Rachel Evans - Cultural Enrichment

Nominated by

Sally Lopez

Presented by

Tom Schwedhelm, City Council Member

About

Rachel Evans has been a competitive dancer since she was a young girl. As a junior in high school, she created Sonoma County Dancers United and continues the non-profit organization now as Executive Director. Sonoma County Dancers United's mission is to work with dance studios, public schools, and organizations to promote dance opportunities for children and teens. Rachel is a paralegal with the Department of Justice. Still, her passion is giving back through dance so that youth and teens have the opportunity to build their creativity, physical fitness, and overall mental health, which are critical to youth development.

Rachel seeks out grants and donations so that youth can apply for scholarship opportunities for four months of free lessons at Santa Rosa dance studios of their choice. The non-profit Sonoma County Dancers United was also awarded a City of Santa Rosa grant to participate with another non-profit in an anti-bullying workshop as part of the Violence Prevention Partnership.

Rachel has also taught dance in public schools located in Roseland and South Park. During COVID, she created dance lesson videos and distributed the links on social media for schools to use. Rachel's dance lessons include many dance styles, from ballet to hip-hop.

Thank you, Rachel, we are honored to present you with a 2022 Santa Rosa Merit Award.