In their communities. Next, juma ventures, which strives to break the cycle of poverty by helping youth through work, education, and financial capability. Then we highlight the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley, considered by many to be the leader in hispanic philanthropy, inspiring greatness for families and children by, among other things, increasing the number of latino students that excel in high school to enter and graduate from college. The president and ceo and former mayor of san Jose Ron Gonzales will join us for that. For more information on the project innovation, that will be coming up later on our show today. Well, our first group deserves an award just for its name. Hack the hood is an awardwinning nonprofit that helps working class youth of color harness their talents and creativity while also contributing to the vitality of their communities. As we said, hack the hood helps them by hiring and training them to build websites for small businesses, and along with it building their own skills in so many ways. For their efforts, hack the hood received a 50,000 grant. Joining me now is christine cueto, the communications and outreach manager for hack the hood. Congratulations and welcome to the show. Christine cueto thank you, robert. Robert give us a quick overview. I mean, as i said, i love the name, and it kind of in a way does help explain what its about, but give us sort of an overview of the organization and how it started, where it evolved to. Christine all right. So, well, hack the hood is an oaklandbased nonprofit which introduces tech to lowincome youth of color. Robert now, when you say that youre training them to help build websites for small businesses, lets first of all talk about the youth, these people that this is their introduction into the hightech world, right . Christine yes. Robert okay, so how do you do that . How do you help them get up to speed enough to help others . Christine yeah, so we have different types of programs. We have our spring and summer boot camp, where they learn website design and development, and they also learn 21st century career skills. And at the end of the program, they learn how to build a website for small businesses. And we also have our afterschool programs, where they learn Web Development, marketing, and entrepreneurship. Robert how do students get involved in this . I would imagine a lot of young people would love to get involved in it. How do they . Christine yeah, so pretty much they go to hackthehood. Org and they apply, and were actually having our spring boot camp coming up this february. Robert oh, okay, yeah. Sometimes its just as easy as that, huh . Although maybe not if the word doesnt get around, its hard, huh . Tell me a little bit about that boot camp, i love the idea of that. Are students necessarily already oriented to high tech, or do you actually take students who dont have much experience at all, and put them in this boot camp and teach them . Christine yes. So yeah, were open to all levels of experience. We prefer to have some interest in tech at least. But yeah, so they come into the boot camp, its a 6week boot camp, and they actually earn while they learn. So, while theyre learning Web Development and they build a website, they actually get paid to do so. And after the completion, they receive a laptop in the end. Robert i would imagine the boot camp environment is also really good for them. Not really just like a classroom so much as it is a whole bunch of people sort of in it together, right . Builds a lot of teamwork or team feeling, right . Christine yeah, it helps them build their interpersonal skills, and helps them get a sense of community, so yeah. Robert now, when they finish building the websites for the small businesses, what do they end up doing . Do you have any, like, Success Stories of students in terms of where did they take that skill and go . Where did they go from there . Christine yeah, so many of our students, they end up continuing their education, going to college. We do have a few of our students who are already in the workforce, some are in tech. We have a couple who are freelancing, who are doing marketing, and some are also doing summer apprenticeships. Robert wow, thats interesting. Yeah, they can take that skill and kind of sort of find their way, huh . Christine yes. Robert and now, you were talking a little bit earlier, your group has expanded, right . Beyond oakland, though . In what way . Christine yeah, so weve actually partnered up with organizations around the bay area, and theyve copied our model for boot camps in their area. Robert and again, how do students who or families that want to get involved in this, how do they get involved . Christine so, if you want to get involved, you just visit our website, hackthehood. Org, for more information about our boot camps, our programs, and other volunteer opportunities. Robert all right, hack the hood should be easy to remember, huh . Christine yes. Robert thank you, and congratulations. Christine thank you. Robert all right. Well, when we come back, another recipient of a grant, juma ventures, and how it tries to break the cycle of poverty, so stay with us. Robert our next group, juma ventures, was awarded a 25,000 grant for its 25year mission of breaking the poverty cycle for youth of color, especially those in high school and maybe the first in their family to go to college, as well as young people out of school still struggling to find a job. Joining us to talk about how to achieve those goals are the ceo of juma ventures, adriane armstrong, and the social enterprise director of venue operations, alvin yu. Welcome and also congratulations. Adriane armstrong thank you. Robert tell me a little bit about the organizations, sort of an overview. I know youve been around for a little while, but for people who dont know, tell us about