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Changing Tides Foundation "When women come together and support one another, they can change the world." Founded in 2016, Changing Tides Foundation grew from a shared mission among a group of women surfers to provide support and mentorship for girls in underserved communities through a connection with the ocean. In its nascency, the organization offered its signature program, Women's Outreach Mentorship Program (WOMP), internationally, partnering with local organizations to provide mentorship to teen girls abroad. Since 2022, Changing Tides Foundation's work has shifted primarily to where its roots are — in San Diego, hosting WOMP for girls and teens including students at e Monarch School, a K-12 school in Barrio Logan for unhoused youth. "e program is comprised of land-based learning and education," explains Carolyn Saunders, Changing Tides Foundation's executive director. "e girls learn about critical women's health issues through guest speakers, and they learn about protecting their local ecology and their local environment through recycling and plastic reduction practices. en, they're paired one-to-one with an experienced female surfer who helps guide the girls into the water and helps them catch their very first wave." All of the educational components are presented by experts — always women — in their respective fields, from women's health professionals to marine biologists, environmental experts, scientists, and professors. e surfing mentors undergo a rigorous training process before coming in to take the girls into the water. "Working with populations like Monarch School and other communities that don't necessarily have regular access to the ocean, the girls that we work with are oftentimes quite fearful in the beginning, and some of them have never stepped foot in the ocean," says Saunders. "So it's really this process over the course of several weeks of developing trust — the girls develop trust in their mentor. ey sometimes start out by just walking into the ocean up to their knees on the first week, and then by the end of the multiple-week programs that we run, some of the girls who were the most fearful in the beginning are the ones that are catching the most waves." rough their work with girls from San Diego's marginalized communities, Saunders says they've learned that swimming ability goes down in these populations, which has helped the organization to identify new opportunities to reach girls where they are, beyond the beach. "We feel that our program is so holistic, between the land-based components as well as the skill and confidence building components combined with mentorship, that we are actually going Focus philanthropy Changing Tides Foundation ranchandcoast.com 44 DECEMBER 2025 RANCH & COAST MAGAZINE CHANGING TIDES FOUNDATION: PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF @SALTWATRSTUDIOS <<