Reflections on Youth Development

When the Rogers Family Foundation announced the sunsetting of our Oakland education strategy in October 2020, our team knew we’d reach a point of reflection on our grantmaking and improvement efforts over the last two decades. That time is now. This piece represents the first in a series designed to highlight the work and reflections of grantees across our strategic focus areas over the lifetime of the Foundation. Our hope is that these pieces will remind our grantees, partners, and community of their incredible journeys, lessons learned, and accomplishments in service of students and rally efforts to persevere for years to come.

From its founding in 2003, the Rogers Family Foundation’s mission has been to support the youth of Oakland. The Foundation has always sought to support excellent organizations that help children learn, grow, and reach their full potential. While schools were a main focus area of the Foundation strategy, the time and programs that children spend out of school can be just as instrumental to their growth and learning. The symbiotic scaffolded supports, safe environment, and caring mentoring relationships provided by out-of-school youth development organizations play an important, and at times critical role, in the growth and development of young people. Therefore, the Foundation made an early commitment to funding quality youth development programs in addition to quality schools.