2023 inaugural
​BERRETT-KOEHLER FOUNDATION CHANGEMAKER AWARD

The Berrett-Koehler Changemaker Awards is Berrett-Koehler Foundation’s latest initiative to recognize and support changemakers and community builders who deeply embody the values and commitment to “create a world that works for all.” This initiative is born out of our commitment—and sense of urgency—to share and distribute resources to create change, even as our organization has evolved and shifted over the last few years, in context and conversation with our stakeholders, supporters, and the world around us.

AWARDS CONTEXT

​Some contextual influences that have shaped the creation of this award include: three inspiring cohorts of our Action Learning Fellowship, Decolonizing Wealth by Edgar Villanueva, Leadership Learning Community’s Action Learning Seed Fund, and reimagining of the philanthropy sector by Justice Funders and Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy. Core learnings and principles we aspire to honor and practice include: holding a minimally burdensome grant process for potential grantees grounded in equity and trust, offering ‘unrestricted’ funding, and selecting grantees for whom a $5,000 award amount along with our acknowledgment and amplification would be significantly meaningful for their scale, capacity, reach, and mission.

We sought to fill a niche in the philanthropy space by inviting nominations from people and organizations doing impactful work in underrepresented and underserved communities and who have not yet attracted donations from traditional funders. What we discovered are remarkable, resilient, determined and tenacious people who, as the BK Foundation mission guides us, are creating equitable, regenerative, and loving spaces that draw from the wisdom of their communities.

Here are this year’s awardees:

2023 changemaker awardees

JUANCARLOS ARAUZ
​E3: EDUCATION, EXCELLENCE, EQUITY

​Dr. JuanCarlos Arauz is a sought-after speaker and facilitator who inspires and captivates audiences internationally through his creative storytelling approach. He has mastered the art of addressing the delicate topics of 21st century education, equity, immigration, and Black/Brown male youth development. He has written academically on the intersection of social emotional learning and equity as well as personal testimonials and is featured in a documentary that focuses on contemporary civil rights activists. His fresh and compelling vision cultivates collaboration between various sectors, providing solutions to humanize the educational process for every student and educator.

Dr. Arauz received his B.A. and M.A. in Social Science Education from the University of South Florida. He received his Ed.D. in International and Multicultural Education at the University of San Francisco. His dissertation focused on the racial identity development of undocumented youth. His belief that we cannot have educational excellence without equity led him to establish the nonprofit, E3: Education, Excellence & Equity, where he serves as the founder. In addition, he has been an adjunct professor at Dominican University and has served as a trustee for several independent schools and educational organizations.

ISABELLA EFIMOV
​WATER INEQUITY NETWORK

Isabella Efimov is a social justice advocate who became interested in water inequity after learning about her fellow Latino community's struggle to access potable water in Texas Colonias. Her passion for water justice led her to become a Youth Vanguard at Start: Empowerment as well as found the Water Inequity Network (WIN) in 2021 at the age of 15. Her dynamic youth-led organization focuses on empowering young people to become impactful advocates for water equity by researching and writing articles that are then posted on WIN's various social media platforms. 

WIN began by proposing a bill to various Texas policymakers in order to advocate for water equity in Colonias. Now, as the organization continues to grow, it has successfully mentored 30 interns from around the world, spoken at various rallies and webinars, written articles that reach 600 people on a daily basis, and partnered with organizations such as Start: Empowerment to publish a zine. WIN believes that the future of environmental justice lies in young people taking up the mantle and not relying solely on adults to develop solutions. It's environmental justice by youth and for youth.

GABRIELA GALINDO
FOUNDATIONS FOR LEADERS ORGANIZING FOR WATER AND SUSTAINABILITY​

Gabriela is a fellow in the 2022-2023 Colorado Water Fellowship and the Assistant Program Coordinator at Foundations for Leaders Organizing for Water and Sustainability (FLOWS) housed at CU Boulder, where she centers and elevates the voices of underrepresented BIPOC people in climate and social justice work in partnership with the City of Boulder, CO and Boulder Housing Partners. Next month, she will begin to travel across the Front Range of Colorado as part of an intensive field botany course to learn plant identification, medicine making and land tending to mitigate wildfire hazards. She hopes to run for a city council seat in the years to come to promote Earth-based solutions to the climate crisis and removing systemic barriers for BIPOC people to participate in democratic processes. 

Gabriela’s proudest achievement is ongoing. She is committed to the liberation of BIPOC people from systemic oppression through many avenues, including reclaiming our Earth-based values and cultures. She actively learns and encourages people to learn the true history of Indigenous peoples and the lands they reside/d on, prior to their violent displacement and exploitation by European forces and systems. She advocates for local food systems, Rights of Nature and for a remembrance and reclamation of our deep interconnectedness to each other and Mother Earth, knowing this is fundamental to our collective healing and liberation.

