High Impact Grantmaking |
Please note: A High Impact Grant Cycle is not currently scheduled for the 2016 year. This page will be updated and interested organizations notified should this status change.
2015 High Impact Grant Cycle
Helping Children Succeed | The Pathway Out of Poverty
Too many children in the San Joaquin Valley are growing up in poverty. In Fresno County alone, the poverty rate among school-aged children jumped from 27 percent in 2007 to 39 percent in 2013. Children in poverty face a host of disadvantages that, over time, become nearly insurmountable.
|
Counties |
Percent Proficient |
|
Fresno |
42% |
|
Kings |
39% |
|
Madera |
32% |
|
Mariposa |
50% |
|
Merced |
41% |
|
Tulare Table 1 |
34% |
The future of the San Joaquin Valley depends on all children having a viable and permanent pathway out of poverty. Research shows that a critical leverage period in a young person’s life is in the years leading up to and through the 3rd grade.The need
Research shows that investments made in the first three years can lead to profoundly better outcomes for our children and families, including fewer students being held back or getting involved in crime, and more graduating from high school and college and earning higher salaries in their careers. In the Central Valley, not enough of our Central Valley children are reading proficiently by the end of 3rd grade, as reflected in Table 1.
Why is the 3rd grade such an important milestone? After 3rd grade, a child must transition from learning to
Multiple social determinants affect a child's ability to become literate by the 3rd grade.
For example, children need:
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Families who have sufficient income for decent housing, food, health and dental care, and books.
-
Parents who know how to support their children’s learning in and out of school, and who are able to embrace their role as a child’s first teacher.
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Adequate family resources to support children to be at school on time, every day, and help children maintain what they’ve learned over the summer months.
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High-quality early childhood education, so that more children arrive in kindergarten with the language and social skills needed for learning.
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Schools that embrace and respect students’ home culture and serve as a community hub for services and opportunities for students,
parents and families.
Grant Scenarios, Amounts, and Duration
There are two funding scenarios for 2015: Accelerator and Connector grants. FRF will award up to $800,000 to support families and children 0-8 for success by 3rd grade across. Grants will range from $25,000 to $250,000 depending on the funding scenario. Interested applicants may apply for more than one funding scenario, with a separate proposal for each. Grant terms may be up to two years, depending on the scenario (Accelerator or Connector). However, it is important for applicants to be aware that grant funds are not guaranteed following the term of the 2015 grants. Funding beyond the current year’s grant cycle may not be available.
Geography
We believe that this type of integrated support of children and families will be most successful if we concentrate our resources in a few specific communities. We recognize how important it is for organizations, families, and schools to work together to support one another’s efforts and address gaps, and we are mindful of spreading these relatively small resources too thin.
FRF invites proposals from community efforts throughout the San Joaquin Valley; specifically, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, and Merced counties. We are interested in Valley-wide outreach so that we might identify bright spots and communities that are already beginning to coordinate, align, and mutually support the educational success of children living in poverty.
Funding Scenario 1: Accelerator Grants Goals to Fund
For organizations that are effectively collaborating with others, addressing gaps, and aligning services in the educational pipeline
These grants range from $100,000 to $250,000 for two years. Collaboration is required between the grantee, school district, and other large educational providers.
Accelerator grants are intended to support organizations that are already serving children and families, reinforcing the work of other organizations, integrating services, and addressing gaps. These grants will support organizations that reinforce and build on the work of other organizations and systems.
Funding could be used to:
- Strengthen a program by deepening the services provided or adding new components of work.
- Work with another organization to strategically align services in a way that builds on each program’s efforts, creating greater benefit than either of the two programs alone could achieve.
- Adjust an existing program design to align services with another part of the educational pipeline, and pilot test the new program design.
- Develop an innovative prototype within the program to address a critical gap in the pipeline.
Eligibility Criteria - Accelerator Grant (These Factors are Required)
We are looking to support organizations that deeply understand the educational pipeline in the San Joaquin Valley, from birth to career, and that are looking for ways to align their services, close gaps, and remove barriers to children’s success in that pipeline in the critical years leading up to and through the 3rd grade.- Provide targeted support to children and families to increase
3rd grade readiness, for programs focused on children 0-8 - Engage parents of children 0-8 and provide targeted support for parents to play an active role in student success.
- Increase parent and school district partnerships
- Increase community and school district partnerships
- Work in low-income communities with persistently lowest-achieving schools
- Predominantly serve or benefit children and families in the years leading up to and through the 3rd grade.
