Without You, There Would Be No Us

I have a secret.

After five years at Sonoma Valley Education Foundation, I anticipated that writing the annual report would feel familiar and, dare I say, a little redundant.

And you know what? It was.

In the best way possible.

In a world of uncertainty and constant change, the depth of your generosity and dedication to local students have established a predictable, unwavering lifeline of certainty for Valley youth.

Your steadfast certainty allows our students to dream big, knowing their community is behind them and that they’ll have what they need to arrive at school ready to learn.

This report celebrates the strides you’ve enabled in evergreen offerings, like preschool and Classroom Grants, and the conception of the Ready to Learn Collaborative, which empowers SVEF to work strategically across seven youth-serving organizations to creatively combine resources and expertise to serve student need at the highest level.

Ready to Learn, which officially launched in November of 2023, has been instrumental in increasing resources and programming for students who need social-emotional and mental health support and has come to life through the following programs:

Creative Campus is an innovative arts program for elementary school students that provides high-quality arts and social-emotional programming at lunch, as well as during and after school.

Empowerment Academy combines the expertise of the Mentoring Alliance and the Boys & Girls Club of Sonoma Valley to provide
tutoring, mental health services, and SEL programming after school
at Sonoma Valley High School.

Sonoma Valley for Healing Justice is a transformative program that equips local teens with essential personal and community healing tools and insights.

Awakening Wisdom offers an empowering series of workshops designed to increase student self-belief, break cycles of anger and impulsivity, and strive to embody greater self-awareness, self-esteem, empathy, and responsibility.

Alliance for Youth Wellness provides on-campus one-to-one and group mental health clinical services through Sonoma Valley Therapy, SVUSD, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley.

These examples, and many more underway, are just the tip of the iceberg for what is possible when this community and our Ready to Learn Collaborative unify in the name of students.
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It’s worth repeating that without you, there would be no us or these meaningful programs and resources for students.
Thank you for being a beacon of dependability and support for the students of this valley.

We appreciate you!
Angela Ryan, Ph.D.
Executive Director