Who We Are
Elevating Connections thrives thanks to the efforts of our incredible volunteers, supporters, and partners. Our whole team is committed to the youth in our community and loves seeing them grow as individuals and community members.
Below, you can learn more about the people who make Elevating Connections possible.
Board, Staff, and Key Volunteers
Elevating Connections thrives thanks to the efforts of our incredible volunteers, supporters, and partners.
Below, you can learn more about the unique people who make the meaningful programming at Elevating Connections possible.
Stacey Sanders
Founder and Executive Director
Stacey’s passion for advocating for current & former youth in foster care began in 2011 when she began working at Advocates for Children CASA as a Case Coordinator & then Program Manager and learned that siblings are separated at an alarming rate. Gaining a better understanding of the impact of sibling separation led Stacey to create Elevating Connections in 2015.
Stacey truly enjoys educating stakeholders, families, and care providers about the importance of the sibling relationship and how every person involved with a family can help maintain and sustain the sibling bond. Stacey is also passionate about helping youth post-emancipation find their voice and speak their truth through spoken word, song, comedy and art.
Stacey is recognized by the Office of the Child Representative (OCR) as a subject matter expert for the sibling relationship. Stacey worked and testified with the incredible young people from Project Foster Power who created the Sibling Bill of Rights to ensure that the sibling relationship is maintained and supported by all the adults in their lives.
Judith Baxter
Board President
Judith (Judy) Baxter likes to say she is now “semi-semi-semi-retired,” having stepped out of her full-time faculty position in the Colorado School of Public Health in 2014, her faculty researcher position at the Barbara Davis Center in 2023 and her core faculty role in RIHEL’s Advanced Leadership Training Program (ALTP) in 2023. She does however continue her consulting practice focused on team and individual coaching to build sustainable community impact.
Elevating Connections has spoken to Judy’s heart since she was first introduced to it as Stacey Sanders and Tamisha Macklin’s leadership project in the RIHEL-ALTP class of 2016.
EC’s multi-faceted mission to elevate the sibling connection, youth voice, and be a force for policy development and implementation fits with her personal mission to build and sustain community.
She has been committed to and inspired by Elevating Connections and is honored to serve as board member (2017) and president (2018)
Jim Neubaum
Treasurer
Most of my working life was spent with the State of Colorado. I started with six years as staff to the Joint Budget Committee, which provided an interesting perspective on how state government works.
From there I spent 20 years at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment where I held several jobs in the fiscal arena. When I retired in 2008 I was the department’s budget director.
Since retiring, I enjoy traveling, as often as possible, frequently to visit old friends and see new sights, or both. I also enjoy working as a volunteer for Volunteers of America (VOA).
What drew me to Elevating Connections is the good work it does to help kids in foster care stay connected to their siblings and involved in their community. Through Elevating Connections I hope to play a small role in helping kids have happier lives and brighter futures.
Ben Michaels
Ben Michaels is a professional actor, comedian, emcee, and live auctioneer for charity events. Since 2007, he has been entertaining throughout Colorado, Chicago, and California. He loves to be in front of or behind a camera, but his true love is raising money for much-needed causes, including Huntington’s Disease, C.A.S.A., and of course Elevating Connections.
He works with Elevating Connections teaching various forms of the performing arts to youth, both at Camp Connect and at “Not Another Arts Festival.” These programs help release trauma and instill confidence in the lived experienced youth who participate.
Crystal Allen
Sibling Connections Program Coordinator
Crystal comes from a background in the arts and is a social worker with 10+ years of experience working with organizations that serve youth, including at the state level with CDHS in Child Welfare. Crystal started volunteering with Elevating Connections in 2018 and five years later officially joined the EC team! She is the Camp Director of Camp Connect, and is passionate about ensuring that our programming is continuously improved to meet the needs of our sibling groups, caregivers, and volunteers. Crystal belives strongly in the healing power of community, caring supportive adults, and strengthened sibling relationships. She loves that some of her work involves making slime, terrariums, and paintings with kids, in environments that allow kids to be their unique selves.
Tim Main
Board Member
Tim Main is the Senior Director of Evaluation & Learning at Mile High United Way, and a dedicated non-profit professional with over 15 years of experience working across the Denver-Metro area, focusing on community empowerment and data-driven impact. He has supported teenagers transitioning out of the state’s care, managed a research team helping to improve outcomes for grieving families, and helped mothers advocating for their children assess community needs. In addition, Tim has helped community partners enhance their strategic planning, data collection, and best practices.
