San Jose Jazz expands Progressions to 1,000

San Jose Jazz’s music festivals are great, but they really just pay the bills for the nonprofit’s education programs. And one of those, Progressions, has made a serious leap forward this year to bringing music to low-income students.

Progressions, which started as a pilot program in 2011, has jumped from serving 200 students to 1,000 students at five schools in in San Jose’s Franklin-McKinley School District: Santee, Meadows, Kennedy, Stonegate and Bridges Academy.

Thanks to increased district funding and a grant from the California Arts Council, Progressions was able to add a General Music class during school hours on top of its after-school and weekend programs. San Jose Jazz also has brought in Venezuelan violinist and composer Marcos Zambrano as the advanced band conductor and music coordinator for the program, and Franklin-McKinley is providing funding for the Progressions homework center, which is staffed with teachers from the students’ home schools.

“We know that our students enjoy music, whether they are listening to it, singing or playing

an instrument,” Franklin-McKinley Superintendent Juan Cruz said. “Our partnership with the Progressions program has made school much more enjoyable and enriching for students at five of 16 schools in Franklin-McKinley.”

Of course, such a huge jump in students means there’s an even greater need for donated musical instruments. Music theory is great, but budding student musicians need to play, too. Get more information about donating your old instrument at www.sanjosejazz.org/donate-an-instrument. HEALTH TRUST WAITS FOR

NEW LEADER >> After a ninemonth search, the Health Trust announced Tuesday that it had settled on veteran nonprofit leader Michele Lew as its new chief executive officer. But it’ll have to wait a few more months before she gets to work helping make Silicon Valley a healthier place.

Lew won’t begin her new position until January as she wraps up commitments in her current job as the local government and community relations director for Stanford Health Care. Until then, Health Trust Board Chair Charlie Bullock will continue as the agency’s interim

CEO.

It’s a small sacrifice the Health Trust is willing to make, though, to land Lew, who served from 2005-2016 as CEO of Asian Americans for Community Involvement. Patricia Gardner, CEO of the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, had high praise for Lew, calling her an “exceptional choice.”

“She has a solid track record and commitment to improving health care for children, seniors, lowincome, disenfranchised and ethnic communities,” Gardner said. MORE THAN READY FOR

SCHOOL >> Family Giving Tree Executive Director Jennifer Cullenbine says the nonprofit slid right past its goal to collect, stuff and distribute 40,000 supply-filled backpacks to Bay Area kids and gives a lot of credit to NBC Bay Area and Telemundo 48 for their support in getting the word out.

Family Giving Tree is just one of several groups that worked to make sure Bay Area kids were ready for school: Sacred Heart Community Service, Sunnyvale Community Services and the Campbell Rotary Club all had successful backpack drives this fall, too.