December 2004

Special Informational Meeting on Gates Millenium Scholars Program

MEF will be hosting a special informational meeting about the Gates Millenium Scholars Program (www.gmsp.org) at our office, on December 16th, from 6:30 - 8 p.m. The Gates Millennium Scholars Program promotes academic excellence and provides an opportunity for thousands of outstanding students with significant financial need to reach their fullest potential. Awardees are given a full scholarship. Applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria: African-American, Hispanic American, Native American/Alaskan Native and Asian Pacific American; cumulative GPA of 3.3; entering a U.S. accredited college or university as full-time; degree-seeking freshman in the Fall of 2005; demonstrated leadership abilities; meet Federal Pell Grant eligibility criteria.

2nd Annual Alumni Holiday Open House

Calling all MEF Alumni! If you're a current MEF recipient or an alum of MEF scholarships and programs, please join us for our 2nd annual Alumni Holiday Open House, at our office, on December 21st from 6-8 p.m. Hosted by Marin Education Fund's Alumni Association, the Open House is a great opportunity to connect with your peers, share stories and enjoy holiday treats. Please bring a guest and join us on December 21st.

Another Four-Star Rating!

For the second consecutive year, Marin Education Fund has received a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America's largest independent evaluator of charities. According to Charity Navigator, receiving four out of a possible four stars rates Marin Education Fund as Exceptional, outperforming like organizations nationally in successfully managing our finances in an efficient and effective manner. Read more about Charity Navigator. If you have questions regarding what you find there, please contact our Director of Finance & Administration, Ariane Trélaün, at 415.451.4003.

First-Ever Middle School College Tour

On November 19th, MEF and Women Helping All People (www.mcwhap.org) co-hosted our first-ever CollegeDayTour for younger students. A total of 21 7th through 10th graders, plus adult chaperones including two parents, two WHAP and four MEF staff, toured the UC Berkeley campus. Schools represented included Martin Luther King Jr. Academy, Marin Horizon, Terra Linda High School, Tamalpais High School, and Davidson Middle School. Using a trivia scavenger hunt, participants learned about the Berkeley campus and college life. One participant remarked, "I never have been on a trip like this where I learned so much. It really helps me know to do better in school." This was the first of many programs tailored for middle school students as MEF and its partners in the community work together to help young people dream of and prepare for college.

November 2004 News

Endowed Scholarships

Marin Education Fund recently received two significant endowed gifts - the Marjorie Mooney Endowed Scholarship and the Kai Chong Tong Endowed Scholarship. Thanks to the generosity of their donors, these endowed scholarships will provide support to Marin students in perpetuity. The Marjorie Mooney Endowed Scholarship is available to Marin Education Fund undergraduate scholarship applicants. The Kai Chong Tong Endowed Scholarship is intended for students of Chinese American ancestry, studying at San Francisco State University, and is also available to Marin Education Fund undergraduate scholarship applicants.

October 2004 News

Congratulations to this year's 640 Undergraduate Scholarships recipients!

We congratulate the 640 recipients of our Undergraduate Scholarships for academic year 2004-2005. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we were able to increase the average award to this year's students by 15% and fund more students than ever before. Need still remains, however, and we continue our efforts to develop scholarship resources for our students.

First-ever Marin Educational Equity Week held September 26 – October 3, 2004

With the Institute for Leadership Studies of Dominican University of California, Marin Education Fund hosted the first-ever Marin Educational Equity Week, from September 26 to October 3, 2004. With support from the Marin Board of Supervisors, Educational Equity Week dedicates the last week of September of every year to engaging the leadership within Marin to affirming that here in Marin, the community is dedicated to creating a future in which all people of Marin, regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic background, will have equal access to the full range of educational opportunities. The week was made possible with the generous support of sponsors Book Passage, Marin Community Foundation, and Verus Technology Solutions.

Events of the week included the third convening of the Blueprint for Education Taskforce, comprised of representatives from the K-12 system, local postsecondary schools, community leaders, parents/guardians and business leaders, who met to learn about Marin's performance in achieving educational equity for its students. The Taskforce meeting involved a panel of speakers, including Julie Mendoza, Co-Director of the California Opportunity Indicators Project at University of California's UC/ACCORD and Becky Cohn-Vargas, Director of Curriculum and Professional Development for Palo Alto Unified School District. These experts shared the results of their research on educational equity and on Marin's record to date.

Cedric Jennings (on left) with Board Member James Evans

A Charter Council, tasked with creating a community charter on educational equity, convened in the afternoon and began the work of crafting an expression of collective dedication to achieving equity.

For many, the highlight of the week was the Friday evening speech by Cedric Jennings, subject of the national bestseller A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind, chronicling Jennings' journey from an inner-city high school in Washington D.C. to the Ivy League. Before a sell-out crowd at Dominican University's Angelico Hall, Jennings shared his inspirational story, encouraging all assembled to maintain hope and persevere despite the obstacles.