Grants Listing: Economic Security

Fiscal Sponsor: San Francisco Foundation
The Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative strengthens local workforce development programs preparing low-skilled and low-wage workers for well-paid careers. Last year, the Collaborative launched an initiative to build the capacity of Bay Area community colleges to offer vocational training to low-income students with limited skills. The three-phase initiative improves technical education programs customized for specific industries; increases students' retention and graduation rates; and facilitates collaboration between colleges and employers. Participation in this initiative amplifies the Fund's ability to support meaningful improvement through the community college system.
Grant Amount: $150,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 07/06/2010 through 07/06/2011
Project Web Site: www.sff.org

In partnership with Laney Community College in Oakland, Beyond Emancipation is creating a program of intense academic and social support for former foster youth. This initiative helps youth to enroll in and complete a course of study at Laney. Beyond Emancipation incorporates on-site, dedicated counseling, English and math remediation, a cohort model, and college and nonprofit staff partnerships to help ensure program efficacy in increasing opportunity for its clients.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 09/30/2010 through 09/30/2011
Project Web Site: www.beyondemancipation.org

The Bread Project is a leading entry point for disadvantaged people who seek jobs in the food preparation and service sector. Offering three training tracks--bakery production, food service, and advanced culinary skills--the Bread Project combines classroom instruction with hands on bakery production. It supplements training with job-readiness coaching and ongoing support in finding and retaining jobs. The Fund supports the Bread Project's efforts to reduce the barriers between low-income people and gainful employment.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 11/22/2010 through 11/22/2011
Project Web Site: www.breadproject.org/

Located in West Oakland, Cypress Mandela Training Center operates a rigorous 16-week training program in the fundamentals of construction work. Employing union-certified instructors, the Center serves primarily people of color and women, groups under-represented in the building trades. The Fund's support helps sustain the program while the Center implements changes to strengthen its infrastructure.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 07/06/2010 through 07/06/2011
Project Web Site: www.cypressmandela.org

The English Center offers a highly effective English language program for new immigrants, coupled with job placement support. The Fund's grant helps the Center provide scholarships for working-poor students whose earnings are just high enough to make them ineligible for a full Pell grant, but who otherwise could not afford tuition and fees.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 01/01/2010 through 01/01/2011
Project Web Site: www.englishcenter.edu/

A high percentage of students served by the Stride Center have little formal education. Frequently, they have experienced extended unemployment, poverty, or incarceration. The Stride Center helps reduce the barriers these people face when seeking employment by helping them earn industry-recognized information technology certificates. It also prepares students with job search skills and cultivates relationships with companies to aid students in securing information technology jobs.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 11/22/2010 through 11/22/2011
Project Web Site: www.stridecenter.org

California is home to approximately 140,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. These recently returned veterans, dealing with the physical and psychological wounds of war, often struggle to establish careers and to support their families. Swords to Plowshares provides the comprehensive support that helps these veterans reintegrate into civilian life. This grant supports one-on-one assistance in finding employment, gaining occupational skills, and completing training through local community colleges and other vocational programs.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 07/06/2010 through 07/06/2011
Project Web Site: www.swords-to-plowshares.org

Upwardly Global helps immigrants and refugees with professional skills and experience develop the networks and know-how they need to secure employment. It succeeds by developing deep partnerships with companies and their employees. The Fund's support will help provide job-search assistance, add new companies and hiring professionals to the Upwardly Global network, and pilot a program collaborating with employers in fields that require re-licensing for foreign trained professionals.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 11/22/2010 through 11/22/2011
Project Web Site: www.upwardlyglobal.org

Wardrobe for Opportunity provides professional attire and image coaching for people with low incomes who face deep barriers to employment. The organization provides an effective series of programs focused on building clients' career development skills. It partners with more than 50 nonprofits to supplement their services and increase their effectiveness in benefiting their clients.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 09/30/2010 through 09/30/2011
Project Web Site: www.wardrobe.org

Year Up helps its low-income, young adult clients to secure entry-level information technology positions. The yearlong program is split between teaching the technical and business communication skills participants need in a professional work environment and a full-time internship position with a corporate partner. Corporate partners also help guide the training curriculum. Upon completion, students receive a certification in Fundamentals of Technology from City College of San Francisco.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 07/06/2010 through 07/06/2011
Project Web Site: www.yearup.org

This grant supports a Youth Employment Project program that provides up to six months of subsidized employment in the construction, customer service, hospitality, and nonprofit sectors to non-custodial, formerly incarcerated fathers; mothers of children whose fathers are currently incarcerated; and mothers on public assistance. Participants must also be enrolled in school 15 hours a week. The Fund's grant, combined with federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act support, allows this effort to help youth improve their employment and educational prospects.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 05/10/2010 through 05/10/2011

