An Evolving Program
he Grantmaking program underwent a major shift in 2007,
when the Board of Directors decided to phase out funding in the
area of prevention of abuse and neglect of young children. The
decision, which took effect in 2008, came after an extensive assessment
of the Grantmaking program, which had funded in the 0-to-5 age group
for seven years. The board recognized that in recent years significant
attention and funding has been brought to bear on young children, most
notably through First 5, and that throughout its history the Grantmaking
program has received far fewer requests in this area
than in the realm of preteen emotional health. Based
on that, the board decided to focus more attention on
preteens in the future.
During 2007, the Foundation made 27 grants totaling $2.5 million to community partners in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties that worked in the 0 to 5 and preteen age ranges.
In the young child area, one notable grant was the International Children’s Assistance Network’s program to develop workshop leaders for a culturally and linguistically appropriate child abuse prevention program for Vietnamese families with children under the age of 5. The curriculum proved so popular that requests came in from all over the United States, from Vietnam, and from other countries with large numbers of Vietnamese immigrants.
Two grants in the preteen area were intended to have a major impact on after-school and youth development programs. Funding for the California School-Age Consortium supported Developing a Quality After School Workforce, to address the needs for trained, qualified entry-level workers. The Youth Development Integration & Alignment Project at the John Gardner Center for Youth and their Communities is a three-year pilot to plan, implement, evaluate, and disseminate a curriculum and tool kit to train adults who work in schools and after-school programs on effective youth development practices.
In addition to the grants for young children and preteens, the Foundation contributed $1.37 million to two joint grants with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. One of these is funding a five-year pilot program to place nurses in four San Jose public schools, and the other contributed to a Packard Hospital program that offers weight control assistance in the community for children and youth.
The Foundation also awarded six special grants totaling $242,500. For more information about the grantmaking program, see www.lpfch.org/grantmaking/.