Reach for the Upside
An initiative to help Northern California public school communities
Reach for the Upside aims to support
31 school districts across 16 Northern California counties
442,000 underserved students (66% BIPOC) as well as their teachers, families, and communities
Reach for the Upside is an initiative funded by Genentech and the Genentech Foundation to help Northern California public school districts and their community partners navigate the constraints of the COVID-19 era and identify opportunities to advance student-centered learning, equity, and the well-being of students, teachers, and families in this time.
Through a two-month design sprint with the Stanford d.school’s K12 Lab, districts and their community partners developed and workshopped innovative ideas, which they are now receiving funding and coaching support to bring to their communities.
Project Teams
Northern California Public School Districts & Collaboratives
Galt Joint Union Elementary
Develop personalized social and emotional learning strategies to build connections with disengaged learners.
Lindsay USD
Develop short- and long-term strategies to move students and families out of intergenerational poverty
Sacramento County Office of Education
Using their experience with 3 community schools, reconsider how to make learning more student-centric and more supportive of social and emotional well-being
San Joaquin A+
Design an early college high school program to prepare BIPOC youth for high potential local careers with less debt
Del Norte County Office of Education
Given 20% of their Indigenous students are in special ed, re-invent special education in the district, tightening up the criteria for referral and developing culturally-appropriate strategies
Northern Humboldt Union High USD
Take a systems approach to integrating equity into the educational system and the community, so race will no longer be a predictor of student/staff academic achievement or emotional/physical safety.
Small School District Association (of CA)
Develop career technical education pathways and curriculum for 4 rural high school districts: LaHonda-Pescadero (Bay Area), Modoc (Far North), Lake Tahoe (Serras), and Wheatland Union High (Central Valley)
Fairfield-Suisun USD
Develop a multi-partner approach to finding homeless kids that have fallen off the radar during the pandemic and to re-engage/better support them
Educational Nonprofits Serving North California
100K in 10
Develop strategies to increase the number of creative and culturally responsive STEM teachers in California, working with the California STEM Network (Childre Now) to increase the number of low-income, BIPOC kids who are qualified to go into STEM fields.
Citizen Schools
Explore co-designing maker-centered learning opportunities with K-12 students and educators in the Central Valley, building regional capacity for maker career development, and policy approaches to supporting career pathways.
Trellis Education/ North Bay Teacher Residency Program
Develop a strategic plan to sustain their residency program to support middle and high school STEM teachers and to train them to be more effective teachers and mentors of STEM subjects for BIPOC kids.
