Faith Network wishes you a new year
full of hope, joy, and abundant blessings!
Monday, February 9, 2015
Monday, March 10, 2014
Financial Literacy Opens Students’ Eyes on Their Future
What a joy to see a dozen PwC US (PricewaterhouseCoopers)
consultants show up at Prescott Elementary ready to engage 3rd – 5th
graders on dollars and cents matters with lessons on “Credit & Debt”,
“Saving & Investing” and “Income & Careers.” Instead of lecturing, the PwC team invites
students to role play, with lessons aimed at using critical thinking skills in practical
real-life applications.
Over a year ago, PwC contacted Faith Network about getting
involved in the Oakland Unified School District in hopes that its Earn YourFuture
(EYF) financial literacy curriculum might be a welcome complement to the
local schools. Initial discussions led to the launching of a pilot after-school
financial literacy enrichment program at MLK Jr. Elementary, resulting in rave
reviews from Principal Roma Groves.
PwC employees have continued working with MLK Jr. Elementary
and thanks to a recent grant of $30,000
from the PwC Charitable Foundation, we look forward to continuing this work
with PwC by expanding EYF to more schools and providing career skills and
experience for students in West Oakland.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Join Us for Champions for Children
Are you ready for Faith Network's 3rd Annual Champions for Children 5K Walk/Run?
Mark your calendars and tell your friends to join you for the Champions for Children on October 26 at Lake Merritt in Oakland!
Register Now:
- Click here to register online
- Call our office at 510-836-5100
- Prizes for top fundraisers and runners!
- Skyline High School Jazz Band
- Special Guests: OUSD school officials and community leaders
- Fun for everyone!
- Check-in at 8:00 am
- Race begins at 9:00 am
- Check-in and Starting Line at Edoff Memorial Bandstand in Lakeside Park (behind Fairyland)
Thursday, August 22, 2013
A Summer With CalTrans
It has been an eventful summer for Faith Network.
Just as the school year was winding down, we launched the Carolyn Yee Future Scientist Fund (CYFSF), which will serve to enrich students in science, technology, engineering, and math through experiences, classroom supplies, internship stipends, and teacher support.
Things quickly fell into place, and we were able to provide stipends for CalTrans interns this summer through the CYFSF. Just last week, with their work drawing to a close, the interns gave a presentation about their experiences. Not only did these college and high school students have the opportunity to tour the new Bay Bridge (above and below!), but each student also had a mentor that they worked closely with during the summer. Some worked with the archives, organizing boxes of work orders and records. Others assisted engineers, hazardous materials containment, and public relations. Each student expressed appreciation for this historic opportunity to work on a world-class project.
Below are some pictures (courtesy of Steve Babuljak of Babuljak Photography) of the intern presentation. Each student received a certificate to commemorate their summer experience in addition to professional and personal lessons that will they will carry for a lifetime!
Just as the school year was winding down, we launched the Carolyn Yee Future Scientist Fund (CYFSF), which will serve to enrich students in science, technology, engineering, and math through experiences, classroom supplies, internship stipends, and teacher support.
Things quickly fell into place, and we were able to provide stipends for CalTrans interns this summer through the CYFSF. Just last week, with their work drawing to a close, the interns gave a presentation about their experiences. Not only did these college and high school students have the opportunity to tour the new Bay Bridge (above and below!), but each student also had a mentor that they worked closely with during the summer. Some worked with the archives, organizing boxes of work orders and records. Others assisted engineers, hazardous materials containment, and public relations. Each student expressed appreciation for this historic opportunity to work on a world-class project.
Below are some pictures (courtesy of Steve Babuljak of Babuljak Photography) of the intern presentation. Each student received a certificate to commemorate their summer experience in addition to professional and personal lessons that will they will carry for a lifetime!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Oakland Reads 2020
Lately, I've been reading about the positive changes that Oakland's Operation Ceasefire program has been bringing to our community. At first, people were doubtful that this initiative would be effective--after all, the same program had been invoked in 2009 with little results. This time around, the public is seeing results in the arrests of gang members, and traffic stops that provide leads to seizure of drugs and illegal firearms, mainly because law enforcement is enforcing the law.
