San Pablo Community Invited by San Pablo Leaders to Celebrate Success of Youth & Parent Grants Initiative on Feb. 24th: Local Leaders Award $95,000 in Final Funding Round

San Pablo, CA, February 18, 2017 (Newswire.com) - ​The San Pablo Koshland Fellows invite community partners to attend a Community Reception to celebrate accomplishments of San Pablo Youth & Parent Grants Initiative grantees as its five-year journey comes to a close.

That evening, people will hear powerful stories, and empower the next generation of leaders to carry this work forward. Community members and stakeholders are welcome to attend the reception, which will take place at the City of San Pablo’s Maple Hall, February 24^th, 2017 at 5pm.

On behalf of the City of San Pablo, I would like to thank the San Pablo Koshland Fellows for addressing what is at the heart of any community; that is, the family unit.

Cecilia Valdez, City of San Pablo Mayor

The San Pablo Youth & Parent Grants Initiative, a three-year initiative created by the San Pablo Koshland Fellows with funding from the San Francisco Foundation, awarded $204,000 to local non-profits over the last three years to support organizations that strengthen relationships between teenage youth and their parents or guardians. This year, the initiative granted their final round of funding, and six organizations were awarded a total of $95,000 in funding to do positive, innovative, inter-generational work.

“With over $200,000 invested in the San Pablo community, the Koshland Fellows have planted the seeds to support and strengthen relationships between San Pablo parents and their youth, now and into the future,” said Retha Robinson, Director of the Koshland Program at The San Francisco Foundation.

The Fellows will be hosting a Community Reception to honor the closing of their initiative and showcase the amazing intergenerational work done by grantee organizations over the past three years. Community members and stakeholders are welcome to attend the reception, which will take place at the City of San Pablo’s Maple Hall, February 24^th, 2017 at 5pm.  The following people will be speaking at the event: 

• Cecilia Valdez, Mayor of The City of San Pablo 
• Sonia Bustamante, Chief of Staff from Supervisor John Gioia's Office
• Retha Robinson, Koshland Director, The San Francisco Foundation
• Mayra Padilla, Koshland Fellow and Director of Metas

The San Pablo Koshland Fellows are part of The San Francisco Foundation’s Koshland Civic Unity program that recognizes local leaders who work collaboratively to strengthen the assets in their community and address community concerns and needs.

“The recipients of these grants have given our parents and their children tools to have successful relationships in their personal lives, as community leaders, and later in their professional lives,” said Mayor Valdez.

Following is a list of the 2017 San Pablo Koshland Youth & Parent Engagement Grantees:

Center for Lao Studies, (Vinya Sysamouth, Executive Director): Training youth and their parents to interview California Lao community members and collect oral histories of the Lao refugee experience through the Lao Oral History Archive (LOHA).

The Latina Center, (Miriam Wong, Executive Director): Hablamos Juntas/Talking Together: facilitated sessions for 4 cohorts of 8-10 middle school girls and their mothers exploring a variety of topics to improve communication and enhance social connections.

Metas, (Mayra Padilla, Director): Building on 2016 mindfulness curriculum for teenage youth and their parents, conducting an overnight mindfulness retreat, and sharing best practices for using mindfulness to strengthen relationship between youth and their parents in WCCUSD.  

Richmond Art Center, (Rachel Schaffran, Art in the Community Director): Exploring personal, family, and collective voice through float-building art classes for youth and parents in preparation for the Annual Cinco de Mayo/Peace and Unity Parade, followed by classes creating a collaborative art installation in San Pablo.

San Pablo Library, (Gia Paolini, Community Library Manager): Continuing a “Make-Her” Program with prominent artist mentors supporting girls and their parents/guardians to innovate and invent.

Girls, Inc. of West Contra Costa County, (Cristal Banagan, Associate Director): Planning the “Happiest 5K on the Planet,” through girls and their parents/guardians working together to design and plan a local community 5K Color Run.

If interested in attending the Closing Reception, or for more Information and Registration, please go to sanpablofellowsreception.eventbrite.com

For additional information, please contact Mayra Padilla, Koshland Fellow at [email protected], T: (510) 215-3880 and Nadia Shihab, Koshland Program Coordinator: [email protected], T: (415) 733-8569. 

About the Koshland Program –For over 30 years, The Koshland Program at The San Francisco Foundation has invested in neighborhood leaders to partner and build up the leadership of Bay Area grassroots risk-takers – social innovators who take on the most stubborn neighborhood problems and who work collaboratively to overcome them.  Learn more at sff.org/koshland

About the San Francisco Foundation – With more than $1.3 billion in assets, the San Francisco Foundation is one of the largest community foundations in the country.  The foundation is committed to expanding opportunity and ensuring a more equitable future for all in the Bay Area, and working with its donors, it distributed nearly $100 million a year to nonprofit organizations last year. The San Francisco Foundation serves San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Mateo Counties.

Source: San Pablo Koshland Program