CTP is applying to the Rose Foundation's West Oakland Community Fund: $100,000 for a 12-month project serving West Oakland residents with disabilities (remote delivery from Berkeley HQ).

Application due: Thursday, October 8, 2026, 5:00 PM.

• Scope-check email sent Oct 6 to [email protected] (subject “West Oakland Fund”). Reply received the same day.
• Berkeley HQ is fine if the application explains how West Oakland residents will be served.
• Remote delivery explicitly acceptable: the requirement is about serving West Oakland residents, not having a West Oakland office.
• CTP's disability experience counts (no bright-line test), but a competing applicant with stronger disability experience could be preferred.
• Board list supplied and added to the application draft.

Lead: West Oakland Job Resource Center — [email protected], 510-419-0509, 1801 Adeline St 2nd Fl r (ask how to address). First call: Mon Oct 5.

Backups: Oakland PIC West Oakland Neighborhood Career Center (510-419-0392, 1801 Adeline St Ste 209) · East Bay Works / America’s Job Center network (mandated partners with EDD access).

Timeline: first contact Oct 6, signed letter of support (max 2 pages) back by Wed Oct 7 EOD, submit Thu Oct 8 5 PM.

• CTP's own Port tie: technical instructor Jose Rivera interned at the Port of Oakland as a CTP student and now teaches at CTP (strong alignment with the Fund's Port-related focus).

Subject: Partnership request by Thursday: workforce development for West Oakland residents with disabilities

Hi [Name],

I'm Carrie Moncrieffe, Director of Employment Services at Computer Technologies Program (CTP), a Berkeley nonprofit preparing people with disabilities for careers since 1974.

We're applying to the Rose Foundation's West Oakland Community Fund (deadline Thursday Oct 8, 5 PM) for a project that would provide free remote workforce development — digital skills, one-on-one coaching, career assessment, and supported job search — to 40 West Oakland residents with disabilities.

I'm writing because [Organization] is exactly the kind of trusted West Oakland presence that makes a project like this work. We'd love your help in two ways:

1. Recruitment partnership: help us reach participants through your channels and community (we'd want 40 West Oakland residents with disabilities enrolled).
2. A 2-page letter of support for the application, which I'd need back by Wednesday Oct 7 (end of day). I can send you a template — it would just need your signature.

Your community gets free, proven support: 95% of participants in our most recent evaluation rated their training helpful, and 89% left with clearer career goals. Our staff are mostly program graduates with disabilities themselves — we're peer-led.

Would you have 20 minutes today or tomorrow to talk it through? A quick call is the fastest path.

Thank you,

Carrie Moncrieffe
Director of Employment Services, Computer Technologies Program
[email protected], 510-849-2911

Give the partner this draft on their letterhead. Everything in [brackets] needs filling.

[Partner organization letterhead]

[Date: October 7, 2026]

Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment
West Oakland Community Fund
[Grant program mailing address]

Re: Letter of Support for Computer Technologies Program's application to the West Oakland Community Fund

Dear West Oakland Community Fund Review Committee:

[Organization name] is a [501©(3) nonprofit / community organization] serving West Oakland since [year]. Our mission is [mission], and we currently reach approximately [number] West Oakland residents each year through [programs/services]. We are writing to express our strong support for the Computer Technologies Program's (CTP) application for $100,000 in West Oakland Community Fund support.

We have known CTP since [year / describe relationship, e.g., “as a fellow disability-serving organization in the East Bay,” or “through our shared work connecting Oakland residents to employment”]. CTP is a Berkeley-based nonprofit founded in 1974 to prepare people with disabilities for competitive careers. Seventy-one percent of CTP's staff are program graduates with disabilities themselves. They are a peer-led organization with five decades of experience, and their most recent program evaluation found that 95% of participants rated their training helpful, with 89% gaining clearer career goals. We trust them to deliver on what they promise.

If funded, CTP's project will provide remote workforce development to 40 West Oakland residents with disabilities over 12 months, beginning February 2027: digital skills training, one-on-one coaching, career assessment, and supported job search. As CTP's West Oakland recruitment partner, [Organization name] commits to the following:

- Participant recruitment and referral: We will actively identify and refer eligible participants from among the [clients/members/residents] we serve, with a goal of helping CTP enroll 40 West Oakland residents with disabilities.
- Community outreach: We will promote the program through our channels: [e.g., our client mailing list, community bulletin boards, social media, and in-person announcements at our site(s)], and host at least [one/two] program information session(s) for interested residents.
- Ongoing coordination: We will designate [name/title or “a staff contact”] as CTP's point of contact for recruitment coordination and will meet [monthly/as needed] during the enrollment period to keep referrals on track.

This partnership matters because West Oakland residents with disabilities face compounded barriers to employment: statewide data from the CA Department of Developmental Services show only 15% of working-age Californians with intellectual and developmental disabilities served by regional centers earned wages in 2023–24, and the disability community is a named priority population for this fund. Free, accessible workforce development delivered by a disability-led organization, with a trusted local partner connecting residents to it, is exactly the kind of investment that moves that number.

We are enthusiastic about this collaboration and confident in CTP's capacity to carry it out. Please do not hesitate to contact me at [phone] or [email] if we can provide any further information.

Sincerely,

[Signature]
[Name]
[Title]
[Organization name]
[Phone] · [Email]

• Current-year org budget and most recent fiscal-year income/expense statement
• Staff headcount and full roster with titles
• ED and board demographics answers
• Finance contact (name, email, phone)
• Two references (name, phone, email, relationship)
• BIPOC-served data
• Other funders status
• West Oakland population figure for the application

See also: Emergency Funding Plan.