SHARON GRAHAM NIEDERHAUS, as director of Partnerships in Education since 1985, has developed over 100 K-12 Adopt-A-School business/education partnerships through the San Mateo County Office of Education, with 21 school districts now participating. It is estimated that 50 percent of the country’s 82,000 students have been served and more than two million dollars of volunteer time and donations have come to schools through the program. In 1991, Sharon, whose mother is Latina, helped to organize and coordinate the Latina Mentor program, which matched mentors with 36 fifth and sixth grade girls in three schools. In 1992, two more schools joined the program, and the Peninsula Community Foundation recognized its contribution to leadership training with a $24,000 grant. Sharon has also chaired the Junior League of Palo Alto’s Corporate Partnerships task force and assisted the Volunteer Center of San Mateo County in developing its successful Corporate Partnership Program.
