We Raise Foundation Awards Two Emerging Leader Grants

Itasca, IL – We Raise Foundation recently awarded two Emerging Leader Grants totaling $30,000. Emerging Leader Grants are an investment in the development of leaders between the ages of 20-35 at Christian organizations who are leading new programs at the intersection of poverty, violence, and inequality.

Each Emerging Leader Grantee receives $15,000 over two years with $10,000 supporting the program and $5,000 supporting leadership development. This leadership development includes attendance at a Leadership Fundamentals conference through The Center for Creative Leadership; attendance at the Global Leadership Summit through satellite locations; and individualized leadership coaching. Grantees also receive an invitation to attend the annual Emerging Leader Convening in Chicago, hosted and paid for by We Raise Foundation; free attendance for all We Raise webinars; and promotion and networking within the We Raise community.

Proposals for the Emerging Leader Grant Program are accepted year-round with grants awarded quarterly. The next deadline is February 28, 2019 with grants awarded in April. For more information regarding grant requests, please visit the website at weraise.org/emergingleadergrants.

The newest Emerging Leader Grant recipients are:

Carrie Anne Sandoval
The Reading Club and Parenting Seminars
Alma Community Care, San Diego, Calif.
Grant Amount – $15,000

Leader Summary:
Carrie Anne Sandoval has served as the Executive Director of Alma Community Care (ACC), San Diego, Calif., since the organization launched in the summer of 2016. The vision of ACC is to provide comprehensive Christian care to the residents of Greater Logan Heights, an overlooked and underserved inner-city community comprised of six distinct neighborhoods with roughly 40,000 residents.

Sandoval graduated from the University of Mississippi, Oxford, Miss., in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. She spent two years as a project engineer in Atlanta, Ga., before moving into a project management role in the international missions department at Perimeter Church, Atlanta, for five years. During her last two years there, Sandoval managed more than 12 international leadership development clinics in three countries bringing local church leaders together to serve their city and grow in their understanding and implementation of discipleship. In 2012, Sandoval transitioned to Generis, Atlanta, as an Executive Director of Client Services where she served 15-25 churches each year in the planning and execution of their capital campaigns.

Sandoval and her husband, Chris, moved to San Diego in 2013 to plant a church and two and half years later, with a team of 30 dedicated believers, Servant Church of San Diego was launched. Alma Community Care grew out of the church’s desire to start a Gospel-centered nonprofit focused on mental health and community development.

Project Summary:
In the fall of 2017, Alma Community Care (ACC) launched The Reading Club at Burbank Elementary School in the Greater Logan Heights neighborhood. This after-school reading club focuses on 2nd through 5th graders who need extra help. ACC volunteers spend approximately one hour with these students twice a week, reading with them, working on creative reading exercises, and reading the Jesus Storybook Bible with them. The Reading Club keeps children moving and engaged through the use of volunteer-staffed reading stations, each focusing on a different aspect of helping them to learn and love reading. Expansion of the program will include recruitment of more volunteers to increase the number of students served, to expand the grade levels served, and ultimately to expand to more local schools.

ACC also offers monthly Parenting Seminars to families in Greater Logan Heights at two school sites. Local bilingual behavioral health professionals (including licensed clinical social workers, licensed marriage and family therapists, and psychologists) lead three-hour workshops on Wednesday and Saturday mornings that includes a light breakfast, a Scripture-based devotional, and Bible-themed childcare.

Sonia Montalvo
Royal Girls Program
Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries, Charlottesville, Va.
Grant Amount – $15,000

Leader Summary:
Sonia Montalvo has served as the Young Ladies’ Program Coordinator at Abundant Life Ministries, Charlottesville, Va., since 2018. In this role she works alongside 15 girls in the community to provide services for their academic, spiritual, and social growth. Montalvo attended Elizabeth City State University and earned a bachelor’s degree in communications studies. During her junior year, she interned with City of Promise, a community development nonprofit in Charlottesville; and then returned following her graduation to serve as a youth supervisor. Montalvo’s passion for serving youth continued to grow and she joined Teach For America Houston Corps (TFA). However, her work with TFA was cut short following the effects of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Montalvo returned to Charlottesville and before joining Abundant Life Ministries, she worked in the Charlottesville City Schools as an interventionist and piloted a program for African American and Latinx Middle School girls to explore creative writing.

Project Summary:
Abundant Life Ministries’ “Royal Girls Program” is an initiative that helps to foster spiritual, social, and academic development among residents in Prospect, an underserved neighborhood in Charlottesville, Va. The Royal Girls Program provides a safe space for 15 middle school girls to maintain positive self-images, grow deeper in their faith, and navigate any trauma they may have experienced. By integrating creative arts, weekly bible study, and life skills training, the program provides a holistic learning experience for participants. Royal Girls walks alongside these ambitious and resilient girls and strives to push positive narratives that will encourage and uplift them as they mature into young women. As participants become more equipped to overcome life’s obstacles, the work of Royal Girls is also helping to mitigate the range of academic and social disparities that continue to exist in Charlottesville along racial lines.

About We Raise Foundation
We Raise Foundation identifies innovative ideas, people, and programs that raise consciousness, community leadership, and capital. Motivated by the belief that freedom is grace in action (Galatians 5:1a), We Raise provides grants and assistance with resource development to organizations that work at the intersection of poverty, violence, and inequality. We Raise supports Christian nonprofit organizations and emerging leaders and has a preference for funding solutions within the areas of education, workforce development, and criminal justice. To learn more, please visit weraise.org. You can also find We Raise on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.