14 Nonprofit Organizations Win Grants from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health

PALO ALTO – The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health has approved $1.78 million in grants to 14 nonprofit organizations that serve children and youth in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, foundation President and CEO Stephen Peeps announced today.

The awards range from $75,000 to $200,000, over two to three years. The funds support programs in two focus areas: protecting children, ages 0 to 5, from injury, with an emphasis on preventing child abuse and neglect; and promoting behavioral, mental and emotional health in preteens.

Seven grants totaling more than $1 million were awarded to Santa Clara County. Three of the organizations have received grants from the foundation in the past. The grantees and their awards are:

Community Solutions: $150,000, over two years, for its Family Advocate program that provides home-based support in such areas as child development, positive discipline, proper nutrition, and recreation. The program also offers support groups for parents, many of whom are single mothers living in Gilroy.

Concern for the Poor: $100,000, over two years, for the San Jose Family Shelter, which provides emergency shelter and supportive services for up to 35 homeless families with children. The shelter is one of the few programs in Santa Clara County that accepts homeless families rather than only mothers and children.

Gilroy Family Resource Center: $200,000, over three years, for the Gilroy Youth Leadership Program, an after-school youth development program serving 80 young people each year at Gilroy’s two middle schools. The students, referred to the program by teachers or counselors, are at risk of gang involvement, substance abuse, truancy, and pregnancy, or because they may have suffered abuse or neglect at home.

Girls Scouts of Santa Clara County: $150,000, over two years, to support Quest, an after-school program that serves predominantly Latina and Asian/Pacific Islander girls at Fair and Fischer middle schools in East San Jose. The program includes drug, alcohol, and substance abuse prevention; pregnancy prevention; body image; gender and ethnic pride; community service; and financial literacy.

InnVision: $200,000, continued funding, over two years, for the Healthy Families Project that provides parenting classes, group and one-on-one counseling, and English language courses for homeless and very low-income mothers, while their children participate in structured, age-appropriate learning activities.

Sacred Heart: $150,000, over two years, to continue Una Vida Mejor Para Mi Familia (A Better Life for My Family), a parenting education and child-abuse prevention program for 60 Spanish-speaking families who have children ages 0 through 5. While parents attend class, the children are taught self-protection skills.

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church: $90,000, over three years, to expand its Creative Arts Program that uses the performing arts as a way to help youth build skills and to foster positive changes in their attitudes. Quarterly productions are held at the church and at a local retirement community.

Four grants totaling $407,000 were awarded to San Mateo County. The grantees and their awards are:

Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Francisco and the Peninsula: $75,000, over two years, to expand a school-based mentoring program, currently operating in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park, to Turnbull Learning Academy in San Mateo.

Family Connections: $90,000, over two years, to expand its family violence prevention program that provides free pre-school in which parents directly participate, and parent education classes for low-income families. The program is currently offered at Belle Haven Elementary School and will open at two new locations, one in East Palo Alto and the other in East Menlo Park.

Mid-Peninsula Boys and Girls Club: $142,000, over two years, for the San Mateo County Smart Moves Collaborative, a partnership among the four clubs in the county. The Smart Moves program provides preteens with knowledge and skills that will enable them to act responsibly and make positive life decisions.

Volunteer Center of San Mateo County: $100,000, over two years, to continue the San Mateo County Middle School Service-Learning Initiative, a program that matches young people with volunteer opportunities in their communities and helps them to develop leadership skills.

Three grants totaling $330,000 were awarded to agencies serving both San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The grantees and their awards are:

Friends for Youth: $75,000, over two years, for its Mentoring Services Program that matches youth living in high-risk environments with responsible, caring adult volunteers for long-term mentoring relationships.

KidPower, TeenPower, FullPower International: $110,000, over two years, for its Violence and Abuse Program for Children Ages 3-5 With Their Parents and Caregivers. The workshops teach children how to handle bully situations, stranger interactions, and inappropriate touch. The program also provides caregivers with skills and training so that they can reinforce the safety skills at home.

Unity Care Group: $145,000, over three years, for its Youth After-School Leadership Program, which serves young people living in group homes or foster homes or in low-income, single-parent households in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The program features drug prevention, tobacco education, gang diversion, leadership and self-esteem, motivation, career and academics, anger management, and violence prevention.

The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health makes community grants twice yearly. Funds for the grants program, which began in January 2000, comes from the foundation’s endowment. Partnership grants from the California Endowment and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation help support the foundation’s efforts in youth development and reducing high-risk behavior in preteens. To date, 68 agencies have received grants totaling more than $8.5 million from the foundation.

The foundation was established as a public charity in 1996, when the previously independent Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital became part of Stanford University Medical Center. The foundation’s mission is to “promote, protect, and sustain the physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children.” For more information about the foundation’s community grantmaking program, call (650) 736-0676, or visit the Web site, www.lpfch.org.