WOMEN TRANSFORMING SONOMA COUNTY THROUGH COLLECTIVE PHILANTHROPY | AUGUST 2022 | ISSUE 59 |
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Join us for another Celebration!
All Impact 100 Redwood Circle members and their guests are invited to a Summer
Celebration on Thursday, August 25, 2022, 5:00 - 7:30 p.m. at Sally Tomatoes, 1100 Valley House Drive, Rohnert Park, CA 94928, in their beautiful outdoor area complete with seating and shade.
Our Summer Social is our only annual event reserved for having a little fun and getting to know each other. We are still in catch-up mode from the pandemic and anxious to get to know more of our newest members.
We are serving appetizers along with water and iced tea. In addition, a “no host” bar will be available for your convenience.
We are hopeful you and a guest will join us. Please ask your guest to bring along their proof of vaccination. All Impact 100 Redwood Circle members should have already provided us with their proof of vaccination and therefore don’t need to provide it for this event.
Join Us for our Summer Celebration and enjoy the beautiful Sonoma County weather and the fabulous women of Impact 100 Redwood Circle.
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Impact Grant: The LIME Foundation
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The LIME Foundation—our 2021 Impact Grantee—celebrated its first in-person graduation for its NextGen Trades Academy in more than two years.
Since 2020, 106 youths, ages 16-24, have completed the trades academy, and of that group, 18 graduates and their proud families attended the uplifting outdoor ceremony in the Redwood Grove at SOMO Village on July 16th.
Victor Hughes, a 2021 Trades Academy graduate who now works as an alarm technician, spoke from the podium to his fellow grads about how his trades academy experience helped him transition from “having a job to having a profession.”
“There is so much pride and joy in working in the trades,” Victor said. “Those of us who are doing this work are the backbone of this country. Working with our hands, we are changing the world.”
A graduate of the Hanna Boys Center’s high school, Victor found that college was not for him after a short stint at Sonoma State University. He worked for several years as a cook, first at Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and then at a seniors’ residential facility in Fountaingrove, but he wanted a more stable and higher-paying career path. He tried becoming an electrician on his own, but without any contacts or mentors, he couldn’t break into the field.
At age 24, he learned about the NextGen Trades Academy from a former high school counselor. He attended the trades academy in the evenings while working days as a cook. Upon completion, Trades Academy Program Coordinator David Johnson connected Victor with the Bay Alarm Company in Petaluma. He applied and started work there in June 2021. One year later, he has been promoted and has started training other employees.
Victor is particularly proud to have worked on the security systems for new building projects including Session Climbing on South A Street in Santa Rosa and the Polly Klass Foundation headquarters in Petaluma.
“I wanted a career in which I could use my hands, contribute to my community, and make a difference,” Victor said. “And that’s exactly what I’ve found.”
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Victor Hughes and his daughter Emma |
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Community Grant: Simply Strings
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Simply Strings is part of the Santa Rosa Symphony umbrella. The program is for underprivileged kids grades 1 through 6 in the Roseland School District. The grant from IMPACT 100 Redwood Circle is for general use to keep this program funded.
The program was inspired by El Sistema, Venezuela’s acclaimed, social-action music network. It develops musical excellence and promotes social engagement. It is a very holistic approach to music with stretching, yoga and all-around wellness. The kids sign up for a 6-year, tuition-free program, every day after school for 2 hours playing symphonic instruments to classical music. The whole family becomes involved with this commitment. The results have been remarkable, the children excel in their school work, their grades go up and in the very long run, helps to pull the kids out of poverty. Learning and reading the musical notes helps them with listening, fractions, communication skills, rhythm and a great appreciation of music. The students are tracked by their teachers who report to the Simply Strings instructors on their grades and improvements.
Alessandro Lopez, third grade, began the fall semester struggling with school work and poor grades. His parents were worried that being in Simply Strings would take away from his study and homework time. By the end of the school year, Alessandro's academic performance had improved dramatically. He made the Sheppard School honor roll, and was the ONLY student to perform a solo musical selection in the school talent show. Alessandro and his parents attribute his newfound determination, discipline and confidence to Simply Strings.
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Community Grant: Circuit Rider Community Services
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Circuit Rider Community Services would like to extend our sincere thanks for Impact 100 Redwood Circle’s generous water trailer grant!
