What are you doing for lunch on Friday? One option is to head to Caffe Venezia and join a group of local business players who, for the second year running, have set themselves a goal of raising funds for the Berkeley High Development Group while enjoying good Italian fare and convivial conversation.

Architect Charles Kahn (Kahn Design Associates) co-founded BHSDG Business Partners last year with David Mayer of Mayer Laboratories. Mayer had been asked to take over “business outreach” for the Berkeley High School Development Group and he was stunned to find that, historically, only a few thousand dollars had been made available annually in direct donations to the group. He resolved to accept the assignment only if he could significantly improve the results.

“Berkeley High School is the only public high school in our community — we rely upon it for the education of our children and our employees’ children,” says Kahn. “We recognize it is in our self-interest to support Berkeley High.” The group also recognizes that the school has a national reputation for academic excellence, diversity and social enrichment. … Continue reading »