Milagro also focuses on raising literacy rates amongst youth. Despite being considered as one of the most literate cities in the country, San Francisco still has an illiteracy rate of almost 18% in children over the age of sixteen. Milagro works with charities and organizations that want to improve these numbers, giving youth the basic skills that will help them complete their educational journeys.
Finally, Milagro works with organizations that focus on bringing the rich culture of art and music to youth. In many public schools, when funding is limited, some of the first programs that are cut are the art and music classes. Carlos Santana and the entire Milagro Foundation team find this to be completely unacceptable - and they aren’t alone in their sentiments. Paul Ostergard, Vice President of Citicorp, once said, “A broad education in the arts helps give children a better understanding of their world. We need students who are culturally literate as well as math and science literate.”
Through these priorities, the Milagro Foundation hopes to help more children from lower income families to further their education. By combining the three focuses of the Foundation, the board of directors believes that an increasing number of children, especially in the San Francisco area, will have more access to a vocational or college education. By educating these children, Milagro hopes that the cycle of poverty can be broken, providing brighter futures for all who participate in the programs.