- Have a clear understanding of relevant policy issues that impact their organization, field, and services.
- Have a collaborative attitude;
organization is already coordinating and connecting with other organizations that are working with children and families in the years leading up to and through the 3rd grade. - Be able to increase the scale and scope of programs to serve
greater number of children without sacrificing quality. - Be able to tailor program approaches to the unique context and culture of different student groups and schools.
- Have strong operating capacity.
- Participate in a collaborative learning community with
commitment to shared learning based on experience, observation, ongoing reflective practice and strategic planning. - Offer a strong rationale for the program details being proposed.
- Demonstrate how alignment of programs and services has resulted in improved outcomes for children and families living in poverty via use of data to:
- demonstrate that their program is effective and
- demonstrate expertise and a track record of success in the educational pipeline.
Selection Criteria - Accelerator Grant
(These are items that will cause the applicants proposal to receive a higher ranking)
Programs that:
- Integrate with the community for transformative system change.
- Leverage resources in the community.
- Support long-term change that does not require continual grant support.
Funding Scenario 2: Connector Grants Goals to Fund
For organizations that want to coordinate, connect, and share information between different partners in the educational pipeline.
These grants range from $50,000 to $75,000 over one year. Please note that grant funding for work beyond the term of the grant may not be available. Grant funds are not guaranteed in 2016.
Connector grants are intended to fund organizations to coordinate, connect, and share information among the many promising programs and agencies that are working to help children succeed in school by the 3rd grade.
Connector grants are intended for organizations that are or can be at the hub of other initiatives and networks.
Funding could be used to:
- Help multiple stakeholders define success in a clear, concrete way.
- Help stakeholders identify their organizations’ contributions to the overall goal and identify gaps in services.
- Help others collaborate to close gaps or tap emerging opportunities.
- Work with multiple stakeholders to create shared vision and goals and communicate the vision and goals to the community at large and to potential donors.
Eligibility Criteria - Connector Grant (These Factors are Required)
We are looking to support organizations that deeply understand the educational pipeline in the San Joaquin Valley, from birth to career, and that are looking for ways to align their services, close gaps, and remove barriers to children’s success in that pipeline in the critical years leading up to and through the 3rd grade.
- Partner with schools, health centers, parents, and various community stakeholders.
- Understand the educational pipeline and, in particular, the age 0 to 8 continuum of services.
- Demonstrate that the lead organization has capacity/organizational structure to support multi-stakeholder efforts. For example:
- Past experience in leading collaborative efforts
- Demonstrate staff capacity to support collaborative efforts
- Experience in facilitating and communicating to multiple stakeholders
Identify and broaden existing community partnerships
Additional Information
The Fresno Regional Foundation High Impact Advisory Committee will conduct site visits for top applicants. These site visits will be September 29-30, 2015.
If applicants have any questions please contact Sr. Program Officer, Sandra Flores at [email protected] or (559) 226-5600.
Grants Information Session Resources
2015 High Impact Grant Cycle Handout (434 KB)
2015 High Impact Presentation (1199 KB)
Information Sessions Attendee Listing (89 KB)
2015 High Impact Information Session Recording
Please note: A High Impact Grant Cycle is not currently scheduled for the 2016 year. This page will be updated and interested organizations notified should this status change.
3rd Grade Readiness and Existing Services
Why 3rd Grade?
Why is the 3rd grade such an important milestone? After 3rd grade, a child must transition from learning to read, to reading to learn. The 4th grade curriculum assumes children can read and expects children to use this skill to solve more complex problems. Children who read proficiently by the end of 3rd grade are much more likely to graduate from high school on time, attend college, and obtain higher-wage jobs.
We understand that multiple social determinants affect a child’s ability to become literate by the 3rd grade.
For example, children need:
- Families who have sufficient income for decent housing, food, health and dental care, and books.
- Parents who know how to support their children’s learning in and out of school, and who are able to embrace their role as a child’s first teacher.
- Adequate family resources to support children to be at school on time, every day, and help children maintain what they’ve learned over the summer months.
- High-quality early childhood education, so that more children arrive in kindergarten with the language and social skills needed for learning.
- Schools that embrace and respect students’ home culture and serve as a community hub for services and opportunities for students, parents and families.
Now is a unique moment in time for action in the San Joaquin Valley. We want to change what children living in poverty can expect from life. There are many bright spots such as promising new programs, heightened national attention on the San Joaquin Valley, and new school innovations.
