Solano County’s Cynthia Garcia has been named the 2026 Spotlight on Excellence Award honoree. Presented during the annual CalPERS Educational Forum, the peer-nominated award shines a light on outstanding public employees serving with CalPERS employers.
Garcia manages the Solano County specialty courts, which treat drug and alcohol addiction as a health issue and offer rehabilitation and case management as an alternative to traditional sentencing. One of the courts, the Dependency Drug Court, supports parents in completing substance abuse treatment so they can regain custody of children who have been removed from their care.
She’s been described as having “the Midas touch” of grant writing and has helped secure more than $10 million in grant funding for the courts system over 10 years.
“There’s a lot that we see (in our communities) that we may have an opinion on, but we can’t help, or we don’t feel we have the ability to help,” she said. “But by working in public service, by being a community volunteer, I can actually make a difference. I can actually change systems to create programs that actually change a person’s life.
“It’s more than just a justice program — it’s serving the whole person in many different areas of their lives,” she said.
Learn more about Garcia in our video below.