Excellence, Power, Agency
How can we support California’s public school students as they return to the classroom?
That’s the question parents, caregivers, and educators are asking as August approaches and our kids head back into the classroom after more than a year of disrupted learning.
On May 18, leaders of the 12 finalist organizations in Battery Powered’s Public Education theme had some answers for us. At our virtual Organization Night they shared expertise and insights about what students need to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically – and told us about the great work that Battery Powered funds would help support.
Below is a recap of the finalists’ presentations. You can access a recording of the event here.
Gateways to Equity and Opportunity
The past 14 months of distance learning both highlighted and exacerbated what has long been true: a quality public education in California is not accessible to all students, and the public school system is not adequately supporting its most vulnerable students and their families, including students from low-income households, Black, Latinx, and indigenous students, English Language Learners, and students with special needs.
“Who do we often look to solve those challenges?” asked Taryn Ishida, Executive Director of Californians for Justice (CFJ). “Usually it’s the adults. But what about the youth?” CFJ is a statewide grassroots organization amplifying the voices of public school students. Since 1996, CFJ’s student leaders have worked tirelessly and successfully to make changes in areas like equitable school funding. With billions of public dollars at stake in the next two years, they’ve now launched the Rebuild and Reimagine campaign, advocating with state policymakers and local school district boards to make significant investments in mental health, racial equity in teaching, and other pillars of racially just schools.
Taryn Ishida, Californians for Justice
Did you know that 8 in 10 San Francisco Unified School District students have parents who did not complete college? We learned this and more from Terri Forman, Executive Director of First Graduate, which works to support SFUSD students become the first in their families to graduate college. First Graduate supports the entire family beginning when a student is in middle school and staying with the family through college – a 12-year commitment to high-touch coaching, academic assistance, mentoring, and enrichment. By offering the same level of structure and supports for first-generation students and their families that students of means receive, First Graduate has seen striking outcomes for high school and college graduation.
Lakisha Young, Co-founder and CEO of The Oakland REACH, introduced us to Mama Williams: a woman who graduated high school in Oakland with As and Bs but with a secret: she didn’t know how to read. Mama Williams, and hundreds like her, joined The Oakland REACH to break that cycle of miseducation for their children and grandchildren. With a mission to empower Black and Latino parents and caregivers, REACH launched The Hub at the beginning of the pandemic to support 400+ families with high quality academic instruction, social-emotional enrichment, tech training, and pathways for adult education and career development. Now they are partnering with Oakland Unified to bring the Hub to even more families.
Flourish Agenda Senior Trainer Dr. Lee Porscha Moore was expelled … from preschool. “My preschool teacher told me, ‘You’re worthless and you’re a waste of my time’. And in that moment I felt something that 35% of children experience before even starting kindergarten – a traumatic event.” Flourish Agenda is out to create healthy learning environments for all students by training teachers, students, and caregivers in Healing Centered Engagement: a culturally-rooted, equity-based approach to addressing trauma resulting from structural inequality and the COVID-19 pandemic. Training educators to build their own self-awareness and healing is an important element, resulting in healthier school climates and improved student performance.
Dr. Lee Porscha Moore, Flourish Agenda
Rigorous Academics + Social-Emotional Support = Thriving Students
Vice President of Programs Terrence Riley can talk about Aim High from all angles – he’s both a graduate and a former teacher in this intensive, tuition-free summer learning program. Aim High makes a four-year commitment to each student beginning with rising 6th graders, ensuring a smooth transition into middle and high schools. With a rigorous STEAM-focused academic program, social-emotional program, and enrichment activities, Aim High will reach upwards of 2,000 students from low-income communities across Northern California this summer and 2,400 in summer 2022, while providing professional experience and development for hundreds of aspiring and seasoned educators, the majority educators of color.
