The women of Impact100 Sonoma awarded a $100,000 grant to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley for a new teen-centered program.
David Pier was at a loss for words when the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley was awarded the first $100,000 grant by Impact100 Sonoma on Thursday evening. In an interview later the club’s executive director said that being awarded the grant gave him, “the greatest feeling in my heart knowing how many kids this is going to impact.”
Having an impact is what the women in the Impact100 giving circle set out to do when they joined together last year to form the organization. Patterned after other giving circles, Impact100 Sonoma is a philanthropic organization that brings together at least 100 women in a common purpose: to award an impact grant of $100,000 every year to a Sonoma Valley nonprofit organization that would otherwise not have access to this level of funding. The organization’s mission is to increase the number of women involved in local philanthropy, raise awareness of the unmet needs of nonprofits in Sonoma Valley, encourage members to become more involved with local charities, and make an impact on the long term sustainability of Sonoma Valley’s nonprofit community. The organization currently has 127 members, each of whom has donated $1,000 and gets one vote in determining the Sonoma Valley nonprofit that should receive the annual $100,000 Impact Grant.
For this grant cycle, the group registered 110 members. With the remaining $10,000 they were able to present a $2500 grant for operational funds to each of the four runner-up organizations: The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art; The Sonoma Ecology Center; Social Advocates for Youth; and the WillMar Center for Bereaved Children.
The BGCSV grant proposal was submitted in the education focus area and seeks to enable the club to dedicate a Teen Services Director as well as two program assistants to serve more than 250 teen members. The BGCSV has worked hard to build its offerings for older children and the program is gaining traction with more and more teens spending time at the club.
At the core of the program is a fledgling college-bound program for teens at the club. According to Pier, over the last ten years, 65 percent of Sonoma Valley High Schools graduates have not been eligible to apply to a four-year college. He and his team aim to change that and are modeling their program after another, already successful program elsewhere in the state.
“The results of this program are tangible in that we can see increased graduation rates, higher GPAs and SAT scores as well as successful college matriculation rates,” said Pier, who held up as an example SVHS 2010 graduate and BGCSV member Manuel Heredia Santoyo who was awarded a full four-year scholarship to Colgate University.
“This funding will enable us to have a continuum of services from ages six through 18 thus augmenting what the schools are doing. Our goal is to foster an environment that will support academic success with the college bound program being a significant piece of the puzzle,” said Pier.
The new program is in collaboration with the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation’s Teacher Support Network program and the college and career center at Sonoma Valley High School.
