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San Mateo County
ABOUT THE BIG LIFT
The Big Lift is a collective impact collaborative made up
of over 200 educators, nonprofits, businesses,
government and philanthropic leaders who are
spearheading a bold new vision to address the literacy
gap in San Mateo County, California. The Big Lift is
focused on a comprehensive approach to student
San Mateo County Priorities and Progress
The Big Lift’s collective impact model asks school districts to partner with public and private preschools and
community-based agencies to work toward the long-term goal of third-grade reading through the four
key funders
programmatic “pillars” of The Big Lift, based on the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading priorities.
The County of San Mateo
The Social Innovation Fund: a Program of the
The 4 “Pillars” of The Big Lift
Corporation for National and Community Service
W. K. Kellogg Foundation
success that begins with two years of high quality
preschool paired with family engagement and then
extends this investment through third grade so that
school readiness and aligned systems prek-3
children attend school every day, experience high
Big Lift will support the creation of new preschool spaces and enhance the quality of existing preschool
quality learning in the early elementary years, and have
spaces. Preschool classrooms will be independently rated on the California Race to the Top Quality Rating
access to inspiring summer programs. 11 low-income
FUNDERS AND PARTNERS
school district communities with reading proficiency
& Improvement System (QRIS) and commit to making progress on improving their QRIS scores. An array
scores below the county average are the geographic
of coordinated supports will be provided to help them achieve this goal, including professional development
focus of The Big Lift.
and on-site technical assistance and coaching.
Silicon Valley Social Ventures Fund
key partners
Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
First 5 San Mateo County
Harvard Kennedy School ‘s S3 R&D Lab
Heising-Simons Foundation
RAND Corporation
family engagement
San Mateo County Office of Education
School-district communities will implement family engagement strategies that build upon family strengths,
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
culture and language and establish authentic partnerships with families. The Raising A Reader early
Stanford Alumni Consulting Team, GSB
literacy program will be the early focus, followed by other strategies, yet to be determined.
United Way of the Bay Area
attendance matters: reducing chronic absence
Through a partnership with the Harvard Kennedy School’s S3 R & D Lab and Attendance Works, The Big
Lift will develop and test messages that help families understand the importance of and prioritize
local data
San Mateo County is one of the wealthiest
attendance in preschool and early elementary school.
communities in the country, yet…
inspiring summers
•  60% of Latino, African-American and Pacific
The Big Lift will work with school districts and their partners to identify and implement inspiring summer
Islanders are not reading proficiently by third
grade and 50% of the county’s children are
not ready for kindergarten
• 
THE BIG LIFT: POWERFUL
PARTNERSHIPS
learning opportunities that enable children to maintain their academic and developmental gains from high
• 
To date, The Big Lift has raised over $28 million
through a county sales tax, federal grants and
philanthropy
• 
Community collaboration permeates the entire
initiative – including being modeled at the highest
level of leadership and incentivized on the
ground in programs
• 
Strategists & “backbone” supports undergird the
effort, including dedicated resources for
facilitation, convenings & public relations
• 
A commitment to data systems, evaluation and
quality preschool throughout the early grades.
San Mateo County’s immigrant population is
growing faster than in any other county in the
state, rising from 25.5% to 33.3% in the last
decade
•  36% of low-income children in the 11 Big Lift
eligible districts lack access to high-quality
preschool
The Campaign for
GRADE-LEVEL
READING
evidence-based practice keeps the initiative
outcomes-driven and grounded in results
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