Tutor Training

Interested in spreading literacy and boosting a child's confidence in reading?
Need a refresher as a tutor?
If so, come to our tutor training this Saturday!

Who:  You! Your investment of an hour or two per week can open the world of learning to a second grader. Reading is the key!

What:  Literacy Specialist Carolyn Piraino will introduce the building blocks of reading and how to guide a child into becoming a successful reader.

When: Saturday, February 11  9:00 - 11:30 am

Where:  Faith Network Office, 2633 Telegraph Avenue, #409, Oakland

RSVP: To sign up for this workshop, call or e-mail Varetta Mayes (510) 836-5100  or
Varetta[at]Faith-Network[dot]com

Also please consider volunteering to be a tutor at Downer Elementary in San Pablo. It's the site of the newest Excel Reading Clinic.

Save the Date!

Faith Network is excited to announce the date and location of our annual Hope for Children NOW banquet fundraiser:

On Sunday, May 20th, there will be dinner, live music, and speakers from the community at the Claremont Hotel.

If you are interested in being a part of the Gala, please call or email the office. Here are some ways you can participate:

• Sponsor a table
• Host a table
• Volunteer at the event
• Come as a guest

Please stay tuned for more details.

School Closure Update

As students go back to school for the new year, a group named Concerned Parents and Community Coalition is gathering signatures to recall the five board members that were in support of the closure of five schools. As Katy Murphy details in her blog, the recall process unfolds like this:

"First, a small amount of signatures need to be collected in each of the five districts. Once those signatures and the language of the proposed ballot measure are certified, its proponents go about collecting a larger amount of signatures (for a mayoral recall election, it’s 10 percent of registered voters, or 19,811, in 160 calendar days — not sure about the school board members) to qualify the measure for a future ballot. Meanwhile, pro-recall supporters put forth their own candidates."

Just before school holidays, over 100 parents attended a meeting to present the board members with packets containing the recall petitions.
This recall effort comes as no surprise to the board members, each of whom is up for re-election next year. As students take their finals and enter a new semester, we will know more about the progress of this motion to recall.

Holiday Food Resource

This holiday season, families are more in need of food than previous years.

One of our star partners, the Alameda County Community Food Bank, has a holiday help line that assists families in need.

The number to call is 1.800.870.FOOD to initiate the process detailed below:

When a person calls the helpline they will be greeted by one of the Food Bank's friendly volunteers that will assist the client access food the same day in their neighborhood. The helpline will ask the client a few personal confidential questions (such as their name, DOB, address, household size & income source).  With this information they will locate a pantry near their home.

The helpline will call the food pantry to verify that the pantry is open and have food available for the client to pick up. The client does not come to the ACCFB warehouse to pick up the food; rather it will be somewhere near the clients home.  

The type, quality and quantity of food varies depending on the food pantry. Some food pantries have multiple food programs such as EFB, USDA and pantry food.  Generally the pantry will try to give the client a 1-2 days of emergency food supply. The amount will also vary depending on how many persons are in the household.  

The client will also be informed of other programs they might be eligible for, such as USDA food commodities, CalFresh (food stamps), WIC, school meals, and senior programs. They will receive an information packet with all this material.

Please re-post and pass this along to get the word out that there are resources for families that need food for the holidays in Alameda County!

Gift of Hope

Have you ordered your gift of hope yet?















Each card that you order will give a student's family a bag of food for the weekend OR provide a book bag (with age-appropriate stories) to a child OR send a 5th-grader to science camp.

Each card will come with the gift that you specify and fall into these price ranges:
Weekend food bag: $4
Bring-home story bag: $35
Science camp scholarship: $125

Please call us at the office, or email Madalyn to find out how you can participate.

Thank you, Champions!

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated in Faith Network's Champions for Children Walk/Run!
The event was a huge success with costumes, prizes and lots of friends and family. The weather was perfect for snocones after the race, and the youth marimba band made the day even sunnier with their peppy music. Overall, there were over 170 participants and volunteers. Several school students walked in order to raise money for their classes to go to science camp. The coveted iPad 2 went to Wilson Leong as the top fundraiser of almost $3,000!

Click here to see photos from the event.

Special thanks to our sponsors:
Presenting Sponsor:
Legato Capital Management LLC

Gold Sponsor:
The Morrison Foerster Foundation

Silver Sponsors:
Alameda Magazine
Kirby and Amy Wilcox
Oakland Magazine
Parents’ Press
PricewaterhouseCoopers

Participating Sponsors:
Bakesale Betty
Berkeley Bowl
Femi Macus
Great America
Great Western Power Co.
In-N-Out Burgers
Landmark Theatres
Monclair Bakery
Noah’s Bagels
Safeway: Fruitvale
Safeway: Redwood Rd.
Trader Joe’s
Union Bank
Village Market
Whole Foods
Z Cafe and Bar

School Closures Are Just the Beginning

Occupy Oakland has taken much of the spotlight off the vote that was cast yesterday concerning our public school system. With five board members approving and two against the proposal, five schools on the closure list will close at the end of this school year. These Oakland public schools are Lakeview, Lazear, Marshall, Maxwell Park and Santa Fe.

Faith Network has a volunteer presence in each of these schools; we have been developing relationships with Lakeview, Lezear and Santa Fe for over five years.
Katy Murphy of The Education Report took notes from the meeting, which can be found here.
Superintendent Tony Smith's plan for restructuring also includes the expansion (and potential relocation) of Burckhalter and Kaiser elementary schools, the merging of Sobrante Park Elementary and Madison Middle School, and uniting several of the small high schools on the Fremont and Castlemont campuses.


Another piece of the equation to consider is the announcement that ASCEND and Learning Without Limits are going to become charter schools, potentially taking 800 students from the OUSD public system. Through closing and restructuring, the school board hopes to save two million; with two schools going charter, OUSD will lose four million from the state.


It is speculated that ASCEND and Learning Without Limits voted to go charter in order to avoid being next for closure. Unfortunately, both schools are close to Lezear, a fact that could potentially make it more difficult for Lezear students to find nearby schooling options come the 2012-2013 school year.