Civic Arts Commission Meeting Agenda Packet 030325 FINAL

Clients Estimate the total number of unduplicated Pleasanton residents to be served by this project. For the 2023-2024 school year, 15 children and their families regularly attended the Black Excellence Program for an average of 30 participants per session. For the 2024-2025 school year, we anticipate this number to grow to 25 children and 20 family members, for an average of 45 total participants per session. Describe the specific population your agency anticipates serving with these funds and how they will benefit from the implementation of this project. (e.g. low income, youth, disabled, etc.) The Black Excellence Program is open to all students of PUSD and their families, but we anticipate serving primarily African and African-American PUSD children and their families. Black students make up approximately 1.9% of the total student population in PUSD, making it likely that each student is one of a small number of Black students on each school site. Additionally, the Census indicates that only 1.7% of Pleasanton residents as a whole are African-American. For the children in particular, safe affinity spaces where they can celebrate their cultural and racial/ethnic heritage are exceedingly important. For all participants, children and adults alike, the building of a supportive community of culturally similar families is an opportunity that Pleasanton’s African-American families do not typically have access to. Additionally, exposing our PUSD children to incredible Bay Area African and African-American provides them with positive role models and teaches them the best about Black culture. Please describe in detail what the community grant funds will be specifically used for. Cheza Nami is asking for $15,000 dollars to implement the Black Excellence Program. $1500 will be used for Program Coordination. Coordination will include contacting speakers, creating parent feedback forms, scheduling and staffing the monthly sessions, and creating arts enrichment activities to supplement the speakers. $500 is budgeted for graphic design of print and digital promotional materials. $13,000--the majority of the funds–will be used to pay the various speakers and presenters that will work with the families in each session of the Black Excellence Program. We have budgeted between $300 to $1000 for each speaker or presenter. Some speakers required a higher honorarium for their time. Facilities use fees and school related expenses will be borne by Pleasanton Unified. Please note that we are applying for both the Civic Arts and Youth grants. We aim to offer 14, bi-weekly sessions for families in the 24-25 school year. If Cheza Nami is awarded only one of the grants, then we will offer 7, monthly sessions over the course of the school year. Page 48 of 116