ABOUT
Who We Are
The Hannah Project Partnership for Academic Achievement is a community-based education and cultural organization located in Marin City, California. Utilizing culture and the arts to undergird its educational programming, the Hannah Project seeks to both build community and promote the value of achievement among low income black and brown youth and their families. Our intent is to make college and career both an expectation and a norm. Though our roots lie in the faith community, we are non-sectarian and welcome everyone to fully participate in our efforts.
Our Mission
The mission of the Hannah Project is to boost the academic proficiency and college attendance of Marin City and other low income youth of color by working in partnership to promote a community culture that encourages achievement, celebrates heritage, and equips families and students with the knowledge, skills, and strategies to fulfill their dreams and ambitions.
Our Vision
We envision an engaged community that values children, education, service, and culture and is committed to passing on these ideals to ensure intergenerational cohesion, vibrancy and success.
Our Approach
We believe that communities and families play essential roles in eradicating the achievement gap and we work alongside them to set high standards and expectations for student achievement. But we also know that alone is not enough. Race, class, privilege, and poverty are primary contributors to the achievement gap and major factors in its persistence. We believe that overcoming the achievement gap and the institutional racism that perpetuates it requires an approach that couples individual success strategies with advocacy and community engagement and a commitment to a culturally responsive pedagogy that affirms every student and motivates them to achieve.
What's in a name?
Who is Hannah?
The biblical Hannah audaciously longed for a son - never giving up hope that God would hear her cries - and vowing when He did, to return him to the temple to serve God "all the days of his life." And when her son was born, she did just that. Hannah's son Samuel became the first prophet of Israel. By naming the organization the Hannah Project, we honor every mother, every family that wants the best for children and are committed to giving them the opportunity to fulfill their dreams.
Our Story
The Hannah Project did not begin as an intention. It was simply a response to the call of a mother, a fellow parishioner, desperate to ensure that her child avoid dropping out of high school as she had done.
Read
"Will you talk to my daughter about college?" was the question.
"Of course, I will, " was the reply.
And with that response, it began…Unnamed, unconscious certainly, but living. A mother and her succor conjoined in a collective cadence - a call and response rhythm. Baptized by prayer. Fueled by faith. Hoping to change the trajectory of a child's life. It was the fall of 2006.
By 2007, the "it" had begun to take shape, and I decided to name the work I was embarking on - helping families and children navigate the pathway to a better future - Hannah - in honor of the biblical woman/mother of faith.
From the beginning, I was joined by amazing activists, educators, and community leaders - Marsha Bonner, Wendy Cliff, Karen Gilbert, Ethel Seiderman, Delores Talley, Sharon Turner and dedicated and persistent parents - Jackie Dedrick, Shirley Thompson, Diane Cook - who, collectively and individually, guided, prodded, pushed the Hannah Project to listen, learn and lead.
First arguing that it was a mistake to focus only on high school students; making the case that we needed to work with younger students; introducing the Children's Defense Fund's Freedom School as a model approach to exciting children of color about learning; never losing sight of parents' voice; urging us to go beyond academic tutoring to better understand trauma and other socio-emotional issues confronting families and children; recommending that we place special emphasis on black and brown boys; recognizing culture and the arts as an integral part of the development of positive self-image and mindsets; maximizing the power of space and convenings to create common ground among diverse community groups; uncovering entrenched disparities in local school systems; being unafraid " to speak up and speak out" - daring to talk about racial injustice; this motley crew of impassioned actors has helped craft a cogent response to the plague of systemic racism and its residual - the achievement gap.
I am so proud of the foundation that has been laid and the inspiration, values, and legacy - the bequest left by our "founding mothers" to the next generation of leaders. I am most grateful.
-Bettie Hodges-Shelmire, Founder and Executive Director
Milestones
2007
- Hannah's first program was a weekly intergenerational Saturday School in partnership with Cornerstone Community Church. Later that year we would partner with Tam Beacon Center to provide afterschool tutoring at Tam High School.
2008
- Celebrated our first high school graduates by awarding 10 college scholarships. The program would later be known as the Dreamkeeper Scholarship Program. Over the course of 10 years, we awarded $482,000 to 62 students.
