News

Blankets for Babies Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary!

3/1/2023

Each month for the past five years, Blankets for Babies has supplied 20 newborn packets stuffed with handmade necessities and more to the moms of underprivileged babies born in the San Ramón Hospital!

That means, not counting the recent addition of onesies, lined rubber pants, and baby carrier slings, the Blankets for Babies group has made and delivered:

1200 mats (360 yards of plastic sheeting)
1200 blankets (600 yards of flannel)
1200 toys (dogs, bears, monkeys, elephants, rattles, et cetera)
1080 crocheted hats over 4.5 years
480 masks for moms during Covid-19
And SIX THOUSAND burpies! If all those burpies were placed on top of each other, the stack would be more than 100 feet tall!

Many many volunteers have donated countless hours, mountains of supplies, and millions of colones. We love and appreciate them all!

CAA added Blankets for Babies as an alliance last year and provides support so BfB can continue giving these items to the hospital.

A big thank you to everyone who comes the first Friday of every month to work on these items. They work for several hours and then share a delicious potluck lunch.
For information about Blankets for Babies San Ramón or to contribute to this program, please visit the Blankets for Babies page https://www.actionalliancecr.com/blankets-for-babies.html on CAA’s website.

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Congratulations to our eight 2022 colegio graduates and a newly "degreed" Social Worker; now we re-focus on the Class of 2023!

2/19/2023

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The Education Committee, along with smiling students and parents, gathered January 28 to celebrate the eight graduates from the CAA Scholarship Class of 2022, joining twelve earlier graduates for a total of twenty to date. Our hard-working Intern, Alisson, also earned her Social Worker degree from UCR in 2022. This was a very good year for our scholarship students!

After graduating eight students from 2022 and losing one due to academics and another for disciplinary issues we added six new students to make up this 2023 class of 25 students. We reduced the class size from 29 to 25 and re-apportioned the budget to fund additional tutoring and to bring on a new intern trainee, Noelia. Alisson and the Committee will train Noelia for the rest of 2023 to get her ready to take over intern duties in 2024. Alisson will continue as a CAA scholarship student for most of 2024 while working on her thesis and social worker license, allowing her to help Noelia successfully transition into the primary role of Program Administrative Intern.

On the 28th, we awarded the 2022 colegio graduates with special graduation vouchers, and five students received academic achievement awards for scoring 90 or above on all of their subjects last year. We then awarded scholarship vouchers to the 25 Class of 2023 scholarship students, and off they went to our merchant partners to collect their school necessities. As of February 15th, we have already funded 4.7 million colones in education aid, and, by the end of the year, we expect to fund a total of almost 11.7 million (about $20,000).

We are pleased that two of our graduates—both multi-year academic excellence award winners—were accepted by UCR for studies in architecture and in accounting. One of these proud graduates stood before the group to express her appreciation for the assistance and support given her by the CAA Scholarship Program over the past 10 years. She was one of our first enrollees in 2013! She encouraged the next classes to work hard for those grades, seek help when needed, and take responsibility for their own growth, and to set goals and find ways to reach those academic and career goals. University accounting courses await her in March.
Other graduates missed scoring high enough for the UCR cut-off and plan to enter the UNED (distance learning university). At least one student, who missed the UCR cut-off by a single point, plans to register at UNED and then to re-take the entrance test again next year hoping for admission.

What are we doing to help? The Committee earmarked up to 1.5 million colones to fund a new initiative, specialized tutoring support, and, for the second year, to fund university entrance exam prep courses. Additionally, we are arranging for our students to attend Saturday math tutoring sessions through a no-cost program offered by UCR locally. Arranging for our students to attend these sessions on Saturdays will be challenging, but if students are motivated to catch up on their studies and be ready for the next opportunity, we will do our best to assist them. With these new tutoring initiatives, Alisson really needs the additional capacity that Noelia can offer. Noelia is already degreed in social work, and is now studying law, so she will be an asset to our intern services.

Additionally, later in February, and into March, we are scheduling forward-focused orientation sessions for the fourth- and fifth-year students and their parents; to inform them of available vocational and university eligibility requirements. It is critically important that 4th year colegio students focus on academics—fully 50% of their university eligibility score is based on the last two years of colegio grades, and Johanna Fernandez advises that the 4th year grades actually represent 2/3rds of that colegio score used for university admission. So buckling down early is the key to university eligibility. For those students who will not go to university, it is important to think about future careers and identify the paths necessary to achieve those career goals.

At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, a number of students and parents remained to hug the education committee members and to share their gratitude for the assistance. These sentiments were matched by the satisfaction of the education committee members who have worked tirelessly to help the students reach this important milestone.

We are so very thankful for the ongoing local and international support. Because of your efforts, CAA has been able to provide just over $100,000 in educational funding to San Ramón area students over the past 10 years. The graduation and university degree total continues to build each year, reinforcing our resolve to assist these families in poverty through education.

January 28 was a day of pride for all of us, and a reminder that it truly takes a village to raise a child! Our goal now is to make the Class of 2023 even better prepared to meet the future.

If you would like to contribute to our San Ramón students who need your help to be successful in school, go to www.globalgiving.org/18714

~Scott McAnally, Education Committee Leader

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Two Broken Arms and He Still Graduated with Honors!

1/31/2023

One of our scholarship students, Alvaro*, and his cousin were out riding on his bicycle one day recently (together on the same bike) and upon coming to a steep hill thought, “Wow, going down this should be really fun.” (They were 12, after all.) As it turned out, it wasn’t as much fun as they had imagined and Alvaro ended up with both arms broken, although his cousin jumped off and managed to avoid injury. Graduation from the Bilingue Escuela in San Isidro, San Ramón was in less than a week and he was determined to attend and managed to do so with the help of his long-suffering, patient mother, Evelyn.

As a long-term member of the CAA’s Education Scholarship Program and having attended many students’ graduations, I was quite impressed with Alvaro’s determination to be in attendance that day as well as with his excellent grades. He was still in quite a bit of pain, but he happily told me that day after the outdoor ceremony was completed that, “I would have attended even if I had also broken my leg!”

So, on this beautiful sunny day after the Costa Rican anthem was proudly sung, diplomas distributed with many teachers’ hugs, and proud parents took pictures, I left thinking about all the people who contributed to such graduations by providing tutoring or donations for supplies and uniforms for students like Alvaro who had maintained such a high grade-point average in spite of difficulties like broken arms, and it made me feel happy to have been even a small part of this significant event.

If you would like to contribute to our San Ramón students who need your help to be successful in school, go to www.globalgiving.org/18714
~Marian Latham

* In the interest of child safety, we have changed his name and covered his face.

Sustainability Committee 2022 Accomplishments and 2023 Goals

12/31/2022

The start of a new year traditionally provides an opportunity to survey the accomplishments of the previous year and make plans for the coming year. When we survey 2022, we realize we have much to be grateful for:

A steady increase in membership with 108 members at year-end;
New easy, quick, and safe online donation capabilities through the Global Giving platform;
A very successful, first-time Giving Tuesday online fundraising campaign that raised $1,300+ to support our philanthropy;
An increase in the number of Global Giving donors who have committed to monthly recurring donations, which helps us predict the availability of funds;
And renewed opportunities for in-person socializing via mixers, day-away trips, Thursday morning coffee, and various classes.

As we look forward to 2023, the Sustainability Committee is making plans to continue the progress:

We are in the process of developing the 2023 annual operating budget with greater precision and confidence based on the actual experience of 2022.
Based on the Global Giving income for the two new projects (Feeding Hungry Families and Brighten the Lives of Children), we now have the ability to set up a reserve for unexpected contingencies that might occur. This is similar to what the Education Program has been doing for the past number of years.
With more predictable funding on a regular basis, we are able to enhance/expand our activities with our local alliance partners.
We have convened a committee to review and revise the by-laws as needed to keep them in synch with current requirements.
We will continue to explore ways to recruit and retain members and to identify and support the needs and interests of the membership.

