Korean American Community Services Wins Grant to Aid Children, Families

PALO ALTO – Korean American Community Services (KACS), located in San Jose, has received a grant for $36,000 from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health to renew its child abuse prevention program, foundation President and CEO Stephen Peeps announced today.

The program, called Children’s Health Project, provides counseling to encourage positive communication and safe home environments and offers weekly workshops on effective parenting, conflict management, coping skills, and U.S. child protective laws.

KACS is the only agency in Santa Clara County serving Koreans who are monolingual or speak limited English. According to Hwaja Choi, KACS executive director, the lack of social supports for newly arrived Korean immigrants, along with feelings of isolation and limited language skills, are stress factors that can result in children becoming victims of child abuse and neglect. Research points to social isolation as a key factor in the incidence of child abuse and neglect. The weekly meetings and peer support groups alleviate isolation as well as provide education and practice in effective parenting.

KACS is among 32 child and youth nonprofit organizations in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties to receive $2.1 million in the first-ever round of grants from the 4-year-old foundation. The foundation’s two funding areas are protecting children (ages 0-5) from injury with emphasis on preventing child abuse, and promoting emotional, mental and behavioral health in pre-teens (ages 9-13).

“Durante 18 meses de planificación y consulta con líderes comunitarios, aprendimos mucho sobre el estado de salud de los niños en los condados de San Mateo y Santa Clara y vimos una enorme necesidad”, dijo Peeps. “La mayoría de los niños de la región nacen sanos, y los factores que dañan o amenazan su salud son predominantemente conductuales y, por lo tanto, prevenibles. Por eso decidimos centrarnos en las iniciativas de prevención dentro de nuestras dos áreas de interés”.

En 1998, por ejemplo, San Mateo reportó 5,006 casos de abuso y negligencia infantil, la mayoría de los cuales fueron por negligencia. En el condado de Santa Clara, se reportaron 19,565 casos de abuso y negligencia infantil en 1999. El abuso de sustancias, la conducta sexual de riesgo y los pensamientos suicidas entre los preadolescentes son desafíos que cada condado continúa abordando.

Solo seis de los 32 programas financiados son nuevos. "Hemos aprendido que lo que más se necesita es reforzar los programas existentes", dijo Peeps.

Other organizations funded include countywide projects such as Santa Clara Valley’s YMCA Cornerstone Project, which focuses on youth development, as well as smaller rural-based programs. Individual grants range from $36,000 to $300,000 over the course of one, two and three years.

“In a relatively short time, the foundation’s community grantmaking program has gone from a concept to a reality,” said Sharon Keating Beauregard, the foundation’s director of Programs and Grants. “It is rewarding to see resources getting out to the communities to strengthen the health and well-being of children.”

Para obtener más información sobre el programa de subvenciones comunitarias de la fundación y ver la lista completa de beneficiarios, visite el sitio web de la fundación en www.lpfch.org, o llame al (650) 736-0676.