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
Here are some of the board members, staff members, and key volunteers who are dedicated to the vision of Elevating Connections.
Stacey Sanders
Founder and Executive Director
Stacey spent ten years as a Case Coordinator and Dependency and Neglect Program Manager at Advocates for Children-CASA. Stacey is a strong and passionate advocate for youth in foster care, especially separated siblings. 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.
Stacey has two sisters who remind her every day how important the sibling relationship is to our overall well-being. She is the aunt of four — a niece and three nephews — who are the absolute light of her life. Stacey was born and raised in Colorado and is a die-hard Broncos fan, regardless of their record!
Tamisha Macklin
Founding Board Member
Tamisha Macklin has served seven years as the Program Manager of Elevating Connections in a volunteer capacity,plus three years as Housing Navigator at Urban Peak. She is also a writer and poet.
Tamisha is dedicated to her life’s mission of helping young people who are systems-involved and improving those systems to become more effective for the next generation. After spending over 12 years navigating the foster care and juvenile justice system, Tamisha understands from personal experience just how much needs to be done to support youth who move through all of our different systems — particularly those who cross over into multiple systems.
Tamisha’s dedication to her education never wavered, even as she faced significant challenges She continued to persevere. Tamisha valiantly represents foster youth in Colorado, and at the National Foster Youth Policy Council, she bravely speaks to inspire change. She has accomplished her goal of graduating with her Bachelor’s degree from Metropolitan State University of Denver in Cross Systems Youth Services, a specialized degree she created.
Tamisha has been able to utilize her lived experience on a state and national level to help other youth still in foster care. She is actively working to develop programming for the Empowering Youth Expressions Program at Elevating Connections. Since exiting the system, Tamisha is finding success and has a desire to give back to help improve services for children, youth, and families.
Judith Baxter
Board President
Judith (Judy) Baxter is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics-School of Medicine, Barbara Davis Center. She likes to say she is now “semi-semi-retired,” having stepped out of her full-time faculty position in the Colorado School of Public Health in 2014. Her primary teaching was in the areas of community health assessment, leadership, and principles of evidence-based practice.
She continues to be involved with research on type 1 diabetes, overseeing the Colorado Center of the Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) study. In her independent practice, Judy serves as core faculty for the Regional Institute for Health and Environmental Leadership (RIHEL) and coaches individuals and organizations to build and sustain high-performance teams.
A commitment to community action is at the heart of Judy’s values. She has served on the Boards of Sense of Security (2004-2011, president 2008-11); Historic Montclair Community Association (2018-present, 1st Vice President 2014-present); Elevating Connections (2017-present); and works as a volunteer for the Children’s Hospital Colorado, Prescription Pet Program (2011-present).
Elevating Connections was the leadership project for Stacey Saunders and Tamisha Macklin when they were in the RIHEL class of 2016. As faculty, Judy was taken by their mission and action. She has been committed to Elevating Connections ever since and is honored to serve as board member and president.
Jenn McIntyre Stachelski
Board Vice President
Jen is a veteran project/program manager and an avid volunteer to boot. Her passion for connecting people has led to many “small world” moments, and her need to be prepared has earned her the status of “desert island friend” among her tribe.
A jack of all trades, her experiences range from hiring processes and building renovations to event planning and proposal writing. Jen honed her adaptability skills over her years of temp work and relishes the start-up phase of projects, especially setting systems in place to ensure a smooth project start.
Jen spent 15 years at the University of Colorado doing a little bit of everything, primarily using her skills in planning to coordinate all aspects of an international workshop in evidence-based health care. She has been involved in educational endeavors that emphasize non-biased research for decision-making and consensus-building. She is the senior program manager for the Regional Institute for Health and Environmental Leadership’s (RIHEL) two-year-long comprehensive leadership development programs. She does all this while maintaining her continuing medical education consulting business.
Jen volunteers with various local organizations, served on the Silverthorne Planning Commission, and was her HOA’s president during a time of sweeping change. When not working, Jen enjoys baking, traveling, hiking with her dog, cycling, and watching movies about superheroes.
