Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Zelman.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
As a child, Sarah was always a social butterfly. She loved to participate in all sorts of activities whether it was sports, games, art, music, creativity, and social interaction. As an adult sarah missed the sense of play and connection that she had access to as a child.
Sarah has been through battles with mental and physical health and was longing to feel like a kid again. That feeling of playfulness, safety, freedom and self expression. After years of therapy and working on herself, Sarah was ready to help others feel this way in adulthood so she created her own Non-Profit called The Safe Space Community.
The Safe Space Community is a nonprofit that exists to help people feel seen, supported, and connected.. creating a welcoming and inclusive environment where individuals and families can come together to move, heal, learn and express themselves freely. Through movement-based activities, mental health support, creative arts, music, agriculture, and community-centered events, the safe space nurtures wellbeing, belonging, and personal growth. In Sarah’s words “The Safe Space is sort of like The Boys & Girls Club for adults”.
Sarah founded The Safe Space Community in 2024 and now has a physical location located in the heart of Downtown Ventura where she serves about 1000 people a month.
Sarah has also partnered with other non profits to support people in mental health, recovery and addiction, and agriculture.
The Safe Space Community is open 7 days a week with classes and runs about 5-8 community centered gatherings each month.
Sarah hopes to keep this community alive and one day have multiple Safe Space Communities around the country where everyone feels like they have a space to go to come back to themselves.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Opening a Non Profit hasn’t been this smoothest road. Our biggest struggle has been funding. With how rapidly the Non Profit has grown in the past year, it has been hard to keep up financially with the demand and activities that we provide.
The Safe Space community runs 100% on community support. We have yet to receive any big donations or grants.
We keep the lights on with our membership based programs, but anything outside of that is donation based and we never turn anyone away for finances, which means we take a Financial hit when we have that low income demographic.
Opening the Non Profit has also been a financial struggle for Sarah. She stepped away from her paying job to focus on the growth of this community, which has also been a struggle for her the past year and a half.
Sarah is hopeful that people will recognize how important this community is and trust that we will start to receive funds that will not only support the community but will support her to keep this community alive and do what she loves to do every day.
As you know, we’re big fans of The Safe Space Community. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
The Safe Space Community is a nonprofit that exists to help people feel seen, supported, and connected. We create welcoming, inclusive environments where individuals and families can come together to move, heal, and express themselves freely. Through movement-based activities, mental health support, creative arts, music, education, agriculture, and community-centered events, we nurture wellbeing, belonging, and personal growth.
Healing, togetherness and educational activities in which people learn about themselves and gain life skills through exploring, learning, and sharing talents with one another. Creating strong roots and a foundation that the community can rely on for growth, play, resources and mental health services to create a stronger community.
We are open 7 days a week with movement and mental health based classes as well as community based workshops almost every weekend!
www.thesafespacecommunity.com
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I have always been a social butterfly. Bringing people together to play connect and move have always been something that I’ve been really interested in passionate about.
I have always had a lot of friends from all different walks of life. In school, I was one of those people who just hopped around from group to group hanging out with a little bit of everybody.
I have also been what you could say a Jack of all trades is. Anything from sports to Art to Music to being creative. I have always liked to dip my hands in a little bit of everything.
I love people, I love hearing about peoples lives and where everyone has come from. I’m the kind of person that sits in the corner of the party and has those deep conversations with a stranger.
Pricing:
- New Community Member 10 days unlimited $33
- 5 Class Package $85
- 10 Class Package $160
- 20 Class Package $280
- Monthly Unlimited $108
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.thesafespacecommunity.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.safe.space.community
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesafespacecommunity
