Regional Leadership · Initiative
Annual Valley Leadership Conference | Rocha for Turlock Mayor 2026
ANNUAL VALLEY
LEADERSHIP
CONFERENCE
TURLOCK-INITIATED · REGIONALLY CONVENED
A Turlock-initiated annual regional summit bringing together mayors, council members, educators, and business leaders to collaborate on the shared challenges that no single city can solve alone — transportation, water infrastructure, public safety, housing, and homelessness.
Funding Principle
The Valley Leadership Conference is designed as a low-cost, high-impact initiative. Costs are shared among participating cities and regional partners, with sponsorship from regional businesses and institutions. The City's direct expenditure is modest — the value is in the relationships and regional coordination it produces.
The Case for Regional Leadership
TURLOCK'S BIGGEST
CHALLENGES DON'T STOP
AT THE CITY LIMITS
The Central Valley's most pressing challenges — water, transportation, housing, homelessness, public safety — are regional in scale. Solving them requires regional leadership. Turlock will provide it.
Turlock is geographically central within the San Joaquin Valley — a natural convening location for leaders from Stanislaus, Merced, San Joaquin, and surrounding counties.
The Turlock Horizon's regional initiatives — the Central California State Fair, the MPS degree, and the Horizon District — demonstrate that Turlock is already thinking and acting at a regional scale.
A Turlock-initiated conference positions the city as a regional leader — building the relationships and credibility needed to advance the Horizon's most ambitious regional goals.
Regional convening power attracts state and federal attention, grant funding, and infrastructure investment that individual cities cannot secure on their own.
Conference Agenda
FIVE SHARED
CHALLENGES
Each annual summit is organized around the five challenge areas that define the Central Valley's regional future. Working sessions produce concrete commitments — not just conversation.
TRANSPORTATION
Regional transportation networks — highways, freight corridors, transit connectivity, and last-mile infrastructure — cross city and county lines. No single municipality can solve them alone. The conference creates a standing forum for coordinated advocacy and joint planning.
WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
The Central Valley's water future depends on regional coordination. Groundwater sustainability, surface water rights, conveyance infrastructure, and drought resilience require mayors and water agency leaders working from the same table — not competing in isolation.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Crime, gang activity, and emergency response do not respect city limits. Regional mutual aid, shared training resources, and coordinated public safety strategies are more effective and more efficient than fragmented agency-by-agency approaches.
HOUSING
The Central Valley housing crisis is regional in scale. Workforce housing, attainable homeownership, and anti-displacement strategies require coordinated land use policy, shared infrastructure investment, and aligned advocacy at the state level.
HOMELESSNESS
Homelessness is not a Turlock problem or a Modesto problem — it is a regional challenge that demands regional solutions. Shared shelter capacity, coordinated outreach, and aligned service delivery reduce duplication and improve outcomes for the most vulnerable residents.
Who's at the Table
THE RIGHT PEOPLE
IN THE ROOM
The Valley Leadership Conference brings together the decision-makers, educators, and community leaders whose collaboration is required to move regional challenges from conversation to action.
MAYORS & CITY COUNCILS
Elected leaders from cities across Stanislaus, Merced, San Joaquin, and surrounding counties — the decision-makers who can commit to regional action.
EDUCATORS & UNIVERSITY LEADERS
Superintendents, college presidents, and university administrators — connecting workforce development, research capacity, and educational infrastructure to regional policy.
BUSINESS & ECONOMIC LEADERS
Chamber executives, major employers, and economic development professionals — aligning private sector investment with regional infrastructure and workforce priorities.
NONPROFIT & COMMUNITY PARTNERS
Service providers, advocacy organizations, and community leaders whose work spans jurisdictions and whose expertise is essential to solving shared challenges.
How It Works
STRUCTURE &
FORMAT
The conference is designed to produce action, not just dialogue. Each element — from the annual summit to quarterly working groups — is structured to move regional priorities forward.
01
ANNUAL SUMMIT
A regional convening hosted annually — rotating among valley communities — with keynotes, working sessions, and structured breakouts organized around the five shared challenge areas.
02
WORKING GROUPS
Ongoing inter-jurisdictional working groups formed at the summit — meeting quarterly to advance specific regional priorities between annual convenings.
03
POLICY OUTPUTS
Each summit produces a Regional Action Agenda — a shared set of priorities, commitments, and advocacy positions that participating jurisdictions carry back to their councils and boards.
04
STATE & FEDERAL ADVOCACY
The conference serves as a unified regional voice for state and federal funding, infrastructure investment, and policy reform — amplifying Turlock's influence beyond what any single city can achieve alone.
Connected Initiatives
PART OF A LARGER
REGIONAL VISION
The Valley Leadership Conference is the convening mechanism that supports the Turlock Horizon's most ambitious regional initiatives.
Implementation
FROM DAY ONE
First 180 Days
Begin outreach to mayors and council members across Stanislaus and Merced counties. Identify co-conveners, secure a venue, and establish the five working group chairs.
Year One
Host the inaugural Annual Valley Leadership Conference in Turlock. Produce the first Regional Action Agenda with commitments from participating jurisdictions.
Year Two
Expand participation to San Joaquin County and beyond. Establish quarterly working group cadence and begin joint state and federal advocacy on shared priorities.
Ongoing
Annual summit, quarterly working groups, and a published Regional Action Agenda — building a permanent institution for Central Valley regional leadership anchored in Turlock.
"
Turlock doesn't have to wait for Sacramento or Washington to solve our regional challenges. We can lead. We can convene. We can build the relationships and the table that moves the Central Valley forward — starting here.
— Jeremy Rocha
LEAD THE VALLEY
Support the campaign and help make Turlock the regional leadership capital of the Central Valley.