Bay Area Inspire Awards

The Bay Area Inspire Awards Program has closed.

You can read about the former awardees and their innovative, community-oriented projects in Alameda and San Francisco Counties below.

2020 Winners

Sable Horton – I.N.S.P.I.R.E.
Sable’s project will use creativity to target people in communities who have experienced trauma and help them heal, find their voice, learn their true value, and teach them just how loved, valuable, and worthy they really are.
Renee Menart – UnTold Stories: Unity through Teaching
Inspired by her experience at the intersections of education and justice reform, Renee will create a children’s book that supports young children impacted by a loved one’s incarceration. This project will empower families by providing opportunities for family engagement, literacy development, and connection to community resources.
Regina Grayson – The Wave 2.0
Regina’s youth-centered group mentorship program will work to heal trauma of the San Francisco community using community members as agents of their own change, growth, and healing.
Netta Wang – Prison Renaissance Magazine
Netta has been collaborating with incarcerated artists around California to deconstruct demonizing narratives around criminality. Pairing incarcerated and free artists together to build relationships and create art together as equals, Netta will be supporting the publishing of an annual zine and art exhibit.
Lalee Simeso – Herbal Medicine and Empowerment with Youth
Lalee's project is to guide and host workshops that blend herbal medicine making, leadership, and creative activities for youth. Her aspiration is to collaboratively curate an intentional environment, one that fosters the sharing of insights into how plants can support the overall well-being and empowerment of young people.
Clinay Cameron – Thrive Like Me: Exposing Oakland Youth to Wellness and Tech
Clinay empowers youth through “Thrive Like Me” which exposes underserved Oakland youth to creative and non-technical careers in tech, game, and production companies beyond their county borders. Clinay also teaches youth about the value of health and wellness, by planting seeds of mindfulness, wellness, social awareness, and self advocacy. To learn more please go to techfitcreative.org.

2017 Winners

Tiphereth Banks – Sauti: Therapeutic Art Workshops for Youth
Using art and its ability to heal emotional wounds, Tiphereth will host monthly art therapeutic workshops for Bay Area youth who have overcome traumatic experiences, focusing on foster youth and incarcerated youth, from the ages of 10 and older.
Samantha Solomon – Build Your Own Computer Lab – Supporting Emerging Tech Leaders
Samantha’s project is about giving students access to computers and providing students with the opportunity to better understand how computers work. Middle and high school students will build their own computers, which will then be used for a computer lab in the library and as tools for students who want to learn coding and pursue more work with technology.
Eugene “Ace” Johnson – Talent Tour – Talent Shows at Oakland High Schools
Ace will produce talent showcases in underserved schools within urban communities as a positive outlet and platform for creative expression. These talent shows will involve the community and empower students to use their gifts and talents to express the issues they face and change the world.
Connie Liu
Claudia Luz Suarez – Our Story, Our Lens: Faces of the Undocumented
Collaborating with and training migrant youth, Claudia will create a documentary series that focuses on the acts of representation, remembering, and archiving of the undocumented experiences of migrants who are often ignored by media due to age, nationality, or status.
Ahzha McFadden – Menlo-Atherton Ecology Research Outdoors (MERO) Science Program
Ahzha is expanding an after school science program (that she started last year) aiming to provide a fun and supportive community for high school English Language Learners and help them develop the academic and communication skills needed to excel in high school and beyond.

2015 Winners

Jason Brown – Young Father’s Group: Reaching Out to Young Fathers in Need
Aiming to break the cycle of fatherless families, Jason is launching a young fathers support group that allows men to share their experiences and gain valuable advice.
Tatiana Chaterji – Young Sisters in Creative Connection: Healing Arts Workshops and Performance for At-Risk, Juvenile Justice System-Involved Girls
Tatiana will conduct workshops for young women in juvenile hall, on probation, and at risk. The focus will be on expression through dialogue, writing, and dance.
Linda Sanchez Hernandez – Reframing our Realities: An Indigenous People’s Quest for Self Sufficiency
Linda is addressing unemployment among immigrants by forming a cooperative of indigenous Mam (Guatemalan) women who will create and sell ethically-made and indigenous-influenced apparel.
Tracy Nguyen – Picturing the Language for Justice
Recognizing the importance of oral and visual communication in many cultures, Tracy will provide graphic facilitation services to nonprofits that work with limited-English proficiency immigrants.
Dante Alvarado Leon – MentorRoom: Opening Doors for Achievement
Dante's mentorship initiative connects high school students with college students and college students with young professionals through a mobile app and online platform.
Ana Avendano – Community Spotlight “Enfoque”
Ana is building a coalition of local, self-taught artists - such as videographers and photographers - to provide free or affordable services to small nonprofits.
Anastacia Duenas – Peer Mentor Program
Partnering with Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY), a nonprofit that aims to break the cycle of crime and incarceration of teens, Anastacia will match youth with slightly older peers who have had similar experiences in a unique mentorship model.
Reyna Maldonado – Bay Area Undocu-Dropin
Reyna has devised a three-pronged approach to supporting undocumented youth which includes a workshop series, drop-in and mobile resource clinic, and education conference.

2014 Winners

Kori Chen – Expanding Employment for the Formerly Incarcerated
Kori conducted a 40-hour employment training program for 4-6 formerly incarcerated Alameda County residents and also conducted outreach to 25 San Quentin prisoners about potential employment opportunities.
Christian Martinez – Using Home Visits to Build Trusting Relationships Between Teachers, Students and Families
Christian used his award to organize teacher home visits to the families of 6th grade students at a middle school in Oakland as a way to build family-school trust and understanding.
Megan Winkelman – Mental Health Services Maps
Megan used her award to create online, mobile, and printed maps of Bay Area mental health services which include public transportation routes. These maps are designed to educate under-served populations that lack access to mental health.
Holley Murchison – Oratory Glory Youth Communication Workshops
Holley piloted a public speaking training program that served at-risk transitional age youth from San Francisco and Alameda County schools. The program helped youth thrive as leaders.
AJ Almaguer – Community-Built Haunted House
AJ’s project provided young people, ages 13-18, with hands-on STEM experience by engineering exhibits that culminated in a haunted house event for the community.
Paul Monge-Rodriguez – Focus Group Feasibility Study for SF Parent University Program
Using his award, Paul conducted a feasibility study for a San Francisco Parent University. When implemented, the University will help caregivers become better-prepared advocates and partners in their children’s education.

Program Founders

Connie Rubiano and Peter Yedidia are retired healthcare professionals living in San Francisco. In recent years, they have become concerned about the Bay Area’s growing income inequality and the lack of capital for innovative, socially progressive young people to pursue fresh ideas for improving their communities. Inspired by the young people in their lives, they conceived of the Bay Area Inspire Awards and arranged for the Philanthropic Ventures Foundation to host the program in 2014.

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I believe that if a student is disengaged in education, this is because someone somewhere somehow failed them, and it is our job as educators to change that mindset. 

– Christian Martinez, Bay Area Inspire Award grantee