Community Leadership Spotlight: Erin Gemar

“When you work with people, especially youth, you have to ask yourself if the service you're providing would be good enough for your own child or family member. That’s how I know if I'm making the right decision, especially in difficult situations.” 

“Hard work and long hours are second nature to me, especially when the mission is meaningful and the impact is influential for others in need.” 

As a part of our Community Leadership Spotlight Series (CLS), we spoke to Erin Gemar, Project Director of South County Cal-SOAP. In this insightful conversation, Erin reflects on her journey leading South County Cal-SOAP, discussing its efforts to support underserved students and create pathways to post-secondary opportunities. She highlights the organization’s accomplishments and shares how they overcame the challenges they faced along the way.  

About Erin and South County Cal-SOAP 

Erin is the Project Director at South County Cal-SOAP (the California Student Opportunity and Access Program), where she works every day to empower, educate, and advocate for all students, especially the underrepresented and harder to reach populations. She says “I have long respected the work of leaders who are also community service champions. It is with great humility that I state I have become one. I remember the actual day, during my junior year of high school, when I realized for the first time that I came from a privileged background. I believe I have been developing my capacity for understanding, compassion, reach, and influence ever since.” 

Since serving in the United States Peace Corps, teaching and counseling in two public school districts, and then dedicating two decades to improving the college-going rate for underrepresented students, Erin has never started a workday at 9 am, nor finished it at 5 pm. She feels fortunate to incorporate her “jobs” into what her heart has always felt the happiest doing: helping others. She considers it a personal and professional mission to eliminate the equity gap that exists today, starting with the community in which she lives. Underrepresented students continue to be challenged by institutional inequities and obstacles that they do not always feel empowered to hurdle. 

Born and raised in Riverside County, Erin spent her college years in Lawrence, Kansas (on the crew team), as well as in Spain, and Costa Rica, studying abroad to learn Spanish. She believes that she truly owes everything to her parents, as well as to her influential teachers and coaches. She has a deep admiration and would like to thank the many incredible co-workers she has had, who have not only become mentors, but also friends. Of these people, Erin says “one thing we all have in common is that we understand how helping our neighbors is one small step toward lifting an entire community.” 

The Journey 

CLASS: We are so fortunate today to be sitting down with Erin Gemar, Project Director of South County Cal-SOAP. Erin and South County Cal-SOAP are long-time clients of The CLASS Consulting Group. South County Cal-SOAP plays a crucial role in advising, informing and exposing students and their parents in California to opportunities and resources that are available for post-secondary education. Their mission is to provide access for low-income and first-generation students with the potential to succeed. 

It’s an honor to sit down with you today, Erin. Welcome to The CLASS Consulting Group’s Spotlight Series. 

 Erin: It's so great to spend time in the same place with you again. Thank you for having me. 

CLASS: It's our pleasure. First question for you, Erin: Please tell us a little bit about your professional journey and what inspired you to dedicate your career to an organization like South County Cal-SOAP. 

Erin: Of course. It's hard to know how far back to begin. But I think when I first learned of South County Cal-SOAP, it really brought me back to my high school days. And I remember like it was yesterday, the first time I realized not everybody goes to college. It was an expectation of my family, but it's a little embarrassing to say, I was about 16 years old before I realized that that wasn't everybody's journey. Now I've learned it doesn't need to be everybody's journey, but everybody needs to have those options to be able to make choices for themselves. And I don't think that money or parents’ education should get in the way of a student's dreams. So, when I did learn that some students don't have the resources or the knowledge that some others do through no fault of their own- they may have worked just as hard and right next to you in the same class- it just never did sit very well with me. 