2009
- Began the dedicated work for black and brown boys - College Bound Brotherhood.
2010
- Hannah expands programming to include elementary students. The first Freedom School opens in summer with 42 students.
2012
- The Hannah Project leases space at the Gateway Shopping Center. The space becomes known as the Hannah Gallery.
- The Hannah Gallery functions as a full-fledged community center - a place for art, culture, and creative thought. The Hannah Gallery hosting cultural events (e.g. Black History, Kwanzaa, Mother's Day Luncheon), monthly musical offerings ( Friday Night Jazz, Gospel Café), and community meetings, workshops, lectures, and plays as well as rental space for governmental and other NPO organizations.
- The Hannah Gallery hosts a series of art shows: When Hope Finds a Home, a photographic history of Black life in the Fillmore District of San Francisco in the 40's and 50's by David Johnson; Love Made By Hand, an exhibit of African American quilts made by Marin City residents and their families over the past 100 years; Blackness in Three Moods, paintings depicting elements of The African Diaspora by Rev. James Noel, a former resident, pastor and Professor of Theology at San Francisco Theological Seminary; Architects, Activists, and Avengers: The Black Panthers 1968 featuring forty images from a series by two renowned Bay Area photographers, Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones; and INvision, the art of Bayside/MLK students.
2015
- Hannah begins advocacy activity to address systemic racism in schools and educational disparities at Bayside MLK under the umbrella of a new program SAGE - Savings A Generation.
- By the Fall, Hannah launches the Cultural Odyssey Club as a vehicle to begin to discuss issue on race, privilege and class.
2016
- SAGE demonstrates for educational equity at Bayside/MLK and encourages local-residents to make their voices heard as participants in local school board activities.
- State Attorney General begins investigation of the Sausalito Marin City School District and asks Freedom School families and Hannah staff to give testimony to investigators
2017
- Hannah lobbies to have Freedom School included in the LCAP priorities and hosts a series of workshops on Freedom School as an equity tool, dismantling racism in education, and working with black and brown boys.
2018
- Shopping Center reclaims the Hannah Gallery space. Organization housed in various places over the next two years, ending at a longer- term temporary location. Programming is modified to accommodate the transition
2019
- Hannah led advocacy leads to governmental review of the Sausalito Marin City School District and a finding by the Attorney General that SMCSD "knowingly and intentionally maintained and exacerbated" racial segregation. he settlement agreement calls for District to desegregate Bayside School and provide restitution for the harm that was done.
Meet the Team
The Board of Directors
Ralph Wheeler
Board Chair, Retired Attorney, Port of Oakland
Florence Murray Williams
Retired Educator, San Francisco Public Schools
Jackie Dedrick
Community Member
The Advisory Committee
Ida Times
Board Chair, Sausalito Marin City School District
Marilyn Mackle
Retired Judge
Andrea Norwood
Community Member
Karen Gilbert
Retired Administrator, Marin Community Foundation
The Staff
Bettie Hodges
Shelmire, Executive Director/ Founder
Janice Trapp
Administrator
Victoria Holmes
Donor Services
Our Partners
Marin City is a small community, but it is microcosym of the disparities and inequities that plague larger urban areas. It is impossible to be effective in this environment - to bring about the change and transformation that our constituents deserve - without partnering with a range of organizations: Bridge the Gap, Marin City Community Services District, Marin City Community Development Corporation, Marin County Library, Marin Interfaith Council, Marin Promise, Performing Stars, Play Marin, Sausalito Marin City School District, Tamalpais High School District & National Park Service.
Hannah Alumni - Making A Difference
Thanh Lu
CPA, Senior Accountant, Vantage Data Senior, St. Mary's College
Raven Griffin
Currently completing degree in Global Hospitality and Brand Management at NYU
Early Clifton Cobb
Currently enrolled in PhD program in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department at the University of California
In Remembrance & Love
Ethel Seiderman
Ethel Seiderman's inexorable insistence on addressing injustices and encouraging the development of human potential were the wisdom and energies she shared in the world.
