Our Stories

Thank you to filmmaker and volunteer extraordinaire, Chris Arnold,  and to Jericho Road for helping us create this moving video showcasing our work and mission. Several months ago, we reached…

The summer numbers are in…and we have something to celebrate. Our 15th year of providing our Summer Enrichment Program was the biggest one ever. This year we had: 1578 students…

PUSD Proud Our Teachers, Cultivating an Award-winning Writer By Lydia Idem Finkley Pasadena Educational Foundation Board Member and PUSD Parent When I got the news that Imani won the NAACP…

Thank you to Keith and Margaret Russell for their generous endowment gift of $500,000 to the Pasadena Educational Foundation. Their gift is the largest endowment gift in PEF’s history and…

A quick reflection from Dan Jarashow, the “Czar” of The Ray Joiner Chess Tournament Celebrating Volunteerism:  I was tremendously impressed with how our Ray Joiner Memorial Chess Tournament went on…

More than 35 of our School Annual Fund representatives and principals joined us to kick off this year’s Annual Fund campaigns. We welcomed back our amazing returning Annual Fund Chairs…

The Pasadena Educational Foundation, with support from community sponsors, welcomed back 2,000 Pasadena Unified School District teachers, staff, and administrators this week with a breakfast held at Pasadena High School.…

Thank you to the Pasadena Art Alliance, for awarding PEF the 2018 Impact Award and $20,000 for our collaborative My Masterpieces: Discovering Art in My Community program. My Masterpieces delivers…

What an exhilarating evening! Not only did our Celebrating Our Schools BREAKTHROUGH 2018 guests hear amazing speakers, share wonderful conversations, and eat fantastic food, but they got hands-on and had…

Mario and Luigi costumed high school students? Robots fighting over yellow bricks? Air horns? Before students headed off for spring break, Wilson Middle School’s Robotics students headed to Pomona Fairplex…

Congratulations to Dr. Kathy Onoye! The Pasadena Educational Foundation’s Board president, Dr. Kathy Onoye, was selected to be this year’s recipient of the Women of Distinction Award for Pasadena. The…

“If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good.” – One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. What a wonderful morning sharing the joy…

What a great day meeting new and returning families to our Summer Enrichment Program at the Westridge Summer Opportunities Fair. PEF is celebrating 15 years of providing our community’s children…

Together with Pasadena Heritage, Pasadena Education Network, and our local realtors, PEF hosted a public tour of 4 of PUSD’s remarkable collection of public school buildings that date from the…

” I enjoyed working side by side with this group of young people who took on the hard work and made the day enjoyable.” –Katia Ahmed, Farm to School Coordinator…

New this year to the My Masterpieces program is a pilot project with Descanso Gardens for the 3rd graders. Students were engaged, prepared, and excited to be outside on the…

This spring, 55 App Academy sophomores were invited to spend the day at Spokeo, a Pasadena-based software company. The students were given advice and encouragement from Spokeo engineers, programmers, and…

Our newest school community garden, Fox Farms, is now open at Franklin Elementary School. The garden was developed thanks to a grant from the Pasadena Community Gardens Conservancy to the…

Madison Elementary School has a new garden. Thanks to a grant from the Pasadena Community Gardens Conservancy to PEF and PUSD, the new Madison Elementary garden will bring families, school…

Thank you to the Pasadena Community Gardens Conservancy for awarding PEF $70,000 in grants to support school gardens to improve family health and nutrition, enhance science education, and help increase…