Earned Assets Resource Network (EARN) is a national leader in the asset-building field, providing concrete opportunities for low-income people to save money and build wealth. It pushes forward the kind of innovation and policy change required to bring asset building opportunities to scale. EARN is the country's largest provider of individual development accounts (IDAs), helping low-income people to invest in education, homes, and businesses. The Fund's grant supports extending EARN's IDA program and it encourages the design of a next-generation savings product.
Grant Amount: $90,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 11/22/2010 through 11/22/2011
Project Web Site: www.sfearn.org

La Cocina is a commercial kitchen and food business incubator that supports low-income, primarily immigrant women entrepreneurs. Twenty-six businesses employing approximately 50 people operate out of the La Cocina kitchen. Each year, aspiring entrepreneurs take part in an intensive six-month program to build the fundamentals of their businesses. Successful graduates are invited to rent space in the kitchen at a deeply discounted rate, receiving technical training and one-on-one business coaching on site. The Fund provides general operating support to La Cocina, helping to encourage low-income entrepreneurs.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 11/22/2010 through 11/22/2011
Project Web Site: www.lacocinasf.org

Free and low-cost legal services are an invaluable resource for low-income entrepreneurs striving to build strong businesses. The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights provides this resource by offering free legal clinics and workshops on topics related to business law. The Fund's grant supports continuing the Lawyers Committee's Legal Service for Entrepreneurs program at a time of growing demand.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 09/30/2010 through 09/30/2011
Project Web Site: www.lccr.com

Opportunity Fund operates the region's largest micro-lending program. It offers small business loans of $1,000 to $10,0000 to economically isolated, cash-based businesses and to more established small businesses that are unable to secure conventional financing. With the support of the W&EHF, Opportunity Fund will complete 110 loans in San Francisco and Alameda counties in 2011. These loans provide the capital low-income entrepreneurs require to grow their businesses, increase their incomes, and hire new employees.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 09/30/2010 through 09/30/2011
Project Web Site: www.opportunityfund.org

Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center provides entrepreneurship training and support programs for low- and moderate-income people. Its robust array of intensive, business-development classes are offered in English and Spanish. Renaissance also offers advanced classes in marketing, finance, and skill-building, plus industry-specific workshops. A new program, METEOR, brings small-business training and technical assistance on-line, creating further opportunities for clients to establish small businesses. The Fund provides Renaissance with general operating support.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 11/22/2010 through 11/22/2011
Project Web Site: www.rencenter.org

WAGES supports immigrant Latina worker-owners in five eco-friendly house-cleaning cooperatives. The organization incubates these businesses, providing the on-going assistance they need to grow. WAGES undertakes careful market research and planning before launching each new co-op. It recruits and trains worker-owners and provides them with management support and leadership development opportunities. The Fund provides general operating support for WAGES' efforts to increase the economic security of those who might otherwise lack opportunity.
Grant Amount: $65,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 11/22/2010 through 11/22/2011
Project Web Site: www.wagescooperatives.org

Women's Initiative for Self-Employment offers entrepreneurship training programs for low-income women. The Fund supports the Initiative's San Francisco and Oakland offices, where women receive help establishing and growing small businesses. Offered programs provide orientation, assessment, instruction in essential business skills such as budgeting, and--for alumni--mentoring and business development opportunities. The Fund provides general operating support to advance this work.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 11/22/2010 through 11/22/2011
Project Web Site: www.womensinitiative.org

AnewAmerica works with first-generation immigrants to help them establish and maintain robust small businesses, increase their incomes, save for a more solid asset base, and achieve a better standard of living for their families. AnewAmerica is distinctive among local micro-enterprise programs: It focuses on helping clients develop socially responsible business practices and requires them to give back to their communities through volunteerism or participation in the political process.
Grant Amount: $100,000 [2007] , $100,000 [2008] , $100,000 [2009] , $100,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 03/29/2007 through 03/29/2012
Project Web Site: www.anewamerica.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Earned Assets Resource Network (EARN)
HelloWallet is an online financial management tool that seeks to make dependable, sophisticated financial guidance available to low- and moderate-income people. Clients can access customized financial planning resources, tools for managing and monitoring their funds, and information about products from more than 90,000 different financial institutions to help them find the best match. The Fund's grant helps subsidize free HelloWallet subscriptions for 2,700 low-income San Francisco residents. Fiscal sponsor, EARN, will identify and train nonprofits to distribute these subscriptions to their clients.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 02/26/2010 through 02/26/2011
Project Web Site: www.hellowallet.com/

Mission Asset Fund creates financial products and services for the Mission neighborhood's immigrant community, sharing its work broadly with others in the asset-building field. Its highly successful peer-lending circles, called cestas in Spanish, help individuals to lend and repay small loans. Mission Asset Fund created an online tool, called La RED, facilitates referrals among social service organizations and screens clients for a range of public benefits.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 07/06/2010 through 07/06/2011
Project Web Site: www.missionassetfund.org

