Our Partners
To strengthen our imact, GFS partners with over 20 organizations to implement programs, refer volunteers, and conduct evaluations.
- Alum Rock Counseling Center
- ARCC’s mission is to provide culturally appropriate services which enable youth and their families in East Santa Clara Valley to improve their lives. GFS partners with ARCC in the delivery of parent workshops, a component of the FIRST 5 Santa Clara County project.
- Bring Me a Book Foundation
- Bring Me a Book Foundation provides easy access to the best children's books and inspire reading aloud to children. By providing libraries of high quality children's books and read aloud workshops to underserved communities, Bring Me A Book inspires reading aloud to children, the most important factor in determining a child's future success in reading. Bring Me a Book Foundation supports GFS by facilitating the acquirement of children’s books and children’s library bookshelves for the GFS Children’s Library and/or GFS annual community event East San Jose Reads!
- Children's Discovery Museum
- The Children’s Discovery Museum is one of the largest of its kind in the nation with over 150 interactive exhibits that lead visitors to explore, understand and enjoy the world in which they live. GFS partners with the Children's Discovery Museum to enhance our program by delivering workshops to our families. CDM is also partnering with GFS to bring Lee y serás to San José families.
- CEO Women
- The mission of C.E.O. Women is to create economic opportunities for low-income immigrant and refugee women through teaching English, communications and entrepreneurship skills, so they can establish successful livelihoods. C.E.O. Women then provides women with intensive mentoring, coaching and access to capital needed to start a small business. C.E.O. Women provide a six-week workshop to mothers participating in the Family Empowerment Program at GFS.
- Cesar Chavez Elementary School
- A K–5 elementary school in the Alum Rock Elementary School District in the Mayfair Community of East San Jose, Cesar Chavez partners with GFS by offering referrals and supporting the coordination of GFS Children’s Library School Tours. A total of 15 K-2 classrooms are scheduled to attend school tours during the 2009-2010 school year. Classrooms attending the tours participate in a story time activity, followed by a tour of the children’s library, and an opportunity to obtain a Children’s Library Card to take books home.
- Dorsa Elementary School
- Dorsa Elementary is a K-5 school in the Alum Rock Elementary School District in East San Jose, CA. Dorsa partners with GFS by providing referrals to families, hosting GFS presentations and community forums, and being an active participant in the GFS “Yes We Can...Read!®” Children’s Initiative.
- East Side Union High School District Adult Education Program
- A provider of classes in Adult Literacy, ESL, Citizenship and ESL/Citizenship, General Education Development (GED), High School Diplomas, as well as Community Education classes in a wide variety of subjects. The District provides an instructor who conducts ESL classes at the GFS.
- Evergreen Community College
- Evergreen refers college students interested in volunteering their time and service to GFS programs.
- Parents Helping Parents
- PHP's mission is to help children with special needs receive the resources, love, hope, respect, health care, education, and other services they need to reach their full potential. GFS partners with PHP in the delivery of parent workshops, a component of the FIRST 5 Santa Clara County project.
- Junior League of San Jose
- GFS is proud to be the Signature Project of the Junior League.
- PlaneTree Health Library
- A comprehensive consumer health and medical library that has served the greater Santa Clara community since 1989. A satellite branch of the PlaneTree Heath Library is located at the GFS to serve the community with books, magazines, videos, and Internet access in to health information English and Spanish.
- Rebuilding Together
- Rebuilding Together focuses on the issues of homeownership, the elderly, the disabled, families with children, and helping local agencies by providing volunteers that that provide maintenance and repair service that with otherwise be out-of-reach.
- San Antonio Elementary School
- Located in the Mayfair neighborhood, this school is part of the Alum Rock Union School District serving children in grades K-5. San Antonio Elementary refers children to our after school literacy program and has adopted GFS’s after school literacy program to implement at their site.
- San José Public Library
- The library enriches lives by fostering lifelong learning and by ensuring that every member of the community has access to a vast array of ideas and information. The San José Public Library partners with GFS in bringing the Lee y serás Initiative to San José residents.
- Santa Clara County Works Program (SCC Works)
- SCC Works serves as a staffing resource for non-profit agencies at no cost. GFS sponsors eligible participants by providing work experience assignments that develop job skills and add work experience to their resumes. SCC Works Subsidized Employment Program is made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009's Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF). This program is available to 501(c) nonprofit organizations and public agencies providing a community service within Santa Clara County.
- Santa Clara University
- A private, Jesuit university whose strengths include four Centers of Distinction and nine Residential Learning Communities. Santa Clara University provides volunteers to support our programs through their Arrupe Partnerships program, and also partners with GFS as a resource to enhance our evaluation efforts.
- Scholastic, Inc.
- A global children's publishing and media company, strives to instill a love of reading and learning for lifelong pleasure in all children. Scholastic has selected GFS as the lead agency in the Bay Area to bring the Lee y serás initiative to families. Scholastic has also partnered with GFS to bring thousands of books to Santa Clara County.
- Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
- This organization collects and distributes more than 26 million pounds of food each year to low-income children, adults and seniors. Second Harvest Food Bank provides very low-cost snacks to support our programs.
- Sed de Saber, Retention Education, Inc.
- At Retention Education, Inc.’s mission is to transform the Hispanic community through education. Through a blended approach of appropriate technologies and personal instruction, Retention Education Inc. builds language skills, workforce skills, parenting skills and life skills. Retention Education Inc. partners with GFS to provide clients with the Sed de Saber (“Thirst for Knowledge”) course which features English as a Second Language course leap frog software, curriculum, and tutoring. The Sed de Saber program offers a flexible learning environment that transforms the lives of workers, parents, families and communities.
- SIREN
- The mission of Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) is to empower low-income immigrants and refugees in Santa Clara County through direct services, community education, community organizing, leadership development and policy advocacy. We believe that all people, regardless of legal status or nationality, are entitled to essential services, human dignity, basic rights and protections, and access to full participation in society. SIREN facilitates educational workshops for participants in the Family Empowerment Program.
- Stanford University
- Ph.D student Katie Stokes-Guinan is studying child and adolescent development with an interest on how racial and ethnic identity shapes children’s school experience. Her study takes a developmental perspective for understanding how racial attitudes develop in Hispanic/Latino children. Katie conducts brief interviews with children ages 4 to 9 years of age attending programs at GFS. Katie also serves on the “Yes we can…READ!” Children’s Initiative Committee and provides expertise in the development of program evaluation tools.
- The Unity Council
- The Unity Council’s mission is to help build the assets of families and low-income communities through a comprehensive program of sustainable physical, economic, and social development. GFS partners with The Unity Council to bring the Lee y serás National Latino Early Literacy Initiative to the Bay Area. Components of this initiative in the Bay Area include service provider training on the use of the Lee y serás parent workshops curriculum and book distribution.