Education Committee Meets to Finalize 2023 Plans

12/28/2022

Our large and hard-working Education Committee met for several hours on December 27. Among the topics covered regarding the Scholarship Program were:

Updates on colegio orientation sessions, university applications, academic challenges.
Update on current class grades, interviews underway; and progress in recruiting an apprentice/trainee Intern to replace Alisson in 2024.
A review of funding and reserves.
Budgeting for 2023 classes including class sizes, extra tutoring support, and apprentice intern recruitment and training.
Ongoing promotion of the programs.
Increasing engagement with students and their families to enrich mentoring and understanding.

Christmas Toy Drive

12/26/2022

We were honored to join the Lions Club of San Ramón and their wonderful volunteer team this year to distribute 65 gifts to local families in December. The final amount donated by CAA members was $600. The total amount raised by both organizations was a 50% increase in last year’s donations, resulting in a significant impact on recipients and items selected.

Giving Tuesday Results

12/1/2022

Tuesday, November 29 was an exciting day for CAA! It was our first participation in the worldwide Giving Tuesday event with outstanding results! Thanks to the generosity of CAA members and friends and friends of friends, among our three projects we were able to raise $980 in direct donations and earn an additional $367 from Global Giving’s incentive fund. That is a grand total of $1347 to help us feed hungry families, support motivated students, and put smiles on the faces of deserving children. To add to the excitement, there were several first-time donors as well as several folks who pledged a recurring monthly donation. Recurring donations are much appreciated as they provide us with regular, predictable income to enhance our ability to plan support for our projects.

So a huge thank you is in order to all who participated—those who gathered info and pictures and created the weekly Tuesday stories, those who shared the information with family and friends, and of course, those who contributed so generously to allow us to maximize our results.
Thank You and Hooray for CAA!

~Mary Lou Hoffman

English Conversation Club Holds Recruiting Event in the Park

11/20/2022

CAA volunteers and Becca students were at the central park on November 19 promoting CAA’s English Conversation Class program. It was the first test of the new CAA t-shirts. Thanks to Alisson and students and our member volunteers. The students met people all around the park promoting the classes and handing a small sheet with info and scan code to sign up and pay online. They also went to the business fair at the Gimnasio Gabelo and promoted the classes. The event was a success and Dustin has created a special course for the students integrated with a group of English teachers during a four-week course in San Ramón.

Giving Tuesday is Coming!

10/25/2022

Community Action Alliance is excited to participate in Giving Tuesday, an online fundraising event, on November 29. On that day people around the world will donate to their favorite causes at globalgiving.org. To make things even more exciting, Global Giving will give participant organizations a share of a $1.2 million incentive fund that will be divided among participants proportionally based on the final fundraising totals.

Please consider making an online gift to one of these CAA programs on Tuesday, November 29 to help us reach our Giving Tuesday goal AND help us increase our share of the $1.2 million incentive bonus fund!

Feed Hungry Families globalgiving.org/56450
Give the Gift of Education globalgiving.org/18714
Brighten the Lives of Children globalgiving.org/57142

What's Ahead for Our December 2022 High School Graduates?

10/14/2022

By Scott McAnally and Mariana Latham, CAA Education Committee
Our nine graduating Colegio (high school) students are heavily involved in classes and are anticipating graduation in December. Eight of those graduates are taking two more university admission entrance exams in October in addition to final Colegio exams before graduation. The eight university applicants will face two to three months of uncertainty waiting for a January notification of scores and acceptance. In Costa Rica, each public university compiles a ranked list of eligible students by exam scores for available slots in each degree field. Some students will not rank high enough to get into their preferred career field and may decide to begin university in another field. Although it may be disappointing not to be accepted into a student’s preferred field, some students starting university in another field can switch career fields by earning excellent grades—but only if a slot opens in the preferred field.

