Jessica McLernon: It's About the Future of Our Children
"A healthy and habitable planet is the best legacy we can leave for our children." This is how Jessica McLernon sums up a guiding motif in her life. She was first attracted to the Community Environmental Council (CEC) because of our organization's 50-year history of successful programs and actions to protect the environment. What she really loves most, however, is CEC's focus on the future through its unwavering commitment to fighting climate change.
Jessica grew up in Santa Barbara. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in Sociology, she spent two years in Washington, DC, where she met her husband, Michael. She went with him to New York City where she worked for the Bloomberg Administration, eventually becoming the Director of Workforce Development for the City of New York. Jessica looks back on those years as a great learning experience on a vast range of social and environmental issues.
Despite a full life on the East Coast, Santa Barbara called. It was not difficult to persuade Michael, who had fallen in love with our city during visits, to move here with their young family. Building on her previous experience, Jessica initially worked for Santa Barbara County developing and managing workforce development programs, but eventually switched to a career in real estate. She is currently a partner at Randy Solakian Estates Group where she specializes in residential real estate sales.
Long imbued with environmental values, Jessica is deeply concerned about climate change and how perilously close we are to a potentially existential catastrophe. Wanting to transform her distress into action, she became an enthusiastic member of CEC's Partnership Council, where she is grateful to have found a community of like-minded people dedicated to fighting climate change.
Still raising a young family with children ages five and eight, Jessica and her husband, Michael, are laying the groundwork to provide for the future of their children while also being determined to be philanthropic. They established a Donor Advised Fund and, besides supporting CEC annually, designated the remainder of the fund as a legacy gift to CEC. Jessica hopes that the value of this gift will grow as the economic means of the family grows. CEC is deeply grateful to Jessica and Michael for their generous support.