The Foreign Service Journal, December 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2018 81 AFSA NEWS AFSA EXEMPLARY PERFORMANCE AWARDS THE M. JUANITA GUESS AWARD FOR A COMMUNITY L IAISON OFF ICE COORDINATOR MARISOL ANGELA GARCIA Building Community at a Challenging Time Marisol Garcia receives the 2018 M. Juanita Guess Award for her outstanding leader- ship, dedication and initiative in assisting embassy families while serving as CLO. During Ms. Garcia’s tenure as community liaison office coordinator (CLO) in Rio de Janeiro, the consulate community was rocked by violence fueled by a vicious drug war. Consulate mem- bers were robbed at gun- point, carjacked, subjected to armed home invasions and even shot at by armed assailants. Their children were threatened by interne- cine drug gang violence that spilled into the American School compound from a nearby slum and temporarily shut the school down. Throughout this challeng- ing time, Ms. Garcia served as a comforting and reassur- ing anchor at the consulate, creating a feeling of commu- nity that helped counteract a prevailing sense of almost paralyzing fear in an other- wise inviting and captivating local environment. Ms. Garcia took a leading role in organizing a con- sulatewide team-building event that brought together American and Brazilian staff and family members, lifting morale at a time of heightened stress before the Olympics. She worked to fix a broken social sponsor program, creating a training program and rewriting the social sponsor checklist to better welcome new arrivals to Rio de Janeiro. She also engaged the housing board and led a rewrite of the housing hand- book to better inform arriving officers, improve the wel- come kits and facilitate bet- ter communication between the general services office and the new arrivals. Her efforts raised morale after many years of housing prob- lems that detracted from officers’ ability to effectively do their work. Ms. Garcia organized numerous cultural excur- sions, sporting events and charitable activities, such as a soccer game between consulate members and Street Kids International. For Women’s History Month, she brought in a speaker to discuss local initiatives to combat poverty and helped lead a drive to collect needed items for a women’s domestic violence shelter. She also led a group that served and fed local home- less at a soup kitchen near the consulate, benefiting the community while represent- ing the best of American volunteerism to our Brazil- ian hosts. Each of these undertak- ings demonstrated her initia- tive and imagination in taking her CLO role beyond what was required. Ms. Garcia’s accomplishments have made a posting to Rio de Janeiro a much more fulfilling and COURTESYOFMARISOLGARCIA M. Juanita Guess award winner Marisol Garcia and runner-up Karen Fifield. enjoyable assignment for hundreds of U.S. staff, local staff and family members. A native of Los Angeles, Ms. Garcia holds bachelor’s degrees in dance and Eng- lish literature and a master’s degree in English literature from Loyola Marymount University. Before serving as CLO in Brazil, she was a Ph.D. can- didate in English literature at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, taught collegiate English poetry and writ- ing courses, performed in modern dance companies in California and Hawaii, and taught fitness classes. n AFSA/JOAQUINSOSA