Blogs

April 2025 marks the 10^th anniversary of CSDA’s Public Affairs Field Coordinator Program

By: Dane Wadlé

CSDA’s Public Affairs Field Coordinator Program is officially ten years old! It was April 2015 when Chris Palmer and Dane Wadlé began as the association’s inaugural public affairs field coordinators. Chris covered the newly re-named Central, Coastal, and Southern Networks and Dane covered the Northern, Bay Area, and Sierra Networks. Both quickly became road warriors crisscrossing the state to introduce this new member benefit.

With special districts serving communities from Del Norte to San Diego and Monterey to Inyo, the CSDA Board of Directors prioritized the association’s investment in bringing CSDA face-to-face and shoulder-to-shoulder with its members where they live and serve.

The primary objectives of CSDA’s public affairs field coordinators are to connect special district leaders throughout the state, to connect our members with their state and federal lawmakers, and to connect our members with their fellow special district leaders for purposes of networking – hence the District Networks moniker given to the program.

Ultimately, the key driver for launching District Networks and equipping it with public affairs field coordinators was to grow our members’ influence in the legislative process by uniting and leveraging the voice of California’s 2,000 special districts through enhanced grassroots advocacy. Chris and Dane became the tip of the spear for CSDA’s comprehensive strategy to engage districts in this effort.

The results of the program quickly spoke for themselves and the CSDA Board proceeded to fully implement its strategic plan by placing a public affairs field coordinator in each respective Network, for a total of six, by 2020.

The metrics demonstrate how successful CSDA’s District Networks have been. The table below highlights significant growth in grassroots advocacy and member engagement. 

In addition to quantitative data, qualitative feedback shows that CSDA members value professional CSDA staff embedded in their network. Annual surveys routinely highlight the local connections and interactions with CSDA public affairs field coordinators, including their knowledge and skillset at local chapter meetings and legislative roundtables with elected officials.

Likewise, the dedication, work ethic, and accomplishments of special district leaders have inspired and motivated CSDA’s public affairs field coordinators, with four of the six original hires still going strong. Collectively, CSDA’s field coordinators possess decades of government relations experience, with each of them having served as staff in the State Legislature and some with Congressional, local government, private sector, and nonprofit backgrounds to boot.

Visit Meet Your Local CSDA Contact - California Special Districts Association to learn more about your field coordinator and ask how you and your special district can further engage with CSDA!

Here‘s to the next decade of CSDA District Networks helping to make Districts Stronger Together!