By Eliza Ridgeway
 Students at Downtown College Preparatory in San Jose come from high-risk backgrounds and poor academic performance to beat the odds and excel at high school and attend college. |
The Town Crier Holiday Fund began six years ago with the goal of supporting small, local non-profits that specialized in hands-on work. This year, a group of donors has pledged to match each dollar collected up to $79,500, setting a total goal of $160,000.
Those who provided challenge grants in the past are returning this year: Steve and Michele Kirsch Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Skoll Community Fund, Rambus Inc., Charles and Nan Geschke Foundation, William and Gay Krause Foundation, Los Altos resident Ed Dowd, Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, and two new donors, Everlasting Private Foundation and Carl and Vickie Warder Foundation.
“I think the fund reflects the interests of our community in being wholesome and looking out for individuals and organizations that are homespun,” Los Altos Councilman Ron Packard said.
The value of each donation is enhanced by the Town Crier, which absorbs all overhead and administrative costs. One hundred percent of each donation goes into the fund for disbursement to the organizations.
“The nice aspect of this fund is that contributors get a big bang for their donation buck,” said Town Crier Editor Bruce Barton. “All the recipients have little or no overhead, meaning donations go directly to help the needy.”
This week we profile three Bay Area groups that provide educational and social support for low-income members of our community. Sunday Friends and East Palo Alto Kids have participated in the fund for several years, while Downtown College Prep was new to the fund last year.
East Palo Alto Kids
East Palo Alto Kids was founded in 1993 as a grant-writing agency with no paid staff, committed to improving children’s educational opportunities in this impoverished neighborhood. By raising money for teachers’ and schoolwide projects, it tries to mitigate the area’s funding gap and enrich Ravenswood children.
Some of the EPA Kids grant projects have included hydroponic greenhouses, math and science puzzles and games, a pen-pal program with Stanford University, an environmental field trip to the Baylands and calculators for high school math classes. Grants are small, typically $350, and go to front-line educators in the Ravenswood schools.
Sunday Friends
“It’s like a microcosm of how we would like society, the whole community, to be. Everybody gets to be givers and receivers,” Baron said.
Together, the families and volunteers prepare and serve each other snacks, study and tutor in English, and do community service in exchange for essential staples.
Parents start coming to the secular gatherings because they need things, diapers for their kids more than anything else, according to Baron.
“But the ones that stick with us are those who aren’t looking for charity, because they can find that elsewhere,” Baron said. “They are there for their families, and want to show their children this model. They’re the ones who are willing to make the effort to get to this place and work for those things.”
Many of the primarily Latino parents have not graduated from elementary school and are shy about speaking English. One of the goals of the program is to build the confidence of parents as well as the children in speaking English.
The next meeting is this Sunday, and as a special holiday event, wrapping stations will be set up so that family members can hand-pick and wrap gifts for each other to take home and put under the tree.
“We’ve learned that letting people create their own holiday, their own Christmas, brings out the best in them,” Baron said. “They go home filled with pride, and good feeling - gratitude and hope.”
Downtown College Prep
Former Los Altos Mayor Bob Grimm is president of the board at the school, whose soaring testing results have already exceeded districtwide averages.
“These are primarily Latino students, and they will be the first in their family to go to college,” he said. “We have smaller classes, remedial work, and we work with the families to help the parents.”
Often, students work after school to support their families or babysit their younger siblings and homework has not been a priority for them. Grimm said that working with families to create a home environment where students can study has been integral to the school, which also has longer days than typical public schools as well as mandatory homework periods.
Latinos have the highest dropout rate in San Jose, and of those who do graduate from high school, only 20 percent have completed the courses necessary for university admission. Downtown College Prep treats college as a reality every day, from classroom conversations to yearly college-visit tours for juniors.
This month, the school is in the exciting process of moving to a bigger campus with two science labs, a computer lab, outdoor fields and larger classrooms. Because it is a charter school, it relies on donations to supplement the federal funding it receives.
On Dec. 14 author Joanne Jacobs is scheduled to answer questions and read from her new book about Downtown College Prep, “Our School: the inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea and the School that Beat the Odds,” 7-8 p.m. at 1460 The Alameda, San Jose.
Other organizations supported by this year’s Holiday Fund are: Bayshore Christian Ministries; Hidden Villa camperships; Challenge Learning Center; Truck of Love; Community Homeless Alliance Ministry; Career Closet; Community Services Agency Dental Voucher Program; Mother Branch; Help One Child; and the Community Health Awareness Council.
The Community Foundation Silicon Valley provides the tax-deductible status for the fund. Each contribution to the Town Crier Holiday Fund will be acknowledged as a 501(c)(3) gift.
Checks should be made payable to Town Crier Holiday Fund and sent to 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022. Credit card contributions can be taken by phone. Call Leverne at 948-9000.
