GREENFIELD — One of Greenfield’s own city officials, Councilmember Yanely Martinez, received the honor of Best Elected Official of the Year by the California Public Library Advocates.
“It’s an honor just to be nominated,” Martinez said. “I wasn’t expecting this award. When I came into public office, I was really just wanting to be able to do things for my community.”
Martinez chose to invest and target non-profit organizations and, more specifically, the public library. She was nominated for the award by Library Director Jayanti Addleman and Greenfield Library Branch Manager Dawn Vest.
Reading to the youth began Martinez’s partnership with the library to connect with the City of Greenfield.
The events and activities Martinez became involved with included celebrating Supervisor Simon Salinas’ birthday, holding a cooking class for 3- to 6-year-olds and more. One of her special projects was an “I Love Greenfield” drawing contest, in which children could win a gift card for drawing what they loved most about Greenfield.
“Literacy is so important to me,” Martinez said. “Being a preschool teacher for over 10 years, early education has been my passion, and with early education comes literacy. I know that that’s key to have a healthy child and a healthy community.”
Martinez was recognized and presented with her award Nov. 9 at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, where several awards were handed out by the California Public Library Advocates.
“I want people to talk about Greenfield, but in a positive way,” Martinez said. “Greenfield is full of wonderful things, including the library. Greenfield has a lot of things going on, it’s just us promoting what we have going on.”
