Before joining Mentor, Michelle managed programs at Everybody Wins! D.C., as well as the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project and Higher Achievement of Metro D.C., a non-profit which strives to ensure middle school students from underserved communities are admitted to top high schools and go on to college. She has 10 years of experience with youth-serving nonprofits and will add to that total by supporting Mentor Foundation USA’s programs for youth.Michelle believes deeply in creating spaces and opportunities for youth to thrive, while closing the opportunity divide. She brings a passion for mentoring, commitment to leading high-quality programs, and an eagerness to dive deeply into data to ensure successful outcomes for youth and partners. She has also served for six years as a youth mentor with Higher Achievement and since 2009 has organized Washington’s Biggest Givers, a service group for area professionals.
Michelle was born and partly raised in D.C. but also considers North Carolina home.
While Michelle is working at Mentor’s Washington, D.C. office, Sandra is based in upstate New York, helping run the programs in Columbia County.
Sandra has spent the last 20 years working within the Jewish nonprofit world developing programs for participants from birth through adulthood at a variety of organizations. Most recently, she spent the last seven years as a youth director for teens from 6th through 12th grade throughout upstate New York and brings her vision for them to reach their full potential as peer leaders to Mentor Foundation USA. She specifically excels at leadership building and program development as well as event management.
Sandra holds a Master’s in Education with a specialization in Administration from Gratz College in Philadelphia. Presently, she lives in Albany with her husband and is the mother to three teens of her own, who range in age from middle school to college.
The Mentor team is excited welcome these talented professionals to help move forward with the existing programs and to expand the number of youth that Mentor reaches as programs grow.
by Deepa Ramudamu