Rosemary Soto, Office of Equity, Monterey County Health Department

Our experience with Facilitating Power has been powerful and transformational. The Office of Equity in the County of Monterey’s Health Department has prioritized community engagement. It is a key strategy of our work in advancing health and racial equity, adopting the Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership as a tool for guidance.

In 2024, our office launched the first cohort of representatives from various departments across the county who partnered with community-based organizations to apply their learning in the development of strategies to engage and center community voice in the projects they were preparing to launch. The structure of the workshops was well organized and planned for optimal learning. More importantly, our cohort experienced what it is to create a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment that inspires participation and fosters learning. The talent we see in Rosa Gonzalez is evident throughout the curriculum she has created and in her facilitation style, which brings people into the experience of applied learning with clarity. We are excited about launching a second cohort of training on the Spectrum of Community Engagement to Ownership in 2026. 

Rosa understands community in a way that is critical to the process that local government moves through in the work of addressing health inequities and racial disparities. She also has a solid grasp of the challenges and barriers local government faces and must overcome to achieve systems change and transformation. The dynamic combination of skills, wisdom, emotional intelligence, and commitment is what we appreciate most about Rosa and Facilitating Power. We are proud to have Rosa on our team as we work together to make Monterey County a place where all who live here have equitable opportunities to be safe, healthy, and thrive.