Dear Friends,

It is easy to voice discontent of current issues and realities. It is much harder to take intentional action to change conditions that bolster and perpetuate inequities and inequalities. At every level of SVEF, we work each day to turn our words into actions that change the trajectory for students furthest from access and opportunity. We must have courage, we must be deliberate, we must stay focused. 

One such focused effort has been our Board of Directors recruitment of women to the SVEF Board. Over the past two and a half years, we have recruited six women to our Board. Five of these women identify as women of color,  two hail from the tech industry, two from the field of finance, one from education, and one from law. Two of them are chairperson of SVEF Board Sub-Committees. Women now make-up one-third of the SVEF Board of Directors. While we are not “there” yet, we have made great strides and hope to be a model to others.

Want to know the impact SVEF programs and initiatives had in 2020, then check out our 2020 Annual Report .  One accomplishment that we are extremely proud of was increasing the percentage of female participation in our summer Computer Science Institute from 33% in 2019 to 47% in 2020. Again, our intentional focus on female recruitment yielded a positive result!

While the educational environment is still virtual for most of our students, SVEF remains steadfast in our focus on student support, quality instruction, and teacher professional learning. The articles below will attest to our commitment to providing as many students as possible with the access and opportunity to succeed, no matter what their “classroom” looks like.

We wish you continued health and patience!

Lisa Andrew
President & CEO, SVEF

Building the STEM Pipeline

Gender bias in education and continued stereotypes contribute greatly to preconceived notions of whether boys or girls are better in math.* In 2020, the Elevate [Math] program provided 2,072 girls the opportunity to increase their math proficiency. To ensure that the Elevate [Math] 50% female student base are prepared with the necessary tools to participate in STEM careers, Elevate [Math] front-loads proven methods and specialized materials to 3rd-10th graders. The curriculum is grounded in a growth mindset, college readiness, and culturally responsible pedagogy that gives students greater skills and confidence in math and gives teachers quality professional development to better serve our students.  

A key component of engagement is through SVEF’s STEM Workshop programs. Volunteers from STEM professions share their professional experiences and present real-world examples. This is an area of growth where SVEF is seeking more volunteers, especially women in STEM careers, who are from the Bay Area and would like to share their stories. 

Through these Elevate [Math] programs and with supporters like you we will continue to build upon our proven programs and incorporate tested components to keep female students engaged and ultimately successful in a STEM career.

* Michela Carlana, “Implicit Stereotypes: Evidence from Teachers’ Gender Bias,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 134, no. 3 (August 2019): p. 1163-1224.

Cracking The Code: Increasing Female Participation in Computer Science

Did you know the number of females receiving Computer Science degrees remains the lowest in all STEM-related fields?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2026 computer science jobs will increase by 19%. Despite high demand, women only make up 18% of computer science bachelor’s degrees. 

SVEF's Computer Science Institute (CSI) facilitates success by breaking assignments into smaller parts to help students, especially girls, build confidence in their ideas, learning, and work. We strive to not only instill a sense of confidence in computing skills but a sense of belonging. The hope is our current 47% female base will increase with the launch of our high school program. SVEF has ambitious goals for the future and with the help of supporters, SVEF can expand our program offerings to assist girls in their pursuit of computer science pathways and careers.

 East Side Alliance Prepare the Next Generation of STEM Leaders

March is the scoring month for the East Side Alliance Assessment for Learning Series, a professional development opportunity for teachers to reassess their students’ key concepts from the given curriculum content. Eighty-five percent of participating teachers identified as female, of which nearly seventy percent are women of color. In response to the constraints of COVID, using Zoom, nearly thirty teachers volunteered to administer and then score the first-ever online formative assessment to over one thousand grade 3 through 11 students. 

7th Grader Nandana M. Dominates CoderZ Robotics

STEM Leadership Institute (SLI) students participated in an online coding, robotics, and physical computing competition called CoderZ Robotics this past February. The culmination of their SLI work was utilized in a tournament where teams competed from all over the country. There was at least one SLI team represented in each stage final. Best of all, our 7th grader Nandana won the “Contribution Award”, the highest individual honor given by CoderZ League.

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Thank you to our Donors

AheadTek | Akiko Foo Household | Alithea Morasca | Allison Donnelly | Amazon | AmazonSmile | Andrew Regner | April Pearl Aguila | Arun Sundaresan | Association of California School Administrators | Barbara Service | Boston Consulting Group | Boston Scientific |  Broadcom Foundation | Cal Peng | Cheryl Jordan | Cisco | City of San Jose | Clorox | Daniel Negrete | D&S Davidson Family Foundation | Daniel Drake | Danielle Cohen | Deepak Bhandarkar | Deloitte | Dipra Handa | EBay Inc. | Eric Stone | Faiyaz Shahpurwala | First Tech Federal Credit Union | Garnet Ann Haeckl and Doralee Stancil | George Skillman | Google Inc. | House Family Foundation | HSBC Philanthropic Programs | Hurlbut-Johnson Charitable Trusts | IBM | Iké and Ore Adeyemi | Intuit | Jeanne Wangsness | Joanne Law | Karen Janowski and Thomas Becker | Kent McGuire | Kevin Fei | KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) | Logitech | Lori Van Houten | Max Rosengarden | Mckesson | McKinsey  & Company | Myra Reinhard Family Foundation | Netflix Inc. | Palo Alto Networks | Patricia Yellich | Paulin Rafael | Rachelle Lopp | Randal Henderson | Robert Sinclair | Ronald and Ann Williams Charitable Foundation | Rosemary Kamei | Salesforce | San Francisco 49ers Foundation | Silicon Valley Half Marathon | Sriram Kini | Waymo | Western Digital | Seagate Technology

SVEF appreciates the generous individuals and institutions who made gifts to SVEF December 17, 2020 - March 23, 2021.  If you have a question about your gift or would like to make a change to your listing, please contact development@svefoundation.org.