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GOLETA, CA, February 20, 2026 – The City of Goleta is proud to announce the completion of its 7th LEAD Goleta Community Academy. LEAD stands for Learn, Empower, Advocate, and Discuss. For the past six weeks, 32 participants have met every week to learn about how the City of Goleta is run. Last night, February 19, 2026, the group completed its final class which included participants receiving a graduation certificate and a City of Goleta pin from the Mayor and City Council. The ceremony was held at the Goleta Community Center and included family and friends of the graduates.
Mayor Paula Perotte applauded the group for its participation and said, “It says a lot about who you are that you took time out of your busy lives to learn about how local government works. It was really refreshing to see so many students this year in this class. We hope you will all take what you learned and continue to stay engaged.”
Community Relations Manager Kelly Hoover said, “Every class is unique and what we will remember about this one especially is the great questions they asked and that there was not one minute of the class where they looked disinterested. They all showed up every week ready to learn. We will miss seeing them every week but are so glad we had this experience together.”…