In the midst of these flashy triumphs comes the news of another initiative: Oakland Reads 2020. Though less sensational than busting drug dealers and pimps, increasing literacy in our schools will have a profound effect on future crime rates. Inadequate reading skills are such a strong indicator of future delinquency that the California Department of Corrections uses 3rd grade literacy rates to determine the future capacity of our state's prisons.
Oakland Reads 2020 is an eight-year initiative that is part of a national vision to bring kids up to reading at grade level. While the ceasefire's goal is to immediately squelch violence in our streets, improving literacy for Oakland schoolchildren and their families will hopefully counter truancy and crime 10+ years before they happen. With the power to read, kids are more likely to stay in school and pursue higher education.
The Oakland Literacy Coalition started Oakland Reads 2020 as a part of fulfilling their mission statement to "increase the capacity of literacy providers to improve early learning outcomes in order to ensure that all Oakland children are reading at a proficient level by the end of third grade. We fulfill this mission through collaboration, promotion of effective practices, resource development and policy work." Not surprisingly, one of their collaborators is (...you guessed it) Faith Network. Additionally, the program is receiving financial support from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the Rogers Family Foundation, and the East Bay Community Foundation--all champions of early literacy and also funders of Faith Network's Succeeding by Reading program. We are grateful for their support and glad to do our part!
If you would like to help a child with reading this summer, please contact varetta@faith-network.com. It will be an investment into our future.
In the midst of these flashy triumphs comes the news of another initiative: Oakland Reads 2020. Though less sensational than busting drug dealers and pimps, increasing literacy in our schools will have a profound effect on future crime rates. Inadequate reading skills are such a strong indicator of future delinquency that the California Department of Corrections uses 3rd grade literacy rates to determine the future capacity of our state's prisons.
Oakland Reads 2020 is an eight-year initiative that is part of a national vision to bring kids up to reading at grade level. While the ceasefire's goal is to immediately squelch violence in our streets, improving literacy for Oakland schoolchildren and their families will hopefully counter truancy and crime 10+ years before they happen. With the power to read, kids are more likely to stay in school and pursue higher education.
The Oakland Literacy Coalition started Oakland Reads 2020 as a part of fulfilling their mission statement to "increase the capacity of literacy providers to improve early learning outcomes in order to ensure that all Oakland children are reading at a proficient level by the end of third grade. We fulfill this mission through collaboration, promotion of effective practices, resource development and policy work." Not surprisingly, one of their collaborators is (...you guessed it) Faith Network. Additionally, the program is receiving financial support from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the Rogers Family Foundation, and the East Bay Community Foundation--all champions of early literacy and also funders of Faith Network's Succeeding by Reading program. We are grateful for their support and glad to do our part!
If you would like to help a child with reading this summer, please contact varetta@faith-network.com. It will be an investment into our future.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Celebration!
We had our last day of tutoring two weeks ago, and our celebration day was last week.
Erick was able to get a prize from the prize box for reading another twenty books. He seemed a little discouraged by the choices that were left in the box (many kids have been earning prizes!). I held up a rubber popper and asked him if he knew how to make it jump.
Erick shook his head, so I turned it inside out and placed it back on the table.
"Now you have to wait for a little bit," I said.
After a couple seconds, the popper flipped and surprised quite a few of us by flying up close to the ceiling and landing on the floor.
"I want it! I want it!" Erick yelled, his face completely alight. Scooping up the popper, he pocketed it immediately. And so it was that Erick's final reading prize was the most powerful rubber popper I have ever encountered.
When it was time to give out certificates, Erick was quite embarrassed, but I also think he was also rather proud of his accomplishments. I congratulated him on finishing all the boxes of sight words while he ducked his head and blushed. I also gave him a copy of Frog and Toad are Friends--this is the last book that were we reading together and we didn't have a chance to finish it.
