Jessica came to Elevate with a dedication to supporting the development of organizations working to improve our world. She has particular passion for environmental sustainability, youth development, and the arts. Prior to joining Elevate, Jessica worked with diverse groups of students as a special educator in schools throughout the DC region. As a case manager she developed curricula, wrote reports, and tracked student progress with a driving commitment to help each individual grow and achieve their goals. Her work in schools has helped her to develop as a compassionate communicator and creative problem-solver.
Jessica has experience volunteering with youth in urban gardens and arts organizations, and she has served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). Her current volunteer efforts center around nurturing communities through localizing food, medicine, and clothing production and reducing waste. Jessica holds a master’s degree from The George Washington University and a BA from Tufts University.
Endlessly curious, Jessica channels her passions into a variety of hobbies over which she has little mastery. You can find her admiring flora along a hiking trail, dancing in and outside the studio, and making hopeful attempts at garment sewing.
Anna has a passion for healthy equity in the U.S. and abroad. Prior to joining the Elevate team, Anna completed a Princeton in Asia fellowship in Laos where she contributed to programs in health and education geared towards mitigating the effects of unexploded ordnance (UXO). She then worked at a women’s health clinic in Kingston, NY, coordinating and facilitating group prenatal care and serving as a volunteer birth doula in a medically underserved area.
Anna earned her BA in Peace and Justice Studies and Africana Studies from Tufts University in 2015. During her undergraduate career, she taught health to high school students in Boston. Anna’s other passion is art, and at Tufts she studied the Black Arts Movement and its role in decolonizing language. She also facilitated youth art workshops and a community Skillshare program in Somerville, MA. These days, she is fulfilling her passions for both health and social justice by volunteering with the DC Abortion Fund.
Outside of work, Anna can be found hiking, rock climbing, practicing yoga, or painting. She is also likely to be eating at one of the DC area’s Lao restaurants or trying to catch up on book club reading.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Jaime joined Elevate in 2019 as a Grant Writer, moved up to the Associate Director & Senior Grant Writer position in 2021, and most recently advanced to Grant Specialist. She has five years of experience with grant writing, starting with interning at Washington Performing Arts and taking fundraising courses at American University, and over one year of experience directing teams at Elevate. Jaime brings strategic thinking, research, detail, examples, and creativity to the proposals and reports she develops and reviews for other grant writers, giving a compelling picture of clients’ organizations and programs, and how they align with funders’ priorities.
Jaime earned her Master’s in Arts Management from American University and brings her knowledge of managing nonprofit arts organizations to her work at Elevate. Jaime’s portfolio at Elevate has included proposal development and fundraising strategy around equity in public education, democracy and voting rights, workforce development, arts education, arts and humanities projects, stormwater management, immigration, refugee resettlement, Holocaust survivor services, and food security. Jaime likes to work in a quiet, cold, dimly lit room. She enjoys running, ice cream, reality television, brunch with mimosas, University of Kentucky basketball and football, and her brilliant Elevate teammates and friends.
Pronouns: she/her
Janelle has a passion for social justice and fairness in the global community. Her commitment to this ideal manifested in her work as a paralegal in Hawaii working for fair credit reporting laws. After relocating to Fredericksburg, Virginia, Janelle joined the staff at the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center where she sought to inspire justice through her support of art and story at the Museum. While at the museum, Janelle worked as the volunteer coordinator, development assistant, and, most recently, as the education coordinator where she developed programs that used art education to confront historic and current injustices in her community. In an effort to expand the program’s reach to marginalized communities, Janelle began writing grants to fund scholarships for low income students.
In 2015, Janelle took a leap of faith at an opportunity to reduce her carbon footprint and bought a vintage sailboat to live aboard while undertaking its restoration. She apprenticed with a marine engineering company and learned the basics of sailing, marine electrical and mechanical maintenance, solar and wind power technologies, woodworking and varnishing, and crewed several coastal and offshore deliveries. In the summertime, Janelle teaches sailing in down east Maine and is working toward her Mate’s license through the US Coast Guard. Janelle also writes and edits articles for maritime publications.
Janelle holds BAs in Philosophy and American Studies from the University of Mary Washington, formerly Mary Washington College. She graduated cum laude and was the honors graduate in the American Studies department where she focused her studies on the political and cultural causes of the Civil War and the War’s lingering legacy. For her academic contributions in the civil rights field and her stated career goals, Janelle was awarded the James Farmer scholarship and was elected president of the college’s Phi Alpha Theta chapter.
When not at work, Janelle can be found at Fred’s Theatre where she acts, sells tickets, cultivates donors, cleans floors, or performs one of the other multitudes of jobs needed to ensure the show goes on! If Janelle had one piece of advice to give the world, it would be to find your creative self and nurture it.
