Reach Potential Movement

Class Adoptions Counterpunch School Cuts

Rob — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:23:01 +0000

RPM is matchmaking community groups with Castro Elementary classrooms where teachers need the extra support. With class sizes increasing at Title One schools (over 50% of students are at or below the poverty line) across California, community groups can partner with Reach Potential and low-income schools to make sure kids thrive and do not fall behind.

Reading Volunteers Needed!

Rob — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:36:38 +0000

“30 hours of tutoring helps the typical student advance one grade level in their reading… what a difference you can make!” (readingpartners.org)

San Miguel Elementary in Sunnyvale is looking for members in our community who can devote ONE HOUR a week to assist teachers in improving the early literacy skills of 1st grade students who are a year behind in their ability to begin reading. Reading volunteers will work with a small group of children (5-6) and will receive step by step lesson plans, training and support from a teacher each week.

Help a child read!
·     No experience necessary
·     Tues, Weds & Thurs mornings – 8:15-9:15 or 9-10am
·     Weekly commitment through May preferable
·     Join a team environment that’s impacting kids

For specific questions and more information, please email
Rob Schulze at our CONTACT US PAGE. Thank you!

Soccer Coaches and Volunteers Needed

Rob — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:31:26 +0000

Childhood obesity has been on the rise for two decades.

At-risk kids lack affordable after-school and recreational activities.

Juvenile delinquency is often the result of kids being bored…

… and having a lack of positive mentors in their life.

And RPM keeps hearing from kids (and community champions that work with under-resourced kids) that there is a huge need for affordable neighborhood soccer leagues. With the WORLD CUP coming this summer, we would like to connect with anyone interested in committing 3-4 hours a week to coach soccer to kids. We are also looking at providing free soccer clinics in low-income neighborhoods.

Please contact Rob Schulze at our CONTACT US PAGE if you are interested in coaching soccer or helping us administrate soccer leagues and clinics. Thank you!

2009 Video Highlights

Rob — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:25:44 +0000

Hey RP Movers!

2009 has been a great year of empowering people to reach their highest potential! Many thanks to Barry for putting together our 2009 highlights and for all of you who have given an hour of your time or some of your resources to transform lives. Click here to watch and we look forward to greater impact in 2010!

The Gift of Time

Rob — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:17:25 +0000

A few days ago I (Rob) was given a huge gift by three principals of three Title One (over 50% low income students) elementary schools in Northern California. Despite the challenges they each experience in educating more students with limited resources, each principal gave me the costly gift of their time which allowed me to better understand the strengths and needs of our California public schools.

Two of the principals lead schools in Woodland (near Sacramento) where the school district has recently made the difficult choice to close two of their ten elementary schools due to state budget cuts. The impact on the remaining schools is larger classroom sizes— from 20 to 32 students per classroom at the 1^st through 3^rd grade levels. The challenge and pinch they feel is adding so many students and yet having to decrease their resource staff numbers this past year. No longer can they call upon an adequate number of specialists and aids that can provide additional support to their teachers and students.

One principal shared his concern is not only for his school but also for the youth in his community. He sees his students and older students hanging out after school with not a lot to do. He and others see a growing gang problem in Woodland, partly because there are not enough affordable and constructive activities for kids and youth to pursue when they are not in class. He highlighted a couple of churches have recently provided some free activities but they’re only once or twice a week. His dream? “Youth intramural leagues around town,” he said with enthusiasm.

When asked what their greatest “felt need” was, they each had a similar response. Without hesitation, one principal replied, “The gift of time. These kids need more adults, whether they are paid or volunteers, to give these kids the gift of their time.”

Our early literacy projects and classroom adoption programs are a direct result from listening to principals and teachers. They exist to provide children with needed resources and attention from caring youth and adults. RPM hosted our second Bookshelf in Every Home early literacy project in Mountain View yesterday. Abundant Life Christian Fellowship members turned out in force and brought with them nine students from Eastside Prep in East Palo Alto. Watching these youth laugh and pour into the 1^st graders from Castro Elementary along with adults of all ages was a beautiful picture of the “gift of time” at work.

To all our amazing friends who have volunteered or given to Reach Potential Movement this year— we want you to know how thankful we are for each of you this Thanksgiving! Thank you for giving kids and youth your most costly gift—your gift of time. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

“Bookshelf in Every Home” Project

Rob — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:42:41 +0000

“Bookshelf in Every Home” Project Launch!

