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March 7, 2005 
VOL.
43, NO. 5Oakland,
CA
Major grant helps St. Vincent Day
Home
expand services to children and parents
ChevronTexaco has awarded a $200,000 grant to Saint
Vincent’s Day Home in Oakland to assist the Home’s Bridging
the Divides project, a new program to address family literacy issues in
West Oakland.
The money will help make an integrated technology program available on-site
and will enable the Day Home to provide early childhood education, adult
literacy, adult basic education and job skills training to the over 200
families who have their children enrolled at St. Vincent’s. According
to the U.S. Dept of Education and Educational Research, family literacy
is the most critical factor in the success of children in school.
Saint Vincent’s will partner with LiteracyWorks, the Regional Technology
Center for the National Institute for Literacy LINCS (Literacy and Communications
System). LiteracyWorks specializes in multimedia educational materials,
which can be adapted to ethnically and culturally diverse learners.
The project will begin with the children and parents currently enrolled
at Saint Vincent’s and then expand to the broader community, said
Holy Family Sister Ann Maureen Murphy, development director. It will utilize
an integrated technology program to provide early childhood education,
adult basic education, and skills training including financial literacy
classes to help parents better manage their income and plan for long-range
financial security.
Other collaborators in the project are Next Step Learning Center in Oakland
and the California Families Literacy programs, an affiliate of the State
Library.
Bridging the Divides teachers will help adult students use technology
to identify their interests and potential for employment or work advancement.
Together, they will also develop and test models for virtual learning.
Hewlett Packard recently donated 23 computer stations with state-of-the
art equipment, said Sister Murphy.
The project is Saint Vincent’s latest effort to assist families
who live in West Oakland, a high-crime low income neighborhood with low
literacy rates, underperforming schools, abandoned stores, boarded-up
dwellings, serious unemployment and little access to technology.
In 1999 Saint Vincent’s launched a $2.5 million capital campaign
for renovation and expansion. The campaign successfully closed on June
30, 2003 and enabled the Home to expand its facilities.
Bridging the Divides began several years ago when the Hedco Foundation
gave $265,000 towards the construction of four classrooms for a family-learning
center at St. Vincent’s. The facility was dedicated in 2002.
Saint Vincent’s has been a steady presence in West Oakland since
1911, when the Sisters of the Holy Family in Fremont opened a childcare
and development center for the working poor.
Since first opening its doors, the Home has cared for more than 30,000
children and their families.
The Day Home has 240 children in its year-round programs. It offers day
care to those ages two through kindergarten and extended day care to their
school-age siblings. Besides child care and education, the program includes
meals, health screenings and social service referrals. Forty-four percent
of the children are African American, 36 percent Hispanic, nine percent
bi-racial, eight percent Asian, two percent Caucasian, and one percent
Pacific Islander.
On February 25, Saint Vincent’s honored ChevronTexaco at its annual
Children’s Choice Awards Dinner.
These two-year-olds share playtime at St. Vincent Day Home.
ST.VINCENT DAY HOME PHOTO
