Big Ideas The Big Lift’s Next Steps Major grants tackle reading proficiency Forty-two percent of third-graders in San Mateo County can’t read proficiently. Unfortunately, that’s a predictor of poor future academic achievement. “In one of the most prosperous regions in the country, our young children face a series of challenging problems,” says Avo Makdessian, director of Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s Center for Early Learning. Now, SVCF has the chance to help set children on the path to educational success, thanks to funding for The Big Lift. SVCF was one of only seven organizations nationwide to receive funding in 2014 from the Social Innovation Fund, a federal program committed to effective community solutions. The $7.5 million appropriated to SVCF will be matched and initially invested in four local school districts to support programs aligned with Big Lift goals. The Peninsula Partnership Leadership Council spearheaded The Big Lift in 2012 in what Makdessian describes as “a call to action” after research showed just how poor literacy rates were. One of the program’s top priorities will be providing high-quality preschool, which parents usually have to pay for out-of-pocket. However, high-quality preschool is just one priority among four. Big Lift partners also will focus on reducing rates of absenteeism, encouraging continued learning through the summer months and increasing parental involvement outside the classroom. “One of the programs we’re definitely implementing is Raising A Reader,” he says, referring to an SVCF program that has proved highly successful in the past. “It’s not just passing out books. It’s parents and caretakers intentionally engaging children in literacy and fostering a love of reading.” Makdessian hopes that The Big Lift model proves to be “the recipe for success when it comes to literacy.” — Miriam Weiner Explore The Big Lift at siliconvalleycf.org/thebiglift. t r e n d s a n d i n n ovat i o n in philanthropy Dan Cohen, founder of the nonprofit Music & Memory, shares memoryinspiring music with Mary Lou Thompson in the film Alive Inside. Moving Pictures The personal power of film As the Bay Area director of the Windrider Film Forum, Terri Bullock searches for independent films with a few common traits. They must be engaging. They must be conversation starters. They must inspire action. For Bullock, an SVCF fund advisor and longtime supporter of the arts, education and other causes, one film that played at the festival in 2014 held all of these traits on a personal level. The film, Alive Inside, chronicles the nonprofit Music & Memory’s mission to use music for memory restoration and therapy for people suffering from Alzheimer’s. “So many films on Alzheimer’s are depressing,” Bullock says, “but this was amazing. It was hopeful. It provided something for families to do right now rather than waiting for a cure.” That “something” is providing patients with Alzheimer’s a music program designed to trigger memories. Bullock, whose sister had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s seven years earlier, got a chance to see the program’s power firsthand. She was hesitant at first to believe in the film’s promise. But she went to visit her sister in the hospital and handed CONT I N UE D O N PA GE 4 O U by the numbers courtesy of Michael rossato-Bennett percent of third-graders in San Mateo County can’t read proficiently 42 si l i c o nval l ey c f.o rg n spr i ng 2015 n 3