Dancing Saved My Life – San Francisco Bay Area
An organizational development client and fiscally sponsored project – 2025-present
The mission of Dancing Saved My Life is to provide a nurturing environment where individuals can build resilience, seek comfort and discover renewed hope on their cancer journey towards healing and wholeness.
DSML’s vision is to create a supportive community where individuals can feel connected, understood, and empowered. Its goal to inspire participants to face challenges with courage, dignity, and a renewed sense of vitality, enabling them to embrace life’s opportunities fully.
Praxis is serving as the DSML’s fiscal sponsor and providing infrastructure and organizational development support.
www.dancingsavedmylife.org
Everyday Climate Champions – San Francisco Bay Area
An organizational development client and fiscally sponsored project – 2024-present
Everyday Climate Champions features inspiring and insightful conversations with San Francisco Bay Area community members taking bold climate action. They’re acting NOW: at home, work, school, community, and policy levels. Both educational and motivational, the 15-minute podcast episodes support everyone in becoming a climate champion. Each episode features conversations with local climate heroes who are transforming concern into effective climate resilience and restoration. We believe that everyone has a role to play, and we’re here to help you find yours.
ECC’s mission is to highlight the incredible work being done by ordinary people who are making a difference. By sharing these stories, we aim to inspire others and provide practical resources for those who want to get involved. The podcast aims to ensure that all voices are heard, prioritizing people from frontline and historically marginalized communities with a focus on effective local solutions and helpful insights, recognizing any limitations. While Everyday Climate Champions is specific to the San Francisco Bay Area, much of the information is relevant beyond the local region.
www.EverydayClimateChampions.org
Act Now Bay Area – San Francisco Bay Area
An organizational development client – 2020-present
The Bay Area’s greenhouse gas emissions can be dramatically reduced with concerted citizen action, proactive business engagement, and strategic government collaboration. Act Now Bay Area is a coordinated regional campaign to help people take more meaningful climate action…at home, at work, and in the community. ANBA is committed to working across sectors, making the connections that help everyone take the climate actions that work for them. Praxis is providing organizational development support.
www.actnowbayarea.org
Note: We’re pleased to report that effective 2025, Act Now Bay Area is now a newly-minted 501c3 organization. Congratulations to Leslie Alden and her team! While Praxis is no longer ANBA’s fiscal sponsor, we continue to support ANBA as an organizational development client.
Project Lifeline – USA
An organizational development client and fiscally sponsored project – 2018-present
Founded in July 2018 at the height of the separated children crisis, Project Lifeline is dedicated to upholding the dignity and freedom of undocumented immigrant children through legal and medico-legal partnerships and targeted education and advocacy. Co-founders Hope Frye, an immigration and human rights lawyer and longtime advocate for immigrant children, and Dr. Dona Kim Murphey, a neurologist and community activist, launched Project Lifeline because of the inhumane conditions that they witnessed firsthand on visits to detention facilities holding immigrant children. Project Lifeline’s partners include Cornell University Law School – Farm Worker Legal Assistance Clinic, Physicians for Human Rights, Lawyers for Good Government, ProBAR, cartoonist Tom Chalkey, ACLU of Texas, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law and the University of the Incarnate Word.
www.ProjectLifeline.us
Sustainable Bay Area Network – San Francisco Bay Area
An innovation initiative client – 2017-present
Founded in May 2017, the Sustainable Bay Area Network works The Sustainable Bay Area Network (SBAN) is a casual association of “sustainable community” organizations around the San Francisco Bay Area. These organizations are communities of citizens, educators, innovators, and organizations designing and building pathways to ecologically sustainable, economically vibrant, and socially just communities for all. Praxis is a co-organizer and co-host of SBAN’s annual gatherings. Praxis also developed and hosts SBAN’s website.
