When I walk into Alternatives in Action’s building at Alameda Point, I’m struck by the power of youth. All around are young people taking positive action -- youth in HOME Project’s after school program getting ready for a community festival, Bay Area School of Enterprise (BASE) students presenting plans for renewal of the school’s charter and youth workers in HOME Sweet HOME Preschool leading activities with toddlers. In a space once left vacant by the Navy, youth and adults bring new energy and powerful commitment to transforming themselves and their communities.

Lena is one of those youth transformed by her experiences with AIA. She started BASE in 9th grade with hopes of being academically challenged and prepared to get into a good college. She wanted to exceed her family’s accomplishments and expectations – to really make something of herself. When she took a tour of the school, she liked the small, exciting environment; and the alternative nature of the programs. She was often afraid, but “liked going up against [her] fears”. As I look at Lena four years later, I see a confident young woman preparing to graduate from BASE -- an effective leader, a persuasive public speaker, and a thoughtful young citizen.

Powerful Approaches to Building Effective Citizens

Since Alternatives in Action began in 1994, it has grown to impact the lives of over 5,500 youth in the Bay Area. Given the challenges of today’s world, our vision of creating innovative programs that support young people to have a meaningful impact in their communities has never been more important. AIA’s three core programs are building a new generation of effective citizens who know what they THINK, FEEL, and BELIEVE and how to take meaningful ACTION in the world. Each AIA program has had a unique impact on youth, like Lena, and their communities:

• Bay Area School of Enterprise (BASE) – AIA’s public charter high school reaches out to youth who were unsuccessful or unchallenged in traditional schools. It inspires them to go to college and improve their communities. BASE youth have been engaged in community enterprises including preparing for their own charter renewal process, creating a mural and documentary, making presentations in local colleges, and starting an artistic expression project in the child care center. BASE is proud that 85% of its graduates have gone on to college!
  
  
• HOME Project – AIA’s after school youth development program engages young people in creating dynamic community projects through which they gain real-world skills in project development, public speaking, event planning, community organizing and more. Last year, over 400 young people, ages 12 to 19, participated in HOME’s after school programs in Alameda and Oakland. Youth initiated several projects including a sound recording studio, a young women’s fitness challenge, an arts-based campaign for nonviolence, a diversity mural and construction of a basketball court.
  
  
• HOME Sweet HOME (HSH) – AIA's fully licensed preschool educates youth in child development and partners with them to provide a quality program for young children of working families. In 2005, HSH served children from 27 working families and trained over 40 youth. HSH also expanded its program by strengthening the Parent Association, piloting its model of intergenerational care at a state-subsidized preschool, and presenting to early care and education professionals at the local and national level.
  

In the four years Lena has spent at AIA, she has participated in all three programs. In HSH, she loved interacting with a challenging child with special needs. She was able to provide a calm, loving presence for him while gaining a greater understanding of children for herself. In HOME Project, she participated in the summer program and after school at the invitation of the program’s director, who saw something in Lena that she did not see herself – a potential for leadership. At BASE, Lena worked on several community events, including a Juneteenth Festival and an evening of discussion with American war veterans. Now, in her senior year, Lena serves on the AIA Board of Directors, as a youth coach for the Youth-Adult Council (BASE’s youth government), and as 1 of 10 members of the Enterprise BASE team that led the effort for renewal of the school’s charter.

As a graduating senior Lena says, “I know what I am good at; and I know that I have support when I need it. I’m beginning to see myself as others see me. I know that I can do what I am passionate about.”

We Need Your Support

Every day I interact with dozens of youth with stories like Lena’s. Hundreds of young people have been transformed by the powerful experiences of AIA’s programs. They, in turn, have reached out to others and made important contributions to their communities.

These programs are not possible without your generous support. When you make a contribution, it has tremendous impact:

• Just $50 buys seeds and tools to plant HOME Sweet HOME’s children’s garden
• $100 means paint brushes and supplies for HOME youth to complete a school mural
• $250 sponsors a young person to present AIA’s approach at a conference
• $500 funds a year of after school tutoring and SAT prep for a young person
• $1000 gives a needy child a scholarship to enroll in HOME Sweet HOME

With a contribution of any size, we hope you will make an investment in another young person like Lena. On behalf of the youth and community of Alternatives in Action, we thank you for your interest in our work and invite you to continue to help us grow and thrive.

Very truly yours,

Gail Ann Greely
Executive Director

SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT/FUNDING SOURCES GRAPH

Since its founding in 1994, AIA has been able to create, grow and sustain its three core programs, as well as launch several other initiatives into independent organizations. During that time, AIA has expanded its sources of financial support from solely foundation grants to include programs fees (HOME Sweet HOME preschool), state and federal education funding (Bay Area School of Enterprise), contributions from program site partners (HOME Project) and an annual donor campaign. Our goal for financial sustainability is to grow these other sources and reduce our reliance on foundations for general operating funds. We project that HOME Project, our after-school program, will continue to rely heavily on foundation sources, but the other two programs will be primarily supported by revenues generated by their enrollment. Grants and donations will fund program quality improvements, expansion, research and new initiatives.

In 2005-2006, our distribution of funding sources is:



By 2007-2008, we hope to have a distribution more like this: