California Alliance of African American Educators: Helping CAAAE

Greetings from the California Alliance of African American Educators (CAAAE). We wanted to take a moment to update you on our work during 2006 & 2007 and our plans for 2008. The most remarkable development was the opening of our Computer Lab and office generously donated by Cypress Semiconductors, a Silicon Valley technology company. Dr. T.J. Rodgers, founder, president and CEO of Cypress who has been a supporter for several years made an incredibly generous commitment of space, computers, printers, and manpower.

His example of leadership was most evident during our Board retreat in August that Cypress hosted where the Computer Lab with more than 30 laptops and office space was opened. This space has become a home for the organization and our activities as well as the students of the Greene Scholars Program, our math, science and technology initiative. Other achievements are noted below: 2006 Stanford Professional Development Institute was a great success with almost 200 attendees including teachers, students, parents, administrators, professors and community members.

The Stanford Institute has become the premier forum to educate, train and influence those who teach our students. 2006 Regional Outreach Efforts included regional breakfast events held in Sacramento, Fresno, San Diego and the Bay Area this past October. The Los Angeles breakfast will take place on January 27, 2007, featuring Dr. Sharrokie Hollie as our keynote speaker. We are also launching a new regional chapter in the Inland Empire on April 17th and will be celebrating our 5th Anniversary with a gala celebration on March 17th with Dr. George McKenna as our featured speaker. At our celebration, we will honor several dedicated educators, supportive business leaders and committed community members who have been making a difference in the lives of our children and embody our mission and vision.

We are truly excited about our future because it is built on our history of engaging students, parents and others to achieve excellence and academic success for our children. It is our hope that you share our enthusiasm for our future because of the good work that we are doing throughout the state. Your generous support of the CAAAE enables our good work to continue and we ask you to make a gift or increase the level of support you have been providing. You can follow the link below to make a gift online. We hope that the pictures and information found on our website help you see and understand the impact we are having and that you are compelled to help us make a difference. The future for our children and youth is what we make it and we ask for your support to make it as bright as possible. Thank you in advance for your gift and we wish you all the best in 2007.

Sincerely,

Debra Watkins, President

"It takes a healthy village to raise a healthy child. What part are you playing? "