Bringing community together and the mental health crisis down.
Our Mission:
We exist to cultivate real, in-person community—tangible, relational, and deeply experienced—to youth, young adults, caregivers and families where every young person is known, genuinely belongs, and is equipped to live out their God-given identity and purpose.
Meet the Team
President
Tischa Yates
Driven by a passion for youth advocacy, Tischa co-founded Stoke the Spark Collective to ensure no young adult in Snohomish County faces life’s challenges in isolation. She specializes in building supportive networks that bridge the gap between youth and positive adult mentors. Outside of managing collective programs, Tischa can be found hiking, running, and spending time with family.
Secretary
Victoria Wellman
Victoria brings a deep understanding of mental health and emotional well-being to the Stoke the Spark leadership team. With many years working in healthcare she focuses on designing programs to be engaging, safe, and highly impactful. Victoria is dedicated to equipping mentors, volunteers, and youth with the tools they need to help discover their worth and build lasting resilience.
Treasurer
Ryan Storrusten
As a founding member, Ryan oversees the strategic growth and financial health of Stoke the Spark Collective, ensuring all donor resources directly benefit local youth. His extensive background in this area helps turn the organization's big-picture vision into sustainable, everyday realities. Ryan believes that investing in the next generation is the single most powerful way to strengthen a community.
Communications
Liz LaFountaine
Liz shapes the voice, visual identity, and community footprint of Stoke the Spark Collective. Bringing a sharp eye for design and a strategic mind for digital media, she is the creative force behind our brand logo, website aesthetics, and social media storytelling. Liz is dedicated to using powerful marketing and clear communication to fight youth isolation, ensuring local families and volunteer mentors can easily find and connect with our life-changing programs.
What We Do
Relational Cohorts
Small, in-person groups where connection is deeply experienced, moving past superficial interaction to foster genuine belonging. The STSC conducts and plans to expand on the ability to offer a variety of cohort options that are inspired by the local youth, and what they voiced as wanting to learn, create, and grow from. Nothing for them without them.
Guided Mentorship
Mentors walk alongside youth, equipping them with the tools to discover and step into their unique purpose. Mentors are committed to strengthening and supporting each unique individual where EVERYONE is welcome.
Community Events
Hosting community events is crucial for mental health because they foster a sense of belonging, reduce isolation, and provide safe spaces to connect, share experiences, and access resources for people of all ages. These gatherings encourage social interaction, which can ease feelings of depression and anxiety while building real, in-person community.
Community Engagement
We use informed decision-making by incorporating public input. We aim towards solutions, policies, and services that directly meet the needs of the people we impact. Trust and accountability is of utmost importance to us. We try to establish two-way dialogue to dismantle barriers and create transparent, equitable relationships between officials and the public. Through empowering the community we strive to give marginalized or underrepresented voices a recognized platform to influence long-term systemic change.
Collaborative Mindset
We believe that to build real change, we must maintain a collaborative mindset rather than a scarcity-driven one. We actively partner with organizations to ensure families have access to a full spectrum of support. We believe each young person does not fit into a one size fits all approach; we keep our focus on what’s best for each individual.
Prayer
The Mobile Prayer Team exists to bring encouragement, hope, compassion, and prayer directly into our community. We believe sometimes the most powerful thing we can offer is simply showing up, listening, caring, and reminding people they are not alone. We seek to meet people where they are — at parks, community events, outreach gatherings, neighborhoods, and everyday spaces.