The Local Government Hispanic Network (LGHN) is a local government leaders’ professional association that promotes excellence in government and cultural competency of community leaders that are Hispanic, as well as those who serve Hispanic populations. LGHN currently has about 2,200 members nationwide and its international committee partners with community leaders in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Established in 1989, LGHN offers members a premier structured mentorship program, virtual webinars, networking events, leadership opportunities and in-person regional and national conferences. When someone joins a chapter, they automatically are enrolled in national membership, a unique feature of LGHN chapter membership. With below-market rate dues, LGHN collaborates closely with its affiliates and partners—including GFOA, NFBPA, NACA, MMANC, I-NAPA, and of course, ICMA—to meet its mission and scale its programs and services.

New Phase in LGHN Membership Growth Through Chapters

LGHN President Marcus Steele recently said, “The question that I hear most often from local government leaders is, ‘Why don’t we have an LGHN chapter in my state, region, or community?’ Since 2022, our membership has quadrupled. One reason is the LGHN board of directors and membership committee transitioned its chapter development strategy from community-based to statewide, and for larger states, we have focused on existing regions established by legacy associations like ICMA.”

LGHN chapters fall into four categories: legacy, growth, new, and emerging. We spoke to leaders from each category, and these are the insights they shared about their LGHN chapter and the benefits of membership.

Legacy Chapters: Mesa Hispanic Network

When Marcus worked for the city of Mesa, Arizona, the city manager at that time charged him—along with current LGHN Board Member Andrea Alicoate and a group of employees—with the responsibility of growing an LGHN chapter in Mesa. “What made the work manageable was the city manager’s and executive team’s endorsement of the chapter. They believed that employee resource groups like LGHN provided the organization with another mechanism for developing homegrown leaders. The LGHN chapter provided direct benefits to the city and augmented the organization’s staff development and mentorship programs.”

Today, the Mesa Hispanic Network (MHN) is LGHN’s largest chapter with more than 600 members and is now eight years old. Lucy Lopez serves as chair and David Peña serves as vice-chair to MHN’s 14-member board. We spoke with them recently to hear about their journey with MHN. Both reaffirmed that the city manager’s continuous support remains critical to the success of MHN. They also shared that LGHN has been and continues to be a safe place to grow, learn, expand their skills, and build professional confidence.

With specific membership and engagement goals, Lucy and David know that what is important to members today will change in the next five years. To anticipate the needs of the chapter, MHN is focusing on building the leadership capacity of younger team members to assume board positions to sustain the culture of the association, as well as prepare their members for growth opportunities within the city.

David and Lucy know the benefits of LGHN firsthand. David offered that in his membership and board service journey he has grown and learned to step back, listen, and offer compassion as a leader. Lucy noted that her service with MHN taught her how to speak with and engage members of the city manager’s office. She said, “We need to have staff members at the table when meeting with community members to build and sustain trust and put on display Mesa’s high-quality commitment to an inclusionary climate and culture.”

Lucy and David are active in other local government membership associations, but noted that their hearts are with LGHN.

Growth Chapters: Juntos Colorado

LGHN’s Juntos Colorado Chapter was formed in 2023, and is the fastest growing chapter in the network. The chapter is led by Joe Camacho, who had previously worked in academia but left in 2022 to join Adams County, Colorado. His membership in the chapter allowed him to meet people and grow his new professional network quickly.

Joe’s advice to anyone interested in starting a chapter is to know your why. “LGHN is an association for any local government leader. I think this is unique to LGHN. Most associations focus on functional areas or simply executives. LGHN offers access to professional development, opportunities to celebrate culture, and methods and events to grow their own network.”

Like Marcus, Lucy and David identified and Joe also emphasized the importance of the support from his department director to maintain his membership with LGHN and now his leadership role with the Juntos Colorado chapter. “I am in a leadership position with Juntos, and it has taught me about budgeting, fundraising, board governance, and how to have difficult conversations. Without LGHN, I would not have had these learning opportunities at this point in my career.”

In addition to serving as president of the Juntos Colorado Chapter, Joe is leading the host committee and duties for the LGHN 2026 annual conference, April 7–9, 2026, at the Westin Resort in Westminster, Colorado. Joe hopes to leverage the annual conference to meet the chapter’s growth plans but also fine tune services and programs to retain current members. To learn more about the conference, visit lghn.org.

New Chapters: Unidos NorCal

Unidos NorCal launched in 2025, led by Ariana Adame of West Sacramento, California, who serves as its president. “Our chapter wants to be known as the change-makers in Northern California. We provide connectedness, career development, and belonging to our members.”

Like LGHN’s other chapter leaders, Ariana maintains memberships with several professional associations, but she believes that Unidos NorCal speaks to her “purpose-driven goal of being part of an association with members that have a shared experience that emanates belonging.” She remarked, “I am part of something special.”

Ariana joined LGHN two years before the chapter started. During that period, she encountered professionals in Northern California who were seeking more support, and like MHN’s focus on developing younger leaders, Ariana also saw a similar need in the region to help develop future local government leaders.

“Starting something new brings some fear of the unknown. It is challenging to make the time to lead a professional association. Additionally, given the turbulence at the federal level, it was a crucial time to be part of a greater network that reaches throughout the United States. In the first six months of our chapter’s life, there is the feeling of positive energy among our board members, and it has deepened my purpose and reaffirmed my decision to lead Unidos. The investment of resources and time is worth it, along with how important it is to support other local government professionals. Now with Unidos NorCal, I have a professional home that is safe that I can go to for support!”

Emerging Chapters: Southern California and North Texas

LGHN board members and staff are currently working to stand up chapters in Southern California and North Texas. Aarón Zavala, LGHN board member and vice-president of membership, with the city of Pleasanton, California, shared that “typically, we begin the process by holding in-person and virtual interest meetings to share LGHN’s mission and benefits of membership and to field prospective member questions. After we have compiled a list of interested folks, we share tools and discuss technical support services that LGHN can offer the emerging chapter as it identifies initial members of its board. Our conversations with members in Southern California are scheduled for late summer and North Texas in early fall. LGHN’s intent is to make it easy for new chapters to form, and we invest the time to position each for sustained success!”

LGHN Chapter Growth: The Ingredients for Success!

We know several key ingredients are essential to stand up a chapter. Executive endorsement is critical, as is programming that meaningfully boosts the growth and development of members and adds value to the governments that they serve. LGHN provides a safe place to network and belong. Partnerships remain important to LGHN and our chapters. They help the association to scale services through joint learning opportunities and membership promotion and growth.

Marcus Steele offered some final thoughts. “Whether our members are Hispanic or serve communities with Hispanic populations, we know that our members are attracted to LGHN’s mission of promoting excellence in local government. Our programs meet the needs of local government leaders wherever they are in their career journeys and wherever they sit functionally in their organization. Some associations focus on functional areas and others on executive leadership. LGHN is an association for all!”

To learn more about membership, contact cbutterfield@lghn.org or send us a request at info@lghn.org.

CHRISTINE BUTTERFIELD is executive director of the Local Government Hispanic Network.