SANTA ROSA – A coalition of business leaders that coalesced three years ago to support students at Elsie Allen High School is transitioning to operating as a nonprofit foundation, a looming milestone in an evolving effort that has provided mentorship and thousands of dollars in scholarships at the Santa Rosa school.
With applications for nonprofit status now under way, the group, operating this year as the Elsie Allen High School Foundation, is currently determining the logistical and financial approach that will allow the foundation to realize the kind of ongoing impact seen at other high school foundations around the North Bay.
[caption id="attachment_97177" align="alignright" width="205"] Willie Tamayo[/caption]
“It’s one of the neediest areas in Santa Rosa, but with the most potential,” said Willie Tamayo, co-founder of La Tortilla Factory and president of the foundation. “These students -- so many of them want to find entry points to living the American dream.”
Efforts of the group were punctuated in 2012 with a first-ever fundraising breakfast, raising $50,000 and awarding $15,000 in scholarships to Elsie Allen students. The event has become a touchstone for their efforts – the most recent breakfast in April raised $100,000. In May, the foundation awarded $40,000 in scholarships to 40 students, Mr. Tamayo said.
That growing volume of dollars and community support has helped fuel talks of a strategic financial reserve and of moving the group into full nonprofit status, Mr. Tamayo said.
“We’re still building the bike while riding it,” said Mr. Tamayo, citing a phrase that has come to embody the foundation’s ongoing development.
The group began to form in 2011 at the invitation of Elsie Allen Principal Mary Gail Stablein, along with school instructor and retired Santa Rosa city attorney Brien Farrell.
It has grown to a 20-strong membership of business leaders spanning industries like marketing, professional services, education, politics, manufacturing, law and finance, an unofficial coalition operating under the moniker of an existing college pathway program at Elsie Allen known as “Compact for Success.”
For Mr. Tamayo, involvement at Elsie Allen was a natural segue for a career spent promoting education programs at La Tortilla Factory -- a company that he refers to as a “learning organization.” Education-related perks at the company include paid time off for English language education, as well as scholarship programs for children of employees, he said.
Mr. Tamayo said he was instantly attracted to the idea of a deeper involvement at Elsie Allen, becoming a driving force behind the group and current president of the foundation.
“I’m at a point in my career where I don’t have to be in the office every day. I can get involved in things I feel are important – one of those things is education,” he said.
In addition to financial support through scholarships for higher education and to cover the expense for college testing, applications and visits, foundation members have also participated in job shadowing, mentoring, advising and a regular speaker series at Elsie Allen.
[caption id="attachment_97178" align="alignright" width="192"] Mike Lopez[/caption]
One of those speakers, Vantreo Insurance Brokerage partner Michael Lopez, said that many members of the foundation board were drawn to Elsie Allen in recognition of the role that personal mentorship has had in shaping their professional lives. Mr. Lopez serves as foundation vice president.
“It takes people believing in you,” he said, recounting the role of personal mentors in his own path from the small farming community of Woodland to the insurance business in Santa Rosa.
Mr. Lopez and others noted the impact that groups like the Santa Rosa High School Foundation have had for schools and students, and said the Elsie Allen foundation is seeking similar momentum.
“Elsie Allen is going to be a school to be reckoned with,” he said.
The 1,500-pupil Elsie Allen High School enrolls an ethnically diverse student body, drawing from an area where many families face greater economic and social challenges than elsewhere in Santa Rosa, said Ms. Stablein, the principal. Students have responded well to the involvement of foundation members who have represented various pathways to professional success, she said.
“What resonates for our kids is – what’s the common ground? Everybody has a story and has been given a helping hand in their life,” she said. “If they get a little boost, the kids will take it and run with it."
