CAROL FOREST has spent more than 30 years in education, dedicating her efforts to alternative programs. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Jefferson Union High School District GED Center in 1986. Under her leadership as Program Coordinator and GED Chief Examiner, this program has grown from 50 graduates per year to 200. Her focus has been on bringing at-risk youth back into the mainstream by providing counseling, intervention and prevention programs, vocational training and employment services. In 1990 she forges a partnership with school, government and foundations to co-found the Daly City Youth Health Center. Securing more than $2,000,000 in grant funding, this model program provides free services to individuals ages 13 through 21 and has served over 7,000 teens. The Staff has grown from 5 to 31, including three paid teen health advocates. Over the past 12 years she won grants to establish and continue the Tools for Survival Program giving added support for high school dropouts pursuing the GED. She is a visionary whose energies spring from her spiritual practice which permeates all her endeavors. In the last eight years she has pioneered the establishment of the San Francisco Buddhist Center, where she mentors the spiritual development of its women members.
