OAKLAND, Calif. - Marylandian -- Faith Network of the East Bay, a highly effective nonprofit educational agency founded in 2001, today announced a major rebranding to Children Rising. The new name and logo emphasize the agency's progress: proficient, focused, and scalable programs, with the projected goal of enabling 1,000 volunteers who can assist 2,000 students by 2022.

Children Rising now has over 200 volunteers, 20 congregations and 25 diverse community partners. The organization currently serves over 400 students in 36 under-resourced public schools annually. Four targeted programs provide personalized tutoring, mentoring and other learning resources to children in East Bay public schools most affected by poverty, violence and educational inequity.

The rebranding initiative coincides with a recent four-year strategic plan, launched in October 2018. The plan was created to address the approximately 1,800 Oakland Unified School District second graders who complete each school year substantially deficient in foundational reading and math skills and are severely challenged to keep up with their peers in third grade and beyond.

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"We have the opportunity to help make a generational change in our East Bay communities," said Jim Wambach, executive director. "Despite the profound difference we are currently making in the lives of hundreds of children each year, there is so much more we would like to do to provide fair and equitable opportunities for the children in our community schools."

Children Rising empowers struggling children to rise above the challenges they face as a result of scarcity of resources and extraordinary socio-economic circumstances beyond their control. We do this by first raising awareness and rallying community support for our most vulnerable neighborhood children. Our staff then trains and supports volunteers to teach and mentor young students so they may develop academic and life skills to rise to their potential.

"True to our roots, we remain faith inspired and believe in the power of engaging the entire community to become a network of support for educators in our local schools," said Wambach.

"In order to serve thousands of more children, more quickly, we believe our name should clearly speak to our passion and mission of empowering vulnerable children and youth - the wonderful students we serve. Our volunteer programs are successful because we train, support and nurture our tutors so they can make a difference in the life of one child at a time."

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About Children Rising (formerly Faith Network of the East Bay)
Children Rising is an Oakland-based 501C(3) non-profit organization founded in 2001. The agency helps children attending public schools most affected by poverty, violence and educational inequity by raising awareness and rallying community support for their needs; and by galvanizing and guiding volunteers to teach, mentor, and nourish the children so they may develop academic and life skills to realize their God-given potential. Children Rising offers an array of services to 36 under-resourced public schools in four main program areas – Career Bridge, Health4Kids, Path2Math, and Succeeding by Reading. More information can be found at www.Children-Rising.org.