Impact100 Sonoma awards $100,000 grant to On The Move
At its 6th annual meeting Saturday, Impact100 Sonoma awarded its yearly $100,000 grant to On The Move to fund its program Sonoma Valley Parent University.
As the winner was announced, cheers and applause filled the Sonoma Veterans Memorial Building where Impact100 Sonoma members and guests gathered to hear presentations from the Impact $100,000 Grant finalists, await the tallying of the membership votes, and share in the excitement of the day at a celebratory reception.
As described by Leslie Medine, Senior Fellow at On The Move, and Susana Garcia, Parent University Family Engagement Director, the Sonoma Valley Parent University will expand the pilot project funded by an Impact100 Sonoma planning grant in 2014. During the pilot, five parent leaders were recruited to engage parents at El Verano Preschool in classes that increased their skills and confidence – allowing them to support their children’s academic success.
Classes ranged from basic understanding of the school system (how to have a parent/teacher conference and understand test scores) to family wellness, English as a Second Language, and becoming a parent leader. With the Impact Grant, the program will expand its programming on both El Verano and Sassarini Elementary campuses to support more than 300 parents of children from preschool through fifth grade.
Pictured, from left: Celia Canfield, Co-President Impact100 Sonoma; Grace Meeks, Chair of the Impact Grant; Sydney Randazzo, Co-President Impact100 Sonoma; Leslie Medine, Senior Fellow at On The Move; Susana Garcia, Parent University Family Engagement Director; and Constance Grizzell, Chair of Grants & Greater Impact.
This year, 263 women joined Impact100 Sonoma, providing a total of $263,000 to be awarded to nonprofits serving Sonoma Valley. This enabled the organization to award $20,000 to the other two finalists for the $100,000 grant: 10,000 Degrees for their 10,000 Degrees Institute Sonoma Valley, and Audubon Canyon Ranch for their Summer Science Learning for Underserved Youth at the Bouverie Reserve.
In addition, Impact100 Sonoma awarded the remaining funds, totaling $123,000, in smaller Community Grants to the following nonprofit organizations:
Becoming Independent will receive $15,000 to purchase a new vehicle to transport clients with developmental disabilities to work and volunteer sites.
Ceres Community Project will receive $15,000 for a planning grant with Sonoma Valley organizations to address critical nutritional needs to improve patient outcomes after they have been released from a hospital stay.
La Luz will receive $15,000 to offer computer literacy workshops and employment counseling at El Verano Community School for low-income Sonoma Valley Latino adults.
Jack London Park Partners will receive $15,000 to organize volunteers in invasive species removal in the park and to involve at-risk youth in specific restoration projects.
Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance will receive $15,000 to purchase Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning tools for their mentees.
Community Matters will receive $15,000 to institutionalize the Safe School Ambassador program (an early-intervention program focusing on communication and conflict resolution) at Adele Harrison and Alta Mira Middle Schools.
Verity will receive $15,000 for the Youth Empowerment and Support project at Sonoma Valley schools to aid students in preventing sexual violence from occurring to themselves or to others.
4Paws Learning and Wellness Center will receive $2,200 to increase the number of Sonoma Valley canine social therapy teams that provide comfort to healthcare patients and assist children struggling with reading.
Arts Guild will receive $15,000 to support a mobile arts education program at four elementary schools for 1,448 Sonoma Valley K-5 students.
Pets Lifeline will receive $800 for structural enhancements to their kennels and dog play area.
Over the past five months, Constance Grizzell, Grants & Greater Impact; Grace Meeks, who chairs the selection process for the $100,000 Impact Grant; and Diana Sanson, who chairs the selection process for Community Grants, led the process of narrowing 35 initial Letters of Inquiry down to three finalists for the $100,000 Impact Grant and 13 finalists for Community Grants. The finalists were selected after careful review by more than 70 Impact100 Sonoma members who served on financial and grant review committees that were chaired by Ann Iverson, Lynn Lancaster, Kathleen Leonard, Lisa Lilienthal, Karen Roche, Erin Selby, Claudia Sims, and Meg Sokoloski.
As members awaited the results of the vote, they enjoyed watching three of the amazing videos produced by Impact100 Sonoma member Pat Meier-Johnson and her husband, Russ Johnson. Pat and Russ have donated their time and expertise to produce digital stories of the nonprofit organizations funded by Impact100 Sonoma in the past five years. These videos are available on the Impact100 Sonoma website (www.impact100sonoma.org) and on YouTube at the Impact100 Sonoma channel.
Impact100 Sonoma has raised a total of $1,192,000 for Sonoma Valley nonprofits since its founding in 2009. The organization’s mission is to increase the number of women involved in local philanthropy, raise awareness of the unmet needs of nonprofits in Sonoma Valley, encourage members to become more involved with local charities, and make an impact on the long term sustainability of Sonoma Valley’s nonprofit community.
Impact100 Sonoma welcomes women to join the organization. Information about Impact100 Sonoma may be found at www.impact100sonoma.org or by calling 707-939-5007.
— Photograph by Melania Mahoney
