What's Happening at RCF    
March 2017
We are happy to announce our
afternoon keynote speaker for the
8th Annual Northern California Summit
May 10, 2017

Robin D. Lopez, Research Associate, 
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
Robin D. Lόpez  was raised in San Pablo and Richmond, CA and has an academic and research background invested locally. Mr. Lόpez attended De Anza High School and graduated from Contra Costa College with degrees in Mathematics(AS), Physics(AS), and Sociology(AA) . He transferred and graduated from San Francisco State University with a BS in Civil Engineering. Mr. Lόpez is a graduate student at San José State University for Water Resources Engineering, and is also a Research Associate at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, working on several projects for the U.S. Department of Energy. He also mentors and teaches 4th/5th grade for local non-profit, Metas. His trajectory in life was once misguided, not uncommon for many young people from his region, but a passion for the STEM field grew out of resources, opportunities and mentorship. He now commits himself to outreach, ensuring young people can actualize their potential. He has received several notable awards including the Kennedy-King Memorial Scholarship, National Science Foundation Scholarship and the White House Presidential Service Award) that highlight his continued engagement, and demonstrate the hunger for knowledge and community-building people from his environment have. When afforded the resources and platform to succeed, Mr. López strongly believes such investments are limitless.
Don't wait to reserve your seat for a this electrifying speaker and this life-changing event.  Reserve your seat online here.

If you would like more information about the 8th Annual Northern California Summit on Children & Youth:  Building the Next Generation Workforce contact Stacey Street at sstreet@richmondcf.org or call (510) 234-1200 x 302. 


Capacity Building: 
RCF helping nonprofits succeed! 



The Richmond Community Foundation (RCF)  focuses on nonprofit capacity building as a way to strengthen nonprofits and our community as a whole and enhance the effectiveness of our organizations.  Nonprofit capacity building is the improvement of capabilities, knowledge or resources, so an agency can achieve its mission more effectively.

We are proud to offer the following FREE workshops:

Innerfluence, 
Jacqueline Wales, Leadership Coach                              March 29, 2017, 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm

In this workshop participants develop the insights for self-knowledge and the language to assert themselves with greater confidence by using tools for powerful self-analysis and uncovering the obstacles that are currently holding them back from achieving their full potential.

LGBTQ Issues in the Workplace
Glicel Sumagaysay, Law Office of Glicel Sumagaysay     March 30, 2017, 3:30pm to 5:00pm

The workshop will discuss how to prevent discrimination and harassment of LGBTQ workers in the wake of the new administration.

Immigration Enforcement and Rights/Options Awareness
Eric Husby, Joshua M. Surowitz, 
Raquel Vasquez, Surowitz Immigation, PC                      April 26, 2017, 4:00PM to 6:00pm
 
The above workshops will be held at Richmond Community Foundation, 1014 Florida Avenue, Suite 200.  For more information or to register for the workshops  please click here .


RCF is also happy to partner with City of Richmond on the following workshops:

Logic Models to Survive and Thrive                              April 19, 2017, 10:00am to 12:00pm 

Fundraising Basics and Beyond                                      June 8, 2017, 10:00am to 12:00pm

Effective Collaboration                                                     August 2, 2017  10:00am to 12:00pm

Board Recruitment & Development                              October 5, 2017  10:00am to 12:00pm

These four workshops will be held at 440 Civic Center, Richmond CA.  Doors will open 30 minutes before for registration and light refreshment.  Please click here for more information and to register for these workshops.

For more information about RCF's capacity building workshops contact Monica Lazo,   


Showing Appreciation in East Contra Costa

 
Setting up the table to serve 100 SparkPoint clients at Bay Point

On February 21 2017, SparkPoint's Bay Point location hosted its Annual Client Appreciation Dinner. El Pollo Loco provided dinner for 100 people -- that included chicken, beans, rice, chips, salsa, tortillas, plates, napkins, plastic ware.  Amazing generosity!

It was well attended (despite the rain) and very well received. The food bank donated produce, and everyone went home with bags full of food and clothing and free a bicycle or two.  What a night!

Since SparkPoint East Contra Costa opened in June 2011, it has served hundreds of clients by providing career guidance, job training, housing assistance, domestic violence counseling and most importantly, financial education.  SparkPoint's one-stop model means that job training programs work hand-in-hand with a focus on improving income, improving credit scores, reducing debt and increasing client's assets.

Congratulations to Pam McGrath and the rest of the SparkPoint team on a successful evening.


