Jewish Community Foundation Announces Awards to Support Thirteen Los Angeles Nonsectarian...

News Editors/Feature Editors/Business Editors

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 29, 2004

The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (The Foundation) today announced new grants totaling $100,000 in support of community causes, including youth education and social services. Thirteen area organizations received funding, among them a children's art education program and a literacy tutoring initiative.

"These grants exemplify The Foundation's continued commitment and effort to help the Southern California community," said Marvin I. Schotland, president and CEO of The Foundation. "The grants reach beyond just secular causes and support a broad range of programs intended to improve the quality of life in the region. In today's challenging economic environment, every dollar of these grants plays a crucial role in building our greater Los Angeles community."

The Foundation, the largest manager of charitable assets and provider of planned giving solutions for Southern California Jewish philanthropists, has made general community grants for more than a decade by working in partnership with organizations throughout the region to address areas of mutual concern. These awards represent just one portion of more than $780,000 in Foundation Legacy Grants given in the 2003 grants cycle to Los Angeles-area nonprofit groups.

A $25,000 Foundation grant will support the Los Angeles County Arts Commission -- a two-year grant for a pooled fund to support policy changes and educational initiatives that provides K-12 sequential arts education for the county's 1.7 million students. The program also includes technical assistance to five school districts during the 2004-05 school year to adopt arts education policies, plans and budgets, and hire arts coordinators.

"The grant from the Jewish Community Foundation is one of the lead contributions to a pooled fund to support Arts for All: Los Angeles County Regional Blueprint for Arts Education, the strategic plan to restore dance, music, theater and the visual arts in the county's 82 school districts," said Los Angeles County Arts Commission Executive Director Laura Zucker. "This fund, a partnership of major funders that includes J. P. Morgan Chase Foundation and Sony Pictures, will play a key role in shaping arts education strategy for the region over the next decade."

Another Foundation grant of $8,500 was awarded to Project GRAD Los Angeles, Inc., for publication and training costs associated with monthly bilingual literacy workshops to teach 400 parents of elementary school students in the Northeast San Fernando Valley how to improve their children's reading ability.

Project GRAD Los Angeles, Inc. Executive Director Cheryl Mabey commented, "We are thrilled to be in partnership with the Jewish Community Foundation, and we applaud The Foundation's involvement in supporting parents engaged in their children's education through the Project GRAD Parents as Tutors Program. With support from The Foundation, the program will provide monthly bilingual literacy workshops for 400 elementary school families to assist parents to help their children succeed in school."

Grant Criteria

The Foundation's Grants Committee dispensed awards to programs that have the greatest potential to create a direct impact on their respective target groups. Proposals this year addressed needs in the areas of health, education, social services, the environment and the arts.

Other new awards include:

-- Advocacy for Youth, $5,000 -- For services provided to the

entertainment industry to promote responsible decisions among

youth about their reproductive and sexual health.

-- Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (In collaboration with

the Art Knowledge Corp.), $5,000 -- For publication and

distribution of a calendar of arts-related events and

information to fifth graders in Los Angeles Unified and County

public schools to encourage them to become familiar with and

visit museums in the Los Angeles area.

-- Center for Cultural Innovation, $5,000 -- For hiring part-time

staff to recruit professional volunteers who provide

business/financial guidance, and counseling sessions between

these volunteers and individual artists and small to mid-size

nonprofit arts businesses that can benefit from their

assistance.

-- Community Advocates Inc., $5,000 -- For establishing a new

Interfaith Council that will catalyze activity among diverse

religious institutions and expand the reach of Big Sunday

2004, a non-denominational social action project that

encourages interaction among people from different religious,

racial and ethnic backgrounds.

-- Community Partners, $6,500 -- For educational materials, staff

support and volunteer stipends used by a coalition of 40

organizations that is working with LA Unified to create a

toxic-free setting for students, teachers, staff and nearby

community members.

-- Exceptional Children's Foundation, $7,500 -- For development

of a community-based program that provides medical,

rehabilitative and social services to up to 75 developmentally

disabled adults in downtown Los Angeles who otherwise may be

at risk for institutionalization.

-- Grand Performances, $5,000 -- For free post-performance

discussions designed to help audience members learn more about

themselves and fellow attendees, with the goal of encouraging

greater tolerance of human differences through the arts.

-- Homeboy Industries, $7,500 -- For providing at-risk youth with

transitional job training positions in order to create and

expand their employment opportunities.

-- OPCC (Formally Ocean Park Community Center), $7,500 -- For a

walk-in center that serves as the point of entry for emergency

and case management services, including food, clothing,

showers, and medical, legal and housing referrals, for youth,

adults and families that are homeless, have low or no income,

are battered and/or are runaway.

-- Puente Learning Center, $7,500 -- For a program that will

serve 40 children and 60 adults in East and South Los Angeles

during the 2003/04 school year to enable them to build greater

literacy skills and opportunities for families to learn

together.

-- Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic Inc., Los Angeles, $5,000

-- For duplicating an educational instruction CD and a

companion brochure on the Learning Through Listening Program

to distribute to local schools, school districts, parent

groups, and education-related seminars and conventions to

increase awareness of audio textbooks as a resource for blind

and learning disabled students.

Established in 1954 and currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, The Jewish Community Foundation is the largest manager of charitable assets and provider of planned giving solutions for Southern California Jewish philanthropists who are making a difference in the Jewish and general communities locally, nationally and in Israel. In 2003, The Foundation and its donors distributed over $43 million in grants to more than 1,300 organizations whose programs span the human lifecycle. The Foundation currently manages assets of more than $460 million.