by Christine Salinas, Grants Manager
We’re thrilled that State Bill 150 is finally on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. If signed into law, the bill – authored by 15th District Representative Jim Beall - is expected to increase college retention and graduation rates among current and former foster youth by eliminating barriers to receiving financial aid.
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We asked several people: What would you do if the CEO of Paypal, one of the world’s most valuable brands, awarded you a check for $125,000?
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by Christine Salinas, Grants Manager
It’s no secret that social workers are the unsung heroes of the foster care system. From making tough decisions that will change the course of a young person’s life to advocating for that child’s best interests, these stellar men and women often don’t receive the recognition they deserve.
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by Storm McNerney
During the last semester of my undergraduate studies at San Jose State University, it seemed as if I was the only person without an internship. I knew the importance of finding one. After all, many of my peers had already interned at places such as LinkedIn, Google, and Apple. But those internships always felt out of my reach.
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by Christine Salinas, Grants Manager
On any given day, there are roughly 430,000 children in the American foster care system. Here are the top 5 things to know about children who enter foster care.
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By Christine Salinas, Grants Manager
Emmanuel “Manny” Amador is a Pivotal Board Member and former foster youth who spearheads the selection process for our highly anticipated 2019 Masters of Change Awards. We caught up with Manny, who shared his thoughts about this awesome award.
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Ask any nonprofit and they’ll tell you that volunteers are pivotal to carrying out their mission. Stretched thin by budgets and staff members who wear multiple hats, there isn’t a nonprofit out there who can make it without volunteer support. When Jump Associates located us with the help of Universal Giving, we knew we hit a home run.
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by Christine Salinas
This month is National Mentoring Month. Here at Pivotal, we'd like to give our coaches a big ol’ SHOUT OUT! Their caring approach and expertise in all things foster care and young people is what makes Pivotal, well, pivotal.
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by Christine Salinas, Grants Manager
We’re excited to integrate the Net Promoter Score as a valuable analysis tool that enhances the quality of the services we deliver to foster youth. Thanks to the Fund for Shared Insight’s Listen for Good grant, we have the financial backing to implement a more advanced survey system of our youth’s experiences with Pivotal. The grant has helped us think of better ways to ask and collect feedback and to add closed feedback loops to our survey process.
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by Christine Salinas, Grants Manager
We love sharing stories of our college scholarship recipients like Noor Almusahwi, a former foster youth, and current Pivotal scholar. Noor is well on his way to realizing his career goals. He sets the bar high for all college students, not just those from foster care.
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by Christine Salinas, Grants Manager
Homelessness is a deepening problem for college students. Even as California voters passed two propositions expected to battle homelessness in our community, tent encampments continue to grow in cities across the area. Homelessness has reached a watershed moment in California and foster youth scholars are being hit hard by this crisis.
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by Elise Cutini
You may know us for our work as Silicon Valley Children’s Fund – or perhaps you knew us as TeenForce – but now, you can just call us Pivotal. Pivotal is so much more than just a new name and logo. If there's anything we've learned from our 20 years of experience working with foster youth, it's that the nature of what we do - providing academic and employment support to foster youth - is pivotal to their future.
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