Connecting them with public benefits, social services, and discounts, SFWorks helps low-wage earners bridge the gap between their modest incomes and the reality of their expenses. SFWorks partners with businesses, meeting individually with employees at work sites to determine their eligibility for up to eighteen different resources. To increase its reach, SFWorks is moving its assessment and application process online and plans to design a user-friendly portal on its Website.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 07/06/2010 through 07/06/2011
Project Web Site: www.sfworks.org

Single Stop supports a comprehensive program of benefits screening, financial and legal counseling, and free tax filing assistance at more than six sites in San Francisco and Oakland. This grant supports Single Stop's partnership with City College of San Francisco, offering these important services to students.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 07/06/2010 through 07/06/2011
Project Web Site: www.singlestopusa.org

Treasure Island is home to eight hundred formerly homeless and low-income individuals and families. The Fund's grant supports the Treasure Island Homeless Development Initiative's services to help build financial skills for these residents. Offerings include budgeting assistance, access to checking and savings accounts, help developing saving strategies, credit education, and free tax filing support.
Grant Amount: $20,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 05/11/2010 through 05/11/2011

Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC) of North Richmond was one of the first housing counseling programs in the region to develop loss-mitigation services for homeowners facing foreclosure. Although located in Richmond, CHDC serves residents of Alameda County, receiving referrals from public agencies, churches, and nonprofits. The Fund's grant supports CHDC's efforts to provide loss-mitigation and foreclosure-prevention counseling to Alameda Country residents.
Grant Amount: $35,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 02/26/2010 through 02/26/2011
Project Web Site: www.chdcnr.com/

The Fund supports the Housing Economic Rights Advocates (HERA) in-person and phone counseling to homeowners and renters facing displacement through foreclosure. HERA is one of the few legal advocacy organizations with expertise on the foreclosure issue in California. As proven by their rate of success, the involvement of an attorney can help resolve a majority of these issues without litigation. Although anyone can approach HERA, the organization prioritizes assisting seniors victimized by predatory lending practices.
Grant Amount: $65,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/02/2010 through 04/02/2011
Project Web Site: www.heraca.org

Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) has a long history of helping low-income Latino households in San Francisco strive for economic advancement through home and business ownership. This grant supports MEDA's foreclosure mitigation program, offering one-on-one counseling, loan modification assistance, and educational workshops teaching homeowners about the default and foreclosure processes.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/02/2010 through 04/02/2011
Project Web Site: www.medasf.org

When home-based child care providers face foreclosure, it affects not only their residency and stability, but also their livelihood. This grant from the Fund supports the National Housing Law Project's work with the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network to provide immediate information and assistance to child care providers facing foreclosure. It funds the research necessary to understand the scale of the problem and to identify the policy interventions needed to protect child care providers.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 09/30/2010 through 09/30/2011
Project Web Site: www.nhlp.org

A historically African American-focused community development corporation, San Francisco Housing Development Corporation (SFHDC) provides foreclosure-mitigation services primarily for residents of San Francisco's Bayview, Visitacion Valley, and Fillmore neighborhoods. This year SFHDC will partner with a national foreclosure-prevention organization, implement a new client-tracking tool, hire an additional housing counselor, and increase its outreach and community education activities. The Fund offers SFHDC support in providing financial education and counseling to homeowners, particularly in San Francisco's southeast neighborhoods
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/02/2010 through 04/02/2011
Project Web Site: www.sfhdc.org

A long-standing service organization located in Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood, Unity Council serves people from multiple immigrant communities. Within its Homeownership Center, foreclosure mitigation and financial education are key service strategies. Seeking to expand the reach and efficiency of this work, Unity Council recently launched an online portal where homeowners can sign up for assistance with, prepare, and submit loan modification requests electronically. With support from the Fund, the Council anticipates helping nearly three times as many distressed homeowners with financial education and foreclosure-mitigation counseling in 2010 as in 2009.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/02/2010 through 04/02/2011
Project Web Site: www.unitycouncil.org

Mandela MarketPlace, a business incubator in West Oakland, developed a cooperatively owned grocery store, Mandela Foods, in its largely poor and neglected neighborhood. After two years of operation, the store is on the cusp of profitability and has become a vibrant community resource. It serves as the area's primary grocery and a place where people can enjoy cooking classes, health education, and celebrations. The Fund's grant supports the development of a complementary business—a wholesale distribution center for locally grown fruits and vegetables.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 12/09/2010 through 12/09/2011
Project Web Site: www.mandelamarketplace.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Berkeley Youth Alternatives
People of color are under-represented in the health care workforce. The Alameda County Health Workforce Consortium unites local clinics and hospitals that operate education and training programs in order to increase their effectiveness through joint action. These collected programs encourage high school and community college students of color to pursue health careers. The Consortium, with help from the Fund, provides cross-agency service coordination, collaborative program development, and joint fundraising.
Grant Amount: $20,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 09/30/2010 through 09/30/2011
Project Web Site: www.acphd.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Northern California Grantmakers
The Bay Area Asset Funders Network is a funder affinity group focused on strengthening asset-building programs and opportunities for low-income Bay Area residents. To that end, it hosts quarterly funder meetings, presents learning webinars, and organizes an annual convening of funders and practitioners. The Haas Fund is a founding member of the group.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/12/2010 through 04/12/2011

California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) undertakes policy advocacy, research and capacity building activities to ensure fair access to quality financial services in low-income communities. This grant supports CRC's advocacy work to strengthen state policies to address foreclosure. It also supports a third year of an initiative to raise new resources from financial institutions to strengthen and expand foreclosure housing counseling services statewide.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/02/2010 through 04/02/2011
Project Web Site: www.calreinvest.org/

Every two years, CFED hosts a major conference for the asset-building field, drawing more than a thousand attendees from around the world. In 2010, the theme of the conference was the Asset Movement and Its Moment: Creating the Saving and Invest Economy. The Fund's grant helped support this conference and the valuable information it develops.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 07/21/2010 through 07/21/2011
Project Web Site: www.cfed.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Community Youth Center of San Francisco
Twenty-two agencies work together under the umbrella of the Chinatown Families Economic Self-Sufficiency Coalition. Together, they strive to strengthen and coordinate resources for English language instruction and workforce training in Chinatown. This grant supports the Coalition's work with city government to establish a new Chinatown employment center and efforts to coordinate the referral relationships and community resource partnerships the center requires to succeed.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 05/27/2010 through 05/27/2011

Fiscal Sponsor: Corporation for Enterprise Development
GAINS is developing a new investment tool that improves returns for nonprofits by pooling matched savings reserves with grants and program-related investments that are contributed by foundations. These larger, aggregated portfolios can be more effectively invested in diversified stocks and bonds. By making use of a third-party investment advisor, nonprofits--and by extension the people they serve--gain access to the higher-return investment tools which large institutions use.
Grant Amount: $11,250 [2010]
Project Dates: 09/30/2010 through 09/30/2011

Fiscal Sponsor: Brighter Beginnings
Research finds a strong correlation between socioeconomic status and health status. The Fund's grant supports the organization of a daylong forum to explore this connection, the Health=Wealth Symposium. This symposium will encourage innovative interaction and offer concrete training opportunities on integrating health and wealth building into existing programs.
Grant Amount: $5,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 02/19/2010 through 02/19/2011
Project Web Site: www.brighter-beginnings.org/

The Paid Family Leave Act provides employees with up to six weeks of paid leave to care for a new baby or a seriously ill family member. The Legal Aid Society Employment Law Center operates a series of trainings targeting Bay Area nonprofits which operate benefit screening programs but do not yet promote paid family leave. Only an estimated 14% of eligible California workers are aware of the program and the Fund's grant helps to spread awareness of this crucial benefit.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 09/30/2010 through 09/30/2011
Project Web Site: www.las-elc.org

New America Foundation is a nonpartisan policy organization working to promote programs and policies that broaden the ownership of assets in California and the United States. It serves as a prominent source of leadership, hosting an educational luncheon series that educates national legislators on the challenges that lower income families face. With help from the Fund, the Foundation works to generate practical initiatives to expand asset-building opportunities.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 11/22/2010 through 11/22/2011
Project Web Site: www.newamerica.net

The City and the Port of Oakland are currently working with private developers to implement a 15-year plan to reconstruct the Oakland Army Base. The Workforce Collaborative seeks to establish a workforce training center on this site which will help Oakland residents find employment in port-related logistics, occupations, and industries. The Fund supports a six-month planning process to generate a detailed plan for this center.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 09/30/2010 through 09/30/2011

Partnership for Working Families is a national umbrella coalition of economic development organizations. The Fund's grant supports the Partnership's technical assistance and policy advocacy in support of creating a mandatory local construction hire program in San Francisco.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 05/11/2010 through 05/11/2011

Elevating the voices of people directly affected by the economic crisis, PICO affiliates in Oakland and Contra Costa County are leading a campaign encouraging investors to move their money out of banks with poor loan modification track records or which fail to invest in low-income communities. Large-scale progress toward ending the foreclosure crisis requires shifts in public policy and banking practices. PICO effectively builds popular support for this change by amplifying the voices of regular citizens and crafting thoughtful recommendations.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/02/2010 through 04/02/2011
Project Web Site: www.piconetwork.org