The Rappaport Family Foundation focuses on finding innovative and promising ideas for engaging community college students in the state of California and preparing them to be a generation of committed and skilled life-long progressive activists. The Foundation also supports arts and culture, and other civic engagement efforts on a limited basis.
The community college landscape has experienced enormous growth in the last 30 years with enrollment peaking in 2008. Today's community college students are young, progressive, and hopeful about changing politics in their communities. While there has been a focus on developing the civic skills and participation of 4-year students, we believe that it is now time to focus on the training of community college students that can offer the most return on investment, especially in effecting local change.
It is not a secret that community colleges are facing difficult fiscal challenges in this economic environment, or that efforts need to be focused on helping students have access to and the ability to succeed in college. However, during a time of civic renewal among young people, we cannot afford to miss this narrow window of opportunity to equip the most progressive-minded generation in decades.
Download the report that inspired us to fund this work.