it. Adriane of course. So, juma is a social enterprise. Our enterprises create employment and learning opportunities for youth from underserved communities. Robert and how did that come about . What was likeobviously the need has been there. How did that start out in terms of the initial idea . Adriane sure, so this is actually our 25th year anniversary, and we were founded with an Organization Serving homeless youth. And what the founders really thought was, you know, what could really help these young people get on their feet is a job and a chance to earn their way. And so, we were actually founded with a ben and jerrys franchise. We had an ice cream store. Robert oh, very good. And the key is job, right . Adriane yes, it starts with a job. Robert yeah, and thats the motto or the theme of the organization, right . Adriane its one of our taglines. Robert alvin, give us an idea here in terms of your own personal involvement. I understand that you were a part of the program first. Lets talk about it from that point of view. Why did you join . What were you sort of looking for . Alvin yeah. I think growing up as an asianamerican, its really easy to have a social script that kind of immigrant parents hand off and how to, you know, portray ourselves, how to interact with others, how to havewe focus on academics. And it wasnt until high school until i started really, like, asking questions. And that was kind of when i found juma. And one of my first jobs with juma was running up and down at t park selling ice cream bars. And that first job opened so many doors for me of just being able to ask more questions and how things work. And after juma, i went on to college. And then my last year of college, i came back and asked for a 3month internship, and the rest was history. Robert for you, what was it that sort of connected . What was it that made you look at this organization to say, not only can it help me, but it can help me help others . Alvin its veryitsi think theres a lot of commonalities between me and my peers and even the young people we work with. Theres a lot of being able to provide education and provide knowledge that i think they wouldnt have otherwise be able to get at home or whether in the public system. Itsi feel like its a responsibility in our end. Robert yeah. You know, the job part of it is really, you know, an interesting thing because it sounds so simple, yet in terms of just fundamentally changing somebody, having a job is really a key, especially at the beginning, isnt it . Adriane oh, absolutely. I mean, we find that in work, theres dignity. Youre not only learning the hard skills of cash management, but youre learning the soft skills that you need for your career, the real professionalism skills. Robert yeah. Was that something that you felt like you were lacking . Is it like something that you even know that youre not really familiar with until you actually start doing it . Alvin yeah. I mean, growing up, i always worked in my parents restaurant, and that was all i knew of work. And i think when i first stepped into the stadiums, that was a mindblowing experience because were talking 40,000 people that we have to deal with every single day. And its not thatits not that easy, and i think it was a complete flip around and complete new experience that i didnt have at home. Robert yeah. And breaking down inhibitions and beinggetting over that relating to people, and maybe in a larger sense the public, thats a big thing for young people, huh, to overcome. Alvin absolutely. We call it early exposure, something that they wont have otherwise dealt in their own communities. We really challenge them to step out their comfort zones and be able to deal with, you know, hundreds of fans every game. Robert now, given that maybe some youngsters dont have that familiarity and maybe dont even realize it, how do you reach out to them . How do you connect with these young people at the very beginning . Adriane sure, so we work with Community Partners and with schools to do our outreach and identify young people that they think would be a good fit for our program. And then we run a pretty intensive actually interview and application process, where they get to go out in the stadium and practice the job, and really see what it would be like to walk in the shoes of a juma youth. Robert and somebody has to really have to decide for themselves that they want to do this in order to be successful in this, right . I mean, youre not going to hold their hands necessarily all the way through, right . Adriane absolutely. We do find that thats one of the elements that really will set a young person up for success in our program is that motivation to really invest in themselves and to transform their lives. Robert now, you wouldnt necessarily be somebody that would be naturally aggressive in that way. What would you say to people who might be reluctant when they hear this . Or who do you think peoplewho do you think should listen to this . Alvin i think all the young people that really know their potential and just really want to outgrow that. And i think a lot of times, we end up finding youth that lack that knowledge of potential. And we want to be able to elevate them into that next level. Robert all right. Adriane, real quick, how do people get information about this . Adriane sure, you can go to our website, juma. Org, juma. Org. Robert a website, how original, huh . Thank you very much, congratulations. Keep up the good work. Keep us posted on how youre going. Adriane thank you so much. Alvin thank you, robert. Robert all right, well, coming up, diversity on our show, the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley and the work it does for youth. Its leader, former san jose mayor ron gonzales, will join us next. There are some issues that are of crucial importance to all communities, and helping youth is one of them. Our