About Us

We are not experts on criminal justice. We have experience creating environments that unleash the transformational power of human connection.

Our History

Kaleidoscope is an outgrowth of three dinner conversations Roger Low, President of the RMLow Foundation, hosted for nonprofit leaders in his San Francisco home in the summer of 2013. His intention was for board members, executive directors, and other senior leaders to get to know each other outside of their professional identities. The three initial dinner conversations turned into three years of deep learning and long-lasting relationships.

Jessica Budnitz joined forces with Roger in the summer of 2016. In the following six years, Kaleidoscope launched cohorts around themes including Echoing Green, Making Trump a Blessing, The Tenderloin (SF), and Juvenile Justice.

In 2022, Kaleidoscope shifted its focus to stakeholders involved in the lives of people returning to the Bay Area from incarceration. That year, Kaleidoscope launched the Reentry Cohort (now the Leadership Cohort). In 2023, in partnership with CROP, Kaleidoscope launched the CROP Cohort (now the Community Cohort).

In December 2023, Carrie Simon became the Director of Kaleidoscope.

Our Team

  • Roger is a Co-Founder of Kaleidoscope. He is active in the Bay area nonprofit community, including the CROP Organization (Board member), Camp Tawonga (former Board member and Chair of the Governance Committee), Temple Emanu-El (former Board member), and The Imagine Bus Project (formerly on the Finance Committee). Roger is President of the RMLow Foundation. For over 20 years, Roger ran Parallax Fund, an investment fund. Roger enjoys bringing people together and facilitating worthwhile sharing and connections.

  • Carrie became the Director of Kaleidoscope in December 2023. Her work with people returning home from prison began in 2017 when she joined Defy Ventures. While in leadership roles at Defy, she saw firsthand the power of individual relationships to transform society. After Defy, Carrie worked with the CROP Organization and later with FULCRUM, which focuses on the role of literacy in leveling the playing field for all. Prior to her social impact work, Carrie spent more than a dozen years in the asset management industry in New York City and San Francisco.

  • Will is a facilitator and advisor for Kaleidoscope. Bringing tremendous lived and professional experience, Will is a certified Trauma Informed Systems trainer, a certified Search Inside Yourself trainer and a certified HeartMath trainer. Will is the Executive Director for the Bay Area Freedom Collective, an organization that supports people being welcomed back to the community from incarceration.

Our Name
Why Kaleidoscope?

First, kaleidoscopes create ever-changing and unique patterns and colors. Likewise, at Kaleidoscope, we provide a forum where community members and leaders are exposed to different perspectives. Just like turning a kaleidoscope, we intend to shake things up for our cohort members.

Second, looking through a kaleidoscope transports you.  Likewise, Kaleidoscope provides an experience that allows cohort members to leave their busy days behind and relax into a caring community.

Finally, when a kaleidoscope’s loose pieces of color are held up to the light, something beautiful is created. The kaleidoscope is more than the sum of its parts. Similarly, when an eclectic group of people come together in a Kaleidoscope cohort, a beautiful community is created that cannot be found anywhere else.