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CONTACT:
Rebecca Salner, Media Relations Officer
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
650.450.5525 or rsalner@siliconvalleycf.org
Silicon Valley Community Foundation Awards $3 Million in Grants for Safety Net Services
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Forty seven nonprofit organizations will receive $3 million in grants
from Silicon Valley Community Foundation to help provide food and shelter in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties during
an economic crisis that has created unprecedented needs.
These safety net grants, which range from $10,272 to $300,000, will help fund everything from an additional truck for
Cathedral of Faith Church to keep up with the increased demand for food deliveries to emergency motel vouchers for
families in the Redwood City area who have no shelter.
The current economic downturn has created a crisis for safety net providers, who are seeing demand skyrocket at a time
when revenue is decreasing.
Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and
San Mateo Counties, which will receive a $300,000 grant, documented a 55
percent increase in the number of calls it received for help during the first quarter of 2008 compared to the first quarter of 2007.
The volume of requests is greater than anything Second Harvest has seen in its 34 year history and most of the new
callers have never sought assistance before. Second Harvest, which works with 277 distribution agencies from Daly City
to Gilroy, is the largest provider of food in the two-county region.
Emergency assistance providers have experienced similar spikes in demand.
Nancy Tivol, executive director of Sunnyvale Community Services,
described it this way: "The clients we’re seeing now aren’t
asset poor with savings to hold them for only three months. They’re asset broke, hard pressed to meet financial obligations
each and every month."
Sunnyvale Community Services, which provides emergency assistance to low-income families and seniors, will receive
$75,000 to support financial aid, food, budget counseling and referral services.
"The impact of the current economic downturn has been swift and steep," said
Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D., CEO and president
of Silicon Valley Community Foundation. "Unfortunately, the crisis is far from over. The community foundation is
pleased to be able to provide a quick infusion of financial support, but it is going to take more than dollars alone
to alleviate this crisis. In the coming months, we must all work together to advocate for new policies that will
ensure help for those who are hungry and homeless."
The grants are the first awarded under the community foundation’s new
grantmaking strategies, announced in September.
Those strategies are economic security, immigrant integration, regional planning, education and a community opportunity
fund, which is currently focused on food and shelter needs.
In addition to the grants announced today, donors to the community foundation separately gave $1 million directly to
safety net organizations through a program called community connections.
Of the 47 grants awarded, 14 went to food distributors or human services organizations with food programs and 16 were
awarded to shelter providers or agencies that offer emergency shelter to specific groups. The remaining 17 grants were
awarded to social service groups that provide direct assistance, case management and referrals to other agencies.
The grants, which were approved by the community foundation board of directors, included:
- $175,000 to Shelter Network, San Mateo County’s principal
homeless services provider. The grant will help pay for shelter,
food and medical care for 69 families and 62 individuals.
- $150,000 in two grants to Samaritan House in San Mateo, which has
seen a 53 percent increase in requests for food compared
to last year. Samaritan House provides food, shelter, clothing, health care, and counseling services to needy families and
individuals in San Mateo County. Roughly half of the grant money will go toward the organization’s food program while the
other half will help operate its Safe Harbor Homeless Shelter in South San Francisco.
- $75,000 to The Health Trust's Meals on Wheels program,
which delivers hot meals to frail seniors and homebound disabled
adults in Santa Clara County. The grant will be used to help fund drivers salaries, mileage and the cost of a full
year of meals for 42 homebound, disabled adults.
- $150,000 to Sacred Heart Community Services of San Jose to
help fund the Families First Program, which provides food
and clothing as well as financial assistance to prevent imminent eviction to needy families.
- $75,000 to St. Joseph’s Family Center in Gilroy to provide food
supplements for 300 newly enrolled families, 60-day
supplies of baby food, formula and diapers for 25 families, utility assistance to maintain heat and power for 60 very
low-income families and rental assistance for 50 families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless $59,589 to Puente
de la Costa Sur, which provides food, clothing, rental and utility assistance as well as literacy and health programs for
700 vulnerable residents on the San Mateo County coast, primarily immigrants from Mexico and low-income individuals. It is
the only core social services provider in its area and manages food distribution in La Honda and Pescadero.
The community foundation in September committed $1 million to safety net services as part of its new grantmaking strategies.
However, when the economic crisis deepened, the community foundation announced a community-wide challenge grant and agreed
to match, dollar-for-dollar, all donations made by Dec. 31 up to $1 million. Within six weeks, more than 135 individuals
and organizations across the region made donations that ranged from $20 to $250,000. As a result, the community foundation
was able to increase its safety net grantmaking to $3 million in December.
Although the community foundation is not continuing to match donations now that the goal has been reached, contributions
to the "Strengthen the Safety Net" campaign are still being accepted.
To donate, visit our website at www.siliconvalleycf.org
About Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation is a catalyst and leader for innovative solutions to our region's most
challenging problems. Serving all of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, the community foundation has more
than $1.9 billion in assets under management and 1,500 philanthropic funds. The community foundation provides
grants through donor advised and corporate funds in addition to its own Community Endowment Fund. In addition,
the community foundation serves as a regional center for philanthropy, providing donors simple and effective
ways to give locally and around the world. Silicon Valley Community Foundation launched in January 2007 following
the landmark merger of Community Foundation Silicon Valley and Peninsula Community Foundation and is now one of
the largest community foundations in the nation. Find out more at www.siliconvalleycf.org.
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