As highlighted at the grant awards, this year Impact 100 Redwood Circle surpassed one million dollars of giving. This water trailer grant helped Circuit Rider to pass the million dollar mark for our annual budget this year as well! The water trailer will add to our fast growing vocational programs that were jumpstarted 4 years ago with an ambitious $75,000 annual budget and this summer have expanded to over $100,000 of programming per month teaching young people career skills, putting much needed money in their pockets, keeping our community safer from fire, and creating healthier ecosystems and waterways. In the dry season our water trailer will be used to water native plantings in areas where irrigation is not feasible and as an invaluable fire suppression backup during chainsaw and other power tool work. In the wet season this impressive tool will be added to our arsenal as Circuit Rider youth learn to carry out pile burns, small prescribed burns and as of this year participate alongside professional firefighters and Cal Fire firefighters on larger landscape level prescribed burns.
Circuit Rider Community Services is so grateful for this grant, for the tool that this allows us to purchase and expand our impact, and for the members of Impact 100 Redwood Circle who make this all possible.
To learn more about our vocational programs please visit:
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New Member Orientation
The next New Member Orientation is scheduled for Saturday, September 24, from 9:30 -11:00 a.m. in the lovely garden of one of our members. New members, watch your email for an invitation to attend this informative event.
Be sure to RSVP!
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The Latest BB Series Starts September 6th
Take this opportunity to join some of your fellow Impact 100 Redwood Circle members in lively and informative discussions as we explore the issue of bias. In this supportive group, you can examine your own reactions and experiences as we build bonds that help us to know each other in meaningful ways.
The Busting Bias sessions invite inquiry and exploration through conversations other participants, videos, podcasts, and reading relevant articles. The subjects range from disenfranchisement of communities of color, age, disability, class and many other topics.
Know a member who participated in BB? Call them to learn their experience or call us!
Join us when the next BB 6-week conversation series starts on Tuesday, September 6, from 4:30 - 6:00 p.m.
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Executive Committee Nominations
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Executive Committee Nominations Request: Check your email!
Please check your email on or around August 22 for the opportunity to nominate a member (including yourself) for a position on the 2023 Impact 100 Redwood Circle Executive Committee. Serving on this committee is a great way to help shape the future of our organization.
Thank you for your consideration!
Eloise Tweeten
VP Nominating
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Seven Organizations Advance to Full Proposal Applications
The Impact Grant Committee held its deliberations in July to evaluate the 18 Letters of Intent for the 2022 Impact Grant. We are pleased to announce that seven organizations have been invited to submit the Full Proposal Application — Center for Well Being, Jewish Community Free Clinic, KBBF Radio – Bilingual Broadcasting Foundation, Inc., Latino Service Providers, Sonoma Family Meal, Sonoma County Secure Families Collaborative, and VIDAS Legal.
Thank you to members Janie Read, Carol Newman, Sharon Keating, Vicki Groninga, Barbara Ihde, Ina Chun and Frieda Ireland for their nominations.
Stay tuned for the next round where the semi-finalists will be announced in September.
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EDTALK: Barbara H. Lee, Priorities for the Climate and Sonoma County
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Coming Soon
August 16th's EDTALK will inform us of the changes we can expect in Sonoma County as we experience dramatic differences in the climate we have come to expect in the area and how it might affect us.
Barbara A. Lee has worked extensively on pollution and related environmental issues for 30 years and will bring to light the important work her new department is doing as the County response to these issues.
We are particularly interested in the element of climate justice as it pertains to granting programs and will provide insight for us and our philanthropic work. Barbara’s department will be working with the information provided by the updated Portrait of Sonoma study as one lens to view this important topic.
Come and learn how partnerships and community stakeholders like Impact 100 Redwood Circle can strengthen the climate resilience of the natural and working lands of Sonoma County.
This EDTALK will be on Zoom, August 16 at 4:30 p.m. – Register and mark your calendars!
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Beyond The Check: The LIME Foundation
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The LIME Foundation, our 2021 Impact Grantee, invites our members to attend and volunteer at its Believe in the Dream Gala to be held on Thursday, September 8, 2022, at the Luther Burbank Center, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. Three volunteers are needed to help check in attendees and with the silent auction check-out. Volunteers will receive complimentary tickets to the event, which includes dinner.
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