During its Digital Day of Giving fundraiser, The Preuss School raised $595,000 to help furnish its roughly 800 students with laptops, cameras, software, and other tools necessary for distance-learning success. The charter school on the UC San Diego campus serves economically disadvantaged students striving to be the first in their family to graduate from college.
“It is through the support of our committed donors and talented faculty that we can build a bridge to success for underserved scholars by closing the achievement gap,” said Helen V. Griffith, executive director of The Preuss School. “But more than that, we create a belief system that our scholars belong, that they can compete against any other student in college and will become tomorrow’s leaders.”
The pandemic prompted The Preuss School to switch to a distance-learning model in mid-March. The school was able to distribute laptops and hot spots to promote connectivity. Within two weeks, all 850 students were able to access the online curriculum. Philanthropy also enabled the school to launch the Preuss Scholar Support Mobile Library, which lets students pick up and return library books, textbooks, and supplies for art, engineering, and music.
Founders First CDC and Pacific Western Bank have launched the San Diego Clydesdale Community Leaders Program, an accelerator for Black-owned small businesses. The curriculum includes a 24-month intensive transformational growth program, access to new business contracts, and the opportunity to secure flexible-revenue-based business loans. The first cohort will start October 20.
“We are thrilled to help position San Diego as a center for growth-oriented entrepreneurship by continuing to have a significant impact in using best practices, experience, and leveraging combined expertise of leadership, stakeholders/corporates, investors, and mentors to guide and implement a deliberate, sequenced, and prioritized small business development strategy,” said Kim Folsom, founder and CEO of Founders First. “We actively work to improve the well-being of those we serve by committing financial and human resources in San Diego County and throughout the state of California and beyond.”
Nearly $600,000 was raised to help Preuss School students, like seventh-grader Jaya Carter, shown here before the pandemic.
Erika Johnson
