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GRANT TARGETS STRONG FAMILIES $13 MILLION TO AID THREE COMMUNITIES

JANICE ROMBECK, Mercury News

Neighborhoods in three Santa Clara County communities will get $13 million to strengthen families so their children will be more successful in school.

The five-year commitment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, announced at a news conference Wednesday at San Jose’s Seven Trees Library, will bring $4.95 million to the San Jose Franklin-McKinley Education Foundation and three other non-pro€t groups.

Efforts in the neighborhood near Gilroy’s Glen View Elementary School and the Mayfair area of East San Jose will begin in the next few months.

The grant will give hundreds of working Latino and Vietnamese families living on the edge better access to health care, €nancial planning and child care programs. Part of the grant also will fund programs that provide better access to art for minorities.

The Silicon Valley Education Foundation, which works with neighborhoods near that district’s schools, will lead the effort in the Solari-Seven Trees area, serving as a “hub” to coordinate services of the Health Trust, Catholic Charities, Lenders for Community Development and other city and non-pro€t agencies.

“The grant targets preschool-age children in an area bounded by Lewis, Monterey and Senter roads, a diverse area with 1,300 families with children in that age group,” said Muhammed Chaudhry, executive director of The Silicon Valley Education Foundation.

“Strong early childhood programs help strengthen families and create a strong foundation for success later in life,” Chaudhry said.

The Health Trust, with a grant of $1.5 million, will provide dental health care to children through a Tooth Mobile that visits neighborhoods, and a cooperative of 70 dentists offering free services.

A Silicon Valley Children’s Oral Health Needs study estimates that half of the children entering kindergarten start with tooth decay, and 23 percent start with serious mouth pain, said Gary Allen, president and CEO of the Health Trust.

Lenders for Community Development and Catholic Charities will get $900,000 to help low-income families save money to send their kids to college. Working with Catholic Charities, Lenders for Community Development will help struggling families set up monthly savings plans and will put in $2 for each $1 the family saves, Executive Director John Weaver said.

The foundation will continue to work with the city to provide early childhood education at its Smart Start centers and get more child care workers trained and licensed.

The Silicon Valley Education Foundation works with schools to coordinate some of the many social service programs available. “It takes some of the burden off the schools, so teachers can do their jobs,” Chaudhry said.

“We feel to support education, you need to do all the other things,” he said.

Established in 1950, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation makes national grants in journalism, education and arts and culture. Its fourth program, community initiatives, is concentrated in 26 communities where the Knight brothers published newspapers, including the San Jose Mercury News, but the foundation is wholly separate from and independent of those newspapers.

San Jose Mercury News (CA)
January 22, 2004
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