Help GSMOL Grow Leaders!

For those who REALLY want help us grow, we can put you on a leadership path to really make a difference in your park and your community.

It often takes awhile to gather enough members in a park to form a Chapter, but the nice thing about leaders is that they can come out of nowhere. You can live in a park without even any GSMOL members and get the idea that you want to step up and help. You don’t have to wait for someone to reach out to you.

There are two roles that a member can take which don’t require a Chapter or even any other GSMOL members in the park.

One is Legislative Contact (LC), who acts as a liaison with the Legislative Action Team (LAT) Committee to help encourage residents to support our bills. See more about the LAT and LCs under the LEGISLATION tab.

The other is Membership Coordinator (MC), who is a liaison with the Membership Committee to help “recruit” new GSMOL members in the park, find potential leaders, and build a GSMOL Chapter.

As an LC or MC for your park, you are at tbe end of a pipeline that leads up through several levels of leadership to the GSMOL Board of Directors.

GSMOL’s Leadership Structure

GSMOL has the State divided up into six Zones. They are as follows:
Zone A – Inland Northern California
Zone A-1 – Coastal Northern California
Zone B – Inland Central California
Zone B-1 – Coastal Central California
Zone C – Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Orange Counties
Zone D – Riverside, Imperial, and San Diego Counties
(See the map on the Contact Us page)

Each Zone has a Zone Vice President who sits on the Board of Directors.

Within each Zone are two or three Regions, each Region covering one or more Counties. There are fourteen Regions in all.

Each Region has a Region Manager.

Within each Region there are Associate Managers, each one assigned to a specific area within the Region. This area may be a County, a City, part of a City, or whatever the Region Manager and Zone VP decide. A lot depends upon the density of MH parks within the Region and the number of Associate Managers there are.

And finally, within each Associate Manager’s territory are parks that have GSMOL Chapters, and the Chapters have officers.  In parks with a Chapter, the LC and MC are Chapter officers.

So the Chapter officers are the “first tier of support” in a pipeline that leads up through the Associate Manager to the Region Manager to the Zone VP.

Holes in the Net

The network of leadership that branches out from the Zone VPs to the Region Managers to the Associate Managers to the Chapter Officers would be a strong support for GSMOL members if it was complete.

But there are currently a lot of holes in the net. And as we all know, a net with holes catches no fish.

First, although we do have all six Zone VPs, we do not have all fourteen Region Managers. There are several Regions that do not have a Region Manager. Why is this? Because we are even more lacking in Associate Managers, and RMs are promoted from AMs. Why are we lacking in AMs? Because THEY, in turn, usually come from Chapter officers, and we have too few Chapters.

And Chapters usually depend upon having an LC and/or MC in the park to get the ball rolling… so here we are back where we started. Leadership begins with a member who gets the idea that he or she might want to become an MC or LC for his/her park.

How do GSMOL Leaders Get Training?

In general, we have an apprenticeship type of system. Each leader, starting with Chapter officers, is “mentored” by someone in upper leadership. It might be an Associate Manager, the Region Manager, or the Zone VP; and/or it might be done through the Membership Committee, which produces training materials and can set up workshops (virtual during the pandemic).

Prospective leaders can take advantage of a number of resources you can find on this website and the blog website of our partner organization, the Golden State Manufactured-home Education Fund.

So Are YOU Ready to Step Up?

If your park does not already have a Chapter and there is not already an MC and an LC, please consider taking on one of these important roles. Contact your nearest Associate or Region Manager or Zone VP if you want to find out more!