Jim Neubaum
Treasurer
Jim spent most of his professional life working for the State of Colorado. He spent six years as staff to the Joint Budget Committee, which gave him an interesting perspective on how state government works. From there, he spent 20 years at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment where he held several jobs in the fiscal arena. When he retired in 2008, he was the department’s budget director.
Before Jim’s career in the state, he worked for Denver Research Institute (DRI) where he conducted research on the problem of overcrowding in city and county jails across the country. Previously, he worked at Central Denver Youth Diversion Program which focused on diverting teens from the criminal justice system.
Since retiring, Jim enjoys traveling as often as possible to visit old friends and see new sights. He also enjoys working as a volunteer for Volunteers of America (VOA). For VOA, Jim has worked on the Snow Buddies program (which matches home-bound seniors with volunteers to shovel their sidewalks), served on a review committee, and helped hand out market baskets (supplemental food baskets for seniors).
What drew Jim to Elevating Connections was the good work it does to help foster kids stay connected to their siblings and involved in their community. Through Elevating Connections, Jim hopes to play a small role in helping kids have happier lives and brighter futures.
Jen is a veteran project/program manager and an avid volunteer to boot. Her passion for connecting people has led to many “small world” moments, and her need to be prepared has earned her the status of “desert island friend” among her tribe.
A jack of all trades, her experiences range from hiring processes and building renovations to event planning and proposal writing. Jen honed her adaptability skills over her years of temp work and relishes the start-up phase of projects, especially setting systems in place to ensure a smooth project start.
Jen spent 15 years at the University of Colorado doing a little bit of everything, primarily using her skills in planning to coordinate all aspects of an international workshop in evidence-based health care. She has been involved in educational endeavors that emphasize non-biased research for decision-making and consensus-building. She is the senior program manager for the Regional Institute for Health and Environmental Leadership’s (RIHEL) two-year-long comprehensive leadership development programs. She does all this while maintaining her continuing medical education consulting business.
Jen volunteers with various local organizations, served on the Silverthorne Planning Commission, and was her HOA’s president during a time of sweeping change. When not working, Jen enjoys baking, traveling, hiking with her dog, cycling, and watching movies about superheroes.
Jen Stachelski
Board Vice President
Jim Neubaum
Treasurer
Jim spent most of his professional life working for the State of Colorado. He spent six years as staff to the Joint Budget Committee, which gave him an interesting perspective on how state government works. From there, he spent 20 years at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment where he held several jobs in the fiscal arena. When he retired in 2008, he was the department’s budget director.
Before Jim’s career in the state, he worked for Denver Research Institute (DRI) where he conducted research on the problem of overcrowding in city and county jails across the country. Previously, he worked at Central Denver Youth Diversion Program which focused on diverting teens from the criminal justice system.
Since retiring, Jim enjoys traveling as often as possible to visit old friends and see new sights. He also enjoys working as a volunteer for Volunteers of America (VOA). For VOA, Jim has worked on the Snow Buddies program (which matches home-bound seniors with volunteers to shovel their sidewalks), served on a review committee, and helped hand out market baskets (supplemental food baskets for seniors).
What drew Jim to Elevating Connections was the good work it does to help foster kids stay connected to their siblings and involved in their community. Through Elevating Connections, Jim hopes to play a small role in helping kids have happier lives and brighter futures.
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.
Key Supporters
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 system achieve their own dreams despite their difficult circumstances.
SAME Café'
SAME Café is a donation-based, fair exchange restaurant that serves healthy food to everyone, regardless of ability to pay. Their mission is to create community through healthy food access. They believe in healthy food, community, and dignity for everyone. SAME Café’ is one of our favorite places to hold Empowering Youth Expressions workshops. They genuinely care about the youth we serve and provide delicious food, a welcoming environment, and a safe space for our youth and the community as a whole.
Mission Urban Peak
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.
Project Foster Power
Launched in 2017, project Foster Power (PFP) is a group of current and former foster youth, ages 15 to 25+, seeking to improve the Colorado child welfare system through youth-led organizing and advocacy. This group amplifies youth voices and celebrates the power of collective action. Many of the youth leaders in pFP are also regular participants in our Empowering Youth Expressions workshops and Poetry Jam. This is truly a partnership and collaboration made stronger by our shared passion to raise youth voices.
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.