San Ysidro Education Vanguard Foundation

The San Ysidro Education Vanguard Foundation (the Foundation) was established to address racial and ethnic disparities that have had a particularly significant impact on the San Ysidro School District students and their families, as well as the community at large. It is our mission to provide the children with the necessary support they need to achieve academic success. The very essence of the Foundation is to create a culture of firsts for the 5500 students in San Ysidro. We are encouraging children to be the first person in their family to stay focused on academics, to be the first to graduate from middle school and high school, and the first to look beyond the limitations of poverty to envision opportunities that include college and successful careers. The Foundation was incorporated as a 501(c) 3 in March 2012. The Board of Directors consists of representatives from the U.S Navy, Wells Fargo, CareFusion, Ephesians Home Care, Pounce Inc., California Bank and Trust and Bucher Inc., as well as community members, and parents. Their shared vision is that the children of San Ysidro will have a strong academic foundation in order to compete for jobs in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math despite the challenges these children face every day and the statistics that indicate otherwise. We have succeeded in leveraging sufficient resources to provide financial assistance for county-wide Math 24 competitions, science fairs and exhibits, a robotics program, and field trips to art, natural history and science museums. The Foundation also sponsors an after school mentoring program. To-date, we have mentored more than 100 children STEM.