Children's Health Foundation Awards $1.2 Million to 10 Local Nonprofit Organizations.

News Editors/Health/Medical Writers

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2003

Preteens in Santa Clara County now will have the opportunity to advise the Board of Supervisors on issues affecting young people, thanks to an $85,000 grant to expand the county's Youth Task Force to include middle school students.

The grant is one of 10, totaling $1.2 million, awarded by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health to nonprofit and public agencies that serve children, youth, and their families in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Foundation President and CEO Stephen Peeps announced the grants today.

The awards range from $75,000 to $194,400, covering periods from two to three years. Funds support programs in two areas: protecting children, ages 0 to 5, from injury, with an emphasis on preventing child abuse and neglect; and promoting behavioral and emotional health in preteens, ages 9 to 13.

The grants provide funding for a range of services, from comprehensive after school-programs focused on improving the emotional well being of preteens, to support programs for parents to help prevent child abuse. Special populations represented in these grants include children from low-income families, as well as families of migrant farm workers, and kids identified at high-risk for behavioral problems.

In a change from previous foundation grants, all of the grant money can be used by organizations to cover operating expenses related to the funded program, reflecting the need for more flexible support at a time when agencies are feeling the effects of the economic downturn.

"During such difficult economic times, when the pressure on families intensifies, it's more important than ever to provide funding that ensures children have the means to grow up healthy," Peeps said. "We've selected these grants, because we think these programs will do much to contribute to protecting and sustaining the good health of children in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties."

Five of the awarded grants, totaling $654,400, were given to agencies in Santa Clara County. The grantees and their awards are:

-- Office of the Human Relations Commission of Santa Clara

County: $85,000, over three years, to expand the Santa Clara

County Youth Task Force to include middle school students

throughout that county (pending approval by the Board of

Supervisors). This is the program through which students

advise the Board of Supervisors.

-- Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose: $125,000, over two

years, for Discovery Youth, a program for preteens in which

participants develop skills and confidence through multimedia

productions and service learning projects in the community.

-- Mountain View Whisman School District and Tween Transition

Collaborative: $194,400, over three years, to expand

after-school programs at the Graham and Crittenden Middle

Schools by serving more students and providing more program

options.

-- San Jose Grail Development Corporation: $150,000, over two

years, for Birth and Beyond, which provides support to parents

at risk for abusing their children. Services include case

management, parent education, parent-child early literacy, a

women's program, and a health library.

-- Southwest YMCA: $100,000, over two years, for the Castro

Middle School Apprenticeship Program, a comprehensive

after-school program for students at Castro Middle School (San

Jose), involving career apprenticeships with adult volunteers,

field trips, sessions on skills development, and homework

assistance.

The other five grants, totaling $555,000, were awarded to agencies in San Mateo County. The grantees and their awards are:

-- Bay Area Community Resources: $75,000, over two years, for the

New Perspectives Middle School Youth Enrichment and Leadership

Program, which provides after-school, summer, and weekend

activities to 5th to 8th graders in East Palo Alto.

-- El Concilio of San Mateo County: $110,000, over two years, for

Jovenes Saludables (Healthy Youth), to support youth

activities for 9- to 13-year-olds. in East Palo Alto, Fair

Oaks, and Redwood City.

-- Family Support Center of the Mid-Peninsula: $100,000, over two

years, for the Early Intervention/Home Visiting Program, a

child abuse prevention program that provides home visitors to

at-risk families in East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, and East

Menlo Park.

-- Peninsula Family YMCA: $120,000, over two years, for the

Moonridge and Main Street Enrichment Programs, to support

after school programs for 9- to 13-year olds living in the

Moonridge and Main Street public housing communities in Half

Moon Bay.

-- Redwood City Family Centers (Redwood City School District):

$150,000, over two years, to support operating expenses

related to child abuse prevention work at family resource

centers in East Redwood City and North Fair Oaks.

The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health makes community grants twice yearly in its two focus areas. Funds for the grants program come from the foundation's endowment and a partnership grant from The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. To date, the foundation has awarded 197 grants, totaling $20,419,384, to 113 different nonprofit organizations.

The foundation is a 6-year-old public charity whose mission is to "promote, protect, and sustain the physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children." For more information about the foundation's community grantmaking program, call [phone].

This release also can be found online at http://www.lpfch.org/newsroom/releases.html.