The Foundation supports efforts to expand educational opportunities at all levels. We are particularly interested in programs that:

• Nurture a love of learning in children through the gift of reading.
• Strengthen the teaching profession through programs focused on developing effective teachers and principals.
• Motivate students to achieve and gain the skills that allow them to reach their academic and career goals, including vocational training.
• Increase educational choice through charter schools and scholarships to private secondary schools, vocational schools, colleges and universities.

Featured Grant:

Cleo Eulau Center  |  www.cleoeulaucenter.org

The mission of the Cleo Eulau Center (CEC) is to promote the lifelong resiliency in youth by strengthening the caring capacity of the adults who influence their lives. CEC addresses the "whole child" in education and helps teachers understand how fostering the social and emotional needs of students actually leads to stronger academic engagement.

The Morgan Family Foundation generously supports CEC's Resilience Consultation Program. The goal of this program is to help educators understand and maximize their ability to have a positive influence on the lives of their students, in turn helping them overcome barriers that inhibit healthy learning. Teachers, working with the Resilience Consultation Program staff , gain the skills and training to create strong and caring relationships with their students. The reality is, when teachers treat students with respect, hold high expectations, and develop healthy relationships, students do become more engaged and motivated to learn. Through a combination of support and services, the program helps reduce teacher burnout and enhances the quality of education for every student, regardless of their background, race, and life circumstances.

CEC's Resilience Program serves 200 educators and 3000 K-8 students at six schools in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

In addition to the Resilience Program, CEC also provides direct counseling services to 170 teens through its Collaborative Counseling Program. These are students who are facing the greatest life adversities and are referred to the Court and Community Schools as a result of being on probation or due to being expelled from school. Through CEC's confidential and psychodynamic therapy, these teens learn to consider their options where they thought they had none; find compassion for each other; and have renewed hope and a glimpse of a future with new possibilities.

Unique Collaborations to Serve Youth and Teachers

CEC collaborates with prominent partners in the fields of education and youth development to expand the reach of its unique approach. One such partner is the New Teacher Center (NTC), a national organization with the mission to improve student learning by supporting the development of an inspired, dedicated and highly qualified teaching force. In year one of their collaborative project, CEC and NTC developed a social and emotional well-being curriculum to be used by mentor teachers working with new teachers in Santa Clara County, reaching 56 mentor (veteran) teachers and 540 new teachers. Through this partnership, CEC also provides workshops to school administrators and teachers. The goal of these workshops is to establish the link between Social and Emotional Well-Being, teacher efficacy, positive school climate and student academic achievement.

With funding from the Morgan Family Foundation, CEC has also recently partnered is partnering with San José State University's Connie L. Lurie College of Education Center for Reaching & Teaching the Whole Child (CRTWC). The mission of the CRTWC is to promote the essential role of social-emotional learning and its relationship to academic achievement in the pre K-12 schools. The aim of this new project is to reach pre-service teachers and equip them with the knowledge they need to include the social-emotional dimension of learning in their practice.