After-school programs boosted by bank gift After-school programs boosted by bank gift (January 28, 2004)

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

Tutoring, homework support, mentoring and sports are among the after-school programs in the county that recently received attention in the form of extra funding from a group of Bay Area banks. The Youth Achievement Program at Woodside High School is listed as one of the recipients.

Greater Bay Bancorp Foundation donated $129,114 from its 11 subsidiary bank corporations in the nine-county Bay Area. The foundation's board chairman, Menlo Park resident Duncan Matteson, and board member Susan Ford Dorsey of Woodside presented the gift to San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools John Mehl at a December 2 ceremony at Woodside High School.

"We were disturbed when we realized that there were so many after-school programs that were shorted [as a result of cuts in state funding]," Mr. Matteson said, adding that he plans to continue to cultivate a spirit of generosity within the corporation. "We'd like it to be the gift that keeps on giving," he said.

Mr. Matteson said he hopes the directors, staff and even the clients of Greater Bay Bancorp's three subsidiary banks in San Mateo County -- Mid-Peninsula Bank, Peninsula Bank of Commerce and Bay Area Bank -- will see the grant as a spur to donate more to county schools. The foundation plans to launch a similar drive in Santa Clara County next.

This grant to San Mateo County will cover about a quarter of the $488,650 needed to restore full funding to the after-school programs, according to the county Office of Education.

Thirteen elementary and secondary public school districts in the county applied for grants, the education office said.

The Sequoia Union High School District received $20,000 to be shared between Carlmont high in Belmont and Woodside, which will use the money to partially fund its Youth Achievement Program. The program needs $75,000 to restore full funding, the education office said.

"It's great," said Shireena Lauaki, a Woodside freshman from Redwood City who participates in the Youth Achievement Program. "Without this program, I'd be someplace else not doing my homework and stuff."

In November 2002, voters approved state Proposition 49, the after-school program ballot measure championed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. But the measure receives no funding unless the state receives more in tax revenues than it spends.

"When are we going to have a profit in the state?" Mr. Matteson asked in a comment on the proposition. "Not for years. [This money] is to try to make sure we have things for the kids to do between 3 and 6 in the afternoon. That's our real concern. ... You pay for it one way or you pay for it in another," he said in a reference to unsupervised youth ending up in trouble with the law.
Woodside's program

After-school activities of Woodside High's Youth Achievement Program are staffed by volunteers and include homework coaching, mentoring, parent education and support, field trips and workshops. Students assess their learning styles, academic strengths and weaknesses, and develop strategies for competence.

Among the Woodside students attending the ceremony were sophomores Jim Moors of Redwood City and Jamar Richmond of East Palo Alto.

Jim said the program has "really improved" his test-taking skills and that he now finishes his homework before going to football, basketball or badminton practice. He said he plans to attend a four-year college and to someday own a house.

Jamar said his English language grades have gone from D to A. The experience "made me feel that I could do better with a little tutoring," he said. "Education in my family is a big thing. I'm doing it to make myself happy and my family happy."

The program sponsored a lunchtime series of talks on preventing violence last year and is planning a poetry slam on January 8, said Carole Dorshkind, one of the program coordinators.

Students in the program have also visited the Stanford University campus and spent the day auditing classes with a college student and participating in a panel discussion afterward, Ms. Dorshkind said.

For more information on the program, call 306-1750 or send e-mail to yap@seq.org.

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