Bookshelf in Every Home

As we have listened to educators in local low income schools, the need we have heard most dramatically is literacy… especially early literacy efforts to empower parents before their children fall one to two grades behind in reading. RPM’s response is our “Bookshelf in Every Home” Project, in which low income kindergarten and first grade families in Mountain View will:

decorate a bookshelf with their child to take home as his/her own

select books for a home book collection to support reading at home

participate in a Parent Workshop on how to help their child read, even if they don’t read (or read English) themselves.

develop parent attitudes and expectations for the importance of supporting reading at home

We are excited about the community support that is enabling us to launch this project. We partnered with Open Door Church to hold our first Bookshelf Event for 40 kindergarten families in October, and we’re partnering with Abundant Life Christian Fellowship to equip 40 first grade families November 22nd. Our Bookshelf in Every Home project is an example of one of the simple, scalable and sustainable ways we’re responding to educators to empower people to reach their potential. Let us know if you would be interested in connecting a community group you’re a part of (work, Rotary, church, etc.) with a low income school in or near your community. We would love to talk!

If you would like to provide a child with a bookshelf, books and school supplies while providing their parent(s) a parent education workshop, 100% of your donation will go to our project through our on-line donation partner: RPM Bookshelf in Every Home at Razoo.com

Kids Take the Stage Amidst Summer School Cancellation

Rob — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:51:27 +0000

Slides and summers go together like peanut butter and jelly for most kids. However, Reach Potential Kids aimed at keeping students off the “summer slide” which describes what happens when young minds sit idle all summer. The potential for summer slide was especially high this summer when Mountain View Whisman schools decided to eliminate summer school due to state budget cuts.

Reach Potential Kids Director Christy Tonge put the word out to our network to look for affordable summer camps and programs for low income Mountain View kids, most of whom have no English exposure during the summer. In response, Reach Potential volunteer Michelle McCormick generously offered her calling as a Theater Instructor and had the vision to bring performing arts to the Castro school neighborhood. With a lot of collaboration in a very short time, a summer Theater Camp emerged!

The end result: 25 low income Castro fifth graders spent a week building self-esteem, confidence, problem solving skills, discipline and the importance of character through our Reach Theater Camp production of “Character Matters.”

To pull off Reach Theater Camp on short notice, we relied on many of our community partners in Mountain View. Castro Elementary provided classroom space and school office staff to call parents of English Learners to invite their kids to the Theater Camp. Open Door Church provided snacks, and nearby St. Paul’s Lutheran Church hosted the performance before all their family and friends.

The real highlight of the week was the transformation in the lives of eleven year olds who were given the stage for a week. For many it was their first taste of theatrical arts and Dr. Judy Crates, the Principal of Castro Elementary kept shaking her head at some of the tangible growth she saw in her students in just a week’s time.

Michelle and all our volunteers embodied our strategies of enlisting people to steward their time, talents and treasure towards the interests of others by empowering people to serve where their passions and influence converge in their community.

What’s YOUR passion?
Whether your passion is theatre or gardening, sports, music, technology, art, business, or ______________ (you fill in the blank), perhaps there may be an opportunity for you to join with some friends to empower kids or youth to reach their God-given potential this year or next summer. One thing is for certain, with school districts feeling the budget pinch, many educators and parents are searching for creative ideas to keep their kids off the summer slide.

Kick, Lead, Dream Soccer Camp

Rob — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:01:53 +0000

What can we do to impact our community? Over three years ago, the Nigam family talked about serving our community, and when Akash, their oldest son said he would do anything related to soccer to help others, their family began an incredible adventure. What started simply as a discussion question led to a dream that later became a reality.

Founded and directed by Akash and a few of his fellow high school soccer teammates, a FREE soccer camp for under-resourced and at-risk youth, called Kick, Lead, Dream Soccer Camp was kicked off in 2007 in partnership with the Mountain View Police Activities League (MV PAL). That first camp had some 30-40 campers and five high school coaches. Fast forward to June 2009 … and by all measures, this summer’s camp was a HUGE success!

For 9 days, over 240 campers gathered on the field of Cherry Chase Elementary in Sunnyvale and were coached by 42 high school soccer players from Mountain View, Los Altos, and Sunnyvale. The campers broke out into two camps (junior and senior) and worked on skills, participated in drills, competed on teams, and even had a giant water balloon battle. On several days, all play stopped in order for the campers to hear inspiring words from professional athletes from the San Jose Earthquakes, the FC Gold Pride and the San Francisco 49ers. Each of the athletes gave a positive message and encouraged the campers to stay in school, be diligent with their studies, respect authority, dream BIG, set goals, and to find good role models. There were also special talks by police officers who revealed their vocations at the end of the camp after interacting and playing soccer alongside the campers for nine days.

The success of the camp was due in part to strong cooperation between leaders from Mountain View and Sunnyvale. Months before the camp, MV PAL and the Sunnyvale Public Safety Department decided to join hands and provide significant resources to open the junior and senior camps to students in Grades 3-8 from Mountain View and Sunnyvale. As momentum was generated in the preparation stage, corporate sponsors, such as Kaiser, Sonitrol, El Camino Hospital, MVLA Soccer Club, and All«Star Soccer Store, jumped on board.

