On Sunday, I attended my first official function as a new
advisor to the Gilroy Foundation. The event was the annual meeting
and grants presentation of the Foundation.
On Sunday, I attended my first official function as a new advisor to the Gilroy Foundation. The event was the annual meeting and grants presentation of the Foundation. For those of you unfamiliar with the Gilroy Foundation, I will give you a little background on this wonderful organization.
The Gilroy Foundation was founded in 1980 and has been awarding local non-profit organizations grant money since 1982. It is one of many organizations under the umbrella of the Community Foundation Silicon Valley. It invests the funds it receives to maximize the amount of funds available to the community.
Each year, the Gilroy Foundation distributes 5 percent of its endowment to community groups and invests the rest.
This way, the program is self-sustaining and insures that funds will be available on an ongoing basis.
This year, recipients of the grants included the Gilroy Unified School District Music program, St. Joseph’s Family Center, Brownell Academy Band, Pacific West Christian Academy, Community Solutions, Catholic Charities Immigration Services, Theater Angels Arts League, Gilroy Gang Task Force, St. Mary’s School, Rebekah Children’s Services, Rotacare, South Valley Youth Orchestra, Gilroy Family Resource Center and many others.
The grant recipients cover a broad spectrum of the greater Gilroy community. If you are a parent of a child in Gilroy, chances are that your child has directly benefited from one of the grants of the Gilroy Foundation. My children have benefited through past grants to Rucker Theater Arts, and my daughter is now in the Brownell Academy Band.
I know that there are dozens of worthy charitable organizations who are all eager to accept donations. While many organizations do good work, the Gilroy Foundation is special. The best thing about the Foundation is that the grants fulfill local needs. In these uncertain economic times, the needs of the local community are greater than ever.
Music and arts programs are usually the first to be cut when education dollars are being cut. Grants for the various music programs in Gilroy are a saving grace.
I volunteer at St. Joseph’s Family Center and this year they have seen a large increase in clients who require assistance. They will never turn away people who need food assistance, and rely increasingly on grants to keep serving their growing clientele.
The Gilroy Foundation is governed by a Board of 15 local leaders, with an additional 30 advisors from the community at large. As an advisor, I will work toward making the community more aware of the work of the Foundation. Non-profit groups are encouraged to apply for grants. I will also shamelessly beg for donations with the full knowledge that the money will go to good use right here in Gilroy.
As I have gotten older, I have less and less want of material things (with the possible exception of David Yurman jewelry …) I am asking my family to forego giving me a Mothers Day gift, and instead make a donation to the Gilroy Foundation. If you are interested in donating, you can email me for more information, or visit www.gilroyfoundation.org.
And now for something completely different … advanced placement classes at Gilroy High School should be weighted.
My niece in New York attends a public school with very similar demographics to Gilroy High. She put a ton of effort into the AP classes she has taken over the past two years, and her grades were weighted to reflect the enormous amount of effort required to get good grades in those AP classes. She will attend NYU this fall, a school like many others which takes into account the rigor of the classes you complete in high school.
The most shocking aspect of the weighted grades discussion is that grades were weighted at Gilroy High School in the past. The school board was not consulted when the former principal changed the policy two years ago. I find it incredulous that she claims that the policy was changed because students were taking AP classes to pad their GPA.
I can’t imagine that even one student thought that taking AP Physics would be a good way to easily rev up their GPA. I suspect the true reason the change was made has more to do with “equalizing” everything at Gilroy High. I will attend the meeting on Monday to hear all sides, because I realize that I don’t have all the information on this policy, and it involves more than just weighting grades.
I applaud GHS Principal Bob Bravo for having the intelligence to realize that students, staff and parents should have some input on any proposed change in grading policy.
