Together Toward Tomorrow
On behalf of CSMFO leadership, I want to extend CSMFO’s support once again and wrap our virtual arms around all our colleagues impacted by the historic fires throughout California and our entire west coast.
It was only two years ago that CSMFO expressed similar support through the November 2018 CSMFO News magazine from the then “unprecedented events of gun violence and ferocious fires” following a mass shooting in Thousand Oaks and the horrible fire in Paradise (August 2018 Camp Fire) and fire in Thousand Oaks (November 2018 Woolsey Fire).
As you likely know, the 2020 fire season has peaked in the last month with 36 major fires burning over 4 million acres since August 12th. Remarkably, over just a six-day period (August 15th to August 20th), 24 major fires were sparked. More notably, 42 of California’s 58 counties were all touched by fires, with 15 counties experiencing two or three fires.
We are all grateful once again this year for all the latest edition of hero’s serving on the front lines of these fires.
How will CSMFO adapt for tomorrow?
CSMFO will soon revisit its 2020 Strategic Action Plan with an emphasis on how to best serve our members and their agencies. Our current plan focuses our efforts on three core strategies: Strategic Growth, Member Engagement, and Professional Development.
Under Strategic Growth, our goal is to leverage and invest CSMFO resources to ensure the organization supports its volunteer efforts to forward the mission, vision and values. Examples of this have included investing in our communication systems (more support for CSMFO News and launch of the new knowledge base). Looking into 2021, we will face more critical decisions around an RFP process for our professional staffing support and reassessing CSMFO‘s long-term financial sustainability.
Our goal for member engagement is to respond to our members’ needs, increase active participation and promote strategic growth. A large initiative has been to create student engagement initiatives to attract more talent into our agencies. Our 2020 plan also includes outreach to attract members from smaller agencies and members from larger cities that are not as active within CSMFO.
Within professional development, CSMFO’s goal is to deliver the highest quality training and expanded educational opportunities to further develop the knowledge and skills of finance professionals at all levels throughout California. The strategies within this category pivoted in 2020 as CSMFO prioritized resources to move to all virtual training sessions as well as creating new COVID-19 related content to fill our members critical training needs. As we look into 2021, we look forward to returning to our major professional development strategies including the evaluation of a CSMFO certification program and investing in CSMFO mentorship programs.
Next month, this message will recap our efforts during our October CSMFO leadership strategic planning session.
February 2021 Conference – Together Toward Tomorrow
I want to close with major thanks to everyone who is helping to build our 2021 virtual conference alternative. I look forward to providing more details in next month’s message about our virtual conference format and timeframes.
And while I am saddened that our ability to gather together for a full in-person San Jose conference seems to decrease daily, I am so excited for all the possible opportunities emerging from the design of our virtual conference alternative. It is clear that no matter the format, CSMFO will continue to deliver incredible content, at a great value, and in ways to maximize a connection with all our partners and members.
This month’s bonus content: Candied Spicy Bacon (GF)
Is there more that needs to be said about sweet and spicy, thick cut bacon?
Ingredients
2 pounds thick cut bacon
1/2 cup light brown sugar
5 tablespoons chili powder
2 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
Directions
- Preheat oven to bake at 375 degrees.
- Line 2 cookie sheets with tin foil and spray 2 wire racks with cooking oil.
- Mix 1/2 cup light brown sugar with one tablespoon chili powder and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Taste and add more chili for sweet or cayenne for heat.
- Cut bacon strips in half and dip in the brown sugar mixture and coat well.
- Spread bacon over the prepared rack and give them a light dusting of additional sugar and spice.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the bacon is dark along the edges.
- Remove from oven and immediately lift and replace each bacon to limiting sticking as it cools.
- Layer or store with parchment paper and enjoy.
Marcus Pimentel is the Assistant Director of Health of the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency. Marcus serves CSMFO as President Elect leading the 2021 San Jose Host Committee and member of the Communication and Membership Committees. Marcus has over 20 years of local government finance and administration experience in the Monterey Bay area serving previously as the Finance Director for the City of Santa Cruz. He is proud of his family’s Portuguese heritage and is grateful for his wife Laurie and daughters Kaitlynn and Kirsten.
