Social Justice Fund for Ventura County update for Jan. 19

In 2017 we embarked on a new challenge to combat implicit bias in Ventura County’s classrooms. If our partners had a project to stop our students from being undermined, and elevate their learning and identity, we would fund it.

We helped build a bridge between One Step A La Vez and the Rainbow Alliance to empower LGBT students and their allies in Fillmore.  We worked with Planned Parenthood to fund their inclusive sex education programs. We bolstered the efforts of MICOP to increase in-school resources for Mixteco families.

We also stood with Future Leaders of America as they worked for systematic change in the City of Oxnard. In 2015, only 20% of the Latina/o students in the Oxnard Union High School District completed the A-G requirements necessary to attend a four year university.

FLA students, with your support, organized their peers to align the high school graduation requirements with A-G requirements. They presented a community resolution asking for this achievement gap to be addressed immediately.

This means no school can set intentionally low expectations for their students. This means no graduating senior will start their college applications only to find they don’t meet the minimum academic requirements. By elevating the rigor of coursework and shortening the achievement gap, the Social Justice Fund is committed to training the next generation of leaders and change makers in Ventura County.

These projects are what change looks like. New leaders, new partnerships, and permanent progressive results.

This is work you made happen. You, our donors, allow us to fund these amazing projects. 100% of our donations go directly to organizations working to make change in our community.

So please, give today and allow us to carry on into 2018.

Sincerely,

Michael Teasdale and Betty Stapleford,
Co-chairs, Social Justice Fund for Ventura County

PS: Want to learn more? We will be at the Ventura County Rising March on Saturday, January 20th – Come and learn about what we have accomplished and all the work left to do