San Jose Grail Family Services

In the past 15 years, Grail Family Services (GFS) has served approximately 15,000 children and their families in East San Jose through high-quality, results-oriented programs that support early literacy, oral language and cognitive development, and family engagement. We know that for children to succeed academically they need the support of their families, their schools and their community. Building this support system is inherent in all that we do.

GFS has experienced significant growth over the past year. We completed our 2014-2018 Strategic Plan and have made progress on our three key objectives: 1) Lead community change through collaboration, best practices and sharing results; 2) Expand impact beyond the Alum Rock district; and 3) Excellence in execution - including delivery of services, sustainability, capacity, processes, staff development and more.

We expanded our staff and our Board of Directors. We launched our Family Engagement Impact Project, a collaborative effort led by GFS and focused on promoting family engagement in Alum Rock that is systemic, integrated and sustainable.

We have deepened our relationships with partners. We were instrumental in the development of the Si, Se Puede! Collective, which brings together four agencies to promote greater collective impact in the community through joint advocacy and coordinated service delivery and accessibility.

Three of our key programs are:

Hablemos Juntos. Developed to address the widely reported “word gap” that exists between disadvantaged toddlers and their higher socio-economic peers, this program helps low-income parents of children 18-20 months create the language-rich environment their children need to enter school confident and ready to learn.

“I learned how to understand my child, how to know when she is ready to learn together, and that I have to be clear and talk to her all the time because she’s always learning.” – Participating parent

Yes We Can…Read™ is a comprehensive literacy program designed to address the low reading levels of children in the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District. YWCR matches K-3rd graders with trained Reading Mentors who volunteer for weekly one-on-one reading sessions.  The program also includes Parent/Teacher Workshops and Family Literacy Nights to further support the children’s learning.

An independent evaluation of the program showed that children with Reading Mentors scored 14% higher on standardized tests when compared to their counterparts without Mentors.

“The Reading Mentors make the difference between a child who is barely getting by and a child who is thriving. The Mentors are absolutely and immediately making children’s lives and their futures better!” – Devorah Duncan, Principal, A.J. Dorsa Elementary School

Our Birth and Beyond Family Empowerment Program provides new and existing parents with children ages 0-5 with the tools and skills they need to support their children’s social, cognitive, emotional and physical development to prepare them for success in school. This comprehensive, center-based program has the following components: English language classes, parenting classes, a parent support group, child enrichment, and case management for individual family support. Evaluation results indicate that 87% of program participants made an improvement in at least two areas of family functioning as indicated by the Parent Empowerment Assessment Tool (PEAT).