Grant Listings: Education

Comprised of a college preparatory charter school, an after-school leadership program, and a preschool, Alternatives in Action helps students who were unsuccessful or unchallenged in other school settings to succeed in college, career, and community. The program has a 90% attendance rate, and 80% of its students go on to attend college. Last year, Alternatives in Action relocated to a new Alameda campus with a youth-designed community hub. The Fund's grant helps support program development at this new location.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 05/31/2009 through 05/31/2010
Project Web Site: www.alternativesinaction.org

The Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network (PLAN) addresses a lack of resources for parents working to improve public schools. PLAN prepares organizations to develop parent leaders, provides technical assistance to family support programs, and teaches low-income and immigrant families how they can participate in the public school system. If efforts are successful, parents with children in underperforming schools will be able to work more effectively to improve the local education system. The Fund's grant provides PLAN with general operating support.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 06/30/2009 through 06/30/2010
Project Web Site: www.parentactionnet.org

The California Budget Project (CBP) produces timely, well-balanced research and analysis of how state budget policies affect low- and middle-income families. It produces easy-to-read reports, newsletters, and briefing papers on the state budget as well as on specific fiscal policies' effect on education, taxation, workforce development, and health and human services. CBP's work is frequently cited by policymakers, nonprofits, foundations, and the media. This grant is funded jointly by W&EHF's Education Program and by its mission-related grantmaking, which is providing general support.
Grant Amount: $85,000 [2008] , $85,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 07/11/2008 through 07/11/2010
Project Web Site: www.cbp.org

Californians for Justice was founded on the theory that the people most affected by a problem should be at the forefront of solving it. To that end, participating youth surveyed their high school peers to identify their greatest needs. College access, they found, was one of the biggest challenges facing Oakland high school students, so they launched the Can You See Me in College? campaign at their school sites to increase college preparation resources. Californians for Justice will collaborate with youth and educators to increase the number of college counselors in Oakland public high schools and increase students' access to preparatory courses for four-year universities. The youth also will make presentations in classrooms and at clubs, informing 1,500 students about their options for attending college, encouraging them to fulfill course requirements, and educating them about how statewide college-readiness policies affect local schools.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2008] , $40,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 03/31/2008 through 03/31/2010
Project Web Site: www.caljustice.org

Chinese for Affirmative Action helps immigrant parents actively involve themselves in the educational issues that affect their children. Continued support from the Fund allows the group to improve training and to establish and strengthen the governance bodies that oversee academic programs for English language learners at more schools. These efforts help to provide immigrant students with quality education.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/23/2009 through 11/23/2010
Project Web Site: www.caasf.org

Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth (Coleman Advocates) has advocated for youth and families in San Francisco for 30 years. In 2007, it developed a five-year strategic plan that identifies two target areas for the organization: educational equity and affordable housing. Coleman Advocates has received funding from W&EHF to assist low- and moderate-income parents to be effective advocates for quality public schools for all children, including their own. It will provide this assistance through training on a broad range of school-related topics such as governance, finance, academic programs, and testing. In addition, Coleman Advocates will support parents as they work to improve academic programs and close the achievement gap.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2008] , $60,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 03/31/2008 through 03/31/2010
Project Web Site: www.colemanadvocates.org

Community Alliance for Learning recruits and trains community WriterCoach Connection volunteers to work individually with students on writing assignments in the classroom. The Fund supports Community Alliance for Learning in planning and expanding its Oakland tutoring program so students can develop their writing and critical thinking skills.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 12/22/2009 through 12/22/2010
Project Web Site: http://www.writercoachconnection.org/

Fiscal Sponsor: San Francisco Unified School District
The Public Interest Radio project at KALW Public Radio explores current issues through the voices and experiences of those individuals most affected. This grant supports in-depth reporting on wealth and poverty and public education. The grant is supported equally by the Fund's Economic Security and the Education programs.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2008] , $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 07/11/2008 through 07/11/2010

The Oakland Small Schools Foundation encourages small schools to fundraise and develop collaboratively. One of its key initiatives helps schools to strengthen their family engagement programs and share resources. As the number of schools participating in the initiative has grown, it has become more sophisticated, with staff from all schools meeting monthly to exchange ideas. The Fund's grant will help the Foundation strengthen this family engagement collaborative and work to improve academic outcomes for students.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 06/30/2009 through 06/30/2010
Project Web Site: www.smallschoolsfoundation.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Community Initiatives
The Parent Advisory Council (PAC) provides a formal mechanism for parents to participate in shaping education policy in the San Francisco Unified School District. The Council engages parents in the school board's decision-making process, represents parents' concerns, and supports parents' participation in school governance. PAC membership includes families from diverse, historically marginalized communities. With Council support, parent representatives now sit on most district planning committees. The Fund's grant helps the PAC to strive to keep families invested in education.
Grant Amount: $45,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 06/01/2009 through 06/01/2010
Project Web Site: www.communityin.org

