January 2025

Progress Newsletter

By James Higa, Executive Director

What could happen when we grapple with the hardest parts of life—like mortality, loss, and adversity—and ask ourselves one simple yet powerful question: why wait? 

Why Wait: Living Fully in the Face of Life’s Biggest Challenges was a recent event that brought together an intimate group of Bay Area change-makers, philanthropists, physicians, and technologists to do just this—all looking to reimagine the future of healing and explore what it means to live fully today.

One diagnosis, one question, one moment can become the spark for transformation.

The event featured longtime PVF community members Peter Carpenter, former head of Stanford Medicine, and his wife Jane Shaw Carpenter, former head of Intel’s board and Bay Area Business Hall of Fame inductee, sharing how they are discovering meaning after Peter’s serious health diagnosis. The event was hosted by Reimagine, a nonprofit uniting people of all backgrounds to transform adversity into action and grief into growth.

The panel, moderated by Reimagine's Founder and Executive Director Brad Wolfe, featured several guest speakers whose intersecting personal narratives of loss, pain, healing and hope are paving the way for an important shift in how we all might respond to and approach life's biggest challenges, including PVF's Executive Director, James Higa, Dr. Stephanie Hsiao, Dr. Jim Wolfe, and Lyndsay Holley Handler.

PVF has always been about asking the question "why not?". What could philanthropy look like if it ventured to take a risk? This is why nothing brings us more joy than radically collaborating with our donors and community organizations to manifest bold and new ideas into the world like Reimagine.

Reimagine is looking for partners, advisors, or investors interested in well-being or technology to help develop an authentic social platform around the science of "post-traumatic growth" for diverse communities in pain.

New Vision and Blueprint for Youth Well-being!

“We have a public health crisis with our kids feeling more lonely and isolated, and where nearly 20% are experiencing challenges to their behavioral and well- being,” reported Dr. Ramsey Khasho, Chief Clinical Officer, Children’s Health Council at the recent United for Youth forum. “Girls are especially impacted by harmful social media postings, as well as Black, and LGBTQ youth. Children as young as 5 years old are showing anxiety. Parents are exhausted from trying to find help.”

San Mateo County Office Of Education, United for Youth was a call to action and focused on the new Vision and Blueprint for School and Transitional-Age Youth and Well-Being. This blueprint identifies priorities and strategies for San Mateo County, ensuring that behavioral health prevention and intervention services are available early in life. Read more about PVF's San Mateo County Director Sheryl Young's experience at the conference below.

Savannah Lira, Program Manager, is responsible for program management and development, as well as communication materials at PVF. She is an AmeriCorps Alum and has a background in economic development and grantwriting.