Deeper Roots & Rising:
Deeper Roots & Rising:
Pear Tree Pre/K-8 Expansion & Thriving Futures Fund
Pear Tree Pre/K-8 Expansion & Thriving Futures Fund
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Pear Tree Community School has always been envisioned as a Pre/K-8 school—a place rooted in joy, justice, and deep care. While the pandemic delayed that vision becoming a reality, it remains alive in the hearts of many. The Deeper Roots & Rising campaign aims to fulfill the promise of Pear Tree as a Pre/K-8 school and to deepen Pear Tree's resources to ensure long-term sustainability.
This campaign has two components:
Deeper Roots: Develop the Pear Tree Thriving Futures Fund, an endowment to provide ongoing financial support for Pear Tree Community School
Rising: Fund the first two years of a middle school program to begin Fall 2026
Please read on to learn more and join us!
Images created with AI to help visualize our plans -- the real classrooms will be even more inspiring!
WHY A PRE/K-8 FRAMEWORK FOR PEAR TREE?
WHY A PRE/K-8 FRAMEWORK FOR PEAR TREE?
Pear Tree Community School (PTCS) is already a thriving learning community for preschool and K-5 aged children. Serving primarily BIPOC students in Oakland, PTCS’ innovative program addresses educational inequities early and uses culturally affirming practices and learning rooted in their MIRROR framework (Mirroring, Reclamation, Relationships, Orientation, and Reflection). This framework will be expanded and tailored to meet the needs of rising Dolphins/middle school children.
The Pre/K-8 school environment promotes a strong sense of self development and belonging by meeting a middle schooler's burgeoning exploration and independence with an anchoring and affirming community. In contrast, a transition from elementary to a separate middle school is often described as disorienting during a critical transition into adolescence. Students often feel lost instead of grounded towards the next step of their growth. A frequent misconception about the focus of middle school is that it is only meant to prepare teenagers for high school. That belief fails to acknowledge the specific developmental milestones of emerging adolescents as crucial and numerous. Head of School Michele Hamilton describes middle school as “the last chance for adults to plant important seeds before peer relationships become paramount.”
“A Black mother at another school once said to me: ‘I am protecting my kids to go to school by building resilience in them.’ For me at Pear Tree, the school feels like a partner in building resilience in our kids so we can send them out into the world.”
- Itzel Berrio Hayward, Falcon (4th/5th grade) parent
Read more...
Black and brown children navigate a world that values them less. They are prematurely "adultified" as they grow. They often witness family, loved ones, or representations of themselves attacked and vilified. BIPOC children’s sense of self-worth, belonging, and self-confidence become entwined with needing to survive. The healthy developmental task of learning through experimentation, making mistakes, innovating, and testing limits is often met with skepticism, disapproval, and punishment. Children do not learn well in survival mode. Many endure these circumstances, but their inner light can be diminished.
In a Pear Tree classroom, a sign on the wall reads: Making mistakes is how we learn. Children see themselves reflected in the curriculum, the books they read, the songs and poems they learn, the art decorating the walls, and in their teachers’ faces. They are offered pride and expansiveness in their histories, their school work, and themselves. Mostly, they are protected and affirmed to play and celebrate life.
Current forces want to make all of this impossible. We have not seen this level of blatant structural discrimination and dehumanization since Jim Crow. Under these conditions and bias, how can emerging adolescents become their authentic selves; dwell, learn, and discover their power to survive these times, and create a more just and life-affirming world?
Our children deserve spaces where they have the freedom to grow, to be seen, to make mistakes, and to learn surrounded by love and uplift. Pear Tree Community School is one of these spaces. We believe in its contribution as a Pre/K-8 school and hope to strengthen its roots and expand its growth.
“PTCS academics are phenomenal. But so is their model of creative advocacy and self-advocacy, at a time when kids need it most—having the freedom to express themselves—not being called disruptive, being given the tools to become more of who they are called to be.”
- Sacha Nastili, Falcon (3rd/4th grade) and Hummingbird (K/1st grade) parent
WHY NOW?
WHY NOW?
Pear Tree Community School is already a thriving school community. In vision and in practice, it serves as a compass and a refuge. Pear Tree’s model is deeply influenced by the vision of the Black Panther schools in Oakland, which championed self-help economics to sustain autonomy and uphold community-centered education.
Pear Tree is also a demonstration site for Seeds to Roots Oakland, a training and credentialing program designed to help other schools and districts better serve BIPOC youth. Through this and other emerging mutual aid opportunities, Pear Tree remains committed to being a part of local and national movements to usher a whole and humanizing way of learning.
"At PTCS, M. has the freedom to move her body, go to the bathroom when she wants to.... In this moment of authoritarianism—attempts to control thinking, movement, everything—being in a place where our children can speak, move, eat, and dance as they learn is transformative. They get a felt sense that their needs matter.
It’s not just letting them be kids, it’s letting them be human."
