Community Voices … with Victoria Garcia: Latino Family Fund’s program trains youth in giving charity

The Latino Family Fund is becoming a nonprofit organization

Students at Brownell Middle School learn about various nonprofits through the YIP program. Photo courtesy Latino Family Fund

By Victoria Garcia

Victoria Garcia

When I entered the sixth grade, I grew increasingly nervous. I knew few people making the transition with me from elementary school to Solorsano Middle School.

While the prospect of a new educational environment seemed exciting, I felt anxious about making new friends and branching out. I feared rejection. Then I joined the Youth in Philanthropy and Leadership program, run by the Gilroy-based Latino Family Fund. At the first meeting, I found a group where I belonged.

Through engaging discussions, students receive the opportunity to be a proponent for the local nonprofit they feel aligns best with community needs. They learn the value of teamwork, critical thinking, and leadership. By involving the youth in a real-world grant-giving process, public service initiatives, and exposure to the needs of Gilroy residents, YIP focuses on teaching the future generation to be socially responsible and proactive individuals ready to contribute to the betterment of society.

Our mentors always encouraged us to speak up, fostering confident public speaking. This practice enhanced our communication skills while also empowering us to be effective advocates for people in need. As time went on, I grew more comfortable sharing my ideas and opinions within and outside of our group. I also began to socialize more with my peers in YIP. Many remain close friends.

There is a communal and societal need to involve the youth into the world of philanthropy and giving back to the community. This is one of the focuses of the program. Youth in Philanthropy and Leadership not only equips students like me with crucial life skills, it also helps students come into their own and adjust to the new and sometimes frightening world of middle school. This was made possible by the mentors leading us students through the program.

One of my mentors, Sal Tomasello, served as the chair of the program. Now retired, he worked for 39 years as a teacher and administrator in the Gilroy Unified School District. He has served as a pivotal figure in the program’s history.

The Latino Family Fund started providing a grant to middle school students in the Solorsano Spanish class in 2009, Tomasello told me. Its officers created the concept of providing middle school students with a grant to fund a nonprofit organization’s objective. They had the goal to encourage young people to engage in philanthropy. This was the unofficial beginning of the YIP program.

“Officially, we began at South Valley Middle School in 2013 with a specific curriculum,” Tomasello told me. Since then, YIP has expanded to all three Gilroy middle schools. Now, the Latino Family Fund plans to take it further — integrating the program into Gilroy and Christopher high schools. This broadens its impact and reaches more students to continue to inspire philanthropic practices in youths.

In addition to expanding to the high schools, the Fund is becoming a nonprofit organization, with articles of incorporation in the works. Achieving this status will elevate the Fund and secure it as a recognized charitable organization. Renee Garcia, executive director of the Fund, believes this will enable the organization to secure long-term sustainability, ensuring continued support for the program and other projects under the fund’s umbrella.

YIP builds a foundation in its members to support philanthropic practices and a passion for advocacy. The planned expansion of the program will lead to spreading these focuses to more youth and members of the community and thus drive significant social change. As the Latino Family Fund continues to grow and evolve, the program’s outreach seems to be doing the same, leading to a brighter and stronger future for Gilroy.

Victoria Garcia is a junior at Gilroy Early College Academy. She wrote this column for Gilroy Life.