Education

Bay Area Storytelling Festival comes to Richmond

The laughter of more than 100 children echoed through the auditorium of the Craneway Pavillion in Richmond, where students in third to sixth grade gathered Thursday for the first day of the 2012 Bay Area Storytelling Festival. The event continues today until Sunday evening at 4:30 p.m.

Foster month kicks off with laptop giveaway

Richmond High graduate Bernard Naquin, 19, won’t have to look too far to find a computer these days. The Contra Costa County teenager and Diablo Valley College student was awarded a brand new Dell laptop Monday morning at the Nevin Center. “I was surprised when they told me I was going to receive the computer,” Naquin said. “Out of everyone in the county, they chose me. I didn’t expect it.” The laptop didn’t just fall from the sky. The laptop…

Berkeley students present findings at North Richmond community meeting

North Richmond is a unique Bay Area community poised for growth and investment in the coming years. But it’s also saddled with a history of decades of poverty and violence, and a jaded outlook toward political leaders and outside forces. How well the tiny community of about 4,000 residents can reconcile those clashing realities could determine the future, according to a report produced by UC Berkeley graduate students. “This is part of a process of building institutional linkages between this…

Richmond YouthWORKS program gets new facility

The construction won’t be complete until June, but staff at the Richmond YouthWORKS program are already excited about taking ownership of a new 13-room facility at the corner 27th and Macdonald Streets directly opposite St. Cornelius Church. The building’s grand opening will be in August. For more information on programs at Richmond YouthWORKS call 510-412-2044.

College program assists high school dropouts

Contra Costa College has received a $325,000 grant from the Gateway to College National Network to implement a small learning community model for high school dropouts. Designed for young adults between the of ages 16 and 21 who have dropped out of high school or are behind in credits and unlikely to graduate, the program will enable students to complete their high school diploma requirements while also earning college credit toward an associate degree or certificate. Contra Costa College, located…

Local nonprofits report progress made in education and employment with Chevron support

Chevron Corp. invested $1 million in seven nonprofits focused on improving science and math education and enhancing economic development in Richmond. On Wednesday, about more than 100 people came to the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts to hear leaders from the seven organizations report on what they accomplished with the money over the last year. Leaders from each group presented short videos highlighting what they did with the money and provided statistics demonstrating everything from improved high school…

Career Day at Nystrom Magnet Elementary School

Only about a third of the Nystrom Magnet Elementary School cafeteria was filled with students at Friday’s career fair. But where the event was short on attendance, it made up for with inspiration, as almost a dozen panelists from across the Bay Area gathered to motivate students in forth to sixth grade about future careers.

Earth Day in North Richmond is about honoring past, looking to future

More than 100 residents and activists turned out in force to work and celebrate Earth Day in North Richmond on Saturday. But they had a lot of help from those no longer here in body, but very much loom over this historic community in spirit. “It feels so good that the community thinks so much of my brother to want to dedicate this garden to him,” said Leo Jackson, brother of longtime community advocate Fred Jackson, who died of cancer…