13 Nonprofit Organizations Receive Total of $1.79 million
PALO ALTO – The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health has approved $1.79 million in grants to 13 nonprofit and public agencies that serve children and youth in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, foundation President and CEO Stephen Peeps announced today.
The awards range from $90,000 to $230,000, covering periods from one to three years. 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, and emotional health in preteens. Seven of the organizations have received grants from the foundation in the past.
Grants include funding for a range of services, from after school and mentoring opportunities for preteens, to parent education and home visitation programs for parents of children, ages 0-5. Special populations represented in these grants include foster children, homeless children and children of incarcerated parents.
Many of the grants help pay operating expenses, reflecting the need for more flexible funding at a time when many agencies are feeling the effects of the economic downturn.
“We are acutely aware of how difficult it is for nonprofit organizations not only to survive but thrive in such a challenging economic climate,” Peeps said. “But the needs of children in our two counties have, if anything, only intensified over the past year, and the programs we’re funding show great promise for helping our children grow up healthy.”
Five of the awarded grants, totaling $835,000, were given to agencies in Santa Clara County. The grantees and their awards are:
City Year San Jose / Silicon Valley: $150,000, over two years, for Young Heroes, a service-learning and leadership development program for middle school youth in San Jose, Sunnyvale, Cupertino and Mountain View.
Friends Outside in Santa Clara County: $200,000, over three years, for Project Step Out. This after school support program, which serves preteens from families with a relative who is incarcerated, helps to prevent youth from engaging in high-risk behaviors.
Future Families, Inc.: $145,000, over two years, for the Mentorship Program for Foster Youth. The grant supports the research, planning and implementation of a mentoring program for preteen foster youth.
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte: $110,000, over two years, for Teen Talk, an after school skills development program for 7th and 8th grade girls at Fair Middle School in East San Jose.
Santa Clara County Social Services Agency: $230,000, over two years, for the Family Development Academy, which will provide parent education, in-home visits, social support and resource referrals to parents of children, ages 0 to 5, at family resource centers in San Jose, Milpitas, Alviso and Gilroy.
Another six grants totaling $740,000 were awarded to agencies in San Mateo County. The grantees and their awards are:
Family Service Agency of San Mateo County: $125,000, over two years, for the Supportive Supervised Visitation Program, which provides hands-on parenting education and counseling for families with children, ages 0 to 5, who are at risk of abuse and neglect.
John Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities: $185,000, over three years, for the Academy for Community Youth Development, which will help create a blueprint for promoting the healthy development of preteens along the Mid Coast of San Mateo County.
Peninsula Partnership for Children, Youth, and Families: $100,000, over one year, for the continued support of the Home-Visiting subcommittee of San Mateo County’s Prenatal to Three Initiative.
Project FOCYS: $95,000, over two years, for the youth-led Family Group Program, which works with parents and children simultaneously to prevent high-risk behavior in youth by improving family communication.
San Mateo County Office of Education: $100,000, over two years, for the Positive Youth Media Blitz, a multimedia campaign for middle school students in Daly City that is designed to improve the image of youth, showcase their assets and forge stronger relationships between adults and young people.
South Coast Children Services: $135,000, over two years, for Wildcats Youth Development Program, an after-school program for 4th, 5th and 6th graders in the rural South Coast communities of San Mateo County.
Two grants totaling $215,000 were awarded to agencies that serve both counties. The grantees and their awards are:
Clara – Mateo Alliance, Inc.: $125,000, over two years, for the support of a case worker at the Elsa Segovia Center Case Management Program who will work directly with homeless and low-income families with children, ages 0-5.
Youth Community Service: $90,000, over two years, for the Middle School Service Initiative, an after-school and summer service learning program for middle school students in the Ravenswood and Palo Alto Unified school districts.
The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health makes community grants twice yearly in its two focus areas. Funds for the grants program come from the foundation’s endowment and a partnership grant from The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. In addition to its twice-yearly grants, the foundation makes grants to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. To date, the foundation has awarded 179 grants, totaling $18,717,684 million, to 105 different nonprofit organizations.
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.
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