information
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Ethics Awareness Month provides us an opportunity to pause and reflect on the importance of ethics in our public service! This year the Office of Ethics and Compliance is hosting a series of virtual ethics events.
Join the next virtual event on safeguarding our customers’ personal information from wherever you work.
Date: Thursday, March 11, noon
Link: On Zoom
Mark your calendar for upcoming Ethics Awareness Month events.