Community

The Los Altos Art Club seeks to expand its membership by reaching local artists in all media categories.

The club meets 7 p.m. the second Monday of each month at the Grant Park Senior Center, 1575 Holt Ave., Los Altos.

The Terraces at Los Altos has scheduled a 70th anniversary celebration 3-5 p.m. Thursday at 373 Pine Lane.

The retirement community, originally known as Pilgrim Haven, traces its roots back to 1949, when the American Baptist Convention was in need of a care home for retired ministers, missionaries and their spouses.

The city of Los Altos’ Community and Emergency Preparedness Grants Program funds projects aimed at encouraging residents and small businesses to improve emergency preparedness, build community and strengthen neighborhood ties.

Grants are available for qualified projects that support the program’s goals to enhance community resiliency by proactively preparing for emergencies and strengthening the community’s ability to respond to and recover from emergencies, disasters and crime, and to increase communication and bolster connections.

Courtesy of Downtown College Prep
Downtown College Prep runs two charter high schools and two middle schools.

• Mission: Downtown College Prep prepares students who will be the first in their families to attend college and equips them to thrive at four-year universities.

DCP runs two charter high schools and two middle schools. The singular goal for all students is that graduates are accepted to and enroll in four-year colleges. The DCP community has created a learning environment that helps students and their families chart a course for college beginning in fifth grade.

Courtesy of The MERIT program Program at KCI

The MERIT program is the Krause Center for Innovation’s premier professional development initiative for teachers.

• Mission: The MERIT (Making Education Relevant through Innovative Teaching) program is the Krause Center for Innovation’s premier professional development initiative for teachers. MERIT is in its 18th year of transforming how teachers teach to transform how students learn. As KCI’s flagship program, MERIT is the program teachers apply for if they want to focus on changing their teaching practice to become more student centered. MERIT focuses on innovative teaching practices and is designed to help teachers bolster their curricula with technology-enhanced learning activities to motivate, challenge and inspire diverse learners, with students who are college- and career-ready as the end result.

• 2019 update: A total of 42 educators from across the Bay Area, California and beyond (coming from as far away as Hawaii and El Salvador) gathered at KCI on the Foothill College campus for a two-week summer intensive in July. This marked the beginning of a 10-month professional learning journey, which will include four follow-up days spread throughout the school year, professional development opportunities and additional KCI classes.

Courtesy of Child Advocates of Silicon Valley
Child Advocates of Silicon Valley recruits, trains and supports Court Appointed Special Advocates, who are matched with foster children.

• Mission: Child Advocates of Silicon Valley recruits, trains and supports Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs), adults who are matched with foster children they help steer through the Santa Clara County Juvenile Dependency Court System.

These relationships provide the children with much-needed consistency and emotional support. They also promote educational success; 98% of foster children with CASA representation completed their high school graduation requirements in 2019, compared with just 50% of California foster children without CASAs.