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Contra Costa Marketplace - Nov 2014

The Void Filling Fund and how ed A look at helping the our students they’re By Matt Larson Despite education being a top priority, governmental funding for our public schools has been on a steady decline for years, leaving the school system up to us, the people, to take care of. The West Contra Costa Public Education Fund, also known as the Ed Fund, was founded in 1983 in response to the passage of Proposition 13, which severely cut funding for our public schools. They’ve since filled much of the void and are still helping West County students over 30 years later. “We as the Ed Fund serve as the backbone organization, our role is not primarily a direct program provider,” says Joel Mackey, Ed Fund Executive Director. The Ed Fund has partnerships with about 30 other community-based organizations, including the West Contra Costa Unified School District, and representatives from each come together to meet once a month. “We work together to discuss common issues, create common goals and develop a common vision around what we want to accomplish for students in our district,” he said. “What the Ed Fund does is leverage our own resources by partnering with other organizations in the community to support their programmatic activity, not only to build the quality of their programs but to also grow their own capacity so that they can serve more students,” said Mackey. “That’s been in some ways the heart and soul of what we’re doing right now.” A program they do offer, where the Ed Fund has the most direct interaction with the students, is the Scholar Cohort Program. This program not only affords the selected students scholarships anywhere from $750- $5000, but the Ed Fund takes it a step further. “It’s School District Superintendant Dr. Bruce Harter and Dilan Pedraza not just the scholarship, it’s the full cohort program,” said Mackey. “Over the course of their first year we have a support system that is designed to provide a series of check-ins with them to ensure that if they’re hitting some bumps along the way that they’re receiving the necessary support that they might need, whether it be on the academic side, emotional side or the financial side of things.” Students are also required to write blogs about their experiences and do community service in their new communities as part of this program. For 2014 alone, the Ed Fund awarded 83 graduating seniors attending 38 different colleges “With hard work and dedication, anything is possible,” - Dilan Pedraza and universities with scholarships totaling $210,000. “Last year was similar,” said Mackey. Among many others, their most significant funder has been the College Access Foundation of California who have greatly contributed to developing the cohort program. Over the last two years of the program they’ve found 98% of scholars are on the


Contra Costa Marketplace - Nov 2014
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