John and Marcia Goldman Foundation

by Damali Robertson, Director of Development Operations and Foundations Relations

The John and Marcia Goldman Foundation is a multi-generational family foundation that believes in nurturing human potential. The Foundation’s investment in SMASH demonstrates its founders’ commitment to addressing widening economic disparities in the region. This award has provided 101 SMASH scholars from Santa Clara and San Mateo counties (who are primarily low-income and first generation college bound students of color) the gift of immersive STEM learning on college campuses each summer followed by year-round computer science classes free of cost. This is vitally important because over 75% of California high schools with the highest percentage of low-income students offer no computer science classes.

Tara Genea Wilson, Director, Youth Development, at the Foundation, visited SMASH this summer and in an impromptu conversation with a group of scholars, heard first-hand that SMASH classes are far more challenging and in-depth than their high school classes. Thanks to investors like the John and Marcia Goldman Foundation, SMASH is truly a phenomenal STEM learning community that offers all its students a place to excel and belong.

The SMASH community is grateful to the John and Marcia Goldman Foundation for its tireless philanthropic work throughout San Francisco’s Bay Area. Thanks to the Foundation’s generous support, 101 under-represented youth of color now have the opportunity to pursue their dreams of succeeding in a STEM field.