For Julianne Connell Sachs `93, a path that began with service and education has come full circle. As executive director of Family to Family in Guatemala, she works alongside families as they build homes, skills, and hope for the future.
 
For Julianne Connell Sachs `93, the work she leads today in the Western Highlands of Guatemala feels less like a career change and more like a homecoming.

“I knew I would miss aspects of teaching, but this career change felt right, like I had come full circle,” she says.

For nearly six years, Julianne has served as Executive Director of Family to Family (FTF), a nonprofit economic development program that partners with families and communities to sustainably shift out of poverty. Through income-producing skills training, education, and access to safe housing, Family to Family empowers participants to build not only concrete block homes, but also knowledge, confidence, and long-term stability.

At the center of FTF’s model is dignity. Families work toward homeownership by taking part in classes and community projects that cover topics such as health, sanitation, reforestation, and personal and professional growth. Along the way, they gain practical skills while helping strengthen their communities and the environment.

“Not only do I love the work, but when chaos swirls around me, I can focus my energies on positive change in particular lives,” she says.

For Julianne, the work is deeply hopeful: She sees living conditions improve, skills take root, and people gain confidence in their ability to shape a brighter future.

“An emphasis on social justice has certainly stayed with me. Throughout college, volunteering, working at a community college, participating in community activities, and now in nonprofit economic development work, social justice serves as a guide.”

Julianne’s four years at Gonzaga Prep were formative, shaping how she understands opportunity, service, and belonging. After eight years at St. Mary Catholic School, she attended Prep on scholarship—an experience she remembers with gratitude and humility. She found her place through athletics, service, and leadership, participating in everything from basketball and cross-country to Student Council, Ancilla, Liturgy Committee, Searches, tutoring, and work-study. More than any single activity, she remembers the sense of community she found at Prep.

That sense was tested—and strengthened—during her sophomore year, when her family’s home was destroyed by fire while they were away at school and work. In the aftermath, the Gonzaga Prep and St. Mary communities stepped in with overwhelming support, easing the burden in countless tangible and intangible ways. It was then, Julianne says, that she truly understood the power of community.

After graduating from Prep in 1993, Julianne earned a BS in Mathematics and a BA in Spanish from Western Washington University. Her undergraduate years blended academics, service, and global experience, including service-learning trips to Tijuana, a semester studying in Seville, and leadership in Catholic Campus Ministry. Following graduation, she volunteered as a lay missioner with the School Sisters of St. Francis in Guatemala, teaching math, physics, and physical education in a remote village. The experience contributed to Julianne's decision to earn an MS in Mathematics and teach math at the community college level. It also planted a seed that would bring her back to work in Guatemala more than twenty years later.