Grant Abstracts 2011   Alliance for a Better Community Los Angeles, CA $200,000 – 2 years December 2011 Alliance for a Better Community (ABC) proposes to build the capacity of parents to participate in various forms of civic learning and engagement in order to support their student’s achievement, strengthen their communities and promote the creation of high-quality public schools in the Southeast cities of Los Angeles.  ABC will lead this work in collaboration with the Los Angeles Unified School District and other regional partners to enable parents to act as informed partners with schools and the District in the implementation and oversight of the Public School Choice Resolution and the Local School Stabilization and Empowerment Initiative.  In each of the next two years, 200 parents will participate in the training sessions.  In addition, ABC will work to standardize parent engagement accountability measures across multiple LAUSD initiatives, and continue to promote educational reform with LAUSD and local district leaders, as well as elected officials, civic leaders and other allies in the Southeast region.   Alliance for Children's Rights Los Angeles, CA $250,000 – 2 years December 2011 This project will work to ensure that implementation of the California Fostering Connections to Success Act (AB 12), which extends the right of foster youth to remain in care until age 21, is carried out in Los Angeles County so that youth can take full advantage of this landmark legislation and transition with improved outcomes.  The Alliance for Children’s Rights will partner with the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles and California Youth Connection, to:  (1) Educate youth, caregivers, judges, minors’ attorneys, social workers and community service providers about the benefits of extended foster care; (2)(a) Conduct a Courtroom Lab at Children’s Court to identify trends and challenges in transition planning for youth generally and to the implementation of AB 12 specifically; (b) Develop the findings of the Lab into written Best Practices for lawyers, judges, social workers, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) and other child welfare stakeholders; and (3) Share Lab findings with two separate work groups co-chaired with the Department of Children and Family Services and the Juvenile Court convened specifically to develop county-wide policies, practices and programs designed to support transition age youth.   California Hospital Medical Center Los Angeles, CA $250,000 – capital December 2011 California Hospital Medical Center is constructing a new facility for the Hope Street Family Center, which is a department of the medical center.  The new wellness and recreation center will be a 26,500 square foot, four-story, environmentally-friendly facility that will house Hope Street’s existing comprehensive child and family services as well as expanded wellness and recreation activities.  Currently serving the low-income neighborhoods of downtown, Pico Union and historic South Los Angeles, Hope Street Family Center will increase those served annually from 2,000 to 3,000 children and families.   Goodwill Industries of Southern California Los Angeles, CA $250,000 – capital December 2011 The Goodwill Today Campaign will:  (1) gut and reconstruct the San Fernando Valley campus (the focus of the W. M. Keck Foundation grant) and in so doing, will add 14,000 square feet (for a total of 51,000 square feet, to offer a new Job Service Center in Panorama City, expand and utilize space more efficiently, and launch new business areas; (2) In Los Angeles, renovate critical spaces, install HVAC and update energy efficiency and ADA compliance; and (3) In San Bernardino, repurpose the interior of the building and improve efficiencies.  All campaign decisions have been made with the following in mind:  Increasing (1) services and jobs to the community; (2) revenues to the organization, which help fund the programs and services; and finally, (3) updating efficiencies and access, and lowering operating costs.  Between 90,000 and 100,000 job seekers will be served annually.   Harbor Interfaith Services, Inc. San Pedro, CA $250,000 – capital December 2011 Harbor Interfaith Services is building a new, three-story Family Resource Center to co-locate and expand programs that serve 15,000 homeless and working poor clients each year.  When it opens in summer 2012, the new space will allow for the expansion of the infant-toddler center, preschool and afterschool programs to serve all children from its shelter and transitional housing programs.  Additional space will also allow the agency to improve and expand the food pantry, provide clients with more privacy during case management sessions and conduct life skills workshops on site while children participate in educational child care programs.  The new facility will have a computer lab for clients, space to organize donated clothing and household goods, a dedicated area for volunteers and additional parking.   Los Angeles County Arts Commission Hollywood, CA $250,000 – 3 years December 2011 The Los Angeles County Arts Commission has supported school districts county-wide in restoring arts education since 2002 through Arts for All, the regional plan for arts education.  Working with Los Angeles Basin California Arts Project, an affiliated site of The California Arts Project, the Arts Commission’s Teacher Professional Development Grant Program will advance the delivery of quality arts education in 12 school districts by supporting the development and implementation of robust arts education professional development plans for teachers.  School districts will enter an intensive multi-year partnership with Arts for All and participate in a series of cross district convenings to:  (1) gather data to measure the status of arts education in schools across each district; (2) develop professional development plans to address the gaps and needs identified in the data; and (3) receive matching funds to partner with local high quality arts education providers to implement professional development programs.  By the end of the initiative, approximately 6,000 teachers, reaching 168,000 students per year, will have increased their capacity to deliver high quality arts instruction within their classrooms.   L. A. Family Housing Corporation North Hollywood, CA $150,000 – 2 years December 2011 L. A. Family Housing helps families transition out of homelessness and poverty through a continuum of housing enriched with supportive services.  It operates three homeless shelters and 19 permanent affordable apartment buildings, and serves more than 3,300 people annually.  The Housing Resource Center (HRC) places residents in permanent affordable housing and helps ensure their long-term housing retention.  