And I didn't go look for a job to fix that problem in the world, but it landed on my lap in about 2003. And I'm so thankful that it did. One other thing too which shows just how anything can change in your life from one day to the next: When I was first asked to read the Cal-SOAP grant and consider becoming the Project Director, the first question I had to ask myself or research is, what did “Cal-SOAP” stand for? I honestly did not know what the acronym stood for. I had heard about the program, but I wasn't fluent in the ins and outs of Cal-SOAP, so it was really a 101 class for me to take that grant home and read it from front to back and understand what I was being asked to do. Of course, every page got me more and more excited about the fact that this could be an opportunity for me. And I think it goes along too with being a lifelong learner; I learned something new just by looking up what Cal-SOAP stood for, and I've been learning every day since. I've grown to love this program. I'm very passionate about the program. We're celebrating our 21st anniversary this year, and it's a huge honor to say that I've been the Project Director since its inception. 

The Key Initiatives 

CLASS: That's wonderful. And for those who don't know what Cal-SOAP stands for, can you tell us a little bit about it? 

Erin: Absolutely. You did a great job summarizing when you introduced me. It is a pre-college program for first generation and low-income students. We are in 15 schools here in South County Cal-SOAP. SOAP stands for “Student Opportunity and Access Program”. It is a statewide program specific to California. There are only 16 in the state. So, there’s more space in California, more regions that are not covered by Cal-SOAP than there are that do have Cal-SOAP services. I know that's something the state has been working on, and they have added new Cal-SOAPs since I have been in this position. We work from 6th grade to 12th grade, with individual students, with classrooms of students, with small groups of students and their parents; during the day at school, after school, in college access centers; as well as in the evenings at our main office and at the school sites, providing college awareness and financial aid assistance with application assistance on college apps and financial aid applications. Really anything students ask for that is college or career or financial aid or scholarship related, we’re going to sit down and spend the time that it takes to work with that student or that individual family. When they ask us a question that is outside of our service area or our service list, we definitely connect them with the right person on their school campus. So we don't ever tell a student we don't know, or we can't help. We will find the help, and we fill a lot of gaps that are found in large institutions. It's easy for a student on a campus of 1000, 2000, 3000 students to get lost, and I think we feel very useful in being placed on the campuses. We have 15 offices between Morgan Hill and Hollister. The other two towns that we serve are San Juan Bautista and Gilroy. And we always feel needed. There are plenty of students that need assistance, and the institutions they are attending educationally are large. So, we're happy to be there. 

CLASS: What are the core strengths of South County Cal-SOAP that you believe are most critical to your success in supporting your students? 

Erin: Well, our most valuable resource definitely is our team and the fact that our structure is set up to work one-on-one with students and families. It's a great segue from the conversation we were having about what we offer to the school sites and to the students.  

The majority of our team is made up of college students. We’re about 30 strong, so it averages about two people per site. Each college success coach works about 20 hours. Most of them are bilingual, and we have a large Spanish speaking population at each of the sites that we serve. The fact that the college success coaches can go in without all of the other administrative and preparation duties that teachers and counselors and administrators have, they go in to have appointments, one appointment after another with the students, and when they don't finish what the student needed to do with them, whether that was an application or a conversation or a phone call home, they can call them out again the next day. Even though they do have some data entry to work on, our college success coaches spend at least 90% of their time on campus to help students. That is their primary responsibility, and our biggest strength is our college success coach team. 

CLASS: That is wonderful, and I bet these young students love working with somebody who's closer to them in age and is on this college journey themselves. That’s fantastic. 

Erin: 100%. They're great mentors, they're great colleagues, because of their age and their experience. My favorite part of South County Cal-SOAP and the statewide program is that it's a requirement that 30% of the funding we earn from the state goes to hiring college students who are also in need of financial assistance to finish their college degree. So, a lot of the students not only can relate to the struggles that our high school students are having, and even our middle school students, but in some cases, they actually sat in those same desks in those same classrooms because they're from our community. It's one of the most brilliant parts of this program. 

The Leadership Challenge 

CLASS: A real win-win situation. Switching gears, could you share a specific challenge that South County Cal-SOAP was facing that led you to seek support from The CLASS Consulting Group? 