next recipient of a 25,000 grant was the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. Here to talk about that very worthy organization is the president and ceo who is not only the former mayor of san jose, a former Santa Clara County supervisor, and the mayor of sunnyvale, but we also were neighbors many years ago when we were both young lads growing up in sunnyvale. Joining me right now is a familiar name and face in the community, ron gonzales. Ron, thank you for being here. Its great to see you. Ron gonzales thank you for the invitation, robert. Its always good to talk to an Old Neighborhood friend. Robert a fellow jet. Ron a fellow jet, yeah, though i was just a few years ahead of you. Robert thats right. Well, first of all, lets talk a little bit about the Hispanic Foundation. I mean, because again we were talking about its on Asian Pacific america, but we both know that there are a lot of common links and threads to both communities, right . Ron absolutely, absolutely. The Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley this year in 2018, i still cant believe im saying 2018, but were now in our 29th year of operation. So, by Nonprofit Standards and particularly in this valley, whos, you know, seen so many ups and downs in terms of the economy, thats a pretty goodpretty good legacy to have in terms of 28 years of serving the Hispanic Community and other communities that call Silicon Valley their homes. Robert yeah. I mean, its because of the work maybe in public schools, et cetera that make all those common links, right . Ron well, because our number one priority is Education Excellence and trying to increase the academic performance of latino students, most of our Education Programs that we fund and we operate are in local public schools. And we serve all students who want to take advantage of our programming, so we estimate that about 10 to 15 of all the students we serve in any given year are of asian background. Now inparticularly in san jose, a lot of those asians are from the vietnameseamerican community because they tend to live in the same neighborhoods that have high concentrations of hispanic students. Robert thats right. Give us an idea right now in terms of thewhat the Hispanic Foundation is doing now. Youve evolved over the years. Ive done news stories about the organizations. Whats its basic mission now, and are you able to keep up with the demand . I would imagine theres a lot of demand for what the foundation tries to do. Ron well, i think most nonprofits would tell you that no matter what area they focus on, the demand always exceeds the available money and funds. And so, we recognize that, but we try to do everything we possibly can to stretch every dollar. Our three main Priority Areas for the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley is Education Excellence, leadership development, and something we call convening and engaging the Hispanic Community. And the Education Excellence one is extremely important because we all know that a quality education is really going to be any Persons Foundation for a great career and a great life. And if youre going to reside in Silicon Valley in the next 20 to 50 years, youve got to have a college education. And sure, there are a few people that are outliers who, you know, have been able to be very successful outside of having a college degree, but those are pretty limited. And the majority the jobs are going to require of latino students, of asianamerican students, africanamerican students, and now from a gender standpoint more and more women to get into those stem classes that focus on science, technology, engineering, and math so that theyre coming out of college with those kinds of degrees that will make them attractive employees for hightech jobs. Robert i know, and it was kind of a myth that youth can find out about these kind of things and these kind of opportunities. Weve already heard from some of the organizations in terms of just getting the word out to them, connecting with them is sometimes the hardest part because we know they have the potential. Ron you know, people are always surprised when i say this, but you cannot believe what percentage, and its a high percentage, of lowincome youth, minority youth really truly do not understand all the opportunities that the industry, the high Tech Industry can provide to them. Oftentimes if you ask a young person, what is awhat does an engineer do . You know what theyll tell you many times . They drive trains. Or they build and design bridges, you know . So, and it has a lot to do, unfortunately, with the lack of diversity in the high Tech Industry and the fact that these students, their parents dont work in high tech. Theyre service area jobs. Maybe if they work in places like google and facebook and yahoo and so forth, theyre service workers, theyre cleaning the offices at night, theyre working in the cafeteria. They really, you know, have no connection personal, they have no role models within their own families working in these jobs in this industry. Robert you know, from sort of almost bitter experience going to sunnyvale high school, i remember counselors recommending basically sort of blue collar careers, sometimes fairly lucrative, being plumbers. I mean, theres nothing wrong with being plumbers, electricians, things like that, that but i think that to a certain extent, it was a general kind of perspective in order kind of safeguard them from trying for something that maybe they thought they couldnt do. So, we talk a little bit about growing up in the same neighborhood, but it was very much a working class neighborhood. It probably shaped a lot of your perspective in terms of why you got into what you do, right . Ron oh, absolutely. My dad was a teamster truck driver. My mom worked, you know, in the seasonal cannery industry here. And my dad and mom really taught