Search Institute

Since 1999, Project Cornerstone has been committed to helping every young person in Silicon Valley feel valued, respected, and known. On March 24, 2011, hundreds of community members representing local governments, businesses, schools, community organizations, and the faith community as well as parents and youth came together to honor local Asset Champions and support Project Cornerstone in renewing and revitalizing their community’s commitment to kids at the annual Asset Champions Breakfast which took place at the Fairmont San José. Asset Champions award categories included Positive Cultural Identity, Caring School Climate, Positive Peer Influence, Adult Role Model, and Community Values Youth.MORE

As bullying and school violence get more and more attention, California’s Santa Clara County is taking steps to educate its students in bullying prevention, conflict resolution, and positive values. ABC Parents, a program run by Project Cornerstone, uses children’s books to build Developmental Assets in local students.

See which books the program uses

The idea for the ABC Parents program came from a parent who had participated in the Taking Asset Building Personally study group with Project Cornerstone. Her son had been bullied at school, and she wanted to help students learn about bullying and give them tools to properly address it.

She worked with Project Cornerstone to create a program that used children’s books to start discussions about issues relevant to young students’ lives, including bullying, school climate, and adult role models.MORE

Engaging Parents as Asset Building Champions
Engaging parents has long been a part of Project Cornerstone’s asset-building efforts in Santa Clara County, California. The project began in late 2001 with a twelve-parent study group reading Taking Asset Building Personally. The following fall, four parents from the group were trained to become facilitators and went on to lead several more parent groups, bringing the total number of parents involved to over 300.MORE

For the past four years, Hoang-Anh Nguyen has been one of 1,100 elementary school parent volunteers for Project Cornerstone’s ABC Program. She helps with the program every month by reading asset-building children’s books in classrooms, holding reflective discussions, and doing activities to empower students to deal with bully behavior they may face at school, in their neighborhood, or even in their home.

Last summer, during a visit to her homeland of Vietnam, Anh told her niece about the ABC Program and how much she enjoys volunteering because she sees the impact and influence it has on the children. Anh’s niece shared with her that bullying also goes on in the rural village school where she teaches, and asked how she could bring the ABC Program to the 330 students at her school.MORE

You never really know the ripple of influence your actions have on the world around you until a group of your biggest fans is asked to tell a story that sums up the kind of person you are. It is then that you see the wave you created crash to the shore, to the delight of those close enough to see its surge and hear its roar.MORE