Partners

Partners | Funders

Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Center for Working Families® (CWF) is a new approach to help low-income families reach financial stability and move up the economic ladder. Pioneered by the Casey Foundation and now supported by other major funders, the CWF offers an innovative framework for how families can increase their earnings and income (“Earn It”), reduce their financial transaction costs (“Keep It”), and build wealth for themselves and their communities (“Grow It”). The United Way of the Bay Area SparkPoint Initiative is based on the CWF model. SparkPoint at Skyline College is part of the Annie E. Casey’s Centers for Working Families Community College Network.

Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative
Launched in 2004, the BAWFC seeks to enhance economic competitiveness and reduce poverty by strengthening the ability of the workforce development system to meet the needs of employers and low-skilled adults.2010 BAWFC Funding Partners include: California Community Colleges System, Chancellor’s Office, East Bay Community Foundation, Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, Grove Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, Living Cities, National Fund for Workforce Solutions, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, The California Endowment, The San Francisco Foundation, Thompson Family Foundation, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, Walter S. Johnson Foundation, and the Y & H Soda Foundation.

California Community Colleges
SparkPoint at Skyline College Career and Technical Education (CTE)services receive funding from the California Community Colleges. “ Through the Career Pathways Initiative (funded by SB70 / SB1133), the community college system is assisting K-12 in building and aligning coordinated CTE pathways that lead to postsecondary programs of study to prepare students for high-skill jobs with high wages." Regional Community Collaboratives are a central component of the Career Pathways Initiative. SparkPoint at Skyline College administers the San Mateo County Community Collaborative.

California Employment Development Department
The California Employment Development Department (EDD) offers benefits for unemployed Californians including unemployment insurance, disability insurance, paid family leave, and employment seeking services. EDD personnel are co-located full-time within SparkPoint at Skyline College.

Career Ladders Project
The Career Ladders Project consults and partners with California community colleges to help implement educational and career pathways so that disadvantaged youth and adults receive education and training that leads them to high-wage, high-demand careers. Career Ladders Project provides technical assistance to SparkPoint at Skyline College to integrate SparkPoint resources and services with Career Advancement Academies at Skyline College.

Community Financial Resources
Community Financial Resources (CFR) provides tools for financial empowerment. CFR works with SparkPoint at Skyline College to:

Provide a product-based financial education and coaching program
Combine financial education with behavioral incentives
Promote money management skills
Build assets
Reduce families’ reliance on payday lenders, check-cashers, loan sharks, debt peddlers, and high-cost money transmitters
Provide a low cost banking and payment tools including a prepaid debit card
Develop sound money management habits and maintain their upward financial trajectory.

EARN
EARN is a nationally recognized non-profit organization who partners with SparkPoint at Skyline College to provide financial coaching through Wealthcare, their unique financial planning and coaching initiative. Wealthcare participants get a 12-month, one-on-one engagement with an expert coach for the individualized support they need to develop.

Earn It, Keep It, Save It
SparkPoint at Skyline College partners with United Way of the Bay Area's Earn It Keep It Save It Program to host a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Center.

Free Tax Help
Paying to have your taxes prepared can cost $200 to $300. Households in the Bay Area earning less than $50,000 cannot afford to pay!

Awareness of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
Many taxpayers do not know about the EITC and that it is a refundable tax credit that can be up to $5,751 for a family with three qualifying children for Tax Year 2011.

Types of Returns Processed
1099 MISC / Schedule C-EZ, Schedule A

Refund Anticipation Loans
When residents get an "instant refund" from a commercial preparer, they are taking a loan out on their own money usually paying 300% interest. With direct deposit an EKS site can e-file your tax return and have your refund deposited into your bank account in 7 to 10 days.

Franklin Templeton Investments
Franklin Templeton Investments (FTI) is a global investment manager, with headquarters located just south of San Francisco, in San Mateo, California. FTI is partnering with United Way of the Bay Area to provide funding for SparkPoint at Skyline College financial coaching activities. Additionally, the partnership creates volunteer opportunities for Franklin employees to support SparkPoint Center activities such job interview practice.

