Past Stories

Knowledge-gap Initiatives

San Jose Mercury News

Alarmed by the state of science education in Silicon Valley, corporations and foundations are promoting richer curriculum, importing successful programs and funding help for teachers.Read entire article

It's Time To Make Science a Priority in Schools

San Jose Mercury News Editorial

High-tech chief executives have been warning for years that America is not turning out enough scientists and engineers to compete in a knowledge-based economy.Read entire article

Teach Here, Live Here press event

On Wednesday, July 18, 2007 two new San José teachers moved in to their new apartments with financial help through the new Teach Here, Live Here program.Read entire article

Education Foundation gets Support from Valley Companies

Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal

A year-old foundation attempting to improve San Jose's school system is enlisting the help of valley companies and has already raised $3.48 million.
Read entire article

City’s Efforts to Help Teachers Seems a Powerful Tool

Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal Read entire article

New SJ Teachers Eligible for $5000 Each

NBC 11

San Jose launched a grant program Wednesday to attract new teachers to the city.
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New Program in SJ Helps Teachers with Housing

ABC 7

An innovative program in San Jose is hoping to lure and keep qualified teachers, by helping them with housing costs. Read entire article

San Jose Offers Grants to New Teachers Struggling with Rent

KCBS

Second grade teacher Rebekah Deering is looking forward to living a little bit closer to the elementary school where she will teach in the fall. Thanks to a $5,000 grant, she will be able to afford first month, last month, and security deposit on an apartment in San Jose. Read entire article

Rental-assistance program for San Jose teachers gets high marks

San Jose school districts will soon have a new marketing tool to help in their perennial struggle to entice teachers to come and stay in our pricey region two months-plus of free rent. Read entire article

Back

Saluting A Pioneer:

Nvidia president and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was honored Thursday night by the Silicon Valley Education Foundation at its annual Pioneers and Purpose gala at San Jose 's Fairmont Hotel. Read entire article

Time is now for reforming school system

In late March, the Silicon Valley Education Foundation sponsored a public forum on education reform in California, in the wake of "Getting Down to Facts," a multimillion-dollar study of California's education finance and governance systems that the Hewlett Foundation and three other foundations funded. Read entire article.

New foundation will let donors help schools across San Jose

Mercury News Editorial

Suppose you are the CEO of a large foundation or corporation who wants to see the teaching of math and science improved in schools throughout San Jose. You'll have a lot of phone calls to make: There are 19 school districts. Read entire article

Silicon Valley Education Foundation has a daunting mission to fulfill

(Source: http://www.community-newspapers.com/almaden/education1.shtml)

On the face of it, the mission of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation seems daunting: The new nonprofit wants to be the educational advocate for the city's 287 schools, approximately 200,000 students and 9,000 teachers.

But foundation president Muhammed Chaudhry views the 19 school districts his organization serves as 19 opportunities to make a difference. Read entire article

Getting San Jose kids the help they need

(Source: www.knightfdn.org)

Under the leadership of Muhammed Chaudhry, the Knight-funded Stepping Stones project of the www.FMEFoundation.org in San Jose, Calif., takes a unique “hub and spoke” approach to ensure that preschool children get access to a range of services, from dental care to reading lessons, from clinic check-ups to help for their low-income parents. An important part of the equation is building trust: once families succeed in getting help, they feel confident enough to come back again for the other services their children might need. Read entire article

Knight Foundation Announces $2.1 Million Investment in FMEF

Tech number crunching or mired in hand counting?

How non-profits are using technology
(Story from Margaret Steen, Mercury News)

When it's time for Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence to report back to its funders, a staffer counts by hand on a piece of paper: How many women did the non-profit serve from San Jose? How many between the ages of 25 and 35? How many Asian-Americans?

At the Franklin McKinley Education Foundation , based just six miles away, donors simply get passwords to a secure Web site. They can see any time that, for example, the foundation has served 6,000 families and the most requested service was dental care. Read entire article

Pacific Gas And Electric Company Announces $250,000 In ‘Solar Schools’ Grants

PG&E Solar Program to Award a Total of $1.5 Million in 2005 to Public Schools in Underserved Communities in Central and Northern California

SACRAMENTO - Pacific Gas and Electric Company today announced the first 10 schools selected to receive installation of a 1 kilowatt solar generation system valued at $20,000 each. PG&E also announced the first 10 schools chosen to receive $5,000 “Bright Ideas” grants for their innovative solar science projects. Read entire article

Executive Improves Child's Education

(Story from Willow Glen Resident)

Sitting inside a cramped portable classroom on the Fair Middle School campus in San Jose , Muhammed Chaudhry wears a smile that announces there is no place he'd rather be. Read entire article

S.J. to Recognize Those who Help Their Neighbors

If it weren't for a knock on the door last July, Yen Nguyen believes, her 4-year-old son, Tony, would not be able to speak, her children would not have received dental care, and her family wouldn't have enjoyed a free turkey and toys during the holiday season. Read entire article

Grant Targets Stronger Families

$13 Million to Aid Three Communities

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

Poor Schools Raise Money Just to Catch Up

San Jose Mercury News columnist Joe Rodriguez opinionates on the needs of two very different Bay Area school districts: "In the tiny, hillside town of Los Gatos, parents don't take bad news lying down. When they heard state budget cuts could cost their local schools $800,000 and 13 teachers, they raised $1 million the traditional way -- they wrote personal checks..." Read entire article

A 'Killer' for Schools

"$5.2 billion cut in education funding. Six percent across the board. Four hundred dollars less per student per year. Right now, they're just numbers. But in coming months, school districts up and down California will have to translate them into paper, pencils and people. To get an early sense of the impact, the Mercury News is zeroing in on San Jose's Franklin-McKinley Elementary School District, which serves more than 10,000 mostly poor children on the East Side..." Read entire article

Brain Structure May Play Role in Children's Ability To Learn To Read

Brain structure and hand preference may be as important as environment in influencing a child's ability to learn to read, according to a University of Florida Brain Institute study. The seven-year study of 39 Alachua County students from kindergarten to sixth grade indicates that while children from a lower socioeconomic class may be at risk for reading failure, the detrimental effects of environment are greatly increased in children with unusual brain asymmetry.
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