During this period of university acceptance uncertainty, students and their families must still complete financial aid applications and be prepared in the event the student gets the opportunity for admission. Absent a government scholarship and housing/food support, none of these students are likely to be able to attend a public university.

CAA’s member volunteer and expert in university financial aid conducted a March workshop for our students to give them the admission and financial aid application deadlines and advice. We will continue to assist, on a family-by-family basis, with aid applications and the complexities of gaining a scholarship.

For those who are not accepted into a public university with a financial scholarship, the road ahead is to find a job that will pay enough for tuition at a private university, or just give up and take a low paying job. Students may also try to attend the public technical/trade school (INA) while continuing to re-take entrance exams and hoping for admission to a public university.
How can these students overcome the academic losses of the past four years?

The other 20 non-graduating students face the daily challenge of trying to keep their grades up despite having lost so much in-person class time.

By official estimates, the teacher-strike-and-pandemic-affected students have lost as much as two years of subject mastery. We are told that the public schools have relaxed tests/grading in recognition of lower achievement expectations. However, this lower bar does not help with the university admission tests—those standardized tests are the same today as they were four years ago. It is clearly disappointing for our students to realize that being a “good student” in high school isn’t enough to enter a public university in their preferred field. Only the “best students” throughout the country get that opportunity.

These students desperately need after-class tutoring (primarily in math, Spanish, and English). We learned first-hand how deficient most of our graduating scholarship students are in math during the 16 sessions of prep/refresher courses that CAA sponsored from July through mid-September.

However, it appears that waiting until the year of graduation to participate in these university exam refresher courses is too late to significantly improve university admission prospects. Almost all of our students were below expected levels (by university standards) when they entered high school in the 7th grade and continued to lose ground until graduation.

These students desperately need ongoing tutoring beginning early in high school. Most of our students lack home academic support for schoolwork. Few have educated parents or older siblings who can help, and many lack adequate access to books or Internet/computer support. From parent feedback, our students’ public-school teachers are not very helpful when students ask for help to locate tutoring resources. Now, CAA is being challenged to find ongoing tutoring for many of our high school students.

Arranging tutoring is a big challenge! We continue to search for tutoring options for our students, but the logistics and costs present challenges. For example, it cost $1,000 for these special refresher courses for eight students this year. Furthermore, our scholarship students are attending five Colegios around San Ramón, and many of the students are bused in from outlying neighborhoods. The bus transport schedules, at an individual student level, dictate the student’s availability for after-class tutoring. Colegio campus officials are reluctant to allow non-certified teachers/tutors to use classrooms or be on campus.

Some of our scholarship students are lucky enough to live near a CAA member who agrees to assist as a tutor. My wife and I provide English tutoring each Saturday for two young women in our rural pueblo; sixth and eighth grades. A few other CAA members provide tutoring in their homes for a student in their area.

Despite the limitations and challenges, most of our scholarship students will be the first in their family to graduate high school, and some will master university studies. Achieving these important milestones would not be possible without the collective investment of our supportive donors through Education Equals Hope, Inc., GlobalGiving, and locally. None of this would be possible without CAA’s dedicated local volunteers. On behalf of these San Ramón students, we are forever grateful to those helping us alleviate poverty through education. Together we can continue to give hope and make a difference, one student at a time.

<<Previous

Blankets for Babies Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary!

Congratulations to our eight 2022 colegio graduates and a newly "degreed" Social Worker; now we re-focus on the Class of 2023!

Two Broken Arms and He Still Graduated with Honors!

Sustainability Committee 2022 Accomplishments and 2023 Goals

Education Committee Meets to Finalize 2023 Plans

Christmas Toy Drive

Giving Tuesday Results

English Conversation Club Holds Recruiting Event in the Park

Giving Tuesday is Coming!

What's Ahead for Our December 2022 High School Graduates?

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