Starting Blocks

If life is a race, we must strive to see all of our children leave the starting line on equal footing. On the racetrack, athletes use starting blocks at the beginning of a race to establish correct position and strong first steps. Acting as the “Starting Blocks” in the race of life, our program helps high schools seniors take off into the real world positioned for success.

The Starting Blocks program was founded by lifetime Bay Area resident Elana Ford. After leaving her corporate job in 2008, Elana reflected on her own career as well as the careers of people close to her and realized the significant advantages that are afforded to those who not only have a good academic education but who also have been taught the “rules of the game” when it comes to job search and career management in general. Believing that every person deserves to understand these skills from day one of their adult lives, Elana began to research and develop programming that could teach young people how to write a resume and cover letter, interview successfully and develop a robust personal network.

The initial program model included: a mentoring program where students met monthly with one-on-one mentors to explore many life skills topics (career related, as well as personal finance, communication and health); a series of Life Skills Workshops to prepare students for their mentor meetings, presented by partner organizations; and a series of Career Panels where students could network with professionals from a number of different career tracks.

After our two pilot years at the Berkeley High School Green Academy (2009-2011), we have refined our model to focus on those aspects that we believe we do best and where Starting Blocks is able to produce truly unique programming, namely on building professional networks and the job search process. As we move forward with our new programming model, we are continuing our focus on traditionally underserved students and are looking for new high schools, mentoring programs, and community/teen centers to partner with. We invite you to learn more about our programming–including our eBrochures for prospective workshop sponsors and schools/workshop hosts–and to contact us if you or your organization is interested in getting involved.

Starting Blocks is the flagship program of Community Connections for Bright Futures, a California 5013c organization. The company was officially founded in August 2010, but operated under the umbrella of a fiscal agent for a year prior.