“Can teaching kids to write change the world?” asked 826 Valencia Executive Bita Nazarian. If 826 National board member Amanda Gorman is any indication, the answer is a resounding yes. 826 Valencia provides individual writing support to San Francisco Unified students through one-on-one tutoring at three writing centers and 11 under-resourced public schools. Trained volunteers help students find their voice, hone their craft, publish their stories, and celebrate their achievements. The organization also helps teachers develop more rigorous, culturally relevant, student-centered writing curricula. A former SFUSD teacher and principal herself, Bita gave a simple testimonial: “Whenever I collaborated with 826, my students thrived.”
Danielle Rose, CEO of SMASH, brought home a powerful truth: how easy it is to opt out of rooms where you do not feel represented. Founded 19 years ago as a response to an overwhelming lack of diversity in the tech industry, SMASH weaves together STEM education, mentorship, identity development, and social justice to support high-achieving yet underserved and unrepresented students of color. It’s flagship SMASH Academy is a free, multi-year STEM intensive summer program where high school students live on college campuses (UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, UC Davis) and participate in a program of rigorous academics, social emotional learning, career exploration, and networking.
Student and Family Wellbeing
Little did 3rd grade teacher JG Larochette know that when he turned to mindfulness practice nine years ago to manage his stress, it would transform his professional life as well. JG founded Mindful Life Project to create classroom environments where students who have experienced stress and trauma “feel fully, authentically, unconditionally cared for.” Mindful Life works directly with 25 Title 1 public schools across the Bay Area delivering whole-class and small-group mindfulness programs that reach 11,000 students each year, and they’re aiming to expand to 0 more in the next two years. Mindful Life also supports teachers, school staff, parents and caregivers in learning and maintaining mindfulness practices.
JG Larochette, Mindful Life Project
From the early days of the pandemic, educators at Rocketship Public Schools (RPS) saw how their families were struggling. Many were dealing with job loss, eviction threats and food insecurity; others, essential workers grappling with lack of childcare and threats to their health. RPS co-founder and CEO Preston Smith told us how their network of 13 public elementary charter schools sprang into action, creating the CareCorps, an initiative to expand case management services and help families connect to and navigate nonprofit and government service agencies. They are still running CareCorps to this day because as Preston said, “students can’t fully engage in their learning when their home life is destabilized.”
America SCORES Bay Area CEO Colin Schmidt introduced us to their “magic mix of programs that inspire kids to be engaged students, live active, healthy lives, and build the confidence and character to make a difference in their communities.” Serving 1st - 8th graders in low-income communities, SCORES’s youth development hat trick comprises a soccer program to build a mind/body connection, confidence, leadership and teamwork; poetry workshops to amplify student voices; and a service learning program that has students asking, “What can we do to make our neighborhood better?” As we emerge from the pandemic, SCORES coaches are rebuilding teams and revitalizing programming to encourage kids to be their authentic selves.
Answering the Call
“What if we created a better, new normal?” asked San Francisco Education Fund CEO Stacey Wang. “What if we were able to provide free tutoring to every low-income student who wanted it?” That vision – universal access to free tutoring across the city – is driving the Ed Fund’s new pilot, which looks to provide evidence-based, one-on-one literacy tutoring to 5,000 elementary aged students during the 2021-22 school year. A successful pilot could unlock millions of dollars to sustain and grow the program locally, and become a model for districts across the country. With a 60-year history of service to over 200,000 students, said Stacey, “our goal is to unlock the potential of every child to create a better San Francisco.”
Stacey Wang, San Francisco Education Fund
Pui Ling Tam of the Generational Recovery Fund (GRF) delivered a gut punch with the story of Diamond, a high school senior who, reflecting on the impact of COVID-19, said “Distance learning sucks. I used to want to go to college but I don’t think so any more.” GRF is a collective of funders and donors pooling money to invest in young people’s recovery from the adverse impacts of the pandemic. Their goal is to raise $15 million to disburse to youth-serving nonprofit organizations throughout the Bay Area. Backed by professional know-how and community insight, GRF will make general operating grants to organizations throughout the Bay Area that are supporting young people’s social, emotional, physical, and academic wellbeing.
Our thanks to Battery Powered member Lori Campbell Collier for her contributions to this article.
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To learn more about our Public Education theme, check out the Issue Brief here.
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