Six San Mateo County Organizations Win Grants to Benefit Children’s Health

PALO ALTO – Six San Mateo County nonprofit organizations have won grants from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, announced Stephen Peeps, foundation president and CEO.

The grants were six of 11 awarded by the foundation in its first of two funding cycles this year. The grantees and their awards are: Coastside Collaborative for Children, Youth, and Families; Family Support Center of the Mid-Peninsula; Peninsula Family YMCA; Redwood City Healthy Start Network; San Carlos Healthy Cities Project; and the San Francisco 49ers Academy in East Palo Alto.

The Coastside Collaborative will receive $20,000 to expand its annual Youth Summit program to include middle school students. The Summit is one part of a comprehensive community plan to provide activities for youth to discourage their participation in high-risk behaviors.

The Family Support Center of the Mid-Peninsula will receive of $88,000, over two years, for its Brighter Futures program. The program provides education and assistance to parents at risk of child abuse and neglect, and child abuse detection training for Ravenswood School District personnel.

The “Y” will receive a two-year, $75,000 grant to expand an after-school program at the Moonridge public housing development.

Redwood City Healthy Start Network will receive a two-year, $150,000 grant for its child abuse prevention program.

San Carlos Healthy Cities Project will receive $25,000 for its youth mentoring program that currently serves 163 students in five San Carlos schools, kindergarten through eighth grade.

The San Francisco 49ers Academy will receive $75,000 for a youth development program that will provide mentoring, anger management and male role-modeling activities to teens at risk of social, emotional or academic problems.

The Lucile Packard Foundation makes grants in two 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 pre-teens.

The foundation also awarded grants to the following Santa Clara County organizations: Catholic Charities of San Jose, $250,000 over two years; Children’s Discovery Museum, $150,000 over two years; Mexican American Community Services Agency, $125,000 over two years; and Social Advocates for Youth, $175,000 over two years. Today’s Youth Matter, an organization that works to build the self-esteem of troubled youth from both counties, will receive $121,405, over three years, to add year-round mentoring to its current summer camp program.

The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health 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.”

Funding for the community grantmaking program comes from the foundation’s endowment. Grants are awarded twice a year, in June and December.

The foundation also is the fundraiser for Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the pediatric programs at Stanford Medical School. A program of public information and education regarding children’s health issues is under development at the foundation.

For more information about the foundation’s community grantmaking program, call (650) 736-0676, or visit the Web site, www.lpfch.org.