By Dan Schnur, The Fresno Bee
The California Community Foundation (CCF) believes in a future where all Angelenos have the opportunity to contribute to the productivity, health and well-being of our region. Our common fate will be determined by how successfully we improve the quality of life for all our residents. Our children represent the future of our community and their well-being is one of our primary concerns. If we want them to realize their potential, we need to ensure they have high-quality educational experiences and opportunities to succeed. CCF’s mission is to create lasting change to serve the most vulnerable in our communities. We must ensure that the second largest school district in the county has the resources to tackle the challenges facing our students and communities. That is why we support the Los Angeles Unified School District Parcel Tax, Measure EE, that will go before voters on June 4, 2019. The measure, if approved by voters, will generate approximately $500 million annually for LA Unified schools. A parcel tax of $.016 per square foot tax – a tax of $240 a year for an owner of a 1,500-square-foot home, is the difference between a student thriving in a classroom versus being invisible because of unwieldy classroom sizes. This critical funding is the difference between students who have the space to grow and dream versus students who are in under resourced schools that diminish their hopes. Through decades of underfunding, we’ve asked our students and teachers to do more with less. We’ve applied band-aids through one-time funding or grant programs. Now is the time for an investment to retain and attract quality teachers. We need decisive action steps to realize the deep transformation necessary for the district to deliver the quality education our children deserve. But first let’s establish a stable foundation of teachers along with additional counselors, school nurses, principals and important support staff. A dedicated revenue stream is essential to help meet the mental, physical and academic needs of students, as well as expand arts and music programs in neighborhood schools. Community engagement and support is critical for any Measure with this level of significance. Currently, the Measure is supported by the LAUSD School Board, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 99 and Los Angeles affiliates of the Million Voters Project. Accountability for this Measure is also important. We are encouraged by the Measure’s strong fiscal accountability and oversight. A public oversight committee, whose membership is to be decided by the LAUSD Board of Education will also be established. Educators, students and families in Los Angeles need more resources and support, and we collectively have a responsibility to ensure our schools receive the funding needed to help every student learn and grow to their full potential. Together we can ensure that all our students have the educational opportunities to meet their full potential. CONTACT Roshin Mathew rmathew [@] calfund [.] org (213) 452-6229
Philanthropy News Digest
A new grant opportunity to support and expand local youth development services and programs centered on healing, learning, and opportunity in high need areas across Los Angeles County opened today. This collaboration will expand opportunities and resources for programs that keep youth out of the criminal justice system and help those in the system successfully transition back into the community.
By Ross Brenneman, USC Rossier newsroom
San Fernando Valley Sun
By Taylor Walker, Witness LA
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors yesterday approved a historic Public/Private Partnership between the Los Angeles County Probation Department and two of the area’s leading grant-makers—the Liberty Hill Foundation and the California Community Foundation. This landmark collaboration will dramatically increase services and opportunities delivered by local community-based organizations to youth currently in the probation system and to at-risk youth to divert them from entering the County system altogether. The Probation Department will allocate $3.2 million from the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA) funds to the respective foundations who will in turn set up a grant process for grass-roots and emerging community-based organizations. This will allow for faster distribution of the funds and an opportunity for smaller organizations to access these funds that may not normally have had the infrastructure to compete for county contracts. The grants distributed through this partnership will expand opportunities and resources for programs that keep vulnerable youth out of the justice system and help those in the system transition back into the community. These programs provide critical socio-emotional support that is proven to successfully prevent many youth from entering the juvenile justice system, while also cutting the recidivism rates of those who have. With this new partnership, Los Angeles County will continue to be the nation’s leader for demonstrating how an effective community-based model focused on prevention and treatment not only decreases the number of youth incarcerated, but also improves chances for more youth to earn their high school diplomas, become gainfully employed and decrease the likelihood of being incarcerated as an adult. The services made available via this collaboration will be provided within the youths’ own communities thus making it easier for the families to access. With a shared goal to provide youth rehabilitative programs centered on healing, learning and opportunity, grantees will receive funding for their critical work advancing education, mental health, cultural and workforce programs. The grantees will also benefit from Liberty Hill’s proven track record of coalition-building, training, and support to build organizational capacity for growth and success. Grantees will develop capacity-building plans, and have access to individualized coaching and cohort-based trainings helping them to be more competitive for future funding. “Community based organizations have already demonstrated their power in helping to effectively allocate these critical resources,” said Liberty Hill President & CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith. “This will prevent losing more vulnerable young people to incarceration; instead, they will be connected in meaningful ways in our communities and will help us make Los Angeles the County we know it can be.” The California Community Foundation believes that the collaboration will ultimately make a positive difference in the lives of countless people. “By shifting the focus from simply avoiding criminal or classroom misbehavior to fully embracing methods that result in high school graduation, college readiness and career success, we can dramatically change the lifetime opportunities for young people and the well-being of our community as a whole,” said California Community Foundation President and CEO Antonia Hernández. “Together we can help all our young people to realize their limitless potential.” In the last few years the Los Angeles County Probation Department has been actively establishing relationships with local non-profits dedicated to helping expand programs that improve the health of youth and their families. Probation dedicated $14 million to community-based diversion programs in 2018. “We are proud of this new partnership with Liberty Hill and the California Community Foundation because of our shared objective to improve the outcomes of youth in our communities,” said Chief Deputy Probation Officer Sheila Mitchell who oversees the operations of Los Angeles County’s juvenile halls and residential treatment camps. “This strengthens our goal of partnering with community-based organizations that have proven track records for proactively providing critical programs for our youth.” Community organizations that are interested in learning more about this partnership and how to join may email youthdevelopment@www.calfund.org. For more information on the Public/Private Partnership and Liberty Hill’s participation, please contact Courtney Kassel, Chief Communications Officer, by phone at 323-556-7230 or email at ckassel@libertyhill.org. For more information on the Public/Private Partnership and California Community Foundation’s participation, please contact Roshin Mathew, Director of Communications, by phone at 213-413-4130 or by email at rmathew@www.calfund.org. For more information on the Public/Private Partnership and the Los Angeles County Probation Department’s participation, please contact Kerri Webb, Public Information Officer, by phone at 562-315-3388 or by email at kerri.webb@probation.lacounty.gov.
California Community Foundation
Philanthropy News Digest
By Francisco Valero-Cuevas, Samantha Sklaar and Megan Peters, Sacramento Bee
By Fred Ali, Antonia Hernández and Robert K. Ross