Rhonnel Sotelo

Rhonnel Sotelo leads the Room to Breathe Project, a new San Francisco private foundation focused on growing the mental health and wellbeing of the city's children ages 0 to 12. An urban planner by training and a grantmaker for the past 20 years, he has spent his career at the intersection of youth, community, and education, and is currently deepening his understanding of how schools, pediatric care, early childhood education, and health and human services all shape a child's wellbeing.

Rhonnel first encountered Project Based Learning through Bob Lenz and the late Daniel McLaughlin during the early days of Envision Education, and has been a believer ever since. He describes watching a student portfolio defense as both humbling and hopeful, a chance to see young people go on the offensive to demonstrate real skill, understanding, and creativity, and he often wishes he'd had that kind of education himself.

That wish is rooted in his own story. After his father passed away in 2015, Rhonnel's mother gave him a folder his father had kept of every class picture, report card, and test score, including proof that Rhonnel was reading at a third-grade level in eighth grade. He credits a handful of teachers who saw and lifted up his strengths as a learner, his storytelling, creativity, and personal connection, for changing his trajectory. 

Above all, Rhonnel is a husband and father. His wife Chris is a watercolorist and avid gardener, his older daughter Quin works in costume design for film and TV in London, and his youngest, Kate, recently moved to San Francisco to pursue a career in climate and the environment.