This project expands the capacity of the HRC to provide comprehensive supports, including placement and move-in assistance, case management, and access to direct services such as employment assistance, eviction prevention counseling, child care, medical and mental health care, and life skills instructions.  Over the two-year project, 280 families will transition into permanent housing and 500 households will achieve lasting housing stability.   Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust Los Angeles, CA $100,000 – capital December 2011 Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is in the final phase of its $20 million capital campaign for its new home in Pan Pacific Park.  The Museum has a two-fold mission that has remained constant since its inception in 1961:  Holocaust commemoration and education.  The Museum provides free Holocaust education to the public, particularly students from underfunded schools and underserved communities.  Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is a specific, focused, artifacts-based history museum which explicates the complex and enormous history of the Holocaust and its antecedents and aftermath within its chronological and historical contexts.  The Museum opened in October 2010 and anticipates hosting approximately 40,000 visitors a year.   Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Los Angeles, CA $1,000,000 – capital December 2011 The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s $135 million campaign is a multi-year project to transform the Museum.  It includes the renovation of historic buildings, installation of five new permanent exhibitions, and the creation of a 3½-acre outdoor urban nature experience with an indoor learning laboratory component.  Once completed, the Museum’s number of annual visitors will increase to more than one million, including 200,000 school children.  A grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation is supporting the development of Becoming Los Angeles, an exhibit about the transformation of Los Angeles.  Opening in late 2012, the exhibition delves into 500 years of L. A. history, from European contact to its rise as a global metropolis of today.  It weaves the city’s cultural and ecological histories into one cohesive narrative, illustrating how Los Angeles’ environment has encouraged human development, while its natural events have challenged human achievement.  The exhibit will include hundreds of artifacts from the Museum’s extensive collection of early Southern California artifacts, personal stories, immersive media and interactive activities for people of all ages and backgrounds.   Partnership for Los Angeles Schools Los Angeles, CA $250,000 – 2 years December 2011 In March 2011, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) chose the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools (the Partnership) and Green Dot Public Schools (Green Dot) to reconstitute Jordan High School into two independently operated high schools, co-located on the same campus.  A third school operator, the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, already serving the Jordan attendance boundary with its small high school, is collaborating with the Partnership and Green Dot to create a zone of school choice for the community.  The transformation project at Jordan High School started on July 1, 2011 and has the potential to serve as a model for how to structure school turnarounds in the future.  With the W. M. Keck Foundation’s support, the Partnership will implement its school turnaround model at Jordan to improve student achievement.  The core components of the model are talented school leaders, improving teacher practice, targeted student intervention, opportunities for students, and family and community engagement.   St. John's Well Child & Family Center Los Angeles, CA $250,000 – capital December 2011 To address the deep health disparities, significant primary health care needs and lack of access to primary health care services in Compton, St. John’s Well Child and Family Center’s capital project will expand its flagship Compton W. M. Keck Foundation Clinic Building.  Currently serving almost 10,000 patients annually, the new space will increase access to care for an additional 2,971 of the poorest residents of Los Angeles County.  Four medical exam rooms will be added for a total of 12, and patient flow will be improved.  St. John’s purchased the Compton campus from the Episcopal Church Diocese, from which it had been renting.   Verbum Dei High School Los Angeles, CA $190,000 – 2 years December 2011 Over the past four years, Verbum Dei High School, located in Watts, has had 100 percent of its graduating seniors gain acceptances into colleges and universities across the country.  However, the average entering ninth grader is behind grade level in all subjects, and recent data gathered from standardized tests show that current students score below the college ready benchmarks for math and science, compared to national norms.  To address this major issue, Verbum Dei developed the Math and Science Enrichment Initiative, which includes a partnership with Loyola Marymount University’s Center for Math and Science Teaching (CMAST) to provide teacher training and professional development opportunities for Verbum Dei Math and Science Department teachers.  Goals include:  (1) establish the CMAST system to foster hands-on, active learning at Verbum Dei; (2) establish AP Math and Science courses; (3) increase student college readiness; and (4) increase student engagement in math and science.   California Science Center Los Angeles, CA $190,000 June 2011 The California Science Center Foundation, working in partnership with the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s Instructional Technology Outreach office, will build upon its independently evaluated preschool science professional development pilot program by integrating technological tools, software and web-based support for educators.  The program will include a hands-on, kit-based curriculum with complementary professional development training for preschool educators.  A technology investigation section will be added to each of the pilot’s six kit-based science investigation units.  I Am a Scientist!, the anchor module of the series about science process skills, will introduce the age-appropriate technology toolkit, which will be utilized throughout the program.  Educators from a total of 15 preschool sites, five per year, will receive the STEM-enhanced professional development training with the Science Center’s Discovery Rooms, areas designed for guests aged seven and younger, serving as demonstration sites.  The California Science Center is launching the first year of this three-year program with a grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation.   Children's Bureau Los Angeles, CA $250,000 June 2011 The Magnolia Place Community Initiative (MPCI) is a model for large scale community mobilization.  