Founder

The Ripple Effect was founded by Carla Yorke in February 2013. Carla earned a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration, with an emphasis in Entrepreneurial Studies, from the University of Southern California (USC), and started working for a small marketing/promotions agency soon after graduation. Recognizing she wanted to have more meaning in her work life, she explored different career opportunities.

When she learned about SCORE! Educational Centers, the idea of being a director of an educational center sounded appealing to her. What a great way to utilize her business degree! As a Director for an after school program that provided tutoring and mentoring for kindergarten – 10th grade students, she never imagined how transformative that experience would be to her life.

At SCORE!, her passion for education was birth and her belief that education can be transformative in people’s lives was formed. She decided to return back to school and received a Masters of Science in Education, also from USC.

Over the last 16 years, Carla worked in grants management, project management, and pathway development at Cerritos College, where she implemented programs for middle school, high school and college students.  These programs focused around career exploration, college exploration and preparation, and life skills development. In her latest role, she was the Chief Program Officer for LA Promise Fund, where she oversaw a grant portfolio of $8 million, and worked with her directors to implement a biotech program, an arts education program, a girls empowerment program, an internship program, and family/community engagement programming in South LA and South east LA.