HAY MAR​
THIT EAIN SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION FOUNDATION​

Hay Mar was born and raised by an immigrant Hindu family in Burma, which is also known as Myanmar. She is a teacher and game designer with a strong passion for creating educational games that cater to diverse learning styles. She believes in using creative methods, such as games, instead of traditional teaching approaches. Hay Mar has been working as an academic coordinator for the Myanmar Mobile Education Project, teaching out-of-school child laborers for over five years.

During her teaching experience, Hay Mar encountered many children with special needs and those who had experienced trauma. She recognized the significant gap in Myanmar's education system and realized that many special children in Burma lacked access to education. To address this issue, she founded the Thit Eain Special Needs Education Foundation, which aims to provide support for children with physical disabilities and learning difficulties, and to promote creative and innovative teaching methods for these learners. Hay Mar also trains teachers, parents, and caregivers about special education and how to support children with unique needs.

SHANITA PERDOMO
​BIPOC YES, M.I.S.S. INC

Shanita Perdomo is a proud Oakland, CA native who left the Bay Area to pursue a career as a social worker on the East Coast. Shanita noticed a pattern amongst her female clients. The high school girls who lacked positive mentorship and career guidance would later become pregnant, involved in criminal activity, or homeless. Shanita realized the foster care and school system weren’t doing enough to create effective and informative career exposure for underprivileged girls and young women. In 2021, Shanita became the Founder and Executive Director of Yes, M.I.S.S. Inc., a college and career awareness nonprofit for underserved and under-resourced high school girls in New Jersey. Yes, M.I.S.S. Inc. exposes girls to higher earning professions through partnerships with Fortune 500 companies, college tours, and personal development workshops. In a world full of "no's" and "maybe so's"- Yes, M.I.S.S. Inc. motivates high school girls to say YES to the possibilities!

NONI SESSION
​EAST BAY PERMANENT REAL ESTATE COOPERATIVE

Noni is a 3rd generation West Oaklander and Cultural Anthropologist. Her research and organizing work spans national and global arenas. In her doctoral work under the umbrella of the UNDP in Nairobi, Kenya, Noni carried out ethnographic analysis of international humanitarian strategies and their on-the-ground consequences. After a 2016 run for Oakland City Council in which she garnered more than 43% of the vote, Noni came to believe that her community’s clearest pathway to economic justice and halting rapid displacement was an independent cooperative economy. Noni is closely engaged with Mandela Grocery Cooperative, a Black led worker-owned cooperative in West Oakland that is bringing organic produce and local economics to the community, as well as  contributing her visionary energy to homeless advocacy groups across West and East Oakland who are building a movement of houseless and volunteers that are organizing for housing dignity through direct action and policy. Noni holds a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology and Black Studies, cum laude, from San Francisco State University, and an M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Cornell University.

HEERA SHARMA
GO LAADI

Heera Sharma is the founder of Go Laadli (aka ‘beloved daughter’ in Hindi), a social impact organization focused on empowering young women to become problem solvers, change makers and leaders. Go Laadli does that through investing in their education, providing mentoring, and leadership opportunities and engaging them in their communities in real world problem solving. By providing early opportunities to young women to be leaders, make an impact and disrupt the way society perceives them, Heera and her team are shifting mindsets, sparking a movement of greater civic engagement, and creating a pipeline of women who will be a force of change within their communities. Heera has a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science (conc. Neuroscience) from University of Florida and a Masters in Nonprofit Administration and Leadership from Maxine Levine College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University.

JESSICA GUADALUPE TOVAR​
​LOCAL CLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE

Jessica Guadalupe Tovar is an Energy Democracy Organizer with the Local Clean Energy Alliance, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She grew up in housing projects near an industrial pollution corridor in East Los Angeles. The experience of cancer in her family led her to focus on preventing and reducing local industrial pollution and to advocate for policies to protect vulnerable communities. Jessica has worked for 20 years as an environmental justice and climate organizer in a variety of urban, rural, and indigenous communities throughout California and Arizona. She speaks on various energy issues; environmental racism, climate and disability justice at educational institutions and has been featured on TV & radio in various countries. Using her personal experiences of poverty and systemic oppression, she is passionate to advance solutions to those very problems and alleviate historical energy burdens. Her focus is mentoring young organizers and building new leadership for energy democracy to fight for a just transition and bring, “Clean Power to the People!” 

She currently promotes equity in clean energy as the coordinator of the East Bay Clean Power Alliance, which has advanced local clean energy solutions by establishing a Community Choice program; East Bay Community Energy, a public energy services provider agency that is now providing electricity for over 1.7 million people in Alameda County, Tracy and soon Stockton, California. Since June 2019, EBCE has provided millions towards advancing clean energy programs like energy efficiency, electrification, community innovation grant funding and so much more. The Local Clean Energy Alliance’s advocacy is to hold EBCE accountable to the community it serves by jumpstarting a just transition to true clean energy with a Local Development Business Plan—a Green New Deal for communities throughout the East Bay.