CONTACT:
Rebecca Salner, Media Relations Officer
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
650.450.5525 or rsalner@siliconvalleycf.org

Community Foundation Awards $934,000 to Help Residents Get Financial Education and Build Assets

MOUNTAIN VIEW – Seven organizations were awarded grants to expand or create new financial education programs that will help lower-income residents in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties set aside money and begin building financial assets for the future.

The $934,000 in grants approved by the community foundation’s board will increase the number of people who receive financial education or coaching in programs that help them claim earned income tax credits or open accounts to save for the future. The grants also will expand the number of organizations that provide people with help building financial assets.

"In the midst of a recession, it is critical for us to invest in programs that offer residents in our communities financial education and savings incentives so they can better handle serious setbacks such as a car breaking down or the loss of a job," said Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D., CEO and president of the community foundation.

"We also need to support innovative ideas that will help more people gain the knowledge and practices they need to put them on better financial footing," Carson said.

Many of the grants will help fund new ideas. For example:

- The Corporation for Enterprise Development received a $175,000 grant to help launch a new online marketplace where donors could contribute to matched savings accounts for residents in San Mateo and Santa Clara. The project, called "American Dream Match Fund, Silicon Valley," would help identify new sources of private, philanthropic support for matched savings and financial education programs; coordinate the stories of donors and savers to advocate for new policies; and promote the ideas and goals of asset building and financial education to the general public.

- Project Read in north San Mateo County received $122,000 to begin offering individual financial assessments, monitoring and coaching to residents in its literacy program. The program is a new expansion into financial literacy for Project Read, which until now has focused on helping residents learn to read and write. As part of the grant, Project Read plans to offer workshops, individual financial monitoring and help opening Individual Development Accounts, which provide matched savings through a variety of government and private sector sources. Separately, Project Read would create a story time for children and their families to help them understand money and practice saving. Parents would be encouraged to open a savings account for their children at a local bank and would get small cash incentives for attending workshops or maintaining the account.

- EARN, a San Francisco-based organization that offers financial education, money management training and matched savings accounts to low-wage workers, received $179,000 to develop a curriculum and provide training in individual financial coaching. This one-on-one coaching may offer a more effective way to help people make behavioral changes so they are better able to save and turn poor financial habits into strong ones. EARN proposes to train 20 community organizations in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in coaching so more families and individuals can get assistance.

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 $1.5 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.