Impact Campaign Featured Organizations and Initiatives

Below are descriptions of each of the featured organizations and initiatives of the Impact Campaign: the Power of Giving Together. To make grant recommendations, please use our online form or download a Word document form that you can submit by email, mail, or fax. 

Please contact Joshua Jones at 415.733.8587 or donorservices@sff.org with questions.

Anti-Poverty

Housing Scholarship Program
Lift a family out of homelessness in San Francisco
Too many impoverished families slip through the cracks into shelters because of high housing costs in the Bay Area, becoming part of the “invisible” homeless population. Getting a decent job without a permanent home is extremely difficult, creating a cycle in which homeless families cannot obtain the income they need for housing – let alone child care, healthcare, and healthy food. The San Francisco Foundation’s new Housing Scholarship Program will provide interim housing assistance to vulnerable but motivated homeless families while parents complete job training and enter jobs that will permit them to pay the rent after the Scholarship ends. Each gift of $4,000 will fund a Housing Scholarship to move one San Francisco family with children out of a homeless shelter and help the parent secure a job so that she can continue to afford her family’s new home.

Dolores Street Community Services
A haven for immigrant laborers
Dolores Street Community Services operates the only shelters for men in the Mission District and the only shelters in San Francisco specializing in serving Latino working poor men. Latino immigrant day laborers are particularly vulnerable to homelessness because of limited English skills, low incomes, and barriers to accessing affordable housing and public assistance. Responding with culturally tailored services, Dolores Street Community Services provides an emergency shelter, referral services, and a residence for men with HIV/AIDS. 

Greater Richmond Interfaith Program
Forging pathways out of homelessness
Since the 1960s, GRIP has brought together congregations of many backgrounds and faiths to address issues of poverty, hunger, housing, crime, and social equity in western Contra Costa County. Its members have contributed immense time and effort to run the Souper Center, a dining room and safe haven for people experiencing homelessness. Having rebuilt its Richmond facility in 2006, GRIP serves hundreds of hot meals a day and connects its guests to services of basic survival, like showers, and pathways to better living, such as vocational training from local companies. GRIP recently opened a 75-bed family shelter with private rooms for parents and children. 

InnVision
Finding the way home
Working with over 16,000 people annually, InnVision is one of the region's largest providers of direct shelter services for homeless men, women, children, veterans, and the mentally ill. InnVision offers various types of housing and day programs in a safe and supportive environment that promotes self-worth and independent living. In September 2006, InnVision became the service provider for the new Opportunity Center of the Mid-Peninsula. This beautiful new building includes quality supportive housing for families with children and single people in separate wings, while a clinic and service center on the first floor provides support services for those most in need in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, and Menlo Park.

Shelter, Inc. of Contra Costa County
A continuum of services for the homeless
Shelter, Inc. provides a continuum of services and housing to people who are homeless in Contra Costa County, including rental assistance, case management, landlord/tenant counseling, emergency shelter, transitional housing, and permanent housing. Shelter, Inc. provided services to more that 3,700 men, women, and children last year and has helped an estimated 149,000 people to end or avoid homelessness since its founding. Beyond providing emergency shelter, Shelter, Inc. ensures that families stay in housing by providing rent assistance and case management. On average, 85% of Shelter Inc. families make a successful transition to permanent housing.

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation
Transforming lives in the Tenderloin
Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) houses 2,500 extremely low-income people – seniors, children, people with disabilities, low-income wage earners, people with AIDS, families, and immigrants – in 1,800 apartments and residential hotel rooms in 25 buildings. TNDC’s on-site social workers, afterschool programs, and opportunities for employment take on root causes of poverty from several angles, ensuring that individuals and families have the tools for true self-sufficiency. TNDC is also a major employer in the Tenderloin with 210 staff members, most of whom work in the buildings in which they reside.

Youth Emergency Assistance Hostel
A better future for homeless and runaway youth
Operating in a Berkeley church, Youth Emergency Assistance Hostel (YEAH) provides runaway and homeless young people with crucial housing, food, services, and shelter. YEAH’s emphasis on creating a youth-centered community ensures that men and women under the age of 25 can leave the streets for a place of safety and trust, despite their personal and family challenges. YEAH is now embarking on the development of a residential and supportive “campus” where young men and women will find stable housing and on-site services, helping them move into adulthood with better opportunities.

Arts and Culture

Fund for Artists
Investing in a vibrant arts community
The high cost of living in the Bay Area is a great challenge for individual artists - many of whom must choose between their art and making a living. To address this dilemma and help reinvigorate the Bay Area arts community, the Foundation created The Fund for Artists. We support individual artists by raising new funds for artist commissions, fellowships, and residencies. Over the past three years $1.5 million to 284 artists. 

Creative Growth Art Center
Showcasing the creativity of artists with disabilities
Creative Growth Art Center is dedicated to the idea that people with disabilities can gain strength, enjoyment, and fulfillment through the visual arts. It serves physically, mentally, and developmentally disabled adult artists, providing a stimulating environment for artistic instruction and personal expression. Since 1973, Creative Growth has played a significant role in increasing public interest in the artistic capabilities and achievements of people with disabilities. The Creative Growth Art Center Gallery, the first gallery for artists with disabilities, was founded in 1980 with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and has placed the work of its artists in private collections, galleries, and major museums throughout the world.

