The Ed Fund belongs to the entire Oakland community
Someone asked me not long ago what it is I love about Oakland. My list was long. I thought of the food and our amazing young people, Defremery Pool, our beautiful trees and gardens, and our fantastic weather.
But I kept returning to this: the Ed Fund truly embodies everything I love about Oakland.
The Ed Fund belongs to all of us. Like our wonderful city, we’re a diverse and dedicated community of educators, parents, donors, volunteers, corporate sponsors, local businesses, and partner organizations who invest time, energy, and resources to create a vibrant future for our youth.
Twenty years ago, a group of forward-thinking educators saw the need to address educational inequities in our public schools and they took action and founded the Oakland Small Schools Foundation.
In 2013, we became the fiscal sponsor of OUSD and, with that, became the Oakland Public Education Fund.
Twenty wonderful years of community made up of talented and dedicated community members, staff, and board members has enabled us to see an incredible amount of growth! And in the hardest times, we learned so much about what we can do, together.
At our first in-person Gala in four years, I was awestruck by the generosity of our donors, sponsors, and partners. We raised a record $426,000! Those gifts will be used for programs like Oakland School Volunteers, Techlink, and the A to Z Fund which provides grants directly to OUSD educators for professional development and student enrichment opportunities that would otherwise not be possible.
I was also excited to announce the creation of a brand new endowment to support the A to Z Fund, which is being made possible by a combined $1.5 million gift from an anonymous donor who gave through the Jewish Community Federation, and Greg Tschider and Jennifer Otte. They’ve inspired us to go even bigger. Our goal is to build the endowment to $5 million. The A to Z Endowment will ensure mini-grants will be available for Oakland teachers today and well into the future.
We think about our mission with all we do and every decision we make. When an educational issue or need comes to our attention, we’re here to help raise the necessary funds, gather resources, deploy volunteers, and connect folks in our community.
Of course we can’t do any of this without our community. I’m so grateful for our sponsors, partners, donors, board members, volunteers, and the Ed Fund team.
Together, we’re making a sustainable future for Oakland public schools and promoting innovation, equity, and access to quality education for all Oakland students.
And you make me so proud to call Oakland my home.
-Ali Medina, Executive Director