"Allowing students and parents to go to the same school
together is an amazing opportunity for both generations." {
teacher aide’s family has a beautiful and affordable
Habitat house, the daughter’s a senior at Sarasota High
School (which is mere blocks from the new house),
and that same daughter volunteers regularly and has
years ago during that presentation at Alta Vista, has
one child. The whole family is far better off.
Jerde adds that “Alta Vista is a shining example of
why the Two-Generation Approach of the Community
Foundation works so well. It
-
ship of Alta Vista’s principal,
Dr. Barbara Shirley, who is
committed to Alta Vista being
a school for the family.” Dr.
Shirley spearheaded a partnership
with Suncoast Technical
College (STC), endorsed by
Dr. Todd Bowden (initially in
his role leading STC and now
as Sarasota County School
District Superintendent) to
bring educational opportunities
to the Alta Vista campus for the
parents of students. “Allowing
students and parents to go to
the same school together is
an amazing opportunity for
both generations. Credit also
goes to the school social workers, funded in part by
the Community Foundation, who are able to identify
(CNA) program and support them as they go through
the program.”
To date, the Community Foundation has provided
adult learner scholarships and graduated 80+ CNAs. In
a community which has such a high demand for health
care workers, these graduates are able to increase their
family income—often with full-time work that includes
proud to have two CNAs go on to the yearlong LPN
(Licensed Practical Nurse) program which will move
them up the career ladder. Jerde admits that “my proudest
moments are when we hold graduation ceremonies
at Alta Vista and I witness the pride shown by the
touching is when the words of what it means for the
50 SARASOTA SCENE | DECEMBER 2017
Alta Vista students to see their mom or dad graduate are
read. Never a dry eye in attendance!”
Another Two-Generation Approach success story is
how the Community Foundation formed a task force
a few years back to support student success in four
elementary schools—Gocio, Alta Vista, Tuttle, and
Booker—which were the lowest performing schools
Gocio, in particular, had such a high percentage of
Hispanic students and families that the Community
Foundation partnered with UnidosNow, a group with
the mission of helping elevate the quality of life of
the growing Hispanic/Latino community through
education, integration, and civic engagement. While
UnidosNow put a lot of emphasis on getting 1st
generation Latino kids from high school into college,
the Community Foundation wanted to start the college
conversation younger. Way younger. The idea was to
change parents’ thinking from “my kid might be successful
at college” to “my kid will be successful at college,”
and that message couldn’t come early enough.
The Two-Generation Approach answer was the
Families Together program where parents got together
at Gocio to talk about their needs and discuss how
to help their kids do better in school. It became clear
that many parents didn’t feel comfortable at school
because of the language barrier and many had had
bad school experiences of their own. The solution