www.SustainableBayArea.org
Praxis in Action Clients …
Heartfelt Help Foundation – Sonoma County
A technical support client – 2009-present
Heartfelt Help Foundation was founded in 2019 based on the personal struggles of Founder and CEO Denise Redeker to locate, afford, and retain housing during my heart transplant recovery and hearing that others were having their life-saving transplant surgeries delayed due to an inability to afford nearby housing and other recovery-related expenses. Today, Heartfelt Help Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit which aims to assist transplant recipients afford the full scope of recovery expenses, including housing, transportation, and home health which are not covered by insurance. Praxis is helping the Foundation develop a robust and scalable operating infrastructure to support the organization’s growth goals.
www.HeartfeltHelpFoundation.org
Sustainable Contra Costa – Contra Costa County
An organizational development client – 2009-present
Sustainable Contra Costa is a non-profit organization working to create more sustainable communities in Contra Costa County. SCOCO community activists are part of a growing coalition of individuals, families, businesses and organizations who are committed to making personal changes toward more sustainable living and working while also addressing broader issues and practices that affect our communities. Praxis is providing organizational and technical support and served as its fiscal sponsor in 2011. SCOCO is now an independent 501(c)(3) organization.
www.SustainableContraCosta.org
Past/Completed Projects & Clients
Adopt-a-Doll – San Francisco Bay Area
An organizational development client and fiscally sponsored project – 2020-2024
Since seventh grade, Lauren Rivera has been volunteering at Family House with Oakland Children’s Hospital by providing meals to the families staying there. She saw how challenging it can be when a loved one is sick in the hospital. In addition to providing food, she wanted to do more to help bring a little bit of joy to the kids during this time. When she realized that there were lots of beautiful dolls collecting dust in people’s homes, and lots of little girls who
would just love the chance to own a special doll, Lauren decided to launch Adopt-a-Doll to bring them all together. Adopt-a-Doll joined Praxis in the fall of 2020. Visit the website to read the full story of this wonderful project. (Note: Lauren is currently in college and working to complete her degree.)
www.AdoptaDoll.org
Digital Safari Innovation Project – Concord, CA
An innovation initiative – 2004-2023
For over 20 years, the Digital Safari Academy – a multimedia career academy at Mt. Diablo High School in Concord, CA – has been developing and refining innovative project-based learning strategies including the Innovation Project, a highly successful multi-discipline project-based learning program that integrates entrepreneurship with Economics, English and Multimedia curricula.
The Innovation Project culminates with the annual Digital Safari Innovation Fair (14 years!) – an exciting “tech expo” and business plan competition for student-run companies with scholarships awarded to winning teams. The Fair is co-sponsored by the City of Concord, the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce and the Campbell Foundation. Praxis is actively seeking channels for taking the Academy’s Innovation Project Model to other schools.
www.InnovationFair.org
Note: The Digital Safari Academy was closed in 2023 due to changes in the school’s operating structure. Our thanks to the amazing team of teachers at the Academy for their creativity and diligence in making the Innovation Project and the Innovation Fair so successful!
Families ACT! – Santa Barbara, CA
An organizational development client – 2008-present
Families ACT! is dedicated to addressing the many challenges faced by individuals and families struggling with the impacts of co-occurring disorders of mental illness and drug dependency. In addition, Families ACT! actively educates the public about issues surrounding the treatment of people suffering from dual diagnosis. Praxis assisted Families ACT! in securing over $30,000 in seed funding to convene a countywide task force of stakeholders including civic leaders and family members to document the state of need in the county, develop strategies for improving community services, and outline a plan for a new residential treatment facility. Praxis also edited the final task force report. In addition, Mark Westwind facilitated several strategic planning work sessions for the FACT board and provided other technical services.
www.FamiliesACT.org
If a Tree Falls – Oakland, CA
An organizational development client – 2019
Based on real events, If a Tree Falls a story of a mother and a daughter lost. On the darkest journey of her life, Penny Kreitzer, a bereft mom, found the source of her voice and the courage to speak out through the process of writing a play. Dedicated to everyone who’s heart has been wounded and lives in silence, If a Tree Falls is a call to action inspiring all of us to step up, speak out and act in the face of injustice. With interwoven themes for our times, this poignant tale touches the heart. Penny is an award-winning actor based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The first showing of If a Tree Falls was in Jerusalem in February 2019. Penny’s mission is to take her play to other venues to engage a wider audience. Praxis is providing guidance to Penny and her team in strategic planning and fundraising. Praxis is also serving as the project’s fiscal sponsor.