Each One Reach One
The transformative power of the arts
Playwrights, actors, and directors have the profound capacity to reach out and touch people in meaningful ways.  Founded in 1997, Each One Reach One’s programs at juvenile detention facilities and alternative schools in San Mateo and San Francisco Counties have served nearly 450 high-risk youth – all of whom have written their own original one-act plays. Over 400 professional actors have staged public readings of the participants' scripts, and more than 3,000 people have attended powerful performances that explore and shed light on these young people's life experiences. The organization has received accolades for its creative work and advocacy toward reducing crime in the community.

East Bay Center for the Performing Arts
Strengthening the social fabric
In 1968, following the social upheaval that accompanied the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., five Richmond teachers came together to provide music lessons to 45 students in a rented church. They believed that the arts can be a powerful tool for awakening individuals to their greatest potentials and can serve as a vehicle for social reconciliation. Over the past 39 years, the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts has become a cornerstone of Richmond’s social, cultural, and artistic life. Informed and enriched by the art forms of the diverse communities of Richmond, the Center's programming creates opportunities for all, regardless of social status or ability to pay, to achieve personal growth, open communication, and artistic excellence. To date, the Center’s students and faculty have produced more than 60 original theater and film works and annually directly instruct more than 1,500 children and youth. The Center is currently in the midst of a capital campaign to restore and renovate its long time Iron Triangle home.

LINES Ballet
Connecting audiences to a profound sense of shared humanity
LINES Ballet remains committed to exploring the possibilities of movement from a global perspective by performing original works of contemporary ballet created by choreographer Alonzo King. LINES is not only unique because of the way it transcends and renews traditional ballet, but also because it is an American ballet company whose choreographer actively develops new work with other artists from diverse disciplines and cultures. Alonzo King understands ballet as a science – founded on universal, geometric principles of energy and evolution – and develops a new language of movement from its classical forms and technique. LINES Ballet shares its vision of transformative, revelatory dance through performances and outreach activities worldwide.

Los Cenzontles
East Bay youth creating beautiful music
Within the walls of Los Cenzontles Mexican Art Center, the traditional arts have been given renewed life. With a little persistence and a lot of flair, a band of unique artists have continued to sustain young students’ exploration of Mexican culture. It has not only formed the basis for a growing community institution responsible for training thousands of Bay Area youth in the valuable cultural traditions, but their beautiful music continues to capture generations beyond its humble San Pablo storefront.

Shotgun Players
Going solar: good for the arts
In 1992, 11 actors in a pizza parlor basement birthed The Shotgun Players. Since then, this talented group of ambitious artists has been on a mission to create bold, relevant, and affordable theatre while also becoming a critically acclaimed ensemble. This year, The Shotgun Players began the process of converting their theatre – The Ashby Stage in Berkeley – to solar power. Electricity bills currently cost the theatre over $10,000 per year. Once the solar panel installation is complete, those funds can be redirected to artist fees. By creating a timely solution that values artists and their environment, The Shotgun Players continue their mission that combines creativity with relevance.

Community Health

Oral Health Initiative
Improving access to dental services
Over 1.1 million residents, or 28% of people, in the five-county Bay Area region lack dental coverage – more than double the number of residents who lack healthcare coverage. Oral healthcare remains one of the greatest unmet needs in the healthcare system. The San Francisco Foundation’s Oral Health Initiative is improving access to dental services, both prevention and treatment programs, by funding projects in five counties that focus on low-income residents who do not have dental insurance and those with publicly financed dental coverage who face difficulty obtaining services. The Initiative also aims to identify and advocate for policy, regulatory, and legislative changes that are needed to reduce barriers to oral health services.

Bayview Child Health Center
Caring for every child in the Bayview
The highest concentration of children with asthma, obesity, and incidences of infant mortality in San Francisco can be found in the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. Prior to the opening of the new California Pacific Medical Center clinic, only one pediatrician existed to address the health concerns of more than 10,000 African American children. Opened in March 2007, the Center is a state-of-the-art facility offering healthcare to every child in the Bayview, regardless of whether they have insurance or can afford to pay. The Center hopes to insure that all children in the neighborhood have everything they need to lead healthy lives.

Greater Options and Assistance for Lifelong Success for Women
Empowering East Bay women
Greater Options and Assistance for Lifelong Success for Women (GOALS) addresses the complex emotional and mental health challenges faced by African American women with children who live in poverty. By providing free, culturally sensitive health services, low-income women in the Berkeley and Oakland areas have been empowered to move beyond the traumatic experiences from which they suffer. GOALS staff provide access to case management, group therapy, job readiness/career counseling, consciousness-raising workshops, and enrichment services for children.

