Improving education opportunities for children and young adults

Because our work in this area is exploratory, grantmaking is by invitation only.

The Haas, Jr. Fund’s commitment to education stems from the belief that it is a critical path for moving families and young people out of poverty by helping them gain the skills and knowledge they need to find and keep rewarding, life-supporting jobs. We seek to close the achievement gaps in education that keep too many from achieving their full potential based on their ethnicity, race or economic circumstances.

We are in the process of developing program strategies in three major strands of work that will be focused in San Francisco and Alameda counties:

Early School Success: Ensure children are reading and doing math at grade level by the end of third grade. We are considering comprehensive approaches that align high-quality instruction and curriculum for students from age three in preschool through grade three that also include parenting, after-school and summer school supports.

Pipeline to College: Make certain that more middle school and high school students are prepared for success in college or careers. We are exploring strategies for increasing the knowledge and supports for young people to get ready for and enter college. We also are considering ways to grow the leadership and voice of young people and their parents to advocate for what they need in schools to be successful.

Community College Success: Improve opportunities in college for students to gain the skills and knowledge they need to get rewarding, family-supporting jobs. The Fund is developing strategies to build capacity on local community college campuses to improve the pathways to timely graduation and completion of career training certificates. We also are exploring retention approaches to help students complete their course of study.

Guidelines for this area will be available in Spring 2009.