Erin: One: As much as it's a strength to have the longevity and the experience I have with this program, it was very transparent to me 12 to 15 years in that there was a lot of knowledge that was in my head about this program. Right after college, I went into the Peace Corps and one of the most valuable lessons I learned there is, if you take something with you, it doesn't really serve the purpose that you intended. It's when you leave it to keep growing, and you leave it in the hands of other people who will take care of it and help it continue to grow- that’s when you've completed a job well done, or are in a place to make sure that the influence the program should have doesn't stop with you, it continues. So it was very apparent to me that we needed a structure and a system that the whole team could buy into and learn from and engage in, and to just have the entire program be more transparent to not only our team of colleagues, but the site staff.

Each of the schools that we serve has at least one site representative that works side by side with us. It's all about collaboration. And then we also have our governing board members; without them we couldn't run this program. We needed everybody to have a similar view of the program. I realized there's no succession plan for me and wanted to get all the work that we're doing under fewer umbrellas that are encompassing our priorities. The second motivator was the number of priorities we had. I knew we were doing much more than our grant required. We continued to grow and grow and grow. We started with three schools, and at the time that I called CLASS, we were at 30 schools. I felt like I was guiding a hot air balloon that I was afraid might pop if I didn't start doing things a little bit differently, working smarter, not harder.  

So, we did work very hard on a strategic plan with CLASS as our leader. I actually heard of CLASS through the Gilroy Foundation. I went to the Gilroy Foundation to ask them some questions about their structure. At the end of our conversation, the leader of the Foundation at that time said, you know, we had this great experience with CLASS and it sounds like your team could maybe also use their leadership and their guidance in forming the strategic plan that you'd like to see, more transparent and shared across all of the stakeholders. So that's what we did. And it was very worthwhile.  

We continue to have our strategic plan guide us. Every year, more and more people are aware of the plan, understand how their role fits into the plan, and understand how the priorities line up. Even more importantly, I think each year, each month, honestly, each quarter, the decisions that we're making for our program are more aligned with the strategic plan. Sometimes the decision that is made is very much because we now use the strategic plan itself as our consultant. If it doesn't fit, if it's not helping us get to where we want to be with these students - measuring college going rates, the numbers of students completing their FAFSA or the college applications, earning higher grades, participating in summer programs, all the things that measure our program effectiveness -  if it's not having a positive influence on that, then it's not the way we should be spending our time. It’s like having a consultant alongside you by being able to just always refer back to that strategic plan. 

CLASS: That is awesome - music to my ears. I'm so happy to know that the journey that you started with CLASS a few years ago has continued to work so well for you. That’s really fantastic. 

 Erin: Thank you. We tackle it in three-year chunks, and we're in our 3rd or 4th era of strategic planning. Everyone's more and more speaking that language and it really builds professionalism. There are professional opportunities and development opportunities for each individual that works with us. I would also add that besides program effectiveness, even though that is our number one priority because that's where we're seeing the effect and impact on students and student success, board engagement is our second priority and that has come full circle. Our board has accomplished so much and has had open, exciting discussions about other ways to be engaged and how to lift that engagement across the board, aiming for 80 and 90 and 100 percent participation in different activities in giving back to the program. 

So, in both of those focus areas, the program effectiveness and board engagement, both when we were with CLASS and then also with a new platform that we use now for our strategic planning, we have seen the most growth in those two areas.  

I know it's a struggle for a lot of nonprofits to find the right board members to figure out how to structure and utilize time with board members. That has been a challenge that has become much more manageable and comprehensive with a strategic plan - the relationship between our staff and the board. 

The Proudest Moments 

CLASS: What are you most proud of in your role at South County Cal-SOAP and what is one story that truly illustrates the impact of your organization's work on the students you serve? 

Erin: Thank you. I think proud of, or maybe just have become aware of how important it is to be resilient and to reinvent not only yourself but procedures and policies and structures to meet the year that you're in, to meet the team that you're working alongside with,  the needs of those people, and what's going to make us a high performing team. I think obviously with nonprofit work there are challenges, especially with budget and with just creation. Cal-SOAP is a statewide program with requirements, and each Cal-SOAP project has parts that look similar because of those requirements, but we really have some creative flexibility to work within our communities, the way that we see our communities needing us the most. I mentioned before really filling those gaps and meeting students where they are, and we've continued to do that for 21 years strong and I think we just keep getting stronger and stronger and better at what we do, even though we're working with college age students who are really here for a part time position.

