Project Cornerstone

What is Project Cornerstone?

Project Cornerstone is a community initiative of the YMCA of Silicon Valley that works with more than 400 schools and community partners to change the personal behavior of adults, strengthen programs that serve youth, and impact public policy.

Asset Building Champions (ABC) is Project Cornerstone’s literature-based program addressing important issues like respect, tolerance, honesty, peaceful conflict resolution, taking a stand against bullying behaviors, and refusing to participate in gossip. Volunteers are trained in the developmental assets model for positive youth development, and prepared to read a specially selected children’s book and lead related activities and discussions that help teach valuable lessons related to these issues each month.

Project Cornerstone ABC Goals:

• Create a common language and vocabulary to use when discussing student respect and behavior expectations.

• Help students develop the social-emotional skills needed to build strong friendships, deal with bullying, solve problems, be UPstanders, work through their emotions, include others, show empathy, have a growth mindset, develop a sense of self-efficacy and believe in themselves.   

• Increase the number of caring adults on campus so that all students feel that there is at least one adult they can turn to if they have a problem.

• Contribute to a positive school climate where every student feels valued and supported in order to achieve and thrive.

The Project Cornerstone ABC program reaches over 58,000 students, including several schools in our own district.

Three Years of Books

The Project Cornerstone ABC program is a cumulative curriculum spanning 3 years, with 7-8 books per year. Multiple copies of all the books are now available in the library thanks to funding from the PTA. For a list of this year’s books, please see our Cornerstone Books page.

A summary of each lesson will be shared monthly by readers in each classroom.

Get Involved – Become a Volunteer Reader!

Spending an hour in your child's class can make a world of difference!  It's a great opportunity for moms, dads, grandparents, nannies and family friends to support children in a meaningful way.  Training, books, discussion topics, and classroom activities are provided. In a normal year, volunteer commitment is approximately 3 hours/month for the eight months. Normally you would expect:

One Time:

ALL volunteers must:

• apply for a Volunteer Badge as a frequent MVWSD volunteer and complete any district requirements (apply immediately - can take  up to 30 days to process)

 Every Month: 

ALL volunteers must:

• attend the in-person book training at Theuerkauf 

• collaborate with their co-reader and prepare for their lessons in their private time (45 - 60 minutes)

• read book, discuss topic, and lead activity in classroom (45 - 60 minutes)

Volunteer sign-ups are for the whole school year, and we will accept sign-ups throughout the school year. The program is designed to have two readers per room, and readers are expected to be present each month.