Foundation Awards $1.46 Million to 13 Local Children’s Charities

PALO ALTO – The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health has approved $1.46 million in grants to 13 nonprofit agencies that serve children in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, foundation President and CEO Stephen Peeps announced today.

The foundation supports programs in two focus areas: protecting children, ages 0-5, from injury, with an emphasis on preventing abuse and neglect; and promoting behavioral and emotional health in preteens, ages 9-13.

The new grants range from $75,000 to $175,000, over one to three years. They will support a range of services, including after-school programs, youth mentoring, temporary housing for families, and parent support services. Seven of the organizations have received previous grants from the foundation.

“Nonprofit agencies continue to feel the impact of the economic downturn, and their concerns are intensified by impending budget cuts,” Peeps said. “These organizations are struggling to provide the same invaluable services for children, but with significantly reduced staffing. We are grateful for their efforts, and we appreciate the opportunity to support their work.”

Seven of the grants, totaling $900,000, were awarded to programs in Santa Clara County, which has a child population of about 440,000.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Santa Clara County: $115,000 over three years, for Community and School-Based Mentoring, a program that provides preteens with one-to-one adult mentoring experiences.

Boys and Girls Club of Silicon Valley: $150,000 over two years, for the Youth Life Skills and Leadership Program, which includes several after-school leadership programs for preteens at three club sites in San Jose.

Community Solutions for Children, Families, and Individuals: $125,000 over two years, for After School Services, to provide after-school, drop-in educational support programs for preteens at El Toro Youth Center in Morgan Hill, and Lilly Gardens Center in Gilroy.

Friends Outside in Santa Clara County: $175,000 over two years, for Steps Ahead, an intensive home-visiting program for parents who have a history of incarceration, and their children, ages 0 to 5.

Girls For A Change: $100,000 over two years, for Girls For A Change, a program in which girls work on teams to identify challenges their communities face, and then design and implement creative solutions.

Via Rehabilitation Services: $120,000 over two years, for the Via Injury Prevention (VIP) Project, to serve parents of children, ages 0 to 3, with disabilities or developmental delays.

YWCA of Santa Clara Valley: $115,000 over two years, for New Options, a bilingual (English/Spanish) after-school program at Ocala Middle School in San Jose.

Five organizations in San Mateo County, which has a child population of about 162,000, received grants totaling $461,000.

Daly City Partnership (fiscal agent is Bayshore Childcare Services): $75,000 over one year, to support construction of Our Second Home, a support center in Daly City for families with children ages 0 to 6.

Edgewood Center for Children and Families: $100,000 over one year, for San Mateo Kinship Support Network, a comprehensive program that strengthens the emotional and mental health of preteens who, as an alternative to foster care, are being raised by extended family members.

Samaritan House: $76,000 over two years, for the Case Management Center / Community Worker Program, for the support of a bilingual community worker to provide case management.

Shelter Network of San Mateo County: $100,000 over two years, for the 0 to 5 Children’s Program, which focuses on preventing child maltreatment in homeless families.

South Coast Collaborative (fiscal agent is La Honda Pescadero Unified School District): $110,000 over two years, for the Parent Involvement Project (PIP), to expand its parenting program.

One of the grantees will support children in both counties:

Child Advocates: $100,000 over two years, for Supporting Preteen Foster Youth, a program that provides preteens in the foster care system one-to-one adult mentoring experiences.

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. To date, the foundation has awarded 222 grants, totaling $21,691,939, to 127 different nonprofit organizations.

The foundation is an 8-year-old public charity whose 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 www.lpfch.org/grantmaking.