Zara Babitzke
Zara Babitzke brings 18 years experience in social service in Marin County—eight of those years in private practice assisting families with young adults with special needs to transition from their parent’s home to independent living. She founded Ambassadors of Hope and Opportunity (AHO) to meet a critical gap in services for young adults ages 16 to 25 who exit the system without a caring adult, resources and guidance. She was a key participant on the Marin County Strategic Sub-Committee for Transitional Age Youth (TAY), College of Marin’s TAY committee, Marin County TAY committee and County’s Coordinating Committee for youth in transition. A member of Marin County’s Visionary Team on the 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, she has been active in advocating for teens and young adults without families and resources for which there are no funding streams to offer a hand up so youth can become contributing adults and future leaders. Zara received the 2007 Jefferson Award for Humanitarian Service, a national award for her work with homeless young adults. In 2011, she was awarded the honor of Hero of Marin from the Pacific Sun and Circle Bank for her leadership and vision of community building around Marin’s forgotten youth
