Children Rising Receives Cisco Foundation Regional Impact Grant to Expand Volunteer Management
By Eric Steckel | April 18, 2025
Expanding Volunteer Support Through Innovation and Community Partnership
The Cisco Foundation Regional Impact Grant will help Children Rising recruit, train, and place more tutors. More children will receive the help they need to learn reading and math at a critical time.
Children Rising is honored to announce that we have been awarded a Regional Solution Grant (RSG) from Cisco Foundation for the 2025-26 fiscal year. This grant will provide vital support for the development of a new Volunteer Management System, allowing us to better recruit, onboard, and support the dedicated volunteers who serve struggling elementary school students in Oakland’s lowest-income neighborhoods.
Enabling Caring Volunteers to Make a Greater Impact
Children Rising programs thrive because of the unwavering commitment of individual volunteers, congregations, community-based organizations, corporations, and local businesses. Volunteer tutors are the unsung heroes in the education system, providing invaluable guidance and encouragement to students who may be struggling.
Will you complete HER Circle of Care?
Through one-on-one reading and math tutoring, and family support, you will nurture an eager child in a circle of care so they may succeed in school.
Will you complete HER Circle of Care?
Through one-on-one reading and math tutoring, and family support, you will nurture an eager child in a circle of care so they may succeed in school.
“Volunteer tutors truly are the heart of all that we do at Children Rising. Their dedication, love, and support instill confidence and hope in the kiddos,” shared Margena Wade-Green, Path2Math program director.
“We’re excited to continue our partnership with Children Rising to increase student academic performance.” – Hoa Tran, Lead for Regional Solution Grant
With Cisco Foundation support, we will enhance our ability to accelerate the number of volunteers onboarded and paired with a child, all without adding additional staff resources. This will significantly improve our cost-effectiveness, program quality, and, ultimately, the number of children and families we can support each year.
Your support, as well as grants like the Cisco Regional Impact Grant, will enable many more children to become active, confident learners and thrive in school instead of dropping out.
“Our grants support digital solutions for local challenges. We’re excited to continue our partnership with Children Rising to increase student academic performance with an RSG grant to assess, design, and implement a technology-based community engagement solution that will increase operational efficiency and enhance student learning outcomes,” shared Hoa Tran, Lead for RSG.
Leveraging Technology to Expand Volunteer Support.
The grant will fund the development and implementation of a Salesforce-based Volunteer Management System, designed in partnership with Summit One, a certified Salesforce system integrator. This system will seamlessly integrate with our existing service delivery application, streamlining our processes for recruiting, onboarding, and managing volunteers. Once operational, it will:
- Increase our tutor capacity, allowing more children to receive the one-on-one support they need to thrive.
- Strengthen volunteer retention through improved communication and engagement.
- Enhance our ability to track and report tutoring services, ensuring greater transparency and efficiency.
- Provide better integration of volunteer and donor activity, improving donor stewardship opportunities.
“Our volunteer tutors are Children Rising’s superpower!” The Cisco Foundation Regional Impact Grant will help us find more superheroes for the kids!
“Our volunteer tutors are Children Rising’s superpower!” exclaimed Rebecca Buckley, Succeeding by Reading program director. “Their dedication gives students the encouragement they need to thrive.”
We extend our deepest gratitude to Cisco for their generous investment in our mission. With this support, we can continue empowering young students by equipping more volunteer tutors with the tools and resources they need to succeed.
Discover more about Cisco Foundation on its website.
Your gift today provides the one-on-one tutoring that changes lives.