their five children a basic principle in life that i think has probably guided my wholemy whole career, whether it was in the private sector or Public Sector now in the nonprofit sector, and that is that we havewe all have an obligation at some point in our lives to find some way to improve the lives of others. And i found for me for most of my life, that was being a public servant, being an elected public servant. And now, im doing that same kind of work in philanthropy, i just dont, you know, haveim just not on stage 24 7, which is kind of nice, you know . Robert yeah, but you did that a lot when you were starting out. And your father, being so involved in the community, helped you with that orientation. I mean, youre talking about people who, if theyre not oriented towards Silicon Valley, dont understand, you know, the idea of looking for opportunities there. The same way within terms of public service, right . Ron well, you know, we all have role models. We all have people that we point to and say, it was because of that person. It mightve been a teacher for many of us. Fortunately its our parents, which is i always say is the best role models. And for my dad, you know, i often joke with my friends that, you know, your dad goes home and he plays catch with you. My dad comes home and he picks me up to go to some community meeting. So, i mean, those arethose are principles. Those are the things that guide us, our values that weyou know, we judge our lives on and make our decisions on. And for young people, were trying to provide those kinds of experiences in our programs throughout santa clara and san mateo counties, and make sure that they have role models standing in front of them from high tech, from the banking industry, from these white collar jobs or no collar jobs in the high Tech Industry to help them understand what are the possibilities. Because our kids do not lack motivation. They just lack knowledge, they lack exposure. And we feel its part of our responsibility, kind of take the hoodwinks off their eyes and have them see the incredible possibilities that this valley has to offer. Robert in essence direction, huh . They need direction. Ron they need direction, they need a lot of guidance, and they need a lot of support. You know, its this notion of, yeah, you can do it. You know, you come fromyou come from solid stock. You come from working class families. You come from, you know, immigrant families who, you know, i once asked my dad, who are your heroes . And the first thing he told me was immigrants. And i said, really, why is that . He says, well, think about it, son. He says, you know, these are people that live hundreds, thousands of miles away in a country where they know the language, they know their culture, they probably have a job. It may not pay much, but its a job. And they decide for the betterment of their family and their children to have better lives. They pick up their family, move them thousands of miles where they dont know the language, they dont know the culture, and they dont have a job. And so, you know, when you come from that kind of stock, you can do anything that you set your mind on. Robert right. Ron, congratulations. Youre a role model yourself. Thank you for being here. Ron my pleasure. Robert well, coming up, weve talked a lot about some of our groups that were awarded grants, and there are many more worthy of consideration. Next, well go into more detail about the thought behind the grants and how Community Groups you may know of can get involved, not to mention get much needed funds. Thats next. We can now simulate the exact anatomyh care, of a patients brain before surgery. If we can do that, imagine what we can do for seizures. And if we can fix damaged heart valves without open heart surgery, imagine what we can do for an irregular heartbeat, even high blood pressure. If we can use analyze each patients Breast Cancer to personalize their treatment, imagine what we can do for the conditions that affect us all. Imagine what we can do for you. Our show today has been on the 21st Century Solutions grants and our new program, project innovation, a partnership of Nbc Universal foundation, nbc bay area, and telemundo 48. But as important as it is to hear from our recent winners, its just as important for you to know how to become one of the recipients. The grants applications for project innovation are now open and will be until february 2. The program will award up to 225,000 in grants to a maximum of 8 nonprofit organizations in the bay area that Leverage Technology to solve everyday problems in the areas of civil engagement, skills for the digital economy, and stem and steam youth programming. If you are involved with a qualified 501 c 3 organization in the bay area, go to nbcbayarea. Com projectinnovations to officially apply and get more information on eligibility requirements. The awardees will be announced in march. If you know of a group that could and should apply, please refer them to the website. And you can also find out more about the groups and individuals we profiled on our show today, which might help with that application process. Again, you can go to nbcbayarea. Com, and we are also on facebook and twitter. Be sure to check them out and give us your feedback. And thats it for our show today. Thank you for joining us. Well be back next week and every week as we head toward the lunar new year. So, join Asian Pacific america as we keep you up to speed on events and celebrations. Thanks for watching. The american people. No one deserves the plame more than president trump. Now, larry, its your turn to listen to me. Good morning. A year and a day since President Donald Trump was inaugurated. Im willie geist. The president is not vacationing in florida but instead in in the white house with a Government Shutdown has entered its second day. The latest on the blame g