March 1, 2010
LOS ANGELES (March 1, 2010) – Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND) and Proyecto Pastoral are among five nonprofit agencies receiving Los Angeles Relief Grants announced today by the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (The Foundation). MEND’s medical clinic, which received $25,000, will use the gift to provide free prescription medication or reimbursement for some 500 additional uninsured, low-income patients in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. A $20,000 award to Proyecto Pastoral’s Guadalupe Homeless Project will enable the organization to provide 300 more needy families in the Pico-Aliso/Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles with motel vouchers, rental assistance and clothing.
The Los Angeles Relief Grants, which fall under The Foundation’s General Community Grants program, total $100,000 and focus on community organizations that directly serve those most in need.
“Our General Community Grants program enables The Foundation to address current local concerns and to focus each year’s grant awards on some of the community’s most pressing issues,” said Marvin I. Schotland, president and CEO of The Foundation. “As case in point, the budget crisis that forced the L.A. Unified School District to cancel most of last year’s summer school offerings affected Inner City Arts’ capacity to provide its Summer Arts Program. We were able to step in and provide pivotal financial support to insure that more than 200 homeless and low-income youngsters would not miss the opportunity to learn and get hands-on experience with the arts during their summer vacation.”
Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND)
MEND President and CEO Marianne Haver Hill said her agency is also stretched thin. “With the economic downturn, our medical clinic is serving so many patients that we’re way over budget,” she said. MEND has grown from a small group of volunteers into the largest poverty agency in the San Fernando Valley, with 23 staff and 3,700 volunteers serving as many as 31,000 individuals per month. In addition to the free health clinic with medical, vision and dental care, the agency provides emergency food and hot meals, clothing, job skills training and referrals, English classes and children’s activities.
“In 2009 alone, demand at our medical clinic was up 25 percent,” Hill continued. “The grant from The Foundation will make a difference in helping to reimburse prescription medication expenses, which is one of our biggest needs.”
Proyecto Pastoral
Proyecto Pastoral was founded in 1986 and grew out of the social justice work of the Dolores Mission Jesuit Parish to empower the Pico Aliso community of Boyle Heights through grassroots projects in education, leadership and service. The organization serves over 2,500 people through its early education centers, after school and summer programs for youth, civic engagement programs and a homeless shelter. Some 350 volunteers support these programs by tutoring, leading workshops and preparing meals.
“We’re thrilled that we were invited to apply for a grant from The Foundation, because there’s so much need in our community,” said Proyecto Pastoral Executive Director Cynthia Sanchez. “We were happy to learn about the broader reach of funds available from The Foundation. This grant will greatly increase our ability to support more families in need of temporary housing.”
Additional Grant Recipients
Other Los Angeles Relief Grant recipients include:
- LA Family Housing (LAFH), Motel Voucher Program, $20,000 — The agency provides motel vouchers when its three shelters are full, giving priority to those who are homeless for the first time. With this grant, LAFH will serve an additional 85 clients and give them each shelter for an average of five nights.
- Venice Family Clinic (VFC), Mental Health Services & Children First/Early Head Start, $20,000 — This grant will allow VFC to help nearly 100 uninsured and low-income or homeless families in both its Children First/Early Head Start (EHS) and Mental Health programs by providing rental and car repair assistance, transportation or clothing vouchers.
- Inner-City Arts, Summer Arts Program, $15,000 — Last summer’s grant to Inner-City Arts, in collaboration with Para Los Niños, funded classes in ceramics, drama, music, dance, visual arts and digital photography for homeless and low-income children ages five to 15 from downtown’s Skid Row area.
About General Community Grants
The Foundation’s General Community Grants provide financial support to organizations and programs that strengthen the fabric of society and are not affiliated with Jewish causes. Over the last five years, General Community Grants have contributed nearly $750,000 to almost 60 L.A. based community organizations, ranging from education to social services and health. In 2008 alone, for example, General Community Grants awarded a total of $200,000 to seven collaborative organizations involving nonprofits, government and the private sector that focus on important issues in the Los Angeles area.
About The Foundation
Established in 1954, the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles is the largest manager of charitable assets and the leader in planned giving solutions for Greater Los Angeles Jewish philanthropists. The Foundation currently manages assets of $700 million (unaudited, as of Dec. 31, 2009) and ranks among the 12 largest Los Angeles foundations. In 2009, The Foundation and its nearly 1,200 donors distributed more than $61 million in grants to hundreds of organizations with programs that span the range of philanthropic giving. For more information, visit www.jewishfoundationla.org.