Many parents find it challenging to navigate the bureaucracy within a large urban school district. Parents for Public Schools has become a trusted source of information and assistance, encouraging families to enroll their children in public schools by helping with the application procedures and publicizing public schools and their programs. In recent years, the organization expanded its work to include extensive outreach to parents in underserved communities. This grant provides general operating support to Parents for Public Schools to focus on organizational capacity building.
Grant Amount: $100,000 [2007] , $100,000 [2008] , $100,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/27/2007 through 11/27/2010
Project Web Site: www.ppssf.org

The Park Day School, a private school, supports Oakland public schools that serve low-income students. When the school was founded in 1992, it established a formal community outreach program to connect students, families, and staff to what was happening outside the school's borders. Park Day deepened its outreach to public schools significantly in 2005: It established a particularly successful partnership with Emerson Elementary that includes an extensive reading buddies program in which older kids read to younger kids; it shared professional development for Park Day and Emerson teachers; and it launched a mindfulness program in which students learn to 'pause, reflect, and consider' before taking action. Park established less extensive but still significant collaborations with two other public schools bordering its campus. W&EHF is supporting Park Day's expanded work cultivating partnerships between public and private schools. While maintaining its public school programs, Park Day staff will assist other private schools to develop similar public-private partnerships.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2008] , $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 03/31/2008 through 03/31/2010
Project Web Site: www.parkdayschool.org

San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocates trains volunteers to advocate for foster youth. Each volunteer partners with a child for a minimum of a year and a half to ensure the foster youth receives appropriate education, health care, and legal representation. This grant from the Fund helps provide volunteers with training about the San Francisco public school system and children's educational rights.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 12/22/2009 through 12/22/2010
Project Web Site: www.sfcasa.org

San Francisco School Volunteers (School Volunteers) recruits, screens, trains, and places volunteers in public schools where students will benefit most from their skills and expertise. School Volunteers' two-phase strategic plan provides more comprehensive, targeted services to 36 underperforming schools (phase one started with six schools) and measures the impact of volunteer services on student achievement at those sites. Now in its second phase, School Volunteers is expanding its volunteer service model to the 30 remaining focus schools.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 03/03/2009 through 03/03/2010
Project Web Site: www.sfsv.org

The Office of School/Family Partnerships is the San Francisco Unified School District department overseeing parent outreach programs. With support from the Fund, the Office has developed take-home language arts and math activities that parents can use to help their children hone required academic skills. In 2009, the Office will expand its training program to teach parent liaisons to provide families with academic information and support, further strengthening communication between schools and parents and aiding student learning.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 09/14/2009 through 09/14/2010
Project Web Site: portal.sfusd.edu/template/default.html?page=parent_relations

In fall 2003, Small Schools for Equity opened June Jordan High School for Equity, an innovative small public high school in southeast San Francisco that provides small classes, challenging curricula, teacher professional development and collaboration, and parent involvement. This grant supports service learning opportunities that build leadership skills, knowledge of community needs, basic work habits, and relationships with adult mentors. Major goals are to full integrate the service learning with core academics, strengthen relationships with mentors, and institutionalize the program. In addition, the organization will disseminate learnings and best practices to the broader education community through conferences, publications, and site visits.
Grant Amount: $75,000 [2008] , $75,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/21/2008 through 11/21/2010
Project Web Site: www.jjse.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Philanthropic Ventures Foundation
The Take Home Book program boosts the literacy skills of kindergarten, first- and second-grade students by providing schools with a supply of quality books that are appropriate for reading aloud. Teachers send students home with a book each week. The Fund's grant provides new books, including bilingual titles, for 25 kindergarten and first-grade classrooms in San Francisco.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 12/22/2009 through 12/22/2010
Project Web Site: www.takehomebooks.org/index.htm

Youth Together works to improve the conditions of public school campuses through youth organizing. As a direct result of a student campaign run by Youth Together members, Oakland Unified School District began a program to foster meaningful student engagement in the fall of 2006. The program supports the development of youth centers at Oakland high schools at which young people receive academic support services and work together on campaigns to improve the condition of their schools. The district and Youth Together continue to work together closely: The district's youth program draws from Youth Together's curriculum, and the organization advises the district on its implementation. Besides its ongoing work with the district, Youth Together operates its own programs, which include student clubs and youth centers at six Oakland high schools. Youth Together also convenes and leads Organize Da BAY, a regional network of youth organizations that work to coordinate youth services and improve schools. W&EHF supports Youth Together's school-based and district wide programs in Oakland.
Grant Amount: $80,000 [2008] , $80,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 03/31/2008 through 03/31/2010
Project Web Site: www.youthtogether.net

Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES) recently shifted its focus from helping to establish small schools in the Oakland Unified School District to supporting targeted academic improvements in those schools. BayCES now trains principals and teachers to use data from assessments to help their middle and high school students become proficient in algebra and pre-college English by tailoring instruction to learning needs.
Grant Amount: $75,000 [2008] , $75,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 07/11/2008 through 07/11/2010
Project Web Site: www.bayces.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Regents of the University of California
The mission of the Center for Urban School Leadership at the University of California, Berkeley, is to train a diverse cadre of high-quality principals to lead Bay Area public schools. The Center's Principal Leadership Institute has placed 275 principals, assistant principals, and district-level leaders in schools. A three-year induction program and a coaching initiative give current principals additional job training, and an Aspiring Administrators program recruits and trains teachers considering becoming administrators. Other programs support district-level administrators to cultivate, support, and evaluate school-based leadership, and provide school district leaders with data to guide decision-making. With W&EHF funding, the Center will hire a project director to work on continuity planning with the executive director, build infrastructure, strengthen new programs, and create a plan for documenting and evaluating Center activities.
Grant Amount: $100,000 [2007] , $75,000 [2008] , $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/27/2007 through 11/27/2010

To convene and train Bay Area community groups and school district leaders to advance implementation of A-G policies.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 12/18/2009 through 12/18/2010

The Internationals Network for Public Schools (Internationals) has opened ten small public high schools in New York over the past decade that serve a linguistically and culturally diverse group of immigrant students who have recently arrived in the United States. Internationals recently expanded its network of schools to California because of the large and increasing growing number of recently arrived English learners enrolled in our public schools. In 2007, it established a small public high school in Oakland and gained approval from San Francisco Unified School District to open another in the city's Mission district in August 2009. A grant from the W&EHF will support the launch of a new San Francisco high school, and train educators at both its Oakland and San Francisco sites to use its successful instructional strategies.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 03/03/2009 through 03/03/2010
Project Web Site: www.internationalsnetwork.org

New Leaders for New Schools is a national organization that trains educators to become principals who serve urban public schools more effectively. Participating principals-in-training work in public schools with mentors for a year, and then receive five years of intensive support to head their own schools. New Leaders, with help from the Fund, aims to train enough area principals to see a district-wide improvement in leadership so more students perform at or above grade level.
Grant Amount: $65,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 06/30/2009 through 06/30/2010
Project Web Site: www.nlns.org/Locations_BayAreaCA.jsp

Partners in School Innovation has a strong track record of helping close the achievement gap in low-performing public schools by working with district leaders to plan district wide improvements; convening district administrators, principals, and teachers to guide implementation in all schools; and intensively coaching principals and teachers at selected schools on how to increase students' reading proficiency. Partners in School Innovation continues to collaborate closely with the San Francisco Unified School District in this work.
Grant Amount: $75,000 [2008] , $75,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 07/11/2008 through 07/11/2010
Project Web Site: www.partnersinschools.org/

San Francisco School Alliance promotes change in the city's public schools by building partnerships, recruiting community support, and advocating for policies that advance student achievement. This grant supports the Alliance's first major partnership, the Leadership Initiative for Equity, which aims to improve the recruitment, preparation, and support of principals. The Alliance coordinates the work of the San Francisco Unified School District and key community partners such as the Principal Leadership Institute at U.C. Berkeley and Partners for School Innovation to improve professionals' competence and encourage positive systemic change in the district.
Grant Amount: $75,000 [2008] , $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/21/2008 through 11/21/2010
Project Web Site: www.sfschoolalliance.org

826 Valencia's programs are designed to help students enhance their writing skills, and motivate teachers to get their students excited about writing. Through 826 Valencia, students are connected with trained adult tutors who provide intensive writing instruction in dedicated classrooms at two public middle schools and at the organization's Mission headquarters. Volunteers are published authors, magazine founders, filmmakers, and other professionals. In addition, 826 Valencia staff work with public school teachers to craft innovative writing curricula, develop and publish student-authored literary works, and spark a love of writing in younger students through creative programming workshops, field trips, and tutoring programs.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 03/03/2009 through 03/03/2010
Project Web Site: www.826valencia.org

Aim High for High School provides summer education for public school students in San Francisco, Oakland, and the South Bay. Students participate in classes during consecutive summers and have year-round access to tutoring and support, better preparing them for future success. The program provides students with creative lessons that they can apply in real-world settings and offers teachers a lab in which they can learn innovative teaching practices. The Fund's grant will support a new math initiative at two San Francisco sites.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 06/01/2009 through 06/01/2010
Project Web Site: www.aimhigh.org