- Angela Shannon, Dolphin (4th/5th grade) parent
Read more...
A middle school has long been part of Pear Tree's strategic plan, and the curriculum and major components are already designed. This historic moment has made this expansion a priority. In its first six months, the current administration has taken a hatchet to school protections: lifting the ban on ICE entering school campuses; making massive cuts to federal funding for schools; undoing legal prohibitions against race, gender, and disability discrimination; re-writing history in favor of white supremacy, imperialism, zionism, and more. Given these attacks on our schools and communities, and the proven, successful model of Pear Tree; now is the time to look to our communities’ long histories of resilience—and resistance—to fortify the path forward for our children.
WHY A THRIVING FUTURES FUND?
WHY A THRIVING FUTURES FUND?
Pear Tree Community School embraces the socioeconomic diversity of our communities, and 50% of students receive at least some financial aid. A Thriving Futures Fund, also known as an endowment, would help fortify our resources to maintain and create more access to high-quality education for our children.
The Thriving Futures Fund would allow Pear Tree to pool its resources, including donations from our community and other donors, to build ongoing financial independence and stability. Donations fund short-term projects and are grown via investments to fund the organization's long-term fiscal health.
Read more...
Given the current attacks and repression in our communities, reaching this kind of financial stability is essential to Pear Tree's mission. The Pear Tree Thriving Futures Fund will help build resilience to the current social, economic, and political moment, which disproportionately affects our people. It will also help build towards the future we want for our children.
HOW WE GET THERE
HOW WE GET THERE
The Goals
The Goals
Launch the Pear Tree Middle School program in Fall 2026 and complete Pear Tree Middle School facilities by Fall 2027
Develop the Pear Tree Thriving Futures Fund (also known as an endowment) - as soon as possible & ongoing
Rising (The Pear Tree Pre/K-8 Framework)
We envision a middle school with dedicated facilities; skilled staff experienced in teaching the middle grades; appropriate class materials; and a robust scholarship/aid fund to ensure financial accessibility for our communities.
We need two years of programmatic funding, which includes:
Three staff members
Two portable classrooms
Educational materials
A scholarship/aid fund of $200,000 minimum
Deeper Roots (The Pear Tree Thriving Futures Fund)
In these times, we anticipate an increased need for mutual aid and to ensure our staff is stable and thriving. As we expand Pear Tree by adding a middle school, we also want to stabilize and grow resources for the whole school. The Pear Tree Thriving Futures Fund will make this possible -- helping support Pear Tree's expansion and long-term growth.
If you are particularly interested in supporting the Pear Tree Thriving Futures Fund or know others who may be able to contribute, please contact ftc@peartreecs.com for next steps.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
This is where you come in! We are launching a three-part fundraising campaign:
`The Pear Tree Community and Our Networks
We are a strong, resourced, creative, talented, and connected community! Our ask of you:
If you have it to give, please give!
Please share this ask with your networks. One-time donors or sustaining donors for the Pre/K-8 Expansion are great.
Please share this ask with potential donors who hope to invest in Pear Tree's Thriving Futures Fund.
If you have skills or expertise in fundraising; if you are creative and good with inspiring people, please join us!
Grants & Building a Sustainable Fund
Grants from values-aligned organizations and the Pear Tree Thriving Futures fund would lead Pear Tree towards long-term sustainability. Our ask of you:
Please spread the word far and wide, especially if you know donors who value the well being of BIPOC students, families and communities.
Connect us with organizations, foundations, and potential sustaining donors.
If you have skills/expertise in grantwriting, messaging, donor searching, etc., please join us!
3. Crowdsourced Fundraising Events
We will build on the Pear Tree Community School Family-Teacher Community's (FTC)'s strong example of bringing community together in fun and impactful ways to meet our financial goals. More to come!
HOW TO GIVE
HOW TO GIVE
Make your tax-deductible one-time or sustaining donation at the The Deeper Roots & Rising Give Butter page.
Other Ways to Give
Check
Make payable to "Pear Tree School Family Teacher Community" and mail to 6925 Chabot Rd Oakland CA 94618 or hand it to our treasurer, Rachel Gillum. She will ensure that your donation is processed securely and will provide you with a receipt. Note that your donation is for the "DRR Campaign."
Wire Transfer
You can make a direct wire transfer to our nonprofit bank account. Reach out to us at ftc@peartreecs.com for more information. Note that your donation is for the "DRR Campaign."
Donor Advised Funds
If you have a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF), you can recommend a grant to "Pear Tree School Family Teacher Community." Please reach out to ftc@peartreecs.com if you require further information. Note that your donation is for the "DRR Campaign."
RESOURCES FOR YOU
RESOURCES FOR YOU
Learn more about Pear Tree Community School
If you have any questions or ideas, we are here—please reach out!
In solidarity,
The Pear Tree Deeper Roots & Rising Team
Vassi K., Itzel BH., Oriana I., Christina P., Angela S., Sacha N., Josh L., & Lauren W.
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