Peace through Education
TGF works to reduce violence in our communities by providing education opportunities to youth from underserved populations.
There is a correlation between education and peace: research shows that when kids have more opportunities to better their circumstances through education, rates of violence in the community are lower.
We provide these educational opportunities by offering scholarships and internships, and by partnering with Peninsula Bridge and Acknowledge Alliance.
These two organizations work with students as early as elementary school to support their success in education through mentoring, tutoring, internships, and mental health services.
We rely on annual fundraising efforts to ensure these essential educational services continue for students into the future. You can be a part of this life-changing work by making a gift today.
A History of Support
In 2016, a young man named “Timo” spoke at our Annual Gala. He shared his success in overcoming financial and personal challenges to graduate from high school fueled by the TGF-sponsored Transition Program offered at his school.
The pilot Transition Program began at Sequoia High School, in honor of Tim Griffith, then grew to include all high schools in the Sequoia Union School District.
Timo continued his story of success as he attended college at San Jose State University and worked as an Intern at the Stanford University Math Department. This internship program was started by TGF board member, Debbie Lemos and she’s expanded that program throughout the School of Humanities and Sciences.
Inspired by Timo’s hard-work and inspiring remarks, an angel donor gave a generous grant to establish a TGF scholarship program and help students, who, with financial assistance, would not be able to attend college.
As a result of their hard work, several of the interns have been hired into permanent positions at Stanford University.
The majority of students receiving TGF educational support are the first in their families to graduate from high school and continue on to college.
These young adults are highly resilient. They’ve learned to stay focused on the future and to see obstacles such as family obligations and financial strain as challenges and motivation to work harder.
Often as students, these young people continue to contribute to the household finances by working during the summer and the school year. All are receiving grants or scholarships from the government or other organizations and have taken out loans as well.
Even so they still face substantial financial gaps to cover tuition, transportation, books, meal plans, and housing. That’s where TGF comes in with funding to reduce those gaps and enable students to attend college for the year.
We are very proud of the students supported by TGF who have already achieved a high school graduation and are working to achieve their college education.
Requirements for TGF scholarship applicants:
• Submit an essay describing their educational goals and how a TGF scholarship would enable them to attend college.
• Demonstrate previous application for college funding via government programs, scholarships and loans.
• Disclose the size of remaining financial gap after all existing college funding is obtained.
• Earn a minimum 2.5 GPA upon high school graduation or maintain a 2.5 GPA during college.
TGF wants to help every scholarship applicant, but our funding limits our selection. Our Scholarship Committee (board members and volunteers) review student applications and determine grant amounts.
Our committee consults with Peninsula Bridge and Acknowledge Alliance for insight into each applicant’s background to help make these extremely difficult decisions.