To always be reinventing the wheel and doing so with a brand-new team, it definitely takes energy and resilience, and I'm glad that I've hung on to those traits and modeled those for the last 21 years. A story I have that, I think there might be a blurb about this on our website as well. We have thousands and thousands and thousands of students that we've supported, not only through the one-on-one services and the small group services that we offer, but our project, something unique about us, is that we also have a scholarship program. One of our scholarship students was accepted down to San Diego State. He had a really rough time just out of COVID leaving home, figuring out life in a dorm. He was the oldest of five brothers, and he quickly just felt the stressors of the absence of mom and dad, the absence of the life he had lived and come to know for 18 years, and even especially I think the responsibility that he felt he wasn't assuming anymore for his brothers and to support his parents with everything that it takes to run a household. And he filled a big role for them. And I think leaving that was just overwhelming. With all the work he did to get to San Diego State as a first-generation student and being a freshman right out of high school going straight to the four-year university system, he decided in one swoop to go online and delete all his classes, unenroll, and was headed back to Gilroy. And, this is a testament not just to South County Cal-SOAP, but to the statewide program. I was able to of course talk to him on the phone.

We all share students. We all know what's happening at all the different school sites, and we all support one another and our students in that way. In this case, being 8 hours away, it was more difficult than getting to go right to the campus and visiting with the student and calling home. And now the student is an adult, so there's not as much contact with the family. But by making a few phone calls and spending some time with the student on the phone, as well as connecting with the San Diego Cal-SOAP, that project director was able to find one of her staff to go meet with him at his dorm at San Diego State University, so we worked together, not just with a coach and main office team, but we actually got two different Cal-SOAP consortia together. The student is graduating this month with a nursing degree. I just know that he'll always be one of our most exciting success stories. Because it was a lot to get all his classes back (laughs), and of course the hardest part was the mindset change. But that’s what it's all about.  

We even help elementary school students. Any community member is welcome in our main office. They can make appointments with us whether it's to improve their grades, or understand what's expected of them in the classroom, or navigating all the systems and financial aid that comes along with being in high school, selecting careers and majors. In all of that, our job is to make sure that they realize if they would like to be on a college campus, they need to start seeing themselves there. Because if that's what their dream is, then that's what we're going to help make happen for them. 

CLASS: I love that story; it just truly warms my heart. Thank you so much for sharing that with us. That's beautiful. 

 Erin: Thank you for listening. 

CLASS: What is amazing is that you probably have hundreds, thousands of stories like this with all the students that you're helping. I just want to close by saying, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with CLASS today for this Spotlight Series interview. And most of all, thank you for everything that you are doing for the community, for all these students. You are making such an important impact on so many lives, and I can't thank you enough.  

Erin: Thank you. I really do feel it is a privilege. I went from teaching to being a migrant counselor to a regular high school counselor, and you know, there are some days I really miss those four walls and being able to work with a smaller group of people. And yet I had a great administrator and colleagues along the way, saying no, if we can make an impact or really enhance or widen that sphere of influence, that's what our jobs are, that’s what we're supposed to do, is improve the student experience. I think programs like this that rely on collaborations, on financial support from not just the state - the majority of our budget is from local community members and local agencies, and the school districts - because we all buy into the importance of this program and making sure that every student has a voice and gets to follow their dream. So, I want to thank all our supporters and collaborators, and I invite any and every person that listens to this. If you're intrigued and would like to learn more about South County Cal-SOAP, please visit our website or contact me directly. Again, my name is Erin Gemar and we're at southcountycalsoap.org.  

CLASS: Wonderful, Erin. Thank you so much. It's really been an honor and a pleasure speaking with you. 

About The CLASS Consulting Group

The CLASS Consulting Group is a trusted advisor to the boards of directors and senior leadership of the West Coast nonprofit organizations. It is a boutique management consulting firm headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area that provides consulting services to senior management and board of directors of nonprofit organizations and offers community leadership opportunities to professionals.   

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