Two local community organizations helping children in southern
Santa Clara County recently received grants to help fund their
programs.
Community Solutions, a private non-profit agency serving South
County and surrounding areas, was awarded $149,000 over two years
from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, based in
Palo Alto.
Two local community organizations helping children in southern Santa Clara County recently received grants to help fund their programs.
Community Solutions, a private non-profit agency serving South County and surrounding areas, was awarded $149,000 over two years from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, based in Palo Alto.
The money will go toward Community Solutions’ Family Advocate Program, a home visiting program for parents with children younger than 5 who are at risk of abuse and neglect.
“We’re extremely appreciative to the Lucile Packard Foundation for this significant grant and for their belief in the work we do in the community,” said Erin O’Brien, CEO of Community Solutions. “But the real winners are the families in South County that will be served by this program.”
The YMCA of the Mid-Peninsula, in partnership with the YMCA of Santa Clara Valley, was awarded a three-year federal grant for $1.3 million from the Carol M. White Physical Education Program.
The grant was allocated through the U.S. Department of Education and locally will go toward The Y Healthy U Project, an initiative to help children and youth become more physically active and improve their overall physical fitness.
Debbie Cupp, executive director of Morgan Hill’s Mount Madonna YMCA, said part of the award will go toward the 21st Century Program, a collaboration between Mount Madonna YMCA and the Gilroy Unified School District. The program provides after-school care and activities for students at El Roble, Glen View, Eliot and Las Animas elementary schools to help them meet state standards for physical education. Mount Madonna YMCA also provides on-site child care at three locations in Morgan Hill.
“There’s a strong family component to the program as well,” Cupp said. “We try to focus on what families are doing on the weekends to increase physical activity.”
Community Solutions was founded in 1972 as a teen drop-in center. The agency provides mental health, substance abuse, teen parenting, family dysfunction, sexual assault, juvenile delinquency, domestic violence, homelessness and youth development services, including La Isla Pacifica or The Peaceful Island, a shelter for battered women.
The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health awarded a total of $1.26 million in grants to 13 nonprofit agencies that serve children in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. The grants range from $40,000 to $149,000 over one to two years and are aimed at protecting children up to age 5 from injury from abuse and neglect, and also promoting behavioral and emotional health in children ages 9 to 13. The grants are awarded twice a year.
Agencies in Santa Clara County received six of the grants, totaling $584,000.
The funds from the grants awarded to the YMCA associations will be used to initiate, expand and improve physical education programs. In October, 10 other YMCA associations across the country were awarded similar grants totaling $4.5 million in October.
Combined, the YMCA of the Mid-Peninsula and the YMCA of Santa Clara Valley operate 12 branches from Redwood City to Morgan Hill.
