The California Wellness Foundation Sabbatical Program Award was created to improve the long-term effectiveness of health-focused nonprofits by providing their executives with the rest they need to continue to direct their organizations' missions. The leadership support program - now in its ninth year - provides eight organizations each with a $35,000 grant to cover the leader's salary and expenses during the sabbatical, which lasts a minimum of three months.

Linda Civitello, President and CEO, Breathe California, Golden Gate Public Health Partnership

Linda Civitello was executive director of a California chapter of the American Lung Association from 1993 to 2006.

Lou Fox, Executive Director, Family Support Services of the Bay Area

Lou Fox helped found Family Support Services of the Bay Area and has been its executive director since 1989.

Dori Rose Inda, Executive Director, the Watsonville Law Center

Dori Rose Inda founded the Watsonville Law Center in 2002 to provide low-income individuals equal access to the law by helping them to understand, exercise and enforce their rights.

Viveca Lohr, Executive Director, Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula, Inc.

With an annual budget of $1.3 million, a paid staff of 13 and more than 300 volunteers, Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula provides services designed to help the region's elders – the fastest-growing segment of the population – to “age in place.”

Daniel Macallair, Executive Director, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice

Daniel Macallair helped found the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) in San Francisco in 1991 and has been its executive director since 2002.

Lorraine Martinez, Executive Director, The Villa Center, Inc.

The Villa Center, located in Santa Ana, is Orange County's oldest residential program for alcohol- and substance-abusing women.

Joe Navidad, Executive Director, People's Community Organization for Reform and Empowerment

Since 1996, Joe Navidad has been the executive director of People's Community Organization for Reform and Empowerment (People's CORE), an organization he helped found.

Christopher Peters, President and CEO, Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development, Inc.

Christopher Peters was named president and CEO of the Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development (SGF) in 1991.