Senior Leadership in Community: Interview with Norman Westmore

6.   There are five key roles that civic leaders often play in their community:

 Mentor: teaching and engaging others 

Mediator: helping to resolve conflict 

Monitor: serving as a community watchdog 

Mobilizer: working to bring about change 

Motivator: urging people to pursue worthy goals

As you think about your own involvement in our community, which of  these roles have you played and which do you consider to be your strongest?

I am more of a mobilizer, and to a little lesser degree a motivator and a mentor. I do some mentoring in Kiwanis with youth and children, and I have taught Sunday school with young children. I probably learn more than the kids do. This has taught me patience as a grandparent with my own grandchildren. I get my greatest sense of fulfillment from enabling an organization or group to bring about positive change.

6. This project has to do with the involvement of sage leaders like yourself in civic organizations that seek to improve the quality of life and well-being of Grass Valley and Nevada City. This includes nine types of civic organizations:

 Fraternal and service clubs 

Social services organizations 

Educational organizations 

Governmental and political organizations 

Arts organizations 

Media organizations 

Faith-based organizations 

Environmental organizations 

Other nonprofit organizations

In which of the nine types of civic organizations on the list are you currently    involved? Overall, how many total hours a month do you give to these    organizations?

Number one is non-profit organizations, then social services organizations, then fraternal service clubs, and then my church. Over the last two years my civic involvements have taken about 70 hours a month. Going back before that, my hours were about 30 hours a month.

There have been three periods over the last eight years where I have been heavily involved in nonprofit organizations. One was with Habitat for Humanity, where I was Vice President of Operations. Essentially, this was like a working executive director position. Two of us literally ran the organization, and we did most of the operational duties. I spent about 80-100 hours a month there, and that role lasted for about a year. In addition I was Board Chair of Miners Foundry, which involved about 20 hours a month. Recently, over the past two years, I have been Board Chair of the Center for Nonprofit Leadership (CNL).