In Her Own Words: Jennifer

May 22nd, 2025 Our Impact

Being from foster care is a lot. For me, the challenges I faced while in the system knocked me off my educational path. I struggled with substance abuse, homelessness, and incarceration. I didn’t graduate from high school, and I never really knew how to get to college. Growing up, it was never something that I thought I could do. I just assumed it wasn’t for me.

I eventually got my GED and decided to go to San Jose City College to get certified as an alcohol and drug counselor. When I was there, a friend told me about the programs available for foster youth and it was...

May 21st, 2025

Our Impact

Acer Bridging the Digital Divide for Foster Youth

Five years ago, Pivotal surveyed our scholars to understand if they had access to the technology they needed for school. We were shocked to learn that only about 40% of our students had access to a reliable laptop.

“To do my schoolwork, I either had to spend hours at the local library or write my papers on a tablet,” said Destiny, a former foster youth and Pivotal scholar attending San Jose City College. “I didn’t have internet at home, so I had to go sit on a...

May 19th, 2025

A Warm Welcome to Our Newest Board Member!

We are delighted to welcome Robyn Klitgaard to Pivotal's Board of Directors!

Robyn has always felt a deep commitment to community impact and education. Her father was the first in their family to attend college, doing so while serving in the US Air Force. With a career spanning over three decades, Robyn dedicated herself to public service, serving for 32 years with the Santa Clara County Probation Department, taking on roles as both a Probation Officer and Supervising Probation Officer. She...

May 7th, 2025

Our Impact

Future in Focus: Harmonic Hosts a High School Career Day Experience

Pivotal recently partnered with video and broadband service provider, Harmonic, to host a career exploration day for our high school scholars. The day was designed to offer a glimpse into the wide range of opportunities in the tech world, right here in the heart of Silicon Valley.

“Being in foster care often means that students have limited exposure to different types of careers. We live in the heart of Silicon Valley and want to give our students the opportunity to learn about career...

April 29th, 2025

Our Impact

The Art of Ambition: Jaya's Growth with Pivotal Support

Jaya’s Pivotal journey began when she started high school. Seeking support to navigate her way through high school and prepare for college, she learned about Pivotal from her foster mom and joined the program in her freshman year.

“I’m lucky in that I have had a lot of support from my foster mom and others in my support circle. But it’s great to have my Pivotal Coach, Daisy, who can specifically help me with academics.”

Daisy has been working with her since her...

March 27th, 2025

Our Impact

Social Work Month 2025: Thanking our Social Work Interns

March is Social Work Month, and we want to celebrate the current and future social workers who support our students. Social workers play a critical role in the child welfare system and are often an important part of our scholars’ lives.

In 2010, Pivotal created an internship program to help new social workers-in-training learn about the nuances of working with foster youth. We train undergraduate and graduate students in social work programs to be Pivotal coaches, working...

March 19th, 2025

Welcoming our Newest Board Members

Earlier this year, we were thrilled to welcome two new members to Pivotal’s Board of Directors: Deborah Perry Piscone and Tamesa Rogers

Deborah Perry Piscione is the co-founder and CEO of the Work3 Institute, an advisory firm that helps enterprises evolve into an AI, web3 + work3 future of business.

“I joined Pivotal's board because I believe every young person deserves the opportunity to pursue their dreams, regardless of their circumstances,” says Deborah. “What...

March 18th, 2025

Our Impact

Thank you Dream Makers!

Last month, we came together to celebrate members of the Pivotal Dream Makers Circle and corporate partners. The Dream Makers Circle is a special group of supporters who contribute $3,000 or more annually to Pivotal. These generous individuals ensure that we can serve every foster youth who walks through our doors and help make their dreams a reality.

Our scholar speaker, Dunhoja demonstrated how important this help can be:

Dunhoja DMC2025 Popout Quote

You can watch all of Dunhoja’s powerful speech below.

...

February 12th, 2025

Our Impact

The Road Less Traveled

Ever wonder why at Pivotal, we refer to our coaching support after high school as our post-secondary program rather than our university? It’s because there are many paths to success and self-sufficiency, and they don’t always involve a traditional 4-year university degree. Many students choose an associate’s degree from a community college, or pursue a trade or vocational program after high school.

Since the pandemic, there has been a huge increase in demand for...

January 17th, 2025

Our Impact

Happy 2025 from Pivotal!

Happy New Year from all of us at Pivotal! Last year, we celebrated 35 years of helping young people from foster care build the lives they want for themselves.

In the 2023-24 school year, we served 532 young people from foster care, providing support in high school and college through individualized coaching, trauma-informed support, resources, and scholarships. We also began serving students in middle school, knowing that the earlier we can start to work with...

October 18th, 2024

Our Impact

Pivotal Celebrates 35 Years of Service

In early October, we invited our donors, partners, alumni, and staff to come together to celebrate Pivotal’s 35 years of service in our community. Starting with building the Santa Clara County Children’s Shelter, Pivotal has dedicated itself to the support and well-being of young people from foster care in our community. We’d like to acknowledge and thank everyone whose support allowed us to serve thousands of children and young adults, at a critical time when they needed...

September 24th, 2024

Our Impact

From Setbacks to Success: How Pivotal Helped Michelle Find Her Path

When sharing stories about our scholars and their experiences, we often tell you about young people who have been through the system and have found success through their hard work and with Pivotal’s support. It’s important to remember that their journey to that success is often filled with struggles and uncertainty for many of our scholars and it can be difficult for students to open up about the difficulties they may be experiencing in the moment.

When post-secondary...