Acer Bridging the Digital Divide for Foster Youth

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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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:

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

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The Road Less Traveled

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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...

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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...

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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...

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Instilling Hope: Full Circle from Scholar to Coach

A big part of a Pivotal coach's role is to understand the challenges their scholars face as they move through their educational journey. Often, before a student can focus on academics, they have to overcome significant obstacles such as housing, mental health issues, or financial concerns. In addition, nearly every young person from foster care is managing trauma at some level, which can impact their lives in many ways. Students sometimes have trouble focusing and withdraw from social or...

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