Schwab Learning Center at CHC Opening in September 2021
Dr. Rosalie Whitlock, CEO of Children’s Health Council, today announced that the Schwab Learning Center at CHC will open this fall. The Center is supported by a generous endowment gift from The Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation. The program will provide supportive services to university and high school students with learning and attention challenges as well as the mental health issues that often accompany them.
“The Schwab Learning Center at CHC reflects Mr. and Mrs. Schwab and CHC’s shared quest to prepare capable learners who have struggled in traditional academic environments,” said Dr. Whitlock. “The support from the Schwab Family allows us to intensify our focus on young adults and create customized programs to remove barriers to learning and ensure students’ future success. We could not be more grateful.”
The Schwab Learning Center at CHC will be open to university students and secondary students who are either referred or self-referred due to challenges with coursework. It will offer a suite of services that includes: working with learning specialists, psychoeducational evaluations, mentoring, short term therapy and community education. The Center will be located at 650 Clark Way in Palo Alto and depending upon emerging COVID protocols, services will be offered in person and/or online. Year 1 will focus on university students and will prioritize Stanford University students. Year 2 will expand to high school students and to more Bay Area colleges and universities. It is expected that the program will reach 400-500 students per year. To ensure accessibility and in keeping with CHC’s mission to serve diverse families regardless of language, location or ability to pay, there will be a robust financial aid component to the program.
“Education has always been a top priority for Helen and me,” said Charles Schwab. “Like CHC, we believe in the promise and potential of every student and we are so optimistic about continuing our work with the Schwab Learning Center at CHC. When I visited CHC and spoke to Rosalie and the other leaders there, it became very clear that our missions are completely aligned. We are tremendously confident that the Center will be in the right hands with CHC. There is such need in our community, so we look forward to working with CHC and seeing high school and university students thrive.”
For the past few years, the Schwab Learning Center has operated at Stanford University solely for the support and development of its students. The gift from the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation to CHC will provide an even wider range of support for Stanford University students and it will extend the reach of the program to other university students and eventually secondary school students in the broader Bay Area. For Stanford students, the Schwab Learning Center at CHC program will be complementary to the support services provided at the Stanford Learning Lab, including support for students with learning differences. CHC’s Chief Education Officer Chris Harris will manage the Schwab Learning Center at CHC and will work closely with Stanford University partners to ensure that Stanford students benefit from the expansion of services available to them.
“We have a long-standing relationship with Stanford and we are very excited about this extraordinary opportunity to collaborate with Stanford in this area. With CHC’s emphasis on the relationship between learning and mental health, we will be able to incorporate clinicians into programming when the Schwab Learning Center comes to CHC,” said Harris. CHC’s Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Ramsey Khasho, will provide clinical program support. CHC currently has several collaborations with Stanford that include the RISE Intensive Outpatient Program for high school students, the Early Support Program for Autism (ESPA), and the Packard Children’s Hospital/CHC Consortium Doctoral Internship Program.
CHC has named Dr. Nicole Ofiesh as Director of the Schwab Learning Center at CHC. She will begin in July. Dr. Ofiesh is an expert in learner variability and attentional issues and has worked in this area advocating for students since the late 90s. She is currently Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Research Scientist at Potentia Institute. “There is tremendous variability in learning profiles and from neuroscientific research, we now know that 1 in 5 students has a learning difference,” said Dr. Ofiesh. “These differences often go undiagnosed until academic demands become difficult to meet. Our aim at the Schwab Learning Center at CHC will be to help students understand their personal learning profiles and their strengths so that they may succeed not only at school, but at home, with friends and in life.“
For more information about the Schwab Learning Center at CHC or to apply or refer a student, please email Dr. Nicole Ofiesh at nofiesh@stage.chconline.org
About Children’s Health Council
Children’s Health Council (CHC) is a nonprofit agency that has been providing best-in-class learning and mental health services to families in our community for nearly 70 years. We envision a world where everyone can reach their full promise and potential. Our mission is to transform young lives by providing culturally-responsive best-in-class learning and mental health services to families from diverse backgrounds regardless of language, location or ability to pay. We offer programs for ADHD, Learning Differences & Executive Functioning, Anxiety, Depression & Suicidality and Autism through our schools, education programs, clinical services, robust community education offerings and online resources. Our goal is to raise awareness, build partnerships, reduce stigma and ensure that no one ever feels alone. Visit chconline.org for more information.
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