What wakes you up in the morning? What inspires you? What makes you GO? In this blog series we asked our staff, friends and supporters to share why they choose to give their time, talent and treasure to GreenLight. Read their stories and then tell us what motivates you using #MyGreenLight on Twitter.
Author: Casey Johnson – Executive Director, GreenLight Fund Bay Area
As many of you know, GreenLight invests in high impact organizations that are focused on achieving significant outcomes for children and families in the Bay Area, and often who we talk about is Genesys Works, uAspire and Springboard Collaborative. What often goes unsaid is that for these organizations to successfully launch sites locally in our backyard of the Bay – it takes the most talented and dedicated human beings coming together to implement a vision that was tested and proven thousands of miles away and make it feel homegrown. This is not an easy feat, yet Peter Katz, Lara Fox and Alejandro Gac-Artiga’s teams have woven themselves so flawlessly into the community fabric that I can’t imagine what it would be like for high school seniors to not have access to year-long paid internships at powerhouse Bay Area companies. Or recent high school graduates not to receive a text message in July from their uAspire advisor reminding them about a financial aid deadline. Or a family to not have access to a high quality summer learning program for their young child.
Four years ago, GreenLight had a vision to embed ourselves into the Bay Area as a critical piece of local infrastructure that could identify urgent needs facing children and families and become a vetting vehicle to source and support the best nonprofits to launch in the Bay Area. That vision has come to life and manifested itself into an amazing group of people – staff, board members, champions, funders, partners – that make up Genesys Works, uAspire and Springboard Collaborative.
GreenLight doesn’t just invest in nonprofits, we invest in people who can deliver tremendous outcomes for our community time and time again. This is GreenLight.
Peter, Lara, Alejandro, Rafael, Landen, Amy, Simone, Bob, Monica, Felix, Carmen, Michael, Arman, Melissa, Aubrey, Chrissy, Laura, Jamie, Michelle, Olivia, Stephanie, Chelsea, Courtney, Shelby, Jonny – you are GreenLight. We celebrate your dedication to children, youth and families here in the Bay Area. We celebrate your tireless efforts and work ethic to keep pushing, growing and scaling your impact. We celebrate your passion for equity and social justice that is the backbone of your work. And 10 years from now we will continue to celebrate your success and be your biggest fans – you are and always will be GreenLight.
