PIVOTAL CONNECTIONS
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Mission Statement
Pivotal invests in high impact programs that help the foster youth of Santa Clara County create the life they want.
About This Cause
Pivotal (formerly Silicon Valley Children's Fund and TeenForce) was established as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1987 to build a critically needed Children’s Shelter for the county’s abused and neglected children. Through a creative public-private partnership, Pivotal raised the $14 million required to build the home-like environment. Upon completion of the Shelter, Pivotal redirected its focus and has since been at the forefront of researching, developing, implementing and evaluating model programs supporting the independence of foster youth. Pivotal now is the only private non-profit agency in Santa Clara County focused exclusively on meeting the educational needs of foster youth. Due in large part to Pivotal’s efforts, the educational success of this underserved population has become a priority focus in the county. Pivotal collaborates extensively with principal public and private partners, including the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS), the County Office of Education Foster Youth Services (COE-FYS), the Juvenile Dependency Court, school districts, and local universities and community colleges. Pivotal has worked to leverage increasingly scarce resources to ensure that funding is available to meet the academic needs of these vulnerable youth. We offer direct services, provide leadership, form collaborations, and ensure systems accountability, all of which transforms our youth into thriving and self-sustaining adults. Pivotal pinpoints critical service gaps and then designs and implements innovative initiatives that help our youth achieve education, career and life success. Working to promote self-reliance and self-sufficiency for foster youth, Pivotal advances awareness of their educational and employment needs through advocacy efforts and several collaborations. In addition, the agency works with multiple community-based organizations, including the Bill Wilson Center, Year Up and Child Advocates of Silicon Valley. Furthermore, Pivotal co-chairs the Opportunity Youth Partnership, a collective impact initiative addressing the unique needs of youth who are disconnected from education and employment. Finally, Pivotal is a commitment partner in a new Clinton Global Initiative project aimed at bringing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education and paid summer internships at local tech companies to all high school foster youth in Santa Clara County. Through the Foster Youth Advisory Committee, Pivotal works with community partners to promote collaboration among various organizations to address foster youth educational needs. Pivotal participates in an initiative focused exclusively on the employment and vocational training needs of current and former foster youth, the Foster Youth Employment Coalition. Our leadership in FYEC will improve ours and our partners’ responsiveness in each iteration of our high school programs. Our alliance with Teen Force has yielded work opportunities for foster youth with employers who are sensitive to this population’s particular needs. Pivotal seeks to maximize its capacity and that of its community partners through collaboratives that produce cost-effective social solutions to enduring problems faced by foster youth regarding their educational needs and future achievements. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of responsibility and accountability, striving to be responsive to our youth and to lead by example in our work with partners. We are compassionate and model respect for our young people through our youth-led, strengths-based and future-focused approach to program management, development and implementation, and in our direct relationships with the youth we serve. A high level of our direct service offering for foster youth is provided below. High School The High School Roadmap to Independence encompasses one project and two programs, as well as contributions to one collective impact initiative. 1. Records Review Project: Pivotal is collaborating with the County Office of Education, Foster Youth Services (COE-FYS) and the Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) to review the academic records of all 8th to 12th-grade foster youth in Santa Clara County. The findings will be the first point-in-time study of the actual academic standing of our youth. This research will allow us to determine the actual levels of needs of our students and plan proactively to develop targeted interventions to address any gaps in services. This represents a significant shift in how the county views educational support for foster youth, moving us from a reactive system that currently depends on referrals for services to a practicable system that is designed from the start to address all the known concerns of our population. 2. Emerging Scholars: Wanting to develop the pipeline for college ready students, Pivotal in 2010 launched the Emerging Scholars program, a collaborative effort between Pivotal, the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS), and COE-FYS. Emerging Scholars provides academic coaching to high school foster youth in grades 9 to 12 to develop and implement a graduation plan, and look ahead to post-secondary options. To date, the Emerging Scholars Program has served over 100 youth who have reached high school completion levels consistently above 70%. In 2016, 80% completed of Emerging Scholars students completed high school, compared to 46% nationally and approaching the rate of the general population in Santa Clara County, which is 84%. Additionally, 74% of our 2015 high school graduates are now participating in our YES higher education scholarship. The Emerging Scholars program is the focus of this grant proposal. 3. Opportunity Youth Partnership – Opportunity Works: Pivotal employs one of three Education Navigators as part of the efforts of the Opportunity Youth Partnership. Two other navigators work at other agencies, focusing on different populations. The Pivotal Education Navigator provides direct service to 35 current and former foster youth who have not yet obtained a high school credential to re-engage them in academics and set goals for post-secondary education. Higher Education 1. RISE (Relationships Inspiring Scholar Excellence): To address issues of retention and persistence in community college, and in response to graduating Emerging Scholars’ desire to continue coaching into college, Pivotal inaugurated the RISE (Relationships Inspiring Scholar Excellence) program in 2013. RISE offers academic coaching directly on community college campuses. To date, we have served over 80 YES scholars through this program and over 70 foster youth who were not connected to our scholarship program, connecting them to campus resources. Since the inception of RISE, the community college retention rates for our scholarship recipients has risen from 61% to 93%. 2. YES (Youth Education Scholars): Pivotal's longest running program is the YES Scholarship Program, which since 2000 has offered post-secondary financial support to current and former foster youth in higher education and vocational preparation programs. YES connects scholars to a comprehensive support network that includes coaching and academic, financial, and like-skills services, serving 90 to 100 youth annually. To date, we have disbursed over $2.5 million dollars in scholarships to over 400 scholars. Approximately 88 students have earned a bachelor’s degree, giving us a graduation rate of about 35%; over ten times higher than the national average for foster youth graduation rates (3%). Employment: Pivotal is proud to maintain a diverse set of non-profit and corporate partners aimed at providing career-building internship opportunities for our youth. Our dedicated internship team matches foster youth with their interests to relevant partner agencies and work with students throughout the summer season preparing them to excel in their placements. Pivotal leverages the Pivotal Resource Council, a team of community members, willing to open up their professional networks with the goal of adding additional partners to our internship program.