On April 30, Leadership Fremont—a career advancement training program by Fremont Chamber of Commence—celebrated the donors who made the fundraising part of their project successful and gave them the resources they needed to reach their goal of helping San Leandro nonprofit CALICO remodel their center.
Every year, Leadership Fremont takes a group of individuals from different fields who all want to grow in their leadership skills, and guides them through the process of fundraising for and coordinating a project to help a local nonprofit. Guest experts in media, marketing and fundraising present to the class, but it’s up to each cohort to put the advice into action.
CALICO (Child Abuse Listening, Interviewing Coordination Center) connects children reporting abuse with the appropriate services. Their center is a safe place for children and families to come to get help. They interviewed over 550 children and teens in 2024.
Funds raised by Leadership Fremont went to a remodel of the center’s client and staff bathrooms, taken on by contractor H&H Flooring. “It was just seamless,” said CALICO Executive Director Nadia Bueno. “It was so much fun working with [Leadership Fremont].” She shared how kids come to the center every day, and sometimes the bathroom is a place where they can take a moment of privacy during a stressful experience, especially the teens who are more aware of the ramifications of what’s happening.
“We hit the ground running when it came to fundraising, and we hit our goal really quick,” said Ryan Blanchet, a member of the 2025 Leadership Fremont cohort and a Fremont police detective. He said that the cohort members took on different roles to work together on the project.
Although the group met their fundraising goal quickly through big donors and in-kind donations, that part of the project wasn’t easy. “It’s a hard pitch to make because it’s not a very comfortable topic to talk about,” said cohort member Russell Perry, of Alameda County Water District. “But if you can get past it, it’s actually pretty straightforward. Who’s not going to donate to that?”
In total the group raised $49,293.79. Donors in the $5,000 plus tier were Kaiser Permanente, Washington Health, Fremont Bank, Pleasanton Pitstop, and Michael Blanchet.
For Perry, the training was a mindshift of realizing that each person can take initiative to effect change. “It’s really a light switch; it’s not a gradual thing.”
At the appreciation night, it was clear to see how the leaders, donors and CALICO staff all took this message to heart.