All the reading students and tutors ate strawberries, cherries, and grapes, and we handed out certificates of achievement to each student. Each tutor gave words of encouragement to their students and the students had words of gratitude for their tutors. Most simply said, "Thank you for reading with me each week."
It was a sweet time, and I will definitely miss Erick next year.
I like to think that our picture together reflects how sad he is about our time being over, but I think he might just be hamming it up for the camera.
Erick was able to get a prize from the prize box for reading another twenty books. He seemed a little discouraged by the choices that were left in the box (many kids have been earning prizes!). I held up a rubber popper and asked him if he knew how to make it jump.
"Now you have to wait for a little bit," I said.
After a couple seconds, the popper flipped and surprised quite a few of us by flying up close to the ceiling and landing on the floor.
"I want it! I want it!" Erick yelled, his face completely alight. Scooping up the popper, he pocketed it immediately. And so it was that Erick's final reading prize was the most powerful rubber popper I have ever encountered.
When it was time to give out certificates, Erick was quite embarrassed, but I also think he was also rather proud of his accomplishments. I congratulated him on finishing all the boxes of sight words while he ducked his head and blushed. I also gave him a copy of Frog and Toad are Friends--this is the last book that were we reading together and we didn't have a chance to finish it.
It was a sweet time, and I will definitely miss Erick next year.
I like to think that our picture together reflects how sad he is about our time being over, but I think he might just be hamming it up for the camera.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Animals besides spiders
This week, Erick read a book about various semi-scary animals, including the great white shark, desert scorpion, grizzly bear, king cobra, crocodile and hippopotamus.
I thought the inclusion of the hippopotamus was a little strange since they are vegetarians, but as Erick turned to the hippo page, he was somewhat horrified. Staring back at us was a giant hippo with its mouth gaping wide, showing us all its huge teeth and a pale, wrinkled tongue.
"Do these eat people?" Erick asked.
I assured him that hippos do not eat people and pointed out that the (very) large back teeth of the open-mouthed hippo were quite blunt.
"I think they eat grass or water plants," I said.
After that, we started a book about fire fighters.
But...the hippopotamuses in the book did pique my interest. In the animal book, they were simply described a large animals that like water. After some research, I discovered that hippos are one of the most feared animals in Africa. They are quite strictly herbivores (mostly grass), but they cause more human deaths than any carnivore. Even crocodiles will avoid attacking hippos and their young despite living in the same body of water.
I found out that hippos are very territorial and their primary defense is to charge their massive, three-ton bodies at a threat while gnashing their teeth. While many carnivores will ignore humans and some will even run away, hippos will attack with little provocation.
So Erick was correct to interpret the hippo's open mouth as a threat (that is how hippos intimidate each other). I will definitely have to share my discoveries with him next week.
I thought the inclusion of the hippopotamus was a little strange since they are vegetarians, but as Erick turned to the hippo page, he was somewhat horrified. Staring back at us was a giant hippo with its mouth gaping wide, showing us all its huge teeth and a pale, wrinkled tongue.
"Do these eat people?" Erick asked.
I assured him that hippos do not eat people and pointed out that the (very) large back teeth of the open-mouthed hippo were quite blunt.
"I think they eat grass or water plants," I said.
After that, we started a book about fire fighters.
But...the hippopotamuses in the book did pique my interest. In the animal book, they were simply described a large animals that like water. After some research, I discovered that hippos are one of the most feared animals in Africa. They are quite strictly herbivores (mostly grass), but they cause more human deaths than any carnivore. Even crocodiles will avoid attacking hippos and their young despite living in the same body of water.
I found out that hippos are very territorial and their primary defense is to charge their massive, three-ton bodies at a threat while gnashing their teeth. While many carnivores will ignore humans and some will even run away, hippos will attack with little provocation.
So Erick was correct to interpret the hippo's open mouth as a threat (that is how hippos intimidate each other). I will definitely have to share my discoveries with him next week.
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