Nowhere was this more visibly apparent than her knowledge of, and expressed love for, children. Through the Parent Services Project and the San Anselmo Childcare Center, she had come to know, in fact cared for, a host of Marin City families and their babies. She felt Marin City's children deserved better and as a Hannah Project Board Member, she committed to making the Freedom School her vehicle to make that happen. She made it her mission to ensure Freedom school's success, constantly making personal pitches to friends and influencers on Hannah's behalf. She loved the joy and energy of the Freedom School Harambee. She loved how happy the kids were and how Freedom School made them feel. But she not only loved the children, she loved us. She was everyone's friend/mother, making time and space for each one. Like pearls , we all had our place on her necklace of love. The Ethel effect can be remembered as an F-word: famously frank, fiercely fearless, fabulously fashionable, faithful, funny, fun - a formidable fighter and a force of light, love, wisdom and justice. XOXO
Shirley Thompson
Shirley Ann Thompson had deep roots in Marin City. A daughter of migrants from Louisiana and Arkansas who came to Marinship in the early 40's fleeing Jim Crow and seeking a better life, Shirley inherited a strong worth ethic, sense of fairness, a commitment to community betterment, and an indefatigable faith.
An administrator by profession, an avid bowler and Golden State Warrior fan, Shirley's true advocation was making sure her adopted son Michael and her grandson Blake (whom she raised) had the academic and social enrichments that their other Marin counterparts had -advantages that she wanted for all children and felt all children deserved. Shirley's civic involvement and advocacy for children was most pronounced at Willow Creek Charter Academy where she spoke out frequently - insisting that black and brown students receive fair and equitable treatment and the school adopt a curriculum reflective of the diversity it touted. Her tenacity and courage in the face of health challenges and single parenthood made her an inspiration to the next generation of parent leaders. Parent engagement is foundational to the work of the Hannah Project and Shirley Thompson, a consummate parent/volunteer/advocate, helped build the foundation which anchors our success. Willing. Available. Always showing up. Speaking out. Doing and giving what was needed - even when not asked. Caring so much for all of the children. For all that you stood for - for being such a friend. you have our sincerest gratitude, Shirley Ann. XOXO
Delores Talley
Delores Talley was the kind of civic leader every community treasures: engaged, resourceful, and committed. A long-term Marin City resident, a former Sausalito-Marin City School Board Member, and a St. Andrew parishioner, Delores' knowledge of the educational environment in which Hannah operates made her an invaluable asset as Hannah Project Board Director.
She was self-sacrificing, wholly supportive, sympathetic, sincere - and in the truest and highest sense of the word, a servant. Whether baking lemon cakes for our Mother's Day celebrations, reading one-on one with students, soliciting donors, showing up at school board meetings or protests, or bringing fresh fruits to the Freedom School from the St. Andrew's food bank, she was committed to service and performed each task with a sense of honor, humility and joy. Delores would even appear at Harambe at 8:30 am just to sing "Something Inside So Strong" with our scholars. Her love and commitment were all the more amazing because she did this all while taking care of her mom, her brother, her husband. Her voice - whether heard lovingly singing in our production Freedom School: A Musical or when softly delivering sage advice at our organizational meetings - was a melody of grace, unwavering intention, and love. We honor and appreciate her sacrifice, gifts and talents "to support the kids". We love her as she loved them - with our whole heart.
Juliet Simpson
Juliet Simpson "Knowledge is power," Juliet Simpson was fond of saying, and for more than 35 years, she spent most of her days empowering students with knowledge , the love of reading, and the life skills that she knew they would need to succeed.
Working in the Fairfax school district for 19 years and an additional 16 years in the Richmond School District before retiring, it was not long after retirement that Juliet found her way into a classroom as a volunteer at Bayside/MLK Academy in Marin City. When the school referred six second graders who could not yet read and who had been labeled "difficult" to the Hannah Freedom School for the summer, we immediately turned to Juliet for help. Juliet's kind, but no-nonsense approach, her joy of teaching, her devotion to reading, her ability to draw the best out of students, soon won them over. By the end of summer, they were all reading with greater fluency and comprehension. That summer was just the beginning of Juliet's relationship with the Hannah Project. She fell in love with Freedom School and we fell in love with her. In the ensuing years, she was always there to help until her health no longer permitted it. Thank you, Ms. Julie, so much.