Tim holds a Master’s of Public Health degree from the Colorado School of Public Health and is a graduate of the Regional Institute for Health & Environmental Leadership. He and his wife enjoy hiking, playing board games, and training their special-needs dogs. Tim is honored to bring his wealth of non-profit experience and leadership to Elevating Connections as a board member.
Max Meints
Board Member
Max Meints is the Vice President at FirstBank, where he brings over 8 years of experience in various operational and leadership roles, overseeing critical departments such as Wires, and Records Retention. His professional journey includes managing multiple Software Delivery Teams including Payment Systems, and Transactions, as well as other Centralized Operations areas like Fraud Prevention and Item Processing. Known for his strong leadership and deep knowledge of financial operations, Max’s strategic approach ensures operational efficiency and continuous improvement at FirstBank. His extensive experience in the banking sector has honed his ability to manage complex processes and guide teams toward success.
Max’s commitment to Elevating Connections stems from his passion for empowering youth and reuniting foster siblings who have been separated by the system. Having witnessed the challenges young people face when navigating difficult life transitions, Max is dedicated to making a positive impact through the organization’s mission. Elevating Connections’ focus on creating meaningful connections and providing support resonates deeply with him, driving his involvement in shaping brighter futures for foster youth.
Jon Miller
Board Member
Jon has spent his career as an educator inside and outside the classroom. Jon has a strong foundation in adolescent mental health work and supporting neurodivergent youth. Jon lives with his husband and dog in Aurora, CO. When not working, Jon can be found at the dog park or hiking in the mountains.
Rachel Minor
Board Member
Rachel Minor is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker currently working as a Contract Forensic Social Worker through the Office of Alternate Defense Counsel and a Case Consultant through the Office of Child Representatives. Rachel has previously worked in a variety of social work settings including a residential treatment center and has filled roles as a case worker for children in foster care, worked with a variety of guardians ad litem, and served as a school social worker.
Rachel began volunteering with Elevating Connections in 2016 and feels strongly in this mission because the sibling relationship is the longest relationship a person will ever have, even longer than the parent-child relationship. Rachel recognizes that the child welfare system often focuses on reunification with parents and extended family, causing the sibling relationship to be overlooked. Rachel and Elevating Connections are working to alter that view in a system that can oftentimes feel too big to change.
Community Partners
We have many community partners that support the mission at Elevating Connections. Their generous support helps make our dream possible of helping youth in and out of the foster care system achieve their own dreams despite their difficult circumstances.
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
CASA are volunteers who advocate for the best interests of children involved in an open dependency and neglect case. There are 18 CASA agencies in the state of Colorado serving thousands of children and youth across the state. We are proud to partner with CASA in Colorado and all the 18 agencies to provide training to their staff and volunteers. In addition, CASA volunteers consistently refer and transport their assigned children to our program for sibling support and youth voice opportunities.
Colorado Office of the Child’s Representative
The Office of the Child’s Representative is the state agency charged with providing competent and effective best interests legal representation to children involved in the Colorado court system. Collaborating with the dedicated attorneys that serve many of the youth we work with allows us to know the children better, ensuring we are best able to meet their needs.
Departments of Human Services Across Colorado
We partner with the 64 Departments of Human Services across the state to serve siblings who have been separated in out-of-home placement due to their involvement in the Child Welfare system. Thanks to the hardworking and caring caseworkers, over 300 siblings have participated in our Sibling Connection Program.
Collaboration With Chuck Roy & Colorado Comedy Shows
In October 2019, a whole new world of opportunities opened up for our youth in the form of Chuck Roy and Colorado Comedy Shows. Serving as our MC for our annual dinner in 2019, Chuck quickly embraced our mission and wants to help us serve as many young people as possible. Chuck’s business savvy, incredible comedic talent, and enthusiastic belief in youth voice and the sibling relationship has led to the most amazing partnership.
Thanks to Chuck’s creative genius, Colorado Comedy Shows has become our biggest corporate donor and most fervent ambassador for our youth. Chuck is truly one of our angels on earth, opening up a whole new way for our youth to tell their stories through comedy. Watching a young person find humor in some of their darkest moments is inspiring and hopeful.