SVPP News

The Venture Scholars team. Back row, left to right: Keith Brown (Counselor, Roosevelt High School), Andy Kelly (Principal, Roosevelt High School), Joe Barthmaier (SVPP). Front row, left to right: Barb Ward (Counselor, Benson Polytechnic High School), Sharon Barthmaier (SVPP), Kathy Fong Stephens (College/Career Center Coordinator, Roosevelt High School), Deborah Lockwood (SVPP).

(From the March 2005 Newsletter)

SVPP News
A new scholarship program was announced by SVPP at its March 9 quarterly meeting. The program offers scholarships worth up to $4,500 each to seniors graduating this spring from Portland's Roosevelt and Benson Polytechnic high schools. The awards will honor and support students who plan to pursue career-focused training at a community college or training institute. SVPP will administer the program.

The new School-to-Career Venture Scholars program, which will fund 11 scholarships this year, has been established to address a need in Oregon for greater recognition of professional/technical training. "A key goal of the Venture Scholars program is motivating more students to stay in school and graduate. These awards aim to heighten students' awareness of how education leads to opportunity", said Deborah Lockwood, Venture Scholars program manager.

The Venture Scholars awards will help prepare students for work in the two fastest-growing job categories. According to the U. S. Department of Labor, the number of jobs that require a post-secondary vocational award are expected to increase by 24 percent in the present decade; jobs requiring a community college associate's degree, by 32 percent. "So many of our students are unaware of all of the different training opportunities that are available in our community, and these scholarships will help shed some light and give kids more choices, " said Kathy Fong Stephens, coordinator of the College and Career Center and also school-to-work liaison at Roosevelt.

SVPP is able to launch the new scholarship program as a result of commitments from several donors, including SVPP partners. The commitments total $198,000, which funds the 11 scholarships per year for four years. The Venture Scholars program welcomes additional donors at various levels to enable more deserving students in our area to benefit from Venture Scholars awards. Please contact Joe Barthmaier or Deborah Lockwood to discuss how you can make a scholarship donation.

The Venture Scholars program is modeled after the Grove Scholars program of California. Started in 1998 by the family foundation of Intel Chairman Andrew S. Grove, Grove Scholars now serves 12 high schools, awarding approximately 150 scholarships each year. Hundreds of California award recipients are now trained and working as auto technicians, chefs, dental assistants, preschool teachers and other occupations.

SVPP Joins Grantmakers of Oregon and Southwest Washington
Grantmakers of Oregon and Southwest Washington is a nonprofit organization that includes foundations, corporations and individuals practicing philanthropy. Its mission is to inspire effective philanthropy. Grantmakers provides a series of professional development programs delivered locally focusing on core competencies of grantmaking and issues of interest to funders.

In the past, SVPP's member privileges with Grantmakers were through our association with the Oregon Community Foundation. As a formal member of GOSW, SVPP will be able to play a significant role in helping shape program content, policy and direction. It also furthers our goal to continue serving the Portland metropolitan area through partner education and participation in organizations committed to effective grantmaking. Grantmakers is also a member of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, which links us to funders across the nation engaged in effective philanthropy.

SVPP and SVPI Receive Prestigious Awards
Two very significant awards were received late last year. The first award was given to our Portland partnership in October at the annual SVPI conference, for Outstanding Achievement in the Investment Process, recognizing the Kids Café investment. When SVPP learned that Oregon was the second hungriest state in the country, the investment team decided to partner with the Boys & Girls Club of Portland to increase their ability to feed hungry kids by adding/expanding kitchen facilities at each of four clubs. Kids Cafés provide free hot meals and nutrition education to children at Boys & Girls Clubs locations where children naturally congregate. Most of the kids served have hunger issues and qualify for free or reduced lunch programs. SVPP worked with BGCP to leverage the initial funding of $80K with other Grantmakers to secure the initial $130K needed for the first Kids Café in the BGCP Wattles Club.

The second award came in December when Fast Company magazine recognized Social Venture Partners International with the magazine's Social Capitalist Award. This award identifies organizations that are using creativity, business smarts, and hard work to invent a brighter future. This is the only award program that quantitatively measures a nonprofit group's innovation and social impact, as well as the viability and sustainability of its business model. Social Venture Partners exists in 23 communities to increase philanthropy by educating individuals and building the capacity of nonprofit organizations.

SVPP Sets Direction for 2005 Investments
Since October of last year, the Investment Committee has been meeting regularly to identify investment opportunities for 2005 while keeping our interest directed at children at risk and education. The goal of the team has been to identify specific programs for SVPP investment for a period of up to three years where SVPP would participate both with dollar funding support as well as skills expertise of our partners.

The Committee has decided to pursue two programs for 2005. One will focus on improving parental engagement in elementary schools in the Portland Public School District, and the second program will focus on increasing the collection of tax credits available to low income families in Oregon.

The subcommittee addressing the elementary schools presented the program concept to five principals of elementary schools in the Marshall High School cluster and has requested proposals from these principals by March 31st. The expectation is that SVPP will be able to fund up to two schools for the 2005-2006 school year for this program. The concept was very well received by these principals.

The subcommittee addressing the tax credits has been working closely with the Oregon Tax Credit Coalition to provide additional funding and management expertise to increase the effectiveness of OTCC and leverage the experiences of organizations in other states that have been successful in driving similar programs.

The committee is working on getting final approval for both of these programs with the goal of having the funding secured by June. These programs will allow SVPP to engage with new organizations in the Portland area and will provide ample opportunities for partners to participate.