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The Younger Family Fund Donates $25,000 to Address Early Literacy and Numeracy in Oakland

By Chelsea Boniak
February 16, 2022

Local Fund Supports Child Learning in Oakland’s Under-resourced Neighborhood Schools

Children Rising is pleased to be the recipient of a generous grant from the Younger Family Fund to support and expand our proven one-on-one tutoring programs. This is the second $25,000 gift of a three-year commitment to Children Rising. We are so honored and thankful to have once again received this funding. Support from amazing local foundations enables children and youth in our community to rise above their challenges to reach their God-given potential.

Supporting vulnerable populations

The Younger Family Fund, founded in 1992, exists to support outstanding leaders and their nonprofits to improve the lives of vulnerable people around the globe through services in education, healthcare and delivery, economic opportunity, justice, and spiritual development.

Lack of early childhood literacy and numeracy is a national issue that directly impacts the future vitality and economic well-being of our local communities and country as a whole. Support from the Younger Family Fund will be used to scale our ability to train, coach, and equip hundreds more volunteers to tutor many more kids, and to do so at a deeper level. That includes empowering parents and guardians to support their children academically, providing homework support in addition to tutoring, continuing with tutoring over the summer, and, when needed, into a second year of tutoring in the third grade.

Thanks to the Younger Family fund. We are grateful for your ongoing support—working together to empower children and families in our community.

YES, I CAN empower a child to build bridges to a better future!

 I want to learn more about online reading or math clinics to see if tutoring is right for me!

I want to help fund Children Rising tutoring and mentoring programs to empower more children this year!

Perspectives — As the Children Rising Community Grows, Our Children and Youth Pay it Forward

By Jim Wambach
February 3, 2022

“If you send out goodness from yourself, or if you share that which is happy or good within you, it will all come back to you multiplied ten thousand times.” – John O’Donohue

I’ve often spoken about how wonderful the Children Rising community is—and it is indeed remarkable—but I’ve never really defined it. The Children Rising community is composed of volunteers, local educators, faith communities, service organizations, local businesses, and financial supporters, all working together and committed to improving the lives of the children and youth in Oakland.

Now, after 20 years of this community investing in the children and youth, those children and youth are becoming active members of this special community themselves—more and more each year. Grateful for the love and care poured into them over the years, many are passionate about giving back and “paying it forward” to the next generation. Many are experiencing the satisfaction of temporarily putting aside their own challenges to invest their personal time to serve others, realizing they have their own special gifts that they can offer to someone else. The articles in this newsletter provide a glimpse of this very special dynamic. We are watching how the city can heal itself when given a chance to do so.

We believe there is something extraordinary about Oakland—this city where God has placed us to serve. We are proud of its vibrant history, cultural significance and achievements, and the tenacity of our diverse people to not just survive but thrive. From lifelong residents to newcomers, the people of this city hunger for a future of equal opportunity and prosperity.

We believe in this city and will continue to work with all individuals, organizations, and institutions in this community to fight for our children’s futures so that Oakland might become a beacon of hope and light for the rest of the nation. This is not something that happens overnight, but each piece of “goodness” we send out keeps that beacon alight and shining brighter than ever. As we start a new year, one which is still challenged by COVID and the many inequities caused by years of social injustices, we see a reason for much hope.

Thank you to the Children Rising community for what you do and the way you do it. You have made a difference in thousands of lives over the years, and I believe we are all just getting started.

For the children,

 

 

 

YES, I CAN empower a child to build bridges to a better future!

 I want to learn more about online reading or math clinics to see if tutoring is right for me!

I want to help fund Children Rising tutoring and mentoring programs to empower more children this year!

Internship Sets Gracie on the Path to a Fulfilling Career

By Eric Steckel
February 1, 2022

Gracie Wilson is a long, long way from home. A 2021 graduate of Cal State East Bay, she took her first post-college job as a resident life manager at the University of Texas at Dallas, assisting peer advisors on campus. She can trace this job back to her days as an eager young CareerBridge intern.

During her junior year at McClymonds High School, Gracie worked at a local Kentucky Fried Chicken. That experience taught her a valuable lesson—she wanted a fulfilling career, and fast food was not the answer. Gracie enrolled in CareerBridge and accepted a summer internship teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) labs at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School. The daughter of a teacher, Gracie had long been interested in education. The MLK internship was the first step down that path.

“The longer I worked in the STEAM lab with Miss Michelle [Hutcherson, Path2Math Program Manager], she let me take on more and more leadership opportunities and eventually lead the lessons,” Gracie recalls. “Her placing confidence in me helped boost my confidence. It felt pretty natural, and I was like, ‘Okay, this is something that I definitely see myself doing.’”

“I wanted to have them feel like I am somebody that believes in them and knows that they can succeed and go far in life.”

Throughout her senior year of high school and college, Gracie continued to work in education, seeking opportunities to connect and give back to other students. She volunteered alongside Miss Michelle, tutoring students in Path2Math, and was a resident advisor in her college dormitory. She also worked for the Girl Scouts Discover Together program teaching STEAM classes at underfunded elementary schools and middle schools—a natural fit from her time at CareerBridge.

“I got to work with kids and build these bonds, and I felt like I was doing something positive. It just goes back to enriching kids in the classroom and giving them the support they need. And in the long run, the skills that I learned, and being able to put that experience on my resume, and reference it in interviews, was so beneficial,” Gracie said.

Supporting peer advisors in a rigorous academic setting is rewarding “…because I feel like that’s something my supervisors did for me when I was a PA.”

Gracie wants to find opportunities to give back in her future. “I know how much it helped me to have teachers that truly invested in my well-being beyond the academics. Being able to give back to other students, I wanted to see all of them succeed and be a positive role model to them, and a support system to them, and to have them feel like I am somebody that believes in them and knows that they can succeed and go far in life.”

Gracie may be a long way from home, but she’s certainly on the right path.

Your support of Children Rising programs give children and youth the boost they need to rise to their God-given potential. Thank you!

 

YES, I CAN empower a child to build bridges to a better future!

 I want to learn more about online reading or math clinics to see if tutoring is right for me!

I want to help fund Children Rising tutoring and mentoring programs to empower more children this year!