We believe that the grant dollars in The Fund for the San Joaquin Valley can have a transformative effect on our community’s children if we focus our resources for the next several years on ensuring that:
- In-school and out-of-school programs prepare children to succeed in school by the end of the 3rd grade mutually reinforce and build upon one another’s strengths.
- New programs close gaps in the web of support for children and families living in poverty and directly impact a child’s ability to succeed in school by the 3rd grade milestone.
- Organizations think and work holistically to help children succeed in school by the end of the 3rd grade, and understand how their individual programs contribute to this larger goal.
- Organizations are able to track and measure their progress toward a shared definition of success, and have timely information about what works, and what doesn’t, so that they can course-correct along the way.
2014 High Impact Grantees
- Boys & Girls Club of Tulare County ($75,000)Lea Conmigo/Read With Me Farmersville - LCF goals are to transform culture and values in support of literacy, develop community connections that ensure children are reading at grade level by third grade and establish the Farmersville library as a Community Literacy Center utilizing a collective impact infrastructure.
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Fresno County ($200,000)High Impact - Expanding the Pathway to Reading - Boys & Girls Clubs will serve children K-3rd grade and support their families in achievement of reading at grade level by 3rd grade. This grant supports geographical expansion into rural Club housing sites in partnership with Reading and Beyond, Parent Institute for Quality Education and Fresno Housing Authority.
- California School-Based Health Alliance ($50,000)School-Based Health Center Early Childhood Collaborative - This project would launch a School-Based Health Center Early Childhood Collaborative to help six Valley SBHCs integrate early childhood initiatives into their clinical practices to promote student success by 3rd grade. The project would strengthen services available to almost 2,000 K-3 students and a similar number of children ages 0-5.
- Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District ($115,000)Family Literacy Program - The Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District will be providing a Family Literacy Program to 50 families with children between the ages of 0-8 to improve the literacy skills of children to ensure that they are reading on grade level by the end of 3rd grade.
- Reading and Beyond ($200,000)Grade Level Reading Program - The Grade Level Reading Program will serve 600 children and their families and will provide year-round family literacy programming, including small-group literacy instruction, a 6-week summer program, and parent workshops. High-needs children of families living in Fresno Housing Authority units and/or with Housing Choice Vouchers will be targeted. Woodlake Family Resource Center ($160,000)Abriendo Puertas - We believe wholeheartedly that parents are a child's first and most important teacher. Brain development research makes it clear that a child's early exposure to language at home sets for a lifetime of learning. Sadly, children in poverty hear as many as 30 million fewer words. Parental support along with 3rd grade reading proficiency has the biggest impact on the probability that a child will graduate from high school. Through this new program development we want to equip disadvantage parents of children 0-8 achieve their full potential through implementation of Abriendo Puertas. This evidence-base program will engage parents of children 0-8 and provide targeted support for parents to play an active role in student success.
2013 High Impact Grantees
Reading and Beyond: $200,000 Funds will support their partnership with the Housing Authority (HA) to provide children of families receiving vouchers or living in HA-units with evidence-based literacy intervention for K-3rd graders year-round, helping students to reach their grade-level in reading during the school-year and prevent summer learning loss via a six-week summer session.
Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District: $200,000 The Family Literacy Project will serve approximately 50 families with 100 children ages 0-8 in the Cutler-Orosi area. This literacy based project will support parents with family literacy, leadership classes, adult education, parent education/support, children’s health and readiness for school and literacy support and individualized services for children ages 5-8.
Center for Transnational Health, University of California, Davis: $100,000 Puente Cultural will work with parents of children ages 4-8 (grades K-3) in five school districts. The program goal is to develop the skills, knowledge and resources parents need to make informed decisions as effective educational advocates, beginning with the earliest enrollment years in the local public school system.
Woodlake Family Resource Center: $75,000 Through this grant, the Woodlake Family Resource Center along with invested Consortium Partners will develop a visible system-wide approach with cross sector coordination that improves the educational continuum at every stage of a young child's life.
2012 High Impact Grantees
Reading and Beyond: $150,000 for Fresno Promise Neighborhoods Fresno Promise Neighborhood's (FPN) multidisciplinary Student/Family Advocate Team knows families by name and by need. Promotoras (community education liaisons) and the School Community Coordinator, supported by mental health, substance abuse, public health, and child development specialists, will provide comprehensive case management, utilizing a Strengthening Families Approach, assisting families to access and navigate resources and address learning barriers.