Personally, I had the privilege of volunteering for all 9 days, and the experience reminded me of the times I attended soccer camps in my youth. As a volunteer, I provided behind the scenes logistical support like set-up and breakdown, administering basic first-aid, preparing and distributing snacks and fruits, and mixing gallons and gallons of Gatorade! I am now an expert in the proportions needed to fill a 10-gallon jug of water, Gatorade powder, and ice!! It was a ton of fun interacting with the campers, encouraging the coaches, and connecting with parents, law enforcement, community leaders, social workers, and other non-profit workers in the community. At the camp, we saw kids playing, laughing, competing with sportsmanship, and just being kids and having a blast! Carlos, a camper who attended the camp for the third year, encouraged me when I discovered that the lessons he learned from the camps have helped him to stay out of gangs and in school. He is a good student, an excellent soccer player, and a role model for other students in his school. I heard that even the gang members respect him. That’s pretty awesome!

What can we do to impact our community? Some will dream BIG and move forward to define reality. But all of us can roll up our sleeves, reach out, serve a cup of Gatorade, smile, and touch another life.

By Steve Lo

Compassion Weekend at Castro Elementary

Rob — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:44:26 +0000

What a weekend! On April 25-26, 300 volunteers from Open Door Church (ODC) of Mountain View, a campus of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (MPPC), and several other Reach Potential volunteers teamed up to support Castro Elementary in Mountain View. From construction projects and health screenings to parent education workshops and a Treasure Hunt Reading Festival for the kids, MPPC’s annual Compassion Weekend launched another ongoing partnership between a local church and a high need school to help children reach their God-given potential.

Castro’s Principal Dr. Judy Crates reflected on the weekend’s events:

“Money can’t buy what happened here today. The sense of helping, caring and commitment demonstrated by these volunteers is contagious. Who wouldn’t want to go the extra mile after seeing the faces of our parents who used a computer for the very first time today? Who wouldn’t want to do more when they see the expression on a child’s face who gets to choose a book that belongs only to him or her?”

At the Treasure Hunt Reading Festival, students followed a treasure map on an adventure journey with a volunteer “Adventure Guide.” Students experienced various literacy activity stations, “authored” their own books and reached “Treasure Island” where they were able to shop for 10 books to take home as their own. Parents attended workshops in Spanish on How to Use a Computer and other educational topics, and received a parenting book in Spanish as a take-home resource.

The two goals of the festival were to foster the kids’ excitement and pride in literacy and introduce the Open Door Church community to their neighboring Castro neighborhood where the vast majority of families are low income and English language learners. Several ODC small groups and families are now interested in providing classroom support for Castro teachers and students through RP Kids Classroom Adoption Project.

RP Kids exists to ignite and unite community members to empower kids-at-risk to reach their God-given potential. Baylight Community Church in Mountain View was the pioneering force behind mobilizing community groups to adopt classrooms. Now our community partnership called “Heart for Castro Neighborhood,” has expanded to eight churches. Highway Community Church has joined the movement to support low income schools by sponsoring an after-school Art studio class at Landel’s Elementary. With recent budget cuts and possible future cuts, there’s a tremendous need and opportunity to partner with RP Kids and a school near you. For more information, please contact Christy Tonge at Christy@RPMovement.org

Your calling is calling!

Rob — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 03:37:29 +0000

Classic! Has anyone seen Monster’s latest commercial of a stork battling hungry wolves, the elements and working his (or her?!) butt off to do their part in providing the precious opportunity for someone to reach their highest potential? It totally fits their motto – Your calling is calling! Watch this 59 second commercial before reading the rest of my post.

When the stork stares through the window with this “YOU WERE BORN FOR THIS?” look it reminded me of one of my friend who’s band Tremolo put out a song called You were born for this

The song parallels the commercial with the following lyrics…

I see you not like you do. Not the part, but the whole! Why so sacred of your shadow? Prisoner of your own life. Sleeping on your star of gold. No one else can play your part. Liberate all your dreams! Speak the lines within your heart.

Reach Potential Movement exists to help every person (and communities of people) reach their highest potential. The reality is that each of us has gifts and talents that can bless us and others if we are willing to fully engage who we are and “speak the lines within our heart.”

Perhaps this is a good time to remind all our supporters, partners and volunteers about our three E-strategies:

Encourage people to seek their life purpose

Enlist people to steward their time, talents and treasure towards the interests of others

Empower people to serve where their passions and influence converge with needs in their community

Hey friends– your calling is calling!

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