Michele Silverthorn

Leaning in with passion and heart for equity and excellence, Michele first ventured into community development as a Peace Corps Volunteer in El Salvador. With interest sparked, she has spent the last two decades working in social justice nonprofits and philanthropic organizations. Whether at a grassroots community-based organization or multi-million dollar foundation, she is a successful communicator across stakeholder constituencies and has a robust understanding of San Diego and Imperial County’s community organizations and philanthropic landscape.

Michele excels in planning, outreach, and execution of community-based programs, collaborative building, and implementing grantmaking processes. Her work focuses on vulnerable populations and historically marginalized communities in the areas of health, immigrant workers, children, and working poor; homelessness and emergency rent relief; census outreach; food systems; and workforce development for artists and cultural practitioners.

Michele received a bachelor’s degree in City & Regional Planning from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a master’s degree in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University. After hours you can find her on a road trip with her husband and two sons or on a mountain trail with Maggie, her Australian Shepard.