Rocketship CA Wins $8.25 Million CA State Grant

by Maricela Guerrero, Rocketship California Executive Director

I am proud to announce that Rocketship California has been awarded the California Department of Education’s Stronger Connections Grant! The three-year, $8.25 million grant will ensure that every Rocketeer child and their family continues to have access to services and resources that help meet their holistic needs, including their mental health and overall well-being. This will foster safer and stronger school communities built on high-achieving schools and engaged families. This funding will support socioemotional learning supports (SEL) including mental health and wellness services, family engagement programming such as Los Dichos, and efforts to address chronic absenteeism and student attendance.

This award recognizes the incredible work of our schools to truly serve as community schools – taking care of our students, families, and neighborhoods both inside and outside of the classroom. Rocketship California is the only grant recipient in Santa Clara County to be awarded this funding.

Over the next three years, this grant will help us to give every single Rocketeer and their family:

High-quality and individualized education resources and integrated student supports to meet their holistic needs, including mental health and overall wellbeing, with a key focus on social emotional learning and a multi-tiered system of supports for students
Evidence-based educational, developmental, family, health, and other wraparound services through our Care Corps program
Trauma-informed support to prevent community violence that builds parent power and family capacity to support equitable outcomes for community residents

Thank you so much for your continued support of our schools, staff, and families as we close COVID learning gaps and unleash the potential of all Rocketeers. We are confident that our community schools model, our excellent educators, and Rocketeer supporters like you will continue to support our transformational public schools as we open up opportunities for all families across the Bay Area.

Published on February 1, 2024