Agency: El Centro Elementary School
Support Needed: $12,750
Purpose: Purchase digital instruction tools and train teachers to use them

El Centro Elementary is a neighborhood school that faces challenges on a few fronts. First, its student body is diverse: for 35 percent of the 289 students, English is a second language; and, 115 kids are from low-income families. At the same time, California has mandated higher levels of student performance--even in the primary grades. As a result, academic subjects like English and math are more important than ever, and teachers are increasingly pressed to prepare children for middle school. One strategy El Centro is using to ensure success: adding some technology-based teaching and learning tools to its classrooms. Last year, the school adopted new science, math, history and geography curricula that incorporate multi-media presentations. Why? Brain research indicates that many students grasp complex subjects more easily with visual and hands-on approaches. Plus, when concepts also are delivered with images, non-native English speakers can keep up with the lecture. Now, thanks to some small grants and fundraising by the school's parent club, each of El Centro's 13 classrooms has a computer-television setup that allows teachers to use the newly formatted curricula. Next on the upgrade list is a digital blackboard that will be shared among the five classrooms of third-, fourth- and fifth-graders. The digital blackboard (called a "smart board") adds dynamic and interactive components to the lessons. Teachers display the material, as with an old-fashioned board, but students also write on it or take quizzes on it using individual remote controls from their desks. Not only can instructors immediately verify when to move forward with the lesson plan or which areas need further attention, but they also can save students' work. Nearly half of El Centro's students will participate in these interactive classes a few times a week. The school hopes the visually stimulating and dynamic instruction methods will help increase kids' comprehension and retention, as well as improve results on standardized tests. The smart board, which requires a laptop, projector and special software, costs $9,250; another $3,500 is needed to train the teachers to use the equipment. Your support will give El Centro's students some innovative learning tools to help them master their reading, writing and arithmetic.

Agency: Vintage High School
Support Needed: $15,000
Purpose: Expenses for part-time clerical staff

Life can be stressful for high school students. Of course, getting good grades and dealing with peer pressures probably top the list, but when family problems also enter the mix, teens often feel overwhelmed. For 20 years, Vintage High School as been offering its Peer Support Program (PSP), a unique service in which specially-trained students help classmates make their way through the emotional turmoil of adolescence. PSP offers a two-pronged approach: a range of counseling services for students needing support; and, a community service component for those kids interested in therapeutic careers. Each fall, 80 students, mostly sophomores and juniors taking an entry-level psychology class, learn and practice active listening skills--how to hear the concerns of their peers with respect. In the spring, half of the class volunteers at El Centro Elementary School as tutors. The other psychology students are matched with freshmen who are struggling in school, and engage in a "walk and talk," an informal conversation to see how they are doing. Most of the freshmen continue to meet with their peer mentor throughout the rest of the year. Some of the mentors apply for a slot in the small peer support class the next fall; about 16 are accepted. This group, called "peer counselors," studies topics like family dynamics and more in-depth listening techniques, and serves 300 kids a year at all grade levels. Peer counselors spend four class periods a week talking with: new students; teens who sign up or are referred by their teachers; and, younger kids at Redwood Middle School. Conversation topics include relationships, problems at home and academic pressures. On Fridays, the class writes case notes and receives feedback from their teacher and fellow students. A cadre of professional therapists also is on hand and works with teens needing intensive counseling. Two teachers run PSP and a part-time administrative assistant handles appointments. Total budget for PSP is $25,000 and includes the assistant, stipends for therapists, supplies and transportation. State funding and other grant sources have dried up. The PSP teachers have raised $9,450; a Community Foundation Donor Advised Fund also has made a $500 distribution towards the effort. A balance of $15,000 is needed. Support of this program would be leveraged with other funding and would ensure students needing help have a caring peer ready to respond.

Agency: Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District
Support Needed: $20,000
Purpose: Stipends for work crews at Moore Creek Park

In November 2006, Napa County voters approved Measure I and established the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District (NCRPOSD). This means that, for the first time, our Valley has a quasi-governmental entity dedicated to protecting and stewarding open spaces, and making them accessible to the public. In just two years, NCRPOSD has amassed a hefty master plan with 60 projects, and so far has launched 17 of them, including: protecting 936 acres of significant habitat; creating more than 8 miles of multi-use trails; and, obtaining an easement that will enable several thousand acres of previously landlocked federal property to be enjoyed by sightseers. NCRPOSD contracts with a full-time general manager plus three part-time staff that report to a five-member Board of Directors elected by voters. County Transient and Occupancy Taxes help cover administrative expenses ($300,000 per year) and are leveraged with government grants ($4.3 million so far) that fund land acquisitions and portions of capital projects. A new project is Moore Creek Park, a 673-acre ranch near Lake Hennessey that NCRPOSD purchased in 2008. The goal: Clean up the creek, and build a small, public campground with 10 sites, as well as a regional, multi-use trail. The park has both scenic and environmental significance--the area's geography offers a diverse habitat and a near-wilderness experience for visitors. A perennial, spring-fed creek also runs directly into Lake Hennessey, which supplies the City of Napa with 80 percent of its water. Total project budget is around $146,000, with $70,000 for environmental review and planning, $50,000 for equipment operation and $6,000 for materials. NCRPOSD, which already has enlisted 100 volunteers to remove invasive species, wants to use $20,000 to hire a Napa crew of the California Conservation Corps (CCC) for 20 work days to tackle bigger items on the punch list, like demolishing old buildings, stabilizing stream banks, and building trails. CCC, a state-run career training program for at-risk men and women ages 18 to 25, teaches vocational skills and helps participants obtain their high school diplomas. NCRPOSD hopes that, by contracting with CCC, local young people will have an opportunity to connect with the land and develop a sense of community pride. Your support would provide paid work to these young adults, while making a geographic gem accessible to both residents and tourists.