The Rainin Foundation believes every Oakland child should have the literacy skills to communicate, learn and thrive. We support early childhood education because these years make a big difference in a child’s life. Children learn at home, in the classroom and in the community. At the heart of our work are three strategies that will lead to improved outcomes for children:
- Literacy Programs: Increase proven literacy programs that explicitly and systematically support decoding, encoding and translanguaging.
- Literacy Practices: Improve educators’ approach to Structured Literacy, translanguaging and anti-racist, culturally affirming practices.
- Literacy Partnerships: Nurture families’ capacity to engage in literacy development and strengthen coalitions that seek to improve conditions for language and literacy attainment.
We ground our work in community wisdom and collaborate with families, educators, community organizations and funders so that Oakland’s youngest learners reach their full potential.
Education Program Snapshot
Education Grants
We invest in Oakland schools and community-based organizations that support literacy and language development for children from birth to eight years old.
Education Initiatives
Learn about the Rainin Foundation’s initiatives to ensure that every Oakland child has the literacy skills to communicate, learn and thrive by the beginning of third grade.
Education News & Stories
10/29/2024 | Education
Lotus Bloom, Lead Liberated, Parent Voices Oakland, Oakland Literacy Coalition and The Teaching Well are recipients of the Rest and Care Award for Education.
10/15/2024 | Education
Cox Academy’s Omar Currie and Kavitha Senthil share how their creative tutor model boosted literacy, maximized student learning time and increased teacher capacity and retention.
08/21/2024 | Education
The Kenneth Rainin Foundation awarded $7.8 million in Education grants in July to support Oakland’s early learning ecosystem.
