GREETINGS FROM THE CEO

As summer arrives, the community foundation is making tremendous strides toward positioning itself to fulfill its mission to strengthen the common good, improve quality of life and address the most challenging problems through visionary community leadership, world-class donor services and effective grantmaking. We have begun to integrate the operations of the two parent foundations and are preparing to consolidate our operations later this summer in our new Mountain View headquarters -the San Mateo and San Jose offices will serve as satellite offices. While these are necessary and important measures of progress, these tasks do not address the larger regional vision that led to the historic decision to merge the two foundations.

Several weeks ago, through two related events, I was able to glimpse the future promise of the new community foundation. My wife, Jackie, and I were pleased to attend a reception that was organized by 26 different immigrant nonprofit organizations from San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. It was the first reception that was not geographically centered, and the warmth and affection with which we were welcomed was overwhelming and the memory will last with us for a lifetime.

The following week, this same group worked with community foundation staff to convene our first of several community input sessions to share their aspirations for the community foundation. Other community input sessions will be announced in the next several weeks. The assembled group offered a wide range of ideas about specific areas of interest and a summary of the meeting is available (PDF).

Not surprisingly, chief among this group’s concerns was their universal belief in America’s promise to give everyone an opportunity at success, regardless of national origin. They expressed their concern that the current national immigration debate does not appear to recognize the past and ongoing contributions, both large and small, of immigrants. Finally, the group was pleased to learn that I had spoken at the public prayer vigil and rally in support of immigrants in San José. The vision of the new community foundation is to inspire civic engagement to improve the common good and this meeting proved that this vision is achievable and well worth pursuing.

As this diverse group of immigrant leaders spoke about America’s promise, they related stories about their hopes for their children. As we celebrate Father’s Day, I believe that all of us can relate to America’s dream of having our children succeed and maximize their individual talents. To the extent that this becomes a reality for all children, we will all be the beneficiaries.