Dawn Goodman’s nonprofit service in the Washington metropolitan region spans three decades. As a consultant and former trainer of the Center for Nonprofit Advancement, Dawn has helped dozens of arts, education, research, and healthcare organizations increase program efficacy, public awareness, and organizational funding in innovative and sustainable ways. Dawn has successfully strategized and written grant applications for start-up nonprofits and large institutions like National Minority AIDS Council, The Foundation Schools and Inova Health Systems. Most recently, Dawn has cultivated several strong corporate funding and program content relationships for Arts on the Block — a powerhouse social enterprise creating real workforce infrastructure in the creative economy.
Dawn received her BA in Journalism with a minor in Sociology from Washington DC’s Howard University, where she was the copy editor of the Bison newspaper. Nearly 30 years later, she earned her Master of Divinity (cum laude) from Capital Seminary.
A serial-volunteer, Dawn’s time away from Elevate is spent serving her local congregation, mentoring through partnerships with regional nonprofits and governmental agencies (like Prince George’s County Jail), and supporting the diversity and capacity-building efforts of Greenbelt Community Foundation,
Dawn also loves spending time with her adult children Jordan (the writer) and Jared (the artist), and her sorority sisters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. Bowling, Words with Friends and Netflix docs all have rooms in her happy place.
Abdulla came to Elevate with a passion for human rights and community service. Prior to joining the Elevate team, he worked as a research assistant in Lahore, Pakistan, focusing on security issues and the internal democracy of political parties in Pakistan. Upon moving to Islamabad, he joined the Foundation for Fundamental Rights (FFR) – a pro bono litigation and advocacy group focusing on human rights violations pertaining to the war on terror – as Manager of Communications and Resource Development. There, he focused on grant writing and had the unique opportunity of working on cases pertaining to civilian casualties of drone strikes and enforced disappearances.
Abdulla is a recent graduate from the George Washington University (GWU), receiving an MA in Security Policy Studies. During his time at GWU, Abdulla focused on Transnational Security and Middle East history. He also holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Political Science from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).
Outside of Elevate, Abdulla enjoys cooking for his friends, trying new recipes, and catching up on reading while enjoying a cup of coffee.
Rashida brings to Elevate more than 19 years of experience in grant writing, program planning, research, evaluation, and nonprofit management. She has a passion for working on issues related to health disparities, reproductive justice, and gender equity.
Before joining the Elevate team, Rashida served as the Director of Fundraising and Development at AIDS United. Prior to that, she was on the grants team at the United Way of Central Maryland.
Over the past ten years, Rashida has worked domestically and internationally to develop and implement various education, social service, and public health intervention activities.
In her free time, Rashida can be found reading, seeking out good coffee, and spending time with friends and family.
Stacy brings to Elevate a desire to help nonprofit organizations achieve success through strong and stable funding. As a senior director at Elevate, Stacy supports a variety of nonprofit clients, including those working in early childhood education, higher education, human services, and veteran support. She has experience working with both direct service and advocacy clients to obtain national and regional/local funding. Stacy has a background in public policy and grant writing and worked for over 10 years at the U.S. Department of Education. She also worked as a grant writing consultant, helping public schools develop and write successful grant applications for government and foundation funding in order for them to fulfill their mission of providing all students with a high-quality education.
Stacy holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Maryland where she won a fellowship for her work in the School of Public Policy, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and other honor societies.
Outside of her role at Elevate, Stacy enjoys watching her children’s extracurricular activities, reading, and spending time with family and friends.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Erin is Elevate’s Associate Director of Technology & Data, managing our data and technology teams. She brings several years of experience in building out Elevate’s internal infrastructure to this role, as she has held several positions in the operations department since first joining the company in 2019. Prior to joining Elevate, Erin worked for a trade association in Washington, DC where she focused on providing excellent administrative support.
Erin graduated from The University of Vermont, where she received a double BA in Political Science and Economics. During her time at UVM, she spent three semesters performing research on the relationship between politics and the entertainment media. She also spent her last semester working as a Student Researcher for the Vermont Legislative Research Service, examining complex policy issues and providing research reports for State Legislators.
Outside of Elevate, you can find Erin volunteering as an election judge, taking her rescue dog, Carmela Soprano, for walks, and watching a lot of reality tv.
Francesca brings a deep-rooted passion for social justice and direct service to Elevate. With more than five years of strategic fundraising experience, she loves supporting clients in finding the resources necessary to actualize their missions and visions.
As a Director at Elevate, Francesca leads client teams of all sizes, providing development and institutional fundraising expertise to organizations working on a range of issues, including housing rights and support for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, community development, traditional and alternative education, aging in place, and career and workforce development.
Francesca holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management from American University and earned her BA in Psychology from the University of Rhode Island, minoring in Spanish and Social and Criminal Justice. Outside of Elevate, Francesca loves to cook, pickle, roast, ferment, and explore every corner of the culinary and real world for new recipes.
