Padma's Farewell
After six years as Executive Director, I will be stepping down from the leadership of Homework Central. We have accomplished so much in the last six years, and it’s time to pass on the leadership baton. During my tenure, we have continued the good work we had been doing for the 21 years prior.
Through Homework Central, I have had the privilege of serving, the most vulnerable in our community – children - young students, many of them English Learners, whose families face difficult economic circumstances. And we stayed in touch with their families alongside managing over 100 volunteer tutors drawn from our community annually. We also built collaborations with many local organizations who provide complementary services to ours, whether in the area of enrichment activities like arts, music, culture and science like CuriOdyssey and Science From Scientists, or great community service organizations like Assistance League of San Mateo.
Post pandemic, when our schools returned to in-person instruction in 2021, we saw the need for our services skyrocket, literacy being at the top. We responded by introducing a new literacy program for 2nd and 3rd graders co-created with the San Mateo Public Library. Over the last four years, we more than doubled our student strength, added a new school, increased staffing from about 12 to 38 last year, created a site-based staffing structure to facilitate growth – all while keeping Homework Central’s operating principle of maintaining a low student to tutor ratio and providing small group support. To prevent summer learning loss of our students, we partnered with CuriOdyssey so that all our students who applied, received free summer camp spots.
To match our growth, we increased fundraising, and starting in 2023, for the first time since our inception in 1998, the San Mateo Foster City School District has been giving us six figure funding to support our work. And we grew corporate sponsorship, grants, company match programs twenty-fold. We have retained deep ties to individuals and long-term grant-makers who continue to support our work. Most importantly, from a financially “on the edge” state that most small community nonprofits operate, by carefully managing the funds you gave us (and our expenses), we now have an operating reserve to be able to continue services on a rainy day.
Organizationally, we have worked to define our priorities and our strategy. All key decisions made by our board now use a “strategy screen” that has been crafted with key criteria that advance our mission and values. We are moving from a “working board” (doing accounts, managing staff) to a staff driven organization, enabling our board to focus mainly on traditional roles of governance and fund development. We have streamlined and documented our program, organizational, financial and fund development processes to make day-to-day management easier.
As the “face” of the organization, I have had the privilege of staying in regular touch with many of our major donors, making new connections with people, companies, groups, churches and religious organizations, representing HWC at countless events. We deeply appreciate your continued support for Homework Central – physically, financially, and from your heart. The work we do at Homework Central is truly transformational for our students and families.
Since December, when I told the board of my decision to step down, we have been working diligently to ensure uninterrupted services and operations.
I thank our dedicated board and staff, and community of donors, volunteers, as well as schools for all they do to make it possible for us to provide caring tutors (and implicitly, mentors) to students who need it most, while growing our ties with their families. I will miss you all. This quote sums up my feelings, “We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we will take a little of each other everywhere.” I will miss this beautiful community and wish each of you the very best.
Please feel free to stay connected with me on LinkedIn or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
In Service, and With Gratitude,
Padma Gargeya
