Rolando Madrid, Kevin Choy, Ken Busch, Karyl Matusmoto and Peter Given (L to R) show off the impressive check.
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO—A check for $107,000 was recently presented to the Boys & Girls Clubs of North San Mateo County by the Sares Regis education and community foundation. The donation was made at the grand opening celebration of Cadence, Sares Regis Group of Northern California’s newest apartment community. The event was attended by more than 100 guests, including South San Francisco mayor Karyl Matsumoto, vice mayor Rich Garbarino and city council members.
The foundation reached out to business partners working on the Cadence project and other development projects to raise these funds for the organization. The donation will be used for a significant technology and infrastructure upgrade to the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math/STEAM Center in South San Francisco.
The STEAM Center focuses on increasing access to learning opportunities in STEAM for low-income and underrepresented youth in South San Francisco and Pacifica, providing them with opportunities to develop critical, real-world skills needed to join the workforce. The center’s focus is closely aligned with the Sares Regis education and community foundation’s mission to improve local communities through an emphasis on education.
“We’re thrilled that Sares Regis and partners at Cadence have pooled their donations to raise over $100,000 for our STEAM Center,” says Aubrey Merriman, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of North San Mateo County. “This generous donation allows us to maintain the most up-to-date equipment and technology so local kids in need will be better prepared for future learning and work opportunities. Our STEAM programs are fertile grounds for developing the next generation of scientists, inventors and innovators.”
Upgrades to the STEAM Center will include new PCs, 3D printers, a Wi-Fi router and a cloud infrastructure. This upgrade will allow students to be able to save their work in the cloud and continue projects year-round.
“We are donating to the local Boys and Girls Club because research shows that low-income students lack important exposure to science, technology, engineering and math opportunities,” Ken Busch, senior vice president, residential development at Sares Regis Group of Northern California, tells GlobeSt.com. “The STEAM Center is providing a valuable service in providing these kids this opportunity through afterschool and summer programs. It is rewarding to enlist support from our business partners at Cadence to collectively contribute to this vital education center.”
Research has further demonstrated that some students are not getting equal access to STEM education, as Busch mentions. During the 2015-2016 school year, low-income students and students of color were less likely to have opportunities to take advanced math and science classes. A study from the US Department of Education showed that only 55% of high schools with high Black and Latino enrollment, compared to 65% of all high schools, offered advanced mathematics. For calculus, only 38% of high schools with high Black and Latino student enrollment offered advanced math, compared to 50% of all schools.
The Sares Regis education and community foundation was established in 2014 with the goal of partnering with local nonprofits, schools and organizations to contribute talents, time and funds to catalyze projects that would otherwise not go forward. In the intervening years, the foundation has been responsible for more than 35 gifts in excess of $350,000 to local Bay Area organizations, GlobeSt.com learns.
Cadence is a new residential community in downtown South San Francisco located on slightly less than two acres across two blocks. It is adjacent to the South San Francisco Caltrain station that is currently under construction.
The 225,000-square-foot project consists of 260 apartments in two seven-story buildings. The new community offers residents a rooftop lounge overlooking the Bay, a fitness center, multiple resident lounge areas and landscaped courtyards. The project is targeting LEED Silver certification.
Sares Regis Group of Northern California contributed more than $5.7 million for community benefits including improving community parks, pedestrian connections, water lines, stormwater infrastructure and public art in the area near Cadence.
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Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