The Developmental Studies Center helps teachers in schools and after-school programs to foster children's academic, ethical, social, and emotional development. The Caring School Community curriculum has been implemented in 20 elementary schools in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) over the last five years. Results demonstrate continued improvement in students' academic achievement, strengthened attachment to school, and reduced problem behaviors. SFUSD is committing funds to expand the curriculum to new schools and deepen its implementation in current schools. This grant supports both activities.
Grant Amount: $100,000 [2008] , $100,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 07/11/2008 through 07/11/2010
Project Web Site: www.devstu.org

At the Exploratorium's Teacher Institute, new science teachers learn from their more experienced peers, use museum exhibits as instructional tools, and access career-spanning support. More than 90% of Teacher Institute participants utilize resources made available through the program to improve science education in the Bay Area. The Fund's grant helps support the Institute's programs for new, intermediate, and seasoned teachers.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 06/30/2009 through 06/30/2010
Project Web Site: www.exploratorium.edu/

On the Move's Reach Institute for School Leadership (Reach) is a teacher-designed credentialing and leadership program. It emphasizes job-embedded coaching in which coaches and peers observe new teachers in the classroom and provide training them based on individualized learning plans. Reach also is piloting a Leadership Academy to support educational leaders who want to build state-of-the-art schools or other education nonprofits.
Grant Amount: $100,000 [2008] , $100,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 07/11/2008 through 07/11/2010
Project Web Site: www.onthemovebayarea.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Stanford University
Policy Analysis for California Education has teamed with the San Francisco Unified School District to measure the impact of the Quality Teacher and Education Act (QTEA). QTEA increases and restructures teacher compensation. The Fund supports the group's three-year evaluation of how QTEA affects teacher recruitment and education quality so that public schools can continue to improve.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 10/26/2009 through 10/26/2010
Project Web Site: pace.berkeley.edu/

Resources for Indispensable Schools and Educators (RISE) helps fifty Bay Area schools in low-income communities attract and retain talented teachers. Teacher turnover costs the Oakland and San Francisco school districts close to $12 million a year. Attempting to reduce these turnover costs and benefit students through teacher retention, RISE screens and connects teachers with the high-need schools that will support them. The Fund's grant helps RISE continue in its placement and retention efforts.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 06/01/2009 through 06/01/2010
Project Web Site: www.risenetwork.org

The San Francisco Education Fund has a long history of collaborating with the city's school district on issues related to teachers. Three years ago, with support from W&EHF, the Ed Fund launched the Public Engagement Initiative, beginning with public meetings about student enrollment, recruitment, and retention that it designed and led. The Ed Fund partnered with key parent organizations and the district to implement the meetings. Community participants praised the process, which reached more than 900 San Franciscans in 90 community meetings. The Ed Fund received additional support from W&EHF to use its public engagement skills to help the district tackle two important teacher quality issues: creating a professional development master plan, and recruiting and retaining quality teachers for low-performing schools.
Grant Amount: $100,000 [2008] , $100,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 03/31/2008 through 03/31/2010
Project Web Site: www.sfedfund.org

Teach for America corps members work throughout the Bay Area, having made a two-year commitment to teach in public schools after they finished college. Recently, Teach for America overhauled its training programs so that students in corps member led classrooms saw more regular improvement. With general operating support from the Fund, Teach for America will continue to strengthen its programs, produce more effective teachers and help students succeed educationally.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/23/2009 through 11/23/2010
Project Web Site: www.teachforamerica.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Community Initiatives
Teachers 4 Social Justice is a local grassroots effort providing peer-learning opportunities to Bay Area public school teachers and educators. It operates local study groups for teachers each year, offering each group of attendees an opportunity to improve their teaching practice. With support from the Fund, Teachers 4 Social Justice hopes to sustain and strengthen its work to improve the level of education in schools and to cultivate teacher leaders.
Grant Amount: $15,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 10/26/2009 through 10/26/2010
Project Web Site: www.t4sj.org

The New Teacher Project helps school districts provide excellent teachers to all students, particularly those in high-needs communities. The Project develops customized programs and policy interventions that enable schools to find, develop and retain great teachers. The Fund supports the New Teacher Project's work in San Francisco, where it helps the school district implement strategies for filling vacancies at its hardest to staff schools. The Project also trains principals in effective school hiring, including training in how to identify the best candidates, and provides onsite technical support during the interviewing and hiring process.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/23/2009 through 11/23/2010
Project Web Site: www.tntp.org

World Savvy educates and engages young people in community and world affairs in part by training teachers. In its Global Educators Program teachers learn one-on-one how to integrate age-appropriate, contemporary world affairs into middle and high school classrooms. World Savvy uses the best curricula available on contemporary global issues and creates original lesson plans as needed, including plans for English-language learners and students of varying abilities in each classroom. It is partnering with clusters of 10 teachers and their principals at five public schools in San Francisco.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2008] , $40,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 07/11/2008 through 07/11/2010
Project Web Site: www.worldsavvy.org