Boys and Girls Club of Fresno County: $150,000 for Family Literacy Project: The Pathway to Reading The Boys & Girls Clubs of Fresno County, Reading and Beyond and the Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE) will align their goals and partner with each other to serve young children and educate their parents to accomplish the goal of reading proficiently by third grade.
Community Services Employment Training: $150,000 for Families Improving Education CSET's Families Improving Education (FIE) Program works to elevate academic achievement in youth by means of strengthening parent capacity and cultivating civic engagement among community stakeholders on the critical issues surrounding students identified as English Language Learners in the Earlimart community.
Woodlake Family Resource Center: $75,000 for Passport for Success Through this grant, the Woodlake Family Resource Center, along with invested community partners, will work to prevent this occurrence by connecting multiple agencies to strengthen key services to promote and enhance early language and literacy development.
Californians for Pesticide Reform: $75,000 for Connecting Environmental Health with Educational Achievement To have their best chance to succeed, children need a healthy environment. In the San Joaquin Valley, children are disproportionately exposed to pesticides, and from the womb may face educational disadvantages. Through this grant CPR will connect environmental health and justice groups with educational groups and agencies to make the connection between student success, environmental health hazards, and educate teachers and parents about health risks.
High Impact Information by Topic
Research
General Background Information
A Portrait of California (see pg. 19, 32, 37, 46-47) (21969 KB)
Fact Sheet: Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley (406 KB)
State of Well Being CA 2010 (2074 KB)
Poverty
Financial Access for Immigrants, Diverse Perspectives (1912 KB)
Fresno Income Equality (297 KB)
The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America (6885 KB)
Children
Dual Generation Theory of Change (181 KB)
2010 Children's Agenda, Central California Children's Institute (3513 KB)
A Report Card on District Achievement in CA (887 KB)
California Educational Opportunity Report by School District (817 KB)
Overview of Existing Initiatives
Place, Race, Education, & Poverty
Children's Report Card, Tulare County (2662 KB)
Double Jeopardy: Reading Skills, Poverty, and Graduation (2288 KB)
National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) (1324 KB)
Foster Care by the Numbers (149 KB)
Prospect.org Article: Is Education the Cure for Poverty? (2067 KB)
Place Matters for Health in the San Joaquin Valley (pg 8-15) (1959 KB)
3rd Grade Reading Literature Review (387 KB)
Collective Impact
Making Collective Impact Work - SSIR 2012 (514 KB)
Backbone Orgs in Collective Impact: SSIR July 17, 2012 (10260 KB)
Collective Impact - SSIR Winter 2011 (1) (281 KB)
Collective Impact - SSIR Winter 2011 (2) (879 KB)
Data
Videos and Podcasts
High Impact Grants Committee
2015 High Impact Grants Committee
Walt Buster, Brandman University
Walt Buster is the founding Director of the Central Valley Educational Leadership Institute at California State University, Fresno, which aims to bring the best leadership practices to all aspects of the education system in the San Joaquin Valley in order to eliminate the achievement gap and raise the performance of all learners. Buster has also served as the coordinator for the Central Valley partnership with Springboard Schools from 2002-2008. Currently, Buster serves a cohort mentor in the Brandman University (Chapman University) doctoral program in educational leadership and is an executive coach for four California school superintendents through Pivot Learning Partners in San Francisco. Walt currently serves as a Board member for The California Endowment.
His experience in the K-12 educational system spans more than 40 years and seven school districts in Southern California, Northern California and the Central Valley. In 2004, Buster volunteered as Superintendent of Fresno Unified School District following the departure of the previous Superintendent. Previously Walt served as Superintendent of the Clovis Unified School District from 1995‐2002, Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District from 1991‐ 1995, Tamalpais Union High School District from 1986‐1991and Fairfax School District from 1981‐1984.
Walt received his B.A. from Westmont College, his M.A. from Chapman College, and his Doctorate from the University of Montana. Walt spent his career as a teacher at the elementary and secondary levels, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent. He is a charter member of Association of California School Administrators and California School Leadership Academy, and directs the ACSA Superintendents’ Academy in Fresno. Walt received the Robert Alioto Award for Outstanding Instructional Leader in California and the Noted Alumni Friend of Education Award for CSU Fresno - Kremen School of Education and Human Development.
Angie Cisneros, Retired, CSU Fresno
Angie has a long and distinguished career in public service. She received an Associate's degree in liberal arts from Fresno City College and a B.A. and a M.S.W. from CSU Fresno, where she served as the Coordinator of the Office of Reentry Programs until her retirement in 2002. She has previously served on the Boards of the Fresno Zoological Society, Central California Blood Center, and the Fresno Metropolitan Projects Authority. She has received numerous honors including Top Professional Woman of the Year, Outstanding Service to the Community by the CA Attorney General, and two Distinguished Alumnus Awards from Fresno City College and the Community Colleges League of California. There are few segments of our community who have not benefited from Angie’s commitment to serving the people of Fresno.
