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Redwood City Education Foundation outlines equity shift, fundraising goals and partnership plans
Summary
The Redwood City Education Foundation told the school board it is prioritizing four high‑need schools, plans to expand mental‑health, tutoring and family engagement supports, and seeks larger philanthropic and corporate funding while building closer alignment with district LCAP goals.
Florence Ortiz, executive director of the Redwood City Education Foundation, told the Redwood City School Board on June 10 that the foundation has refocused its work through an explicit equity lens and is concentrating resources on four schools with the highest needs. Ortiz said RCF invests roughly half a million dollars annually in programs and is prioritizing mental‑health services, academic supports, family engagement and advocacy.
“Our mission is to cultivate community resources to promote equitable education,” Ortiz said, describing a shift from broad, small grants to targeted investments intended to reduce disparities at Hoover, Garfield, Taft and McKinley (RCF’s identified high‑need sites). Lily Milton, RCF board chair, said the foundation is working monthly with the superintendent and site leaders to align funding and strategy with district LCAP goals.
Trustees pressed RCF leaders on collaboration and scale. RCF described a fundraising mix that relies on philanthropic grants, individual donors and corporate sponsors and said it is exploring coordinated approaches with the district — including shared grant writing and shared office space at a district site — to increase capacity. Ortiz said recent community listening work included roughly 80 stakeholders and that a community advisory board will be convened in phase two of that project, with findings to be shared later this summer.
Why it matters: RCF’s targeted investments and closer district alignment could affect services at schools with high concentrations of socioeconomically disadvantaged students and English learners; trustees and district staff said stronger coordination could unlock more sustainable funding.
What’s next: RCF plans more listening sessions this summer, follow‑up convenings with district leadership, and exploration of joint fundraising and grant‑writing opportunities.
