Meet The Lab Capacity Building Program Cohort
Meet the fourth cohort of The Lab Capacity Building Program! Over the next seven months, these nonprofit leaders will work to identify and launch innovative solutions to some of our community's most pressing issues.
A collaboration between the Foundation and Third Plateau Social Impact Strategies, LLC, The Lab is made possible with support from the Foundation's RCA Community Fund and The James B. McClatchy Foundation.
Capitol Creative Alliance
The mission of Capitol Creative Alliance is to champion and inspire the creative community to build a thriving Sacramento region.
Amanda Sanchez, Executive Director
Born and raised in Sacramento, Amanda is a freelance graphic and web designer who is passionate about her city and serving the local creative community. She launched Sacramento’s first Design Week in 2019 and founded Design Sacramento, a nonprofit arts organization, that same year. In 2021, she joined forces with leaders from three other creative groups from Capitol Creative Alliance. Amanda is inspired by creating connections and building an inclusive and welcoming community for emerging designers. Amanda is also a mom to two amazing kids and a wife to one patient husband.
Rochelle Reynosa, Equity Director
As a self-directed designer, mentor, and entrepreneur Rochelle has a passion for creating distinctive opportunities and outcomes through empathy, inclusion, and bolstering unique perspectives. She is a strategic thinker and values personal growth. Rochelle also values opportunities within an environment that provides further learning about the group as a whole and the impact we each have on each other. She thrives on building and connecting sustainable communities and values health and practicing mindfulness. Rochelle believes strongly that food is medicine and in celebrating the roots of tradition and the beauty of internal resources innate to all of us. Rochelle values the deeply-seeded spark that lives within and makes us fall in love and stay curious.
Davis Arts Center
Davis Arts Center is a gathering place for dynamic engagement with the arts. Through multidisciplinary classes and programs for the regional community, its team inspires creative expression in people of all ages and fosters an environment for the arts to flourish.
Stacie Frerichs, Executive Director
As the Executive Director of Davis Arts Center for the past six years, Stacie has seen how art helps heal, brings joy, and builds resilience in good times and bad. Devoted to building a community that supports the creativity within all of us, she believes art is an avenue for building a world where everyone is honored and can thrive.
Stacie earned her undergraduate degree from UC Davis in Geology and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Her career experiences span the environment, strategy, finance, and nonprofit management.
Stacey Vetter, Program Manager
Stacey has been involved with Davis Arts Center since 2010 when she started teaching painting and drawing classes. She holds a master’s degree in Studio Art from UC Davis and received her BFA from the Tufts and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts studio program. Her work has been exhibited at Jay Jay Gallery, the Crocker and other regional venues. Observing and simplifying the shapes and colors found in nature, specifically plants, is the basis for Stacey’s studio work.
Food Literacy Center
Food Literacy Center's mission is to inspire kids to eat their vegetables. Its team teaches children in low-income elementary schools cooking, nutrition, gardening, and active play to improve health, environment, and economy.
Amber Stott, Executive Director
Amber is a food activist and author. She created the nonprofit Food Literacy Center to inspire kids to do the impossible: eat their vegetables! She launched a statewide California resolution declaring every September as Food Literacy Month. California’s 13th largest school district built students a cooking school based on her design. Amber hosts the podcast Raising Kale and has a TEDx Talk. Her debut book is Food Anatomy Activities for Kids.
Evelyn Morales, Program Manager
Evelyn joined Food Literacy Center in 2019 as Program Manager. She believes in making healthy eating accessible to every community and has been an advocate for policy and environmental changes that create healthy outcomes for families.
She has six years of experience providing nutrition education to the public, including closely working with the 5th largest school district in California, Fresno Unified. Evelyn has experience training teachers to make healthy eating a fun topic for young children, providing family workshops, and being an active member of multiple school district wellness policy committees. Certified as a Master Technical Advising Professional with the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement, she has helped students and teachers take ownership of their lunchroom, nudging students to make healthier choices. She has been trained in school and community gardens from LifeLab on garden-based learning and outdoor classroom management.
Greater Sacramento Urban League
The Greater Sacramento Urban League provides under-served youth and adults with education, job training and placement opportunities to achieve economic self-reliance.
Dwayne Crenshaw, President & CEO
Dwayne is a well-vested, longtime, inclusive community leader and highly effective executive management professional and innovator. For more than 21 years, Dwayne has advanced issues of community development, social justice and racial equity with several community-based organizations focused on historically underserved and marginalized communities. Prior to these leadership roles, he was a public servant as a policy aide to state and local elected officials.
Presently, Dwayne is the President & CEO of Greater Sacramento Urban League responsible for furthering GSUL’s empowerment mission and vision by helping Sacramentans to increase their educational opportunities, gain meaningful employment, strengthen their financial well-being, and work together to build communities where all can live well, be well and thrive.
