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 Franklin McKinley Education Foundation 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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