Making Waves Education Program propels urban, low-income children to the highest levels of academic achievement. Over the past 24 years, we have built an impressive and unparalleled track record in helping underserved students gain acceptance to college and graduate with a bachelor’s degree. In 1989 Making Waves was established by John H. Scully, managing director of SPO Partners, and the late Reverend Eugene Farlough, pastor of Sojourner Truth Presbyterian Church. Forty-six students from Richmond, California, were chosen to begin an after-school tutoring and mentoring program. A second program was established in 2001 to address underserved youth in San Francisco. In the fall of 2007 we opened Making Waves Academy in a temporary facility, a four-year charter middle school in Richmond with 400 students in fifth through eighth grades. In 2009 Making Waves Academy celebrated the opening of its permanent home in Richmond. The campus is a state-of-the-art modern facility with a library and technology center at its core; science labs; specialized art and music classrooms; an outdoor, edible garden; and laptop computers for student use.

1988

donations from individuals, organizations and partners.

The mission of the Marking Waves Education Program is to ensure that low-income young people gain the support and skills necessary to enter – and graduate from – four-year colleges and universities, go on to well-paying careers, and take on leadership roles in their communities.

The Making Waves Education program is dedicated to getting students not just to college, but through it.

College and Alumni Program