Thanks to everyone who responded to our year-end request for support. Your support is greatly appreciated in the New Year. Together we can continue to promote literacy for everyone in Silicon Valley.
1259 El Camino Real #176, Menlo Park, CA 94025
November-December 2023
To my neighbors, friends and community:
I joined the Literacy Partners – Menlo Park (LPMP) Board in 2022 because of LPMP’s belief that we can harness resources to make sure that all of us in Silicon Valley, from toddlers to seniors, have the skills and resources to thrive together. Many of us would like to help those around us, but where to start? LPMP helps identify those organizations already doing great work locally so we all can channel our generosity as effectively as possible.
Sure, there is already great wealth and innovative resources in our community. We are famous for that. But that’s not the whole story. My parents, who speak no English, truly wanted me to succeed, but what would that success look like for me? With a little luck and some ambition, I found out. I had hardly set a foot in a library for most of
Heriberto Madrigal,
LPMP Secretaryset
my childhood, but while attending Menlo-Atherton High School, I landed a job stacking books at the downtown library. That was a lucky break, introducing me to some helpful coworkers and volunteers, sparking a vision and a decade-long quest for education via successive jobs, including one at Starbucks with scholarship benefits.
I’ve since completed a master’s in library science and am currently working as a manager at the Redwood City Library. Today I look around and am thankful but notice how I could have easily fallen through the cracks in one of the wealthiest zip codes in the nation.
Now, I’m hoping and working for a level playing field for all our neighbors, from small kids with limited early exposure to spoken English and reading, all the way to seniors just arriving in our community navigating a new culture, and often a new language. Opportunity is for them, too.
If you’re a parent who has communicated with your child’s school online, imagine what it might be like if you didn’t have online access – let alone couldn’t read the school communications. Adults need technology and coaching not only to communicate with their kids’ teachers but also to manage small businesses, such as housekeeping or gardening, or to study for a citizenship exam or to apply for a job online. Many or most of our neighbors might be hard working and skillful in their jobs, but in 2023 that’s not enough, especially in Silicon Valley. Therefore, I’m proud to be part of the LPMP team. We are advocating and working to implement programs that bridge these gaps to help our neighbors succeed.
The organizations we support are quite different from one another, but broadly there is a theme to what they accomplish: help children – and their families – receive the resources their peers from tech savvy families and generally more affluent families take for granted. When we level the playing field we help residents reap the rewards of their own efforts.
Here’s a list of current and recent Literacy Partners – Menlo Park grants:
East Palo Alto Kids (epak.org)
All Five (allfive.org)
JobTrain (jobtrainworks.org)
StreetCode (streetcode.org)
Ravenswood Classroom Partners (ravenswoodclassroompartners.org)
Menlo Park Public Library (menlopark.gov/library)
I and the entire board and volunteer cadre of LPMP invite you to check our website for more about us, the programs we help support, and our community partners: www.literacypartnersmenlopark.org.
For questions or to discuss volunteer opportunities, please message us at: info@literacypartnersmenlopark.org.
To have our team direct donations to the providers doing work in our community, your donations are welcome on our website or by return mail: Literacy Partners – Menlo Park, 1259 El Camino Real #176, Menlo Park, CA 94025.
Since we expanded our mission in July 2021, LPMP has contributed more than $100,000 to local literacy
programs. We can continue and expand that mission with your help!
Thank you, Menlo Park Community,
Heriberto Madrigal
Secretary, Literacy Partners–Menlo Park
And the entire LPMP team...
Mike Goodkind John Schniedwind Margaret Simmons
President Treasurer Board Member
Madhavi Desai Haylee Huynh Harshi Desai
Webmaster Assistant Webmaster Strategy Volunteer
Literacy Partners is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. EIN: 27-3247798