Our Mission
SAFE empowers women and girls from underserved communities to build better futures through education by providing support, guidance, resources, and community.
ABOUT SAFE
Education Changes Lives.
We Help Women Change Their Futures.
Sister Angel Foundation for Education (SAFE) empowers women and girls—especially single mothers—to achieve economic mobility through education. We provide educational guidance, career and financial empowerment, and critical support that helps women overcome barriers, stay on track, and build stronger futures for themselves and their families.
When a woman succeeds, generations change.
Our Vision
We envision a future where women and girls from underserved communities have access to the support, resources, mentorship, and encouragement needed to pursue education with confidence and create lasting change for themselves, their children, and future generations.
Compassion
Dignity
Equity
Community
Our Story
Sister Angel Foundation for Education was founded from lived experience, resilience, and the belief that education can change the future of entire families.
What began as a passion for helping student mothers navigate college and access resources quickly grew into a larger mission centered around educational empowerment, community support, and economic mobility.
SAFE recognizes that many women pursuing higher education are carrying responsibilities far beyond the classroom. Some are raising children alone, overcoming difficult life circumstances, healing from trauma, navigating foster care experiences, or returning to school after years away from education. Despite these challenges, they continue showing up for themselves and their families every day.
Since 2019, SAFE has worked to create a community where women feel supported, encouraged, and connected to resources that help them persist through college and beyond. Through educational counseling, mentorship, workshops, emergency support, and community programs, SAFE helps women navigate barriers while reminding them they are capable of achieving their goals.
2019
Sister Angel Foundation was founded.
2020
Adopt-A-Family and Back to School programs started.
2022
SAFE Scholarship fund started
2025
Inaugural Flapjack fundraiser.
Team & Leadership
A committed team guiding programs with heart and experience.
Nadine Gallego
Founder and Executive Director
Leads strategy, partnerships, and family support expansion.
Greg Kinsey
Board Member
Designs community-led services and quality standards.
CJ Hammond
Board Member
Mobilizes and trains volunteers for outreach and mentoring.
Diana Ruano
Board Member
Supports governance, stewardship, and long-term sustainability.
Our Approach to Impact
We design programs with the community, informed by evidence, and strengthened through local partnerships. Every initiative is reviewed for outcomes and adjusted with feedback.
Listen
We start by hearing from families and local leaders.
Support
We deliver practical help with speed, care, and respect.
Empower
We build confidence through mentoring and skill-building.
Sustain
We measure outcomes and improve programs over time.
Families & Impact
1,000+
Families Served Since 2019
Since 2019, Sister Angel Foundation for Education (SAFE) has served more than 1,000 women and children throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
Our impact goes beyond numbers. We support women—especially low-income, first-generation students and single mothers—as they pursue higher education, build careers, and work toward greater economic mobility for themselves and their families.
Through educational guidance, college success programming, mentorship, scholarships, emergency assistance, school supplies, holiday support, and other essential resources, SAFE helps remove barriers that can make it difficult for women to continue their education.
When we support a woman in reaching her educational and career goals, the impact extends to her children, her family, and future generations.
- ✓Personalized guidance for student parents and first-generation students
- ✓Emergency support that keeps women enrolled and on track
- ✓Community and mentorship that lasts beyond a single semester
Back-to-School Drive
2,000+
Backpacks Provided
Since 2020, SAFE’s Back-to-School Program has helped student-parent families prepare for a successful school year by providing backpacks and essential supplies to their children. What began as a small effort to support a handful of families has grown into a program that has distributed more than 2,000 backpacks throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
For many of the mothers we serve, back-to-school season is one of the most stressful times of the year. While working toward their own educational goals, they are balancing housing, childcare, transportation, food, and other basic necessities. Purchasing school supplies can create an added burden—so donors, volunteers, and partners help carry it.
Through the support of donors, volunteers, and community partners, children start the school year with the tools they need — and parents are reminded they do not have to do it alone.
Scholarships
$6,000+
Scholarships Awarded
Launched in 2022, the SAFE Scholarship Fund has awarded more than $6,000 in scholarships to women and student parents pursuing higher education. These awards help cover the real costs that too often derail a degree—tuition, books, transportation, childcare, and other educational expenses.
A scholarship is more than financial help. It is a signal to a woman balancing work, parenting, and school that her goals matter, and that her community believes in what she is building for herself and her children.
- ✓Direct financial awards for tuition and educational expenses
- ✓Awarded to women and student parents working toward a degree or credential
- ✓Paired with guidance so recipients can persist to graduation
College Partnerships
15+
Colleges Impacted
SAFE works alongside more than 15 colleges and universities across Los Angeles and Orange County to reach parenting students and women pursuing higher education. Through these partnerships, we connect women to campus resources, financial aid guidance, counseling, and community support that help them stay enrolled.
Colleges are where our programs meet students at the moment they need them most. By partnering with campuses, we help identify barriers early and respond with guidance and support before they become reasons to stop out.
15+
College & university partners
LA & OC
Regions served