Championing Change: Celebrating Women’s Impact

Join us in celebrating these women-led organizations working to impact their communities for better. PathLight Law has had the opportunity to partner with each of these mission-driven organizations to grow towards their goals.

Local Return

Centered in Rhode Island, Local Return aims to build community wealth in Rhode Island neighborhoods that have experienced historical disinvestment through ownership and investment.

Jessica David, one of the five founding Local Return Board of Directors, is dedicated to supporting organizations and leaders working for community benefit. Jessica spent several years working in community development, and now dedicates her time to advancing Local Return’s mission to develop assets to sustain local wealth and help communities control their own economic destiny.

To achieve its goals, Local Return utilizes a systemic approach as articulated by the Democracy Collaborative with a focus on three areas: building the local community investment ecosystem, advocating for local policies and practices to support a vibrant and just local economy, and increasing community awareness and capacity.

Prairies Over Lawns

Prairies Over Lawns is a worker-owned cooperative leading the charge to restore an ecosystem that is healthier for soil, plant, animal, and insect life. Their strategy? Composting monocultured lawns back into the soil to grow native Illinois prairies in their place. Thus, prairies over lawns.

Co-founded by Ash Luciani (she/they) and Hana Silverstein (she/her), as well as Keith Couture (they/them), this values-driven landscaping business maintains a sustainable strategy, utilizing human power (not fossil fuels) to minimize the negative impact on the environment. Their ecocentric approach allows Prairies Over Lawns to put their workers, community, and environment first.

Based in Albany Park, Chicago, Prairies Over Lawns works within a 10-mile radius of home to grow beautiful healthy ecologies accessible to everyone in the community.

Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network

Since 1988, the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network (SBWCN) has been on a mission to rescue, rehabilitate, and release birds, reptiles, amphibians, and terrestrial mammals in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.

Led by Executive Director Ariana Katovich, SBWCN strives to educate the public about living in harmony with wildlife, providing educational programming and collaborating with other wildlife care providers to advance wildlife management and care methods.

Now, Ariana and the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network team have partnered with filmmaker Ian Shive for an exciting documentary “Wild Rescue: A Second Chance at a Wild Life.” The film explores SBWCN’s pioneering work in wildlife rehabilitation and spotlights the dedication of veterinarians, volunteers, and community members who work endlessly to return wildlife back into their natural habitats.