Editor’s note: This guest post is by Tiffany Price, former education program fellow and program coordinator of the Koshland Young Leader Awards. She is also the information strategist for the Kapor Center for Social Impact.

Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of celebrating with ten amazing Koshland Young Leader Award recipients, their families, friends, and other supporters.

The award was established 20 years ago by Dr. Daniel Koshland, Jr. to give additional funds to San Francisco public high school juniors with extraordinary life challenges, yet high academic performance, to help them access college. The recipients are  all great scholars with amazing stories of triumph and resilience.

After five years coordinating this awards program, I recognized two additional common characteristics among all the awardees — from their stories, witnessing them in action, and getting to know them individually.

Hearts of Gratitude
Many of these young people have never won anything in their entire lives. More often than not, they had to do without even the basic necessities. Some have been homeless; some left their families in other countries to come, alone, to the U.S. for a better education. Some have dealt with chronic illness, family crises, or having to work full-time jobs while going to high school.

Despite — or perhaps because of — their struggles, they are the most grateful and humble people I have ever encountered.

Their lives have not soured them. The extra hard work has not embittered them. Many even view these challenges as character-building experiences that they are grateful for.

They have given some of the biggest hugs and most sincere and heartfelt thanks to me, the Koshland family, and others at the Foundation upon receiving this award. Many of them continue to give thanks years after receiving the award. They inspire all of us to do a better job of thanking those who have lifted and blessed me when I have needed it most.

Hearts of Service
Even with all these students have endured, all of them have a commitment to the value of serving others. Their drive to go to college is in service of helping their parents and siblings have a better life: sending money home to family members, building their parents the house they always wanted, or becoming an immigration lawyer so other families don’t have to go through difficult experiences. They help their classmates with their studies, care for their siblings, work to help their family pay for food and rent, and engage in community organizing to better their neighborhoods and schools.

This amazing group of young people has every reason to focus on themselves. But they choose, instead, to use their time, talent, and treasure to help others.

They don’t consider individual success to be success at all — unless they can share it with those who have loved and supported them along the way.

There is much to learn from these young leaders. In the face of adversity, we must remain humble, count our blessings, and be grateful for the contributions and sacrifices of those in our lives who helped us along our journeys.

These young people are the reason I continue to be a part of this work.  And it is why their stories of triumph and dedication touch so many across the Bay Area, the nation, and the world.

Learn more about the Koshland Young Leader Awards and the 2013 awardees.

Because each cohort of incoming Fellows comes to the Foundation with an enviable track record of meaningful work experience, an eager and inquiring spirit, and the courage to question the status quo.

Because it allows me to repeatedly see our Foundation leaders at their best—opening up to the Fellows’ countless questions, continually opening doors that help Fellows build enduring professional networks, and gently explaining why we do what we do in the midst of a constantly changing world.

Because the Fellowship, as a locus for learning, provides an opportunity to explore issues, like class dynamics, that are often strangely silent in philanthropy.

Because the Fellowship alumni are energetic, creative leaders funneling resources, influencing policies, and running programs from reading and the arts to affordable housing and water systems.

Because the Fellowship opens the door, especially for people of color, to what has been the historically closed and elite—some would say elitist– circle of philanthropy.

Because working with Fellows allows me to guide, counsel, and cajole Fellows and then witness the blossoming of a wealth of talent, passion, and skills that lead to positions of greater influence, authority, and lives full of meaning.

Because our communities and neighborhoods all deserve to benefit from the richness of skilled, experienced, values-based leaders of color, our Multicultural Fellows.

Note: The deadline to apply for the fellowship is this coming Monday, March 11th.

As California and the country brown, the need for civic engagement and leadership indigenous to the various racial ethnic communities increases; leadership and engagement within and across communities is the platform upon which our civil society, our very democracy, rests. One of the ways in which we at The San Francisco Foundation are—and have been—addressing this critical issue is through our Multicultural Fellowship Program. What now looks like a stroke of genius started as an experiment. The Fellowship program was established over 30 years ago partially to address the lack of diversity in philanthropy; today there are 70 alumni exercising leadership in various sectors.

The program focuses on becoming an effective grantmaker via hands-on experience; it also provides an array of training, networking, mentoring, career coaching, and opportunities to strengthen the Fellows’ professional networks. The direct, on-the-job approach is a stepping stone to the next career opportunity. “My success in managing the CHANGE Coalition is a direct result of my experience managing a coalition at The San Francisco Foundation,” explains Kathryn Alcántar, Environment Fellow, 2005 – 2007. “This experience taught me the skills to manage obstacles, deal with challenging conversations, and keep people excited and motivated to work with each other.”

And just as important, it provides the Fellows with the opportunity to explore the most pressing societal issues with their teams, with our Foundation leadership, and with their cohort, creating professional relationships that often endure for the rest of their careers. Jaime Cortez, Arts & Culture Fellow, 2006 – 2008 observes that “it is hard to overstate how important it has been to build this network of authentic relationships. This is how I learn of professional opportunities; this is how I learn of art opportunities (calls for entries, performances, panels, openings, lectures, etc.).”

Today, February 7, we will be welcoming about half of our alumni whose homecoming will allow them to catch-up with each others lives and continue to learn from each other. The agenda allows an opportunity for alumni to share effective strategies that lead to greater engagement and leadership opportunities within and across many racial and ethnic backgrounds. The topic is timely; the expertise is abundant; the passion unfailing. These are our Multicultural Fellows.