We Raise Foundation Awards $15,000 Select Grant to Escolta Dream Team
Itasca, IL – We Raise Foundation is excited to announce it recently awarded a $15,000 two-year Select Grant to Escolta Dream Team in Redwood City, Calif., for its RISE (Reach, Inspire, Structure, Education) Program.
A significant portion of families in the North Fair Oaks community of Redwood City experience language, transportation, and childcare barriers. This community, located in the midst of Silicon Valley and bordering some of the wealthiest zip codes in the United States, has 83% Latino residents and 23% households that speak limited English.
Research has revealed that 67% of third-grade students in the North Fair Oaks community are not reading at grade level. Research has also shown that the overweight and obesity rates for the area are 63.5%, the highest in the county.
Escolta Dream Team’s RISE program is focused on creating lasting impact through education, empowerment, and engagement to ensure families in the North Fair Oaks community have the tools and support they need to thrive.
Programming for parents and students is offered simultaneously each week, alleviating childcare and transportation issues. RISE offers English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for parents. Parental advocacy skills, as well as specific vocabulary and strategies for communicating with healthcare and community professionals, are interwoven into ESL coursework.
RISE provides high-quality martial arts training and targeted assistance for children’s academic gaps. Led and assessed by a black belt instructor, martial arts training helps students develop coordination, pride, perseverance, and respect for others. Research has shown that linking martial arts training to academic assistance raises memory /concentration for both.
Credentialed math and language teachers review standardized testing to identify students’ learning gaps, and each is provided one-on-one tutoring. RISE staff foster relationships with individual teachers and administrators to ensure tutoring reinforces classroom work and assessment data.
“Even amid great wealth, poverty and its influence can exist,” said Paul Miles, President and CEO of We Raise Foundation. “The Escolta Dream Team champions those left behind because of language, food insecurity, and basic needs barriers. We Raise is proud to invest in them and their community.”
About We Raise Foundation
Motivated by the belief that freedom is grace in action (Galatians 5:1a), We Raise Foundation partners with Christian nonprofit organizations and emerging leaders working at the intersection of poverty, violence, and inequality. We have a preference for funding solutions within the areas of education, workforce development, and criminal justice and employ a unique approach to our investing by coupling program funding with a variety of robust value-added services that empower our grantees to grow their solutions. As a result of these value-added services, every $1 that donors invest through We Raise multiplies into more than double the benefit to the organizations we support. To learn more, please visit weraise.org. You can also find We Raise on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