Grove Foundation
Intel co-founder and former CEO Andy Grove and his family started the Grove Foundation. The Grove family is working through the Grove Foundation to support students who are pursuing Career and Technical Education. $2000 scholarships are awarded to Skyline College students who participate in financial education workshops and individual financial coaching, career counseling, and additional services to support academic success and goals. The application deadline to apply for a Spring 2012 scholarship is 4:00 p.m., November 17, 2011. To apply, students should request an application by email at grovescholar@smccd.edu. For more information regarding the application process and to request assistance with the application, students should contact Patty Kwok, in the SparkPoint Center at 650-738-7045. SparkPoint at Skyline College is now featuring a Hall of Fame Photo collection of Grove Scholars 2010-2011. Please visit SparkPoint at Skyline College in Building One, Second Floor, to see the photos.

Jewish Vocational Service
Jewish Vocation Service (JVS) is for anyone who needs help finding a job, offering job-training services ranging from basic skills to highly specialized professional development, career development, one-on-one job search assistance specifically tailored to the needs of their clients, and computer basics.

Joy Family Foundation

Opportunity Fund
“Opportunity Fund (OF) is a not-for-profit social enterprise helping thousands of California families build financial stability. OF partners with SparkPoint at Skyline College to provide Individual Development Accounts (IDA). These matched savings accounts allow clients to invest in their education or small business. Through the IDA savings program, for every $1 the client saves, they earn $2 in matching funds. The client can save up to $2,000 and earn up to $4,000 in matching funds, for a total of $6,000 to pay for education or business expenses.”

San Mateo County Human Services Agency (SMC HSA)
San Mateo County Human Services Agency provides programs and resources that support children and families. To see if you qualify, visit your online benefits resource: Benefits CalWIN – San Mateo County or see a SparkPoint Counselor for assistance.

SMC Works: Employment Services
Child Care
Children & Family Services
County Veterans Services
Food & Financial Assistance
Family Self Sufficiency Teams
Health Insurance
Homelessness
Other Program

San Mateo County Office of Education Regional Occupational Program
Skyline College partners with the San Mateo County Office of Education Regional Occupational Program to improve Career and Technical Education Pathways for students in middle schools, high schools and community colleges. The partnership supports curriculum alignment and articulation of CTE coursework to improve students’ transitions from high school to college. Additionally, the partnership creates high quality professional development activities for educators designed to enhance CTE pathways for students in San Mateo County.

San Mateo Credit Union
SparkPoint at Skyline College partners with San Mateo Credit Union (SMCU) to provide access to quality banking services and resources that include:

Second chance checking accounts
Potential access to a SMCU loan to help reconcile banking fines / fees
Debt counseling service, balance, with potential access to SMCU loans to support a debt restructuring plan
Credit repair
$25 reward to open a checking account. $10 membership fee waived

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
Second Harvest Food Bank is the primary source of donated, surplus, and purchased food for non-profit agencies in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. In fiscal year 2010 (July 2009 - June 2010), we distributed over 45.5 million pounds of nutritious food to low-income people in need. During the first six months of 2011, the Food Pantry at SparkPoint Skyline College distributed over 18,000 pounds of food valued at over $30,000.

Silicon Valley Community Foundation
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) partners with the best organizations in our region to create change. It awards grants to address the most challenging problems in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, by partnering with innovative nonprofit organizations in the region. SVCF grant-making strategies are economic security, education, immigrant integration, regional planning and safety-net services. SVCG supports SparkPoint at Skyline College through its Economic Security Initiative.

United Way Of The Bay Area
United Way of the Bay Area is a nonprofit organization that creates pathways out of poverty. Our goal is to cut Bay Area poverty in half by 2020. We focus on helping working families and individuals, ensuring they can meet all of their basic needs, while creating opportunities for them to achieve lasting financial stability. Establishing SparkPoint Centers throughout the region is essential to achieving this goal.

The Walter S. Johnson Foundation

The Walter S. Johnson Foundation helps youth become successful adults by preparing them to participate fully in their education, their workplaces and their communities. The Education program seeks to prepare young people, ages 14 - 24, who are not on track to graduate or are first generation college-goers, to complete high school and obtain post-secondary credentials. The Foundation is particularly interested in cross-sector collaborations between school districts, local government, alternative education providers, community based organizations, and community colleges that improve educational outcomes and options for off-track and out-of-school youth.

Welcome Back Center
The Welcome Back Center (WBC) partners with Skyline College through the English Language Institute to serve as an information and resource center for people who have received their formal education and training in a health field outside of the U.S. WBC has developed a program model that incorporates individual case management, career counseling services, curricula development, resource coordination, and group interventions, they identify viable career pathways that will enable immigrant health professionals to return to providing health services to communities in need.