Dear Friends,
It is easy to voice discontent of current issues and realities. It is much harder to take intentional action to change conditions that bolster and perpetuate inequities and inequalities.
At every level of SVEF, we work each day to turn our words into actions that change the trajectory for students furthest from access and opportunity. We must have courage, we must be deliberate, we must stay focused.
One such focused effort has been our Board of Directors recruitment of women to the SVEF Board. Over the past four years, we have recruited ten women to our Board. Eight of these women identify as women of color, five hail from the tech industry, two from the field of finance, two from education, and one from law. Two of them are chairperson of SVEF Board Sub-Committees. Women now make-up forty-two percent of the SVEF Board of Directors. While we are not “there” yet, we have made great strides and hope to be a model to others.
Thanks to our strong partnerships, we will be hosting our 3rd Annual STEM Leadership and the Women Who Power It on March 23rd @ 4:30pm at the Tech Interactive. Check out the amazing Bay Area women who will be sharing their stories as STEM panelists and our featured woman winemaker founder and CEO of Wachira Wines Dr. Chris Wachira who will lead the wine tasting portion of the event. Details can be found at svefoundation.org/womeninstem. I hope to see you at this exciting event!
One accomplishment we are extremely proud of was maintaining the percentage of female participation in our summer Computer Science Institute at 50%! Again, our intentional focus on female recruitment continues to yield a positive result!
Join me in celebrating, honoring, and recognizing the amazing women of our past and present, especially those that work and live with you!
Lisa