Fabiola DeCaratachea, Richard Heath & Associates
Fabiola DeCaratachea joined Richard Heath & Associates in 2013. Originally from Michoacán, Mexico, Fabiola was raised in the Central Valley and graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a major in Politics. She has worked with non-profit organizations in the Bay Area and in the Valley for over 15 years on issues of domestic violence, human rights and social justice. For the past six years she served as program officer with First 5 Kings County and later the Women's Foundation of California where she was responsible for Capacity Building efforts for all funded programs. In March of 2012, Fabiola was appointed by the Kings County Board of Supervisors as a First 5 Kings County Commissioner. Currently she lives in Lemoore, CA with her husband and four children and enjoys being engaged in her community.
Lydia Herrera Mata, M.D., Fresno Regional Foundation
Lydia Herrera-Mata, MD, resides in Madera County and is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Francisco—Fresno in the Family Medicine Residency Program. Lydia’s experience and expertise will enrich both our Youth and Environmental Grants Committees. She is a family physician at Adventist Community Care, primarily in Selma. Dr. Herrera-Mata is the Co-Medical Director of Reach Out and Read Fresno and also the Associate Director of California Area Health Education Center Program, which aims to increase health care professionals in underserved areas. Lydia moved to the San Joaquin Valley in 1998, and lives in Madera with her husband, Olegario Mata. They have twin 14-year-old sons, Agustin and Luis.
Whitcomb Hayslip, Consultant for David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Whit Hayslip has worked in the field of early childhood education for over forty years. He is currently serving as an independent consultant on various projects throughout California that are supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. In 2010, Whit retired from his position as Assistant Superintendent, Early Childhood Education for the Los Angeles Unified School District where he was responsible for programs serving over 35,000 children between birth and five years of age. During his career, he has worked as District Director of Early Childhood Special Education, as well as a teacher of infants and toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarten-age children. He has also participated in numerous local, state and federal advisory groups related to Early Childhood Education.
Celia Maldonado-Arroyo, Fresno Regional Foundation
Celia Maldonado-Arroyo has a long and distinguished career in education. She is retired from the position of Associate Dean of the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) at College of the Sequoias. Prior to her work at COS, she held positions with Fresno City College and Fresno Unified School District. Celia currently serves as Board President of the Tulare County Board of Education, and as a charter member of the Tulare County Latino Rotary. Additionally, Celia has served as the State President of the Association of Mexican American Educators, and a board member of Radio Bilingue, the Tulare/Kings Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and United Way of Fresno, among others.
Celia earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Office Administration and Master of Arts degree in Counseling and Guidance from California State University, Fresno.
Hannah Norman, First 5 of Fresno County
Hannah serves as the Senior Program Officer for First 5 Fresno County where she has worked since 2009. Her primary work is concentrated around increasing the availability of and access to high quality early learning opportunities for young children.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in Family and Consumer Sciences with a minor in Mass Communications Journalism from California State University, Fresno and is involved in early care and education efforts throughout the county. As a Fresno native, Hannah desires to pour back into the community that raised her up.
Hugh J. Ralston, Fresno Regional Foundation
Fresno Regional Foundation welcomed Hugh J. Ralston as the new President and CEO in October 2014. Previously, Ralston was the CEO at Ventura County Community Foundation. His leadership at VCCF reflects 11 years of transformative growth, most recently the successful opening of the VCCF Nonprofit Center in Camarillo that houses 15 Community Benefit Organizations (CBOs) at below-market rent and provides free community meeting space. It also is headquarters to VCCF’s Center for Nonprofit Leadership, where staff, board and volunteers attend more than 180 workshops annually on an array of leadership topics.
Ralston also has 20 years of experience as a board member for a number of California CBOs and educational institutions, with a focus on education, arts & culture, and philanthropic opportunities. He served recently as the president of the board of the Community Foundations National Standards Board, a support organization of the Council on Foundations in Washington, D.C. which implements accreditation standards for US Community Foundations.
The descendant of a California agricultural family, Ralston is an avid gardener and singer, most recently with the Los Robles Master Chorale, based in Ventura County. His wife, Elizabeth, is on the faculty of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, and is an accomplished landscape designer.
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