Its vision is that the 35,000 children and parents residing in MPCI’s 500 block catchment area of dense, low-income, multi-ethnic Los Angeles neighborhoods will break all records of success in their education and health milestones and in the nurturing they receive.  The Initiative’s key strategy is to build neighborhood resiliency including, but moving beyond, an integrated service strategy.  The mission is to unite the county, city and community to strengthen individual, family and neighborhood protective factors by increasing social connectedness, civic engagement, and access to needed supports and services.  Activities during the two-year grant period include facilitating participation by over 75 voluntary network partners, developing a communications plan with residents, organizing events that bring neighbors together, improving linkages and referrals among agencies and documenting collective impact.   Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles Gardena, CA $250,000 June 2011 The grant will support Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles’ Long Beach Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, which focuses on neighborhoods hardest hit by the economic downturn.  A total of 26 foreclosed and vacant houses will be acquired and renovated and three new homes will be built in accordance with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Green Building standards.  The properties will be sold with affordable loans to targeted low-income families.  Each homebuyer will contribute up to 500 hours of physical labor (sweat equity) towards their home and complete 16 hours of homebuyer education and financial literacy classes, providing them with the tools to become successful long-term homeowners.  In addition, the project will train more than 100 at-risk youth to work in the construction trade, and engage as many as 10,000 community volunteers.   Los Angeles Education Partnership Los Angeles, CA $250,000 June 2011 This two-year project will create a community school at Bethune Middle School, providing a mechanism to link together the service providers at the school, ensure that services reach students who need them most, and connect the services with overall school reform.  A full-time community-school coordinator will be placed at the school and a collaborative will be established to coordinate and integrate services and use data to inform change.  Bethune, whose graduates attend Fremont High School, is part of the larger Fremont Initiative, a five year effort by the Los Angeles Education Partnership and the Los Angeles Unified School District to raise academic achievement by improving teaching and learning “inside” classrooms while establishing community schools to organize and integrate “outside” community resources.  The overall goal is to increase the percentage of Fremont High students who graduate from high school, prepared for postsecondary opportunities and life.   St. Joseph Center Venice, CA $150,000 June 2011 St. Joseph Center’s Family Center and Food Pantry and Homeless Service Center are central to the agency’s efforts to help working poor and homeless families and individuals achieve stability as they move toward self-sufficiency.  The Family Center and Food Pantry aids families in achieving short-term goals such as alleviating hunger and provides case management, emergency services, educational workshops and recreational opportunities for low-income, housed clients.  The Homeless Service Center provides long-term case management aimed at permanent housing and offers emergency services such as shelter placement, showers, laundry, and mailboxes, as well as referrals for critical interventions such as substance abuse treatment and medical care.  During each of the next two years, 850 families will be helped to achieve self-sufficiency through the Family Center & Food Pantry and another 2,400 individuals will access services through the Homeless Services Center.  St. Joseph Center will also improve and align intake and coordination procedures between both programs to ensure that clients’ multiple needs are met and referrals are timely and appropriate.   Therapeutic Living Centers for the Blind Reseda, CA $250,000 June 2011 In response to a regional needs assessment, Therapeutic Living Centers for the Blind is constructing a 19,270 sq. ft. Children’s Center to provide comprehensive, coordinated and specialized programs for children birth to five who are blind or visually impaired and have multiple disabilities.  The Center will serve at least 150 families per year with programs that include a 48-student preschool, home-based early intervention services for infants and toddlers and a range of family support services, vision screening, advocacy training and wrap-around before and after school childcare programs.  The project will complete the continuum of services the agency provides to disabled populations.   Venice Family Clinic Venice, CA $150,000 June 2011 Venice Family Clinic recently completed renovation of a six-chair dental clinic at its Simms/Mann Health and Wellness Center in Santa Monica as part of its 40th Anniversary Campaign: Five Ways Forward.  A two-year grant will help support a second dental team, which will enable the Clinic to expand services from 750 to 1,500 unduplicated patients annually.  Current services are limited to adults, and expansion would enable these services to become available to children.   Westside Children's Center Culver City, CA $250,000 June 2011 The Westside Infant-Family Network (WIN) provides free, private, in-home infant mental health (IMH) therapy for families in collaboration with Westside Children’s Center, St. Joseph Center and Venice Family Clinic.  Bilingual, masters-level therapists work with young children (prenatal through 3+) and parents whose relationships have been disrupted by trauma, neglect and mental illness to affect substantive, measurable improvement in 1) secure attachment behaviors, 2) children’s social, emotional and cognitive development, and 3) parental stress.  While WIN therapists work, partner agency case managers ensure that families get intensive, cross-agency early care, social services and health clinic support before therapy and throughout the therapeutic process, such that unmet critical needs don’t interrupt treatment.  The entire network of services are managed in “real time” via WIN’s communications infrastructure and web-based data system to make sure families facing substantial challenges get what they need, when they need it.  The two-year grant from W. M. Keck Foundation will help WIN sustain these services and add individual, in-home adult therapy – key to long-term family transformation, as the program transitions to independence and establishes itself as  a long-term resource for the community.