Kali Ladd is Executive Director of KairosPDX, an education focused non-profit attacking Portland’s persistent achievement gap through innovative pedagogy, community collaboration and family partnership. She recently attended the New Schools Venture Fund 2015 Summit, an annual gathering for education innovation thought leaders. Brené Brown, research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work was the keynote speaker and she has spent the past decade studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness and shame. Below are Kali’s reflections.

Support for the project burst forth from the community in the form of phone calls, e-mails and social media posts. PPS Board candidates Amy Kohnstamm, Julie Esparza Brown, and Jose Gonzales held a rally, along with Color PAC, in support of the project. Many SVP Partners contacted school Board members and Portland City Commissioners to express disappointment in the decision and to demand immediate action to overturn the resolutions necessary to move Generations forward. A week after the initial decision, the PPS Board voted unanimously to move the project ahead.

I attended the Portland Public School Board meeting tonight and couldn’t believe the hypocrisy, ill preparedness and lack of responsibility of two Board members, Bobbie Regan and Tom Koehler. To be clear, they opposed the resolution I was there to support. It was, however, their pandering, weak logic and bad faith in partnering that really left me chapped.

SVP’s Capacity Investment Team approved an additional one-year $25,000 general operating grant, as well as the time and expertise of SVP Partners, to support Latino Network in developing a plan to scale its early childhood program, Juntos Aprendemos. Juntos prepares low‐income Spanish‐speaking children for success in kindergarten through classes that promote their cognitive, social, emotional and physical development, while in parent classes their mothers and fathers learn effective ways to support their children’s learning.

A nonprofit startup was a big risk for our young organization but during SVP's investment period (2005-2011), CASH increased its operating budget by 500%, vastly improving its capacity and community reach. Today, CASH has a stable funding base, a professional staff, and free tax preparation offered statewide.