The Good Tidings Foundation encourages and supports the growth of children in Northern California by creating environments for athletics, artistic activities, education, and wonder. Arts: For 9 years, we provided free monthly art education at our Pier 9 studio in San Francisco to 750 middle school students whose schools no longer offer art education. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds both experience the least access to and the greatest benefits from arts education, as the arts are uniquely positioned to engage students who might otherwise drop out of school. Our Art Program seeks to bridge this gap by ensuring that students from these areas have access to high-quality art instruction. In this next phase, we seek to expand our Art Program to build music studios in addition to art studios. Athletics: We partner with the Giants, A's, Warriors, Kings, Sharks, 49ers, Kerri Walsh-Jennings, CC Sabathia, Klay Thompson, and other professional athletes to build safe and state-of-the-art youth athletic facilities in low-income communities. We build six to ten facilities per year, serving thousands of children. As recreation and youth athletics fall lower and lower on the priority list of cities and public school districts across the country, we find it increasingly important to ensure our youth have a place and the space to develop properly. Each time we build in underserved areas, we give the neighborhood hope, positive attention, a much-needed facelift, and a reason to go outside and participate in the community. Our projects turn needle-littered dead spaces into activity zones where the community and families can gather. Education: We provide $100,000 in needs-based community service scholarships to 10 high school seniors annually. Oftentimes, our scholarship recipients are the first of their family to attend college. Our scholarships change the course of youth's lives by giving them the opportunity and access to a higher-education. We’re building the next generation of community leaders. Dreams: Continuing our original toy drive program, we give away hundreds of toys every holiday season to deserving Bay Area children. We expanded our Dreams Program in 2010 to also include Rock Star Road Trips, which introduce teens to influential professionals and leaders on daylong outings to inspire and encourage them to dream big.
