(photo) Jeana Orman and her boarded and eventually adopted guide dog, Bomba. When Jeana Orman first ventured into the nonprofit world, her journey began like many others—sitting on a board, attending meetings, and helping wherever she could. But for Jeana, this traditional route left her yearning for more. “I felt like I wasn’t doing enough,” she recalls. “Being in board … Read More
Dalia Contreras: Pioneering a Citywide Vision for Education in San Antonio
Dalia Contreras, the CEO of City Education Partners (CEP), is no stranger to the challenges and opportunities in the field of education. With a career that began in the classroom and led her through various leadership roles, Contreras has always been driven by a desire to understand and improve the systems that shape educational experiences. Today, she is at the helm of CEP, where she is channeling her extensive experience into creating a transformative impact on education in San Antonio. Contreras was in the SVPSA Fellowship Class 3.
Founding Partner describes growth of SVPSA
Pawl and two other partners were introduced to the concept of Social Venture Partners (SVP) by a member of the SVP chapter in Austin. He admitted he had never heard of anything like it from a philanthropic standpoint, and was immediately intrigued. Pawl comes from a capital markets background and had worked with venture capital firms before. So the venture capital approach to business being applied to philanthropies was something that was immediately attractive for Pawl.
“I’ve seen how impactful private capital can be when applied appropriately, along with professional guidance to growing private businesses,” Pawl said. “And I thought, what a fantastic thing to do in the philanthropic world.”
Helping nonprofits make an impact
After moving to San Antonio in 2022, Rebecca White quickly found her niche. With two decades of experience in the nonprofit world, including five years leading her own consulting firm, she immediately started to explore the local nonprofit landscape.
When she learned about SVPSA from Partner Billy Cox, she was captivated.
“At first I thought wow, could this be? Maybe I don’t understand what he’s saying,” she said. “Then I dug into SVPSA and I was just so impressed.”
Helping the homeless one life at a time
As the director of homeless services for Christian Assistance Ministry (CAM), Valerie Salas often feels like Batman putting on his cape.
She leads a team of five assisting one of the city’s most vulnerable and challenging populations: people experiencing chronic homelessness.
Most of them are not candidates for more conventional homeless services due to mental illness, physical disabilities or substance abuse issues. Salas’ team meets them where they are, whether it’s on CAM’s downtown campus or the streets. When they’re ready, CAM will help them with other needs, such as ID recovery, employment, housing, and other support services.
Restoring the lives of young women rescued from sex trafficking
Residents of the Youth Center of Texas are in many ways typical young women in their late teens and early twenties. They love music, clothes, doing their hair and nails and making plans for the future.
To look at them, you’d never know they are all survivors of sex trafficking in San Antonio.
They’re now receiving comprehensive care through YCOT, the only residential facility in Bexar County providing support services exclusively to young women aged 18-22 who have experienced sexual exploitation or trafficking.
Connecting local nonprofits through technology
Bill Neely left a successful 24-year technology career in the corporate world after he started having more fun working with nonprofit organizations.
Neely’s IT experience combined with his passion for helping others has led him to establish his own nonprofit organization. Today he’s the executive director of the San Antonio Community Resource Directory (SACRD), which maintains a free, comprehensive online directory of social services offered by nonprofit organizations, congregations, government agencies and other community groups in and around San Antonio.
SVPSA discusses how to support mental health programs for youth
Social Venture Partners San Antonio hosted a sold out crowd of community leaders who gathered to learn more about how to support the mental health programs helping youth in our area. Why was this so important to SVPSA? Our focus is to cultivate an ongoing learning journey helping us to discover how to give better and to dig deep into … Read More
Teaching kids life lessons through golf
“The thing I loved about the SVP fellowship was that it was more tactical toward what you’re doing every day,” she said. “With me being new to nonprofits, looking at the financials, HR, marketing, fundraising – the information was incredible. But beyond that, the conglomeration of other nonprofit leaders just sharing ideas with the tools we were given from SVP was truly invaluable.”
Zamora is one example of how First Tee of Greater San Antonio is changing the lives of young people. First Tee San Antonio is the local chapter of a national youth development organization that empowers kids and teens through golf.
Helping nonprofits grow with strategic grant writing
Arlene Siller didn’t intend to start a business offering grant writing services to nonprofits.
As a scientist with a Ph.D. in biochemistry, her early forays into grant writing were a necessary undertaking to fund scientific research. In the process, she developed the skills to secure millions of dollars in grant funding.