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Shaping Students' Futures & Boosting Student Success
SHAPING STUDENTS’ FUTURES & BOOSTING STUDENT SUCCESS
Community WISE
(Women Investing in STEM Equity)
With community members sheltering-in-place and summer enrichment programs across the county closing their doors, we decided to test a virtual strategy for our popular Girls Tinker Academy. The need for hands-on learning had been made clear and program leads were eager to try a new approach that would give girls a chance to engage in creative and fun science-driven projects.
Key Accomplishments:
- Maker kits were distributed to ensure each girl could fully participate in the daily activities. Activities included building a solar machine, sewing a cloth face mask and creating circuits.
- Five Sonoma State University undergraduate students each led a cohort of 4-5 girls, mentoring and supporting the participants through the hands-on activities.
- The revised program concluded with a virtual showcase featuring projects from the 27 Tinker Academy participants and attended by over 75 people, including parents, community members and supporters who helped fund the program.
CTE Foundation looks forward to opportunities to expand access to girls throughout the county by:
- Providing office hours for Spanish-language parents and students to learn more about the program.
- Adding a second location for north-county students.
- Maintaining virtual delivery for mini-Tinker programs throughout the year.
27 Girls Tinker Academy participants explored science, technology, engineering and mathematic (STEM) concepts through hands-on activities delivered in a safe environment during Summer 2020.
2020 Virtual Girls Tinker Academy Project Photos
SHAPING STUDENTS’ FUTURES & BOOSTING STUDENT SUCCESS
YouthTruth
In 2017, the Community Foundation Sonoma County (CFSC) engaged CTE Foundation to implement a new strategy to enhance local education philanthropy by ensuring the perceptions and attitudes of its primary beneficiaries – the students – are included in the formation of funding decisions.
In 2019-2020, CFSC supported expansion of the initiative to gather information about how recent disasters were impacting the community and to engage more schools in the survey. Santa Rosa City Schools and Healdsburg School district joined Cloverdale High School and West County district in surveying students. In addition, custom questions directly related to disaster recovery and resilience were added to the survey.
YouthTruth Survey: Who did we hear from and what did we learn?
11,965 Students
from 37 Schools
& 6 School Districts
The YouthTruth Sonoma County partnership – funded in large part by the Hewlett Foundation – is part of a larger Bay Area initiative whose primary purpose is to inform funders to make better investment decisions by bringing student voice into the development of investment strategy, ultimately encouraging investment aligned with their needs. This strategy centers on the distribution of the YouthTruth survey to students, parents and school staff followed by an analysis and integration of results.
