Linkage Foundation
Expanding Partnerships & sponsorships More creative ways to benefit students
By Tim Riché, Madera Linkage Foundation President
The Linkage Foundation is back working for the needs of students in Madera Unified. Our goal is to partner with people, clubs, and businesses to find ways to bridge the gap for our students to have access to a first-class education. Many times within education we have gaps in what we can spend our money on and the Linkage Foundation does its best to fill those gaps.
The last seven months have been difficult for our foundation with the loss of Anne Lozano, our President. Anne was much more than that; she was a community leader, a friend, and someone who reminded us to serve our community and especially our children. Her loss helped us focus on what is important and compelled us to reformulate our vision.
The foundation is entering into a new partnership with our college-aged Madera Omega and high school-aged Madera Leo Club. The two service clubs work with evening Lions to make Madera a better place. They raise thousands and buy coats, shoes, and socks as well as support local events and service projects. We are partnering with them to create an ongoing Anne Lozano scholarship that will be awarded to students who serve their community.
We are currently in the process of awarding Mini Grant applications to Madera Unified staff. Last year we were able to support the fourth ranked high school robot in the world, Madtown 1323 once again made us proud. Two grants supported science in the classroom. Ms. Raygoza’s class at Howard learned about butterflies and Ms. Boehm’s class at John Adams explored cell biology. Miss Dart’s class at Sierra Vista were given math manipulatives to better comprehend the math that they were working on using pencil and paper.
Mr. Madrigal did a fantastic job with his students at Madera High School. The linkage foundation granted him monies and helped him partner with other entities to take his class around town using public transportation. His students had a great time learning how to get around Madera, learning how to effectively utilize those local services.
The Linkage Foundation also supported the first ever Madera Leadership Academy. The academy is based on the Madera Citizens’ Academy and allowed our students to better understand how city government works and what it entails to run a city. The students spent time with Madera City Directors, Police and Fire Chiefs, and the city administrators learning about how to become more involved in their city.
It is our hope that others will want to become more engaged in what the Linkage Foundation can do as a committee. We are always looking for other members and people that want to partner with us. Our foundation can only grow to the extent that we are able to expand.
I would love to talk about any ideas you may have if you are interested in partnering with us. Feel free to contact me at Timriche@maderausd.org.