Troy M. Williams, Ph.D., Chief Impact Officer
Troy is a community-based researcher and evaluator with over ten years of experience in entrepreneurship, community engagement, and public health. He has worked with multiple agencies across the United States interested in addressing systemic challenges, co-creating responses with community members, and conducting in-depth program evaluations. His work considers how increased access to Black public spaces can be used to combat social barriers that have led to opioid misuse, treatment inequity, and Black criminalization. The foundational framework of Troy’s professional, academic experiences and skills reflects the notion of fostering mutual humility, and collaboration among communities uplifts us all to a healthier society.
Meals on Wheels by ACC
The mission of Meals on Wheels by ACC is to enhance the dignity and quality of life of Sacramento area older adults through nutritional programs that include assessment of needs, education, supportive services, and assistance to families and caregivers.
Kevin McAllister, Executive Director
Kevin, a Bay Area native, brings over 23 years of experience managing and developing organizations on the frontlines of serving vulnerable populations. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from CSU Sacramento, and a Master of Sciences degree in Organizational Leadership from National University.
Before joining Meals on Wheels by ACC, he served as the Executive Director of a statewide coalition that provides critical support to California’s runaway and homeless youth. Under his leadership, the organization garnered over $10 million to support housing and shelter services, access to food, counseling, and numerous other outreach services in counties with the highest number of youth experiencing homelessness in the state.
Linda Revilla, Director of Programs
Over the years of working with nonprofits, Linda has developed a passion for addressing social justice issues, especially those concerning race and ethnicity. In her work, she strives to understand the perspectives and needs of diverse senior clientele and try to stay ahead with programming as their life situations change.
Linda hopes to learn more about sustainability and diversifying revenue as the nonprofit sector evolves and innovation becomes key to organization's ability to thrive.
Orangevale-Fair Oaks Community Foundation
The Orangevale Food Bank is a program of the Orangevale-Fair Oaks Community Foundation, which exists to share God's love in our community by providing food, resources, and hope to families in need. The Orangevale Food Bank operates as an emergency source of food for local communities.
Brad Squires, Executive Director
Brad is the founder and current Executive Director of the Orangevale-Fair Oaks Community Foundation. As a community entrepreneur, he has launched the Orangevale-Fair Oaks Food Bank, Big Day of Service, Orangevale Food Bank Farm, HART of Orangevale & Fair Oaks, and several other community programs. Brad also spent 15 years creating, building, and exiting a tech company that specialized in operations management software with employees around the country and customers around the world. Brad’s passion is to create healthy, vibrant organizational cultures, build depth & connection in his community, and to seek creative ways to integrate charitable causes and purpose into for-profit businesses.
Josh Hall
Josh currently serves as Lead Pastor of Fair Oaks Church. Josh has fostered a local “FOR Fair Oaks” strategy, encouraging hundreds of people to be "for" others and their community in deeper, more meaningful ways. He has partnered with the Orangevale-Fair Oaks Community Foundation for the past five years to serve unhoused people, the food insecure, kids, seniors, schools, and businesses in Fair Oaks and Orangevale. Josh is passionate about service, building relationships, local community engagement, human flourishing, and making sure everyone is having fun. He and his wife, Kelly, have three kids and two french bulldogs.
Project Optimism
The mission of Project Optimism is to be the catalyst that will properly equip community members with an optimistic mindset, to be productive contributors to society.
Armoni Easley, CEO
Armoni is a Social Impact Entrepreneur who is dedicated to empowering community members with an optimistic mindset and properly equipping them with resources to become productive contributors to society. As the owner of Easley Done & Company and Co-Founder and CEO of Project Optimism, Inc., he has developed over 12 years of work and has a deep-rooted influence throughout Northern California. Armoni has served as a counselor, speaker, consultant, community outreach worker, and youth mentor. He is known for being vibrant, passionate, and recognized amongst the community for his dedication and hard work.
Armoni's hands-on approach has enabled him to gain an intimate understanding of the impact that systemic forces have on historically disenfranchised communities, ultimately inspiring him to take action in co-founding and running multiple businesses.
Jeaneen Cruz, Associate Director
Jeaneen is committed to making an impact in the community so that all people, and especially youth, are provided with the greatest opportunities to achieve happiness, good health, and a fulfilling future.
Jeaneen serves as the Associate Director for Project Optimism, Inc. As a servant leader, she has a passion for working with youth and is committed to creating change in the communities that need it most. She realized the need for macro-level change when she first started volunteering in 2017 as a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate), which are volunteers appointed by judges to advocate on behalf of children's best interests. It was through those lived experiences, her volunteer work, and educational background that she knew she could others to serve youth and believe they too can break the cycle of generational trauma and poverty. Now it’s her mission to make an even larger impact by continuing to serve, spread optimism, and share the tools necessary to develop an optimistic mindset.
Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera
The Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera aims to foster community, inspire curiosity, enrich lives through symphonic and operatic music, and be a collaborative leader in the cultural growth of the Greater Sacramento Region.
Giuliano Kornberg, Executive Director
Giuliano is the current Executive Director for the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera (SP&O). Previously, he was the Chief Revenue and Development Officer, where he worked with the Board of Directors, Executive Staff, and Consultants to create and implement the revenue-generating strategy of the organization. In the role, Giuliano helped oversee major donor cultivation and stewardship, worked with corporate sponsors, foundations, government entities, and other organizations on partnerships, coordinated the organization’s planned giving program, oversaw the day-to-day execution of marketing and box office tasks, and assisted in crafting the SP&O’s overall message to the community.
Charla Jeanne Lawson, Director of Operations and Community Engagement
Charla is the Director of Operations and Community Engagement at the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera. In this role, she focuses on community-centered and mission-driven programs to better serve the Sacramento region. As an advocate for the arts, she strives to find creative ways to make classical music more accessible by removing barriers to those who may not have exposure to the arts. In her career, she has worked for West Edge Opera, Opera Saratoga, Townsend Opera, Fresno Grand Opera, and the Modesto Symphony Orchestra.
Sacramento Youth Center
The purpose of the Sacramento Youth Center (SYC) is to provide youth with tools and life-changing experiences to overcome their personal and socio-economic obstacles.
Raquel Shipp, Co-Founder & Executive Director
Raquel is the co-founder & Executive Director of SYC. Her experience in serving communities and youth both locally and abroad, developing social-emotional learning (SEL) programs and meeting unique community needs of young people from all backgrounds & statuses, led to the formation of SYC alongside her husband and the organization's co-founder, Adam Shipp.
Her passion and expertise in leading a diverse staff to serve the most at-potential youth has led to SYC becoming recognized by youth, families, and local leaders as a reputable, impactful, and culturally relevant organization for youth development.
Angela Lee, Director of Operations & Program Support
Angela is the Director of Operations & Program Support at SYC.
Growing up as an at-risk youth herself, Angela has unique tools and experiences she now uses to help youth both locally and abroad. She is helping cultivate an atmosphere at SYC that allows students to improve their lives, gain leadership skills, and create impactful change in the community.
Her start-up business management experience gives her the ability to help create structure for growth of services at SYC, along with designing new SEL programs to meet the needs of students.
Unseen Heroes for Creative Community Development
The vision of Unseen Heros is to embrace, inspire, and impact community. This is done through creating spaces and places for all people to celebrate and connect.
Roshaun Davis, Co-Founder and Executive Director
Roshaun’s rare talent for brand-building, strategic focus and program implementation has been recognized by countless clients in the public and private sector, from local backyards and neighborhoods all the way to the national level. Roshaun has a unique combination of skills, including marketing, brand development, promotion, advertising, publicity, special event execution and product-seeding.
He is known and respected by his peers, and effortlessly cultivates and sustains business and personal relationships. Utilizing his creative talents to help others discover their unique strengths and gifts is Roshaun’s life passion.
Noah Davis
Noah is a college student attending Cosumnes River College. He is in his second year of community college with the hope of transferring to a four-year university. When not doing schoolwork, Noah enjoys working out, playing basketball, and spending time with family and friends.
WEAVE
WEAVE's mission is to promote safe and healthy relationships and support survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and sex trafficking.
Beth Hassett, CEO
As the CEO of WEAVE, Beth has led the charge to promote safe and healthy relationships and support survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and sex trafficking since 2006. Under her direction, WEAVE has grown to be a $10 million agency offering a robust array of comprehensive services. She is committed to ensuring that WEAVE’s programs are accessible, respectful, and culturally responsive so clients from all communities can heal and rebuild their lives. Hassett’s voluntary board service includes the Sacramento County First Five Commission, ValorUS, HomeAid, Midtown Association, and Sacramento Theatre Company.
Timiza Wash, M.Ed., Community Engagement Strategist
Timiza has been providing direct services in various capacities for more than 20 years with a passion for equity, community building, and systems change. She holds a Masters in Higher education with an emphasis in Leadership from Sacramento State. She is the Community Engagement Strategist and has been a leader in WEAVE’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and reimaging outcomes for disenfranchised communities.
Timiza serves on two boards: the Sacramento Black Chamber of Commerce and Borne to Create, where she serves as Secretary. She is also a commissioner for the Sacramento County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.