Pam McGrath giving FREE HUGS as well as bags of food and clothes.


 For more information about SparkPoint at Bay Point, contact Pam McGrath,
at pmcgrath@richmondcf.org or call (925) 252-2300


Ensuring Opportunity:
The Campaign to End Poverty in Contra Costa County


Contra Costa's non-profit community
takes action to protect local immigrants 

Residents packed the San Pablo city council chambers on March 6, 2017 to support the city's proposed resolution in support of all city residents regardless
of immigration status. The resolution passed by a 4-1 vote.


Recent federal actions around immigration threaten the safety of local children and parents, and harm the well-being of our community as a whole. In response to these threats, community organizations in Contra Costa are mobilizing to support their staff members, clients and other residents who are immigrants.

The Ensuring Opportunity Campaign sent a survey last week to nonprofit organizations across Contra Costa County to find out what they doing to protect their clients and staff who are immigrants. We wanted to find out what impacts these organizations are seeing, what actions they're already taking, and what they're interested in learning more about to protect the community members they work with and serve. The response was immediate: in just five days, we received 66 responses, representing 58 organizations that provide services to residents throughout Contra Costa County. We thank our community partners who participated in the survey.

We learned that many organizations are proactively working to address the needs of immigrant clients and staff, and that they have a strong desire to learn what more they can do. While many organizations are not yet reporting a significant decrease in client participation in their programs, many are very concerned that this may happen.

The primary actions that organizations are taking now to protect immigrant clients include:
  1. Communicating with clients and residents about potential threats and resources.
     
  2. Protecting and anonymizing client data.
     
  3. Talking with their board of directors about their agency's response to the needs of clients and staff members who are immigrants.
     
  4. Advocating for policies (such as sanctuary city/county/state) that will help immigrants feel safer.
The top five strategies that organizations are interested in learning more about include:
  1. Joining rapid response teams or networks.
     
  2. Providing Know Your Rights workshops for clients/residents.
     
  3. Adopting an organization policy regarding sanctuary/welcoming space.
     
  4. Meeting/advocating with local police regarding their policies on cooperating with federal immigration enforcement authorities.
     
  5. Helping families who have been separated due to deportations.
Visit the Immigration Resources page on our Ensuring Opportunity website for a more detailed analysis of survey results. You will also find links to resources and upcoming events. We will frequently update the website as we gather additional information on local policies, resources and events.
 
For more information about Ensuring Opportunity, visit the EO website or contact campaign director Mariana Moore, (510) 234-1200, ext. 311, 


Let's Stop Summer Learning Loss!




Summer learning loss, the phenomenon where young people lose academic skills over the summer, is one of the most significant causes of the achievement gap between lower and higher income youth and one of the strongest contributors to the high school dropout rate. For many young people, the summer "opportunity gap" contributes to gaps in achievement, employment and college and career success. According to the National Summer Learning Association, low-income youth lose  two to three months in reading  every summer ,  while their higher-income peers make slight gains. 
 
The West Contra Costa Literacy Coalition's 2016 Needs Assessment shows powerful Data: out of the approximately 10,280 children ages 0-9 in Richmond who need high-quality summer literacy programs, less than 1,700 children have access to them. 
 
As a Coalition, we have identified summer learning as one of the largest needs in our community.

Support the West Contra Costa Literacy Coalition Campaign to enroll an additional 1,000 children in high-quality summer literacy programs! Please visit the fundraising site here:  West Contra Costa Summer Funding Campaign   and help us spread the word. Your involvement is critical to our success!
   
If you would like more information about the Literacy Coalition, please contact
Shabnaz Yousefia, Director of Community Engagement, at syousefia@richmondcf.org or
(510) 234-1200 x 305.


SAVE THE DATE!!!
8th Annual Northern California Summit on Children and Youth: Building the Next Generation Workforce
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Richmond Memorial Auditorium

To see a brief montage video from the 2016 Summit click here,
 

Contact Stacey Street at sstreet@richmondcf.org with any questions or 
for more information on sponsorship opportunities. 

Join Us Online
 
Follow us on Twitter   Like us on Facebook   View our profile on LinkedIn
Find us on Yelp

When you shop. Amazon gives to Richmond Community Foundation


Donate to Richmond Community Foundation while you shop! Just use Giving Assistant. Giving Assistant shoppers not only get great deals like JCPenney Coupons, they also save money at over 1800+ popular retailers like Target, eBay, and Home Depot, all while earning cash back and raising funds for organizations they value. Try it today!