LANL Foundation is proud to announce that Richard Julian (RJ) Martinez III was selected by the Center for Creative Leadership® (CCL) and W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) as a fellow in Class Two of the WKKF Community Leadership Network. This 18-month fellowship program develops leaders from across the United States and sovereign tribes who can unite people to create transformational change toward a more equitable society.
From a pool of more than 800 national applicants, Martinez was selected as one of 17 leaders from New Mexico. The full class of 80 fellows is organized into cohorts based on WKKF’s priority locations of Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans, in addition to one national cohort.
“I am truly honored, humbled and excited to be selected as a WKKF Community Leadership Network Fellow. As a member of the LANL Foundation early childhood staff and an enrolled tribal member of Santa Clara Pueblo, I have been blessed to work with many great leaders in our local and tribal communities who strive to build bridges and provide equitable opportunities for the people they serve. Now, I have the opportunity to take what I have learned and work with other amazing individuals to discuss ways we can further aid our communities in positive change. Through racial equity and healing we can create a blueprint to ensure all people have the opportunity to thrive,” said Martinez.
Martinez was selected for his gift of bringing people together. As LANL Foundation early childhood coordinator, he works to build sustainable programs that support children and strengthen families in the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos and across Rio Arriba County. He serves as tribal councilman for Santa Clara Pueblo. Previously he worked in human resources as tribal development liaison to increase Native peoples’ employment, and spent 13 years in the Department of Student Affairs for Fort Lewis College and the Institute of American Indian Arts. He is a graduate of Fort Lewis College.
“We are so proud and honored to have RJ work at the LANL Foundation. He has brought intelligence, humor, kindness and leadership to our team. He already is an extraordinary leader, so we are not surprised that he was chosen to be a fellow. He will take what he learns through this wonderful opportunity and use it to help alleviate inequities and build on the strength of our communities,” said Jenny Parks, LANL Foundation CEO.
The WKKF Community Leadership Network plays a vital role in nurturing local leaders and building strong, connected networks that can address today’s challenges and create equity at the local, state, tribal, regional and national levels. Through hands-on training, mentoring and practical experience, the program offers opportunities to understand the embedded racism in our systems and learn practical approaches to heal and unite communities and lead meaningful change around solutions. In addition, fellows become part of a network of more than 1,700 alumni through the Kellogg Fellowship Leadership Alliance, who collectively are working to effect systemic change.
The first fellows’ gathering will be held in Battle Creek, Michigan, in March 2019, where they will begin to get to know each other, explore their own leadership styles, learn ways to be agile in leading change and practice communicating with vision and purpose.
“Our founder understood that visionary leaders have the power to bring communities together and create lasting change for children,” said La June Montgomery Tabron, WKKF president and. “Class Two is part of our legacy of developing local leaders. They join a network of thousands of fellows that spans decades of work in communities. Their ideas, passion and wisdom are crucial to creating equitable opportunity for children and families.”
For more about the WKKF Community Leadership Network with the Center for Creative Leadership and a complete list of fellows, visit wkkfcln.org.
About Center for Creative Leadership
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), a top-ranked provider of executive education, seeks to advance the understanding, practice and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide. With nearly 50 years of experience and a dozen offices globally, CCL helps leaders and organizations drive the results that matter most to them. CCL manages the WKKF Community Leadership Network as a grantee of the Kellogg Foundation. For more information, visit ccl.org.
About W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Founded by breakfast cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg in 1930, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) is dedicated to supporting thriving children, working families and equitable communities. Embedded within all the foundation does are commitments to advancing racial equity and racial healing, developing leaders and engaging communities in solving their own problems. WKKF supports work throughout the United States and with sovereign tribes, and in Mexico and Haiti, concentrating up to two-thirds of grantmaking in priority places: Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans in the U.S., Chiapas and the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, and in Central and South Haiti. For more information, visit wkkf.org.
