Volume 2, Number 1 BOARD OF DIRECTORS C.S. Park, Chair Samuel Johnson, Jr., Vice Chair David P. López, Ed.D., Secretary/Treasurer Jayne Battey Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D. Thomas J. Friel Rose Jacobs Gibson Marie Oh Huber Robert A. Keller Julie Miraglia Kwon Dan’l Lewin Wade W. Loo Anne F. Macdonald Lynn A. McGovern, CPA Catherine A. Molnar Eduardo Rallo Tom Stocky Sanjay Vaswani Thurman V. White, Jr. Gordon Yamate Jill S. Dodd, Outside Counsel CEO & PRESIDENT Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D. From Emmett D. Carson Community Core To understand how community foundations differ from other philanthropic organizations, look no further than the word “community.” Community is why we exist, and it was at the core of discussion when we co-hosted more than 150 community foundation and government officials at the White House. The December meeting, hosted with the White House’s Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, celebrated the centennial of the founding of the first community foundation and the importance of these institutions in ensuring America’s future. We believe in the power of community foundations to lead candid conversations and build bridges between groups of people with different expectations and needs. The historic gathering gave us all a chance to recommit ourselves to addressing the world’s most pressing challenges. Community foundations are ideally situated to answer President Obama’s call for constructive local dialogues that engage diverse community members on difficult, and even contentious, topics. In the pages of this magazine, we highlight some of those topics. You’ll read about our early efforts to shine a light on human trafficking, a practice taking place in the shadows in Silicon Valley. You’ll learn about the hurdles our region’s English learners face in the classroom, and smart approaches to overcome them. You’ll find out how strategic partnerships can tackle everything from Ebola to veterans’ needs. Meeting these challenges is up to us. Events such as our second annual Silicon Valley Gives, held on May 5, demonstrate that we have the will and resources to strengthen the nonprofit organizations in our community. p o S S i b i l i t i e S S ta r t h e r e SV CF ChIEF BuSINESS, DEvElOPmENT AND BRAND OFFICER Mari Ellen R. Loijens vICE PRESIDENT, mARkETINg AND COmmuNICATIONS Sidney G. Griffin, Jr. CREATIvE DIRECTOR Ian Kawata mANAgINg EDITOR Chris Blose ART DIRECTOR Lance Pettiford PhOTO EDITOR Sara Elder PROJECT mANAgER Connie Otto COPY EDITOR Tara Kawar CONTRIBuTORS Heather Boerner, Mike Carlson, Vanessa Richardson, Miriam Weiner Learn more about Silicon Valley Gives at svgives.org. Read Emmett D. Carson’s White House remarks at siliconvalleycf.org/ whitehouse. info@siliconvalleycf.org Editorial, Design and Production Management SVCF magazine is published two times a year by Silicon Valley Community Foundation. To receive a copy, call 650.450.5400 or email info@siliconvalleycf.org. Postmaster: Please send address changes to Silicon Valley Community Foundation, 2440 West El Camino Real, Suite 300, Mountain View, California 940401498. The opinions and statements expressed by the authors and contributors to this publication do not necessarily reflect opinions or positions of Silicon Valley Community Foundation. All rights reserved. No material in this publication may be published or copied without the express written consent of Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Copyright © 2015 Silicon Valley Community Foundation silicon valley community foundation is confirmed in compliance with National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations. 2 n sp r i ng 20 1 5 n s i l i c on v alle ycf . or g edward caldwell