The Saidia Fund (formerly Ambassadors for Africa) – Novato, CA
A fiscally sponsored project – 2011-2018
Ambassadors for Africa was founded in 2011 to create sustainable funding for in hospital treatment for impoverished Ugandan children suffering from malaria. Praxis served as AFA’s initial fiscal sponsor and providing organizational and technical support. Due to a variety of factors beyond AFA’s control, purchasing and providing much-needed blood analysis equipment proved to be unfeasible. AFA revised its mission, renamed itself as The Saidia Fund, and is now focused on providing scholarships for young girls to attend private schools – a key route on the pathway out of poverty. Saidia’s first scholarships were awarded in the Fall of 2013. The Fund has given out roughly $3,000 each year since.
Digital Safari Academy’s Career Explorations Program – Concord, CA
An innovation initiative – 2010-2012
Praxis has been an active partner with the DSA for over a decade. Our pioneering work at the Academy has transformed how core subjects are taught at the Academy. As a result of our achievements at the Academy, DSA was selected in 2009 as one of two academies in the nation to participate in a pilot project sponsored by a national educational research organization (MDRC) to develop and test models for increasing student exposure to careers and career paths through specialized in-class career work-shops and enhanced interactions with businesses and employers via job shadows and internships. Our efforts, challenges and solutions are being used to guide the roll-out of this program across the nation. We’re pleased to say that DSA’s 2010, 2011 and 2012 internship programs were very successful – an average of 25 students were placed with 11 host organizations including the Willows Theatre Company, the Ambrose Teen Center in Bay Point, and the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority. Projects ranged from designing brochures and posters to creating web graphics and producing educational videos.
River Arts & Media – Guerneville, CA
An organizational development client – 2014-2017
Praxis was an active guide in the effort by residents of the greater Guerneville area to form a non-profit arts and cultural organization. The new organization to be called River Arts & Media, was envisioned to become the parent organization and/or fiscal sponsor for various innovative initiatives including the creation/re-launch of a low-power FM radio station. Praxis helped the founders frame their vision, guided their strategic planning process and supported the drafting of core organizational documents. Leading the way as an active member of RAM’s “core group” was Kathy Ocean, a long-time Praxis associate and cultural activist. This effort continued into mid-2017 when the core group decided to delay the launch until 2018 at the earliest due to ongoing personal demands that took priority.
Friends of Project Insight – San Francisco, CA
A fiscally sponsored project – 2007-2013
Project Insight is the San Francisco’s Rec. and Park Department’s home for all adaptive recreation programs and activities. For over 30 years, Project Insight has provided a wide range of adaptive recreation programs for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired, and people who have other disabilities. Praxis was the fiscal sponsor for Friends of Project Insight, a non-profit support group made up of members of the deaf community, their families, friends and supporters of Project Insight’s programs. Changes in the management within Project Insight and revisions to City policyreduced the need to maintain the Friends organization.
ContraCostaGreen.com
An innovation initiative – 2010-2015
ContraCostaGreen.com was an on-line directory of environmental resources and organizations in the greater Contra Costa area. In 2010, ContraCostaGreen.com became the on-line resource library for Sustainable Contra Costa. This site was absorbed into Sustainable Contra Costa’s online network in 2015.
Diablo Video Arts – Contra Costa County
An innovation initiative – 1994-2001
Diablo Video Arts was founded in the early 90s by Mark Westwind as Contra Costa County’s association of independent videographers. DVA served as a forum for avid videographers to share ideas, learn new skills and collaborate on projects. DVA was also dedicated to community service – DVA members regularly volunteered to produce videos and public service announcements for local community groups and non-profits. Members also produced a regular television program called “On Stage Tonight” featuring performances from local live music events.
