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We are reimagining what it means to prepare students across Contra Costa County for the future, ensuring they have both the education and the experience to achieve economic mobility and fulfilling lives. Learn more in our 2024-25 Making Waves Impact Report!
Making Waves CEO Patrick O’Donnell shares a leadership update on a strategic visioning process with an emerging model focusing on the critical transition years between high school, college, and career.
Starting June 23, Dr. Kristina Wright (she/her) is transitioning from Making Waves to start a new role and Jon Siapno (he/him) is starting his new role at Making Waves as VP of Impact & Experience.
Education should be a bridge to opportunities rather than a barrier. We hope this conversation helps current and future college students feel understood, connected, and inspired.
Whether you are at the start of your giving journey with nonprofits or foundations or DAFs or you are looking to make an even greater difference, this event can help you turn your interest into a legacy.
Making Waves Chief Operating Officer Erick Roa was recently selected for the Pahara Institute’s Pahara Fellowship, a highly selective program for exceptional, values-driven leaders.
Making Waves has excelled at supporting students from 5th grade through college graduation, but in today’s landscape a degree alone no longer guarantees economic mobility. CEO Patrick O’Donnell shares why he’s excited to reimagine what’s possible in expanding educational opportunity AND expanding career opportunity for our students.
Our programs provide students of color from low-income backgrounds with the educational opportunities, career skills and experiences, and financial freedom they need to meet their goals and thrive. Here are some of the highlights of what that looked like in 2024 and a preview of what’s to come in 2025.
We implore you to step into diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, or DEIB, work, not back away. Here are some of our key learnings that we hope help your efforts too.
This year marks a significant milestone for Making Waves – 35 years of empowering students of color from low-income backgrounds to break through barriers to educational success and economic mobility.
If you’re an aspiring or new CEO, having an incredible team is one of the most important levers for driving organizational impact and outcomes. This means a top priority will be building your team and embedding diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in how you and your team operate. CEO Patrick O’Donnell shares learnings from his first five years as CEO.
Decision-making is an Achilles heel and pain point for so many organizations. CEO Patrick O’Donnell shares three approaches to defining a strong and inclusive approach to decision-making as a part of a series on lessons learned during his first five years as a nonprofit CEO.