CONTACT:
Rebecca Salner, Vice President, Marketing and Communications
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
650.450.5525 or rsalner@siliconvalleycf.org

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION AWARDS NEARLY $900,000 TO HELP IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES LEARN ENGLISH

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Silicon Valley Community Foundation has awarded $891,539 in grants to help meet the growing need for programs that teach language and vocational skills to immigrants and refugees.

Seventeen nonprofit organizations, community colleges and adult schools will receive grants for a range of programs, from traditional vocational and English as a second language instruction to a new educational telenova that provides language and entrepreneurial training by telling the stories of immigrant women starting their own businesses.

“Language is a critical gateway for immigrants who come to our region seeking jobs and opportunity,” said Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D., CEO and president of the community foundation. “These grants will help new residents acquire better English skills so they can fully participate in civic life, gain access to training and education and better paying jobs.”

A recent study by the Migration Policy Institute found that immigrants constituted the largest share of California’s under-employed skilled labor force. With immigrants making up one third of Silicon Valley’s population, experts say helping new residents learn English is key to developing the workforce the valley will require.

The community foundation’s grants will support educational partnerships among ESL program providers in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Two grants in Santa Clara County will help fund educational and workforce development for refugees, who have different training needs than other immigrants.

The Building Skills Partnership will receive an $80,000 grant to train more janitorial and building services workers in vocational English at work sites in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

The majority of building service workers are immigrants from Mexico and other parts of Latin America and often have difficulty getting language training, in part because they work night shifts and have limited financial resources. Building Skills Partnership classes are given during lunch breaks or just before or after work shifts and are held at corporate sites such as Adobe, Apple, Cisco and Google.

Cañada College in Redwood City received a $114,316 grant for a new vocational English program that offers community college credit as part of its Community-Based English Tutoring Program.

Classes will meet for up to 60 hours per semester and students completing all three levels of instruction will receive a certificate. The goal of the new program is to help immigrants acquire language skills more quickly and increase the likelihood that they will continue pursuing their studies by enrolling in community college courses.

Upwardly Global, a San Francisco nonprofit that helps immigrants and refugees join the professional workplace, received a $35,000 grant to develop a vocational English and job search program for immigrant and refugee health care professionals.

For a full list of grantees, visit www.siliconvalleycf.org.

About Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation is a catalyst and leader for innovative solutions to our region’s most challenging problems. Serving all of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, the community foundation has $1.5 billion in assets under management and 1,500 philanthropic funds. The community foundation provides grants through donor advised and corporate funds in addition to its own Community Endowment Fund. In addition, the community foundation serves as a regional center for philanthropy, providing donors simple and effective ways to give locally and around the world. Silicon Valley Community Foundation launched in January 2007 following the landmark merger of Community Foundation Silicon Valley and Peninsula Community Foundation and is now one of the largest community foundations in the nation. Find out more at www.siliconvalleycf.org.