Operation Access
Volunteer medical care for the uninsured
The inability of the uninsured to obtain medical care affects not only the individual, but the individual’s family as well. Operation Access organizes volunteer medical teams that provide outpatient surgeries and consultations to uninsured individuals who are not eligible for MediCal, Medicare, or Worker’s Compensation. The prompt alleviation of illness, pain, disability, and other symptoms by this volunteer network of medical providers alleviates the burden that is placed upon community clinics and emergency rooms that are otherwise over-utilized. Early care provided by Operation Access also helps prevent more serious and costly medical conditions from developing.

Second Harvest Food Bank
Healthy food for our local farm workers
San Mateo farm workers are a critical link in our food chain. They do backbreaking work of picking and sorting our precious fruits and vegetables, yet they have very limited or no access themselves to nutritious food. Second Harvest Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry Program provides them with healthy food that requires no refrigeration or cooking, since the workers often have no kitchens. Second Harvest also connects their clients to an array of supportive services.

Tenderloin Health
A holistic approach to HIV/AIDS treatment and risk
Clients are homeless and/or poor and have or are at-risk for HIV/AIDS. We have partnered with Tenderloin Health for many years because they have been a model for turning lives around. Their services – health, mental health, housing, substance abuse, and job training – are all here in a one-stop shop, an approach that has proven to be successful.

Youth UpRising
A model of healthcare for at-risk youth
A teen clinic in East Oakland, linked to Castlemont High School and Oakland’s Children’s Hospital. “It saves kids’ lives,” says Program Officer Lisa Villarreal. “Its holistic approach means it works with body, mind, and spirit.” Its clientele are some of the most at-risk children in our community, and its services run the gamut from preventive and medical care for asthma and diabetes, to grief support groups on death and violence.

Education and Youth

West Oakland Initiative
A community schools model improving student outcomes
This Foundation initiative supports the McClymonds Youth and Family Center (MYFC), a collaborative of school-based support service providers located at the McClymonds Educational Complex in the West Oakland neighborhood. By providing coordinated support services that meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of students, MYFC nurtures student health, well-being, and connectedness while working to improve their academic achievement. The two small high schools served by this project are making gains in closing the achievement gap - one of them recently posted the second highest percentage of Oakland Unified School District students passing the California High School Exit Exam.

Childhood Matters
Using the power of media to inspire parent involvement
Childhood Matters is a live one-hour weekly call-in radio show on 98.1 KISS-FM and 105.1 KOCN-FM. Presented by Interactive Parenting Media, the show aims to inform and inspire parents and all who care about children so that every child may be happy, healthy, and thrive. The organization provides a respectful, inclusive public forum through its interactive radio shows Childhood Matters and Nuestros Niños, and other media in English and Spanish.

Florence Crittenton Services
Ending poverty – one family at a time
The southeast sector of San Francisco, including Bayview Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, and OMI, along with the Western Addition have historically served as gateways of opportunity for African Americans who migrated from the South in search of employment in once bustling shipyards. In the 1970s, the shipyards closed – eliminating thousands of jobs that have not returned. Today, unemployment rates in these areas far exceed those of the city as a whole. Florence Crittenton Services’ work in these neighborhoods reflects a belief in serving the complete family with a broad spectrum of programming – offering high quality nationally accredited child care and development services, a youth empowerment program that moves them toward graduation, and supportive services and job training with placement for mothers and fathers.

Girls After School Academy
Building girls’ self-esteem
Girls After School Academy provides youth development and self-esteem services for girls living in Sunnydale public housing. Neighborhood violence is common, and many residents are isolated and poor. To combat this environment that so often leads to high-risk behaviors, this program provides girls with academic enrichment, job skills, life skills, and exposure to positive role models. 

Multicultural Institute
From poverty and isolation to prosperity and participation
The Multicultural Institute's programs enhance educational, economic, and health opportunities, cultivate leadership development, and stimulate positive transformation of individuals, families, and communities. It provides a safe and encouraging afterschool academic enrichment program to disadvantaged Berkeley youth with a particular focus on immigrant youth, through programs including Mentoring for Success, Spanish language GED Preparation, a Youth Writing Festival, and summer activities for Latino and Vietnamese youth.

Oral Lee Brown Foundation
Supporting students from first grade to college
In 1987, Oakland realtor Oral Lee Brown told two dozen first-graders at Brookfield Elementary School that she would put them through college if they graduated from high school. Most of them did, with 19 enrolling in college. Since opening in 1988, the Oral Lee Brown Foundation has served 400 students a year out of a humble store front office. With a 97% high school graduation/college going rate, compared with a 68% state average, this organization is making a difference in the future of Oakland's youth.

South of Market Child Care
A safe, nurturing environment for young children
South of Market Child Care has provided quality child care and family programs for almost 30 years, serving the special needs of families from South of Market and the Tenderloin, and whose parents who work in downtown San Francisco. These child development centers provide a safe, secure, warm, and loving environment for the children. Each classroom is a special place where children from three-months to six-years can develop competency, independence, social skills, and a healthy self-concept. Services are developmentally appropriate and focus on the growth of the whole child.

Environment

Bay Area Livable Communities Initiative
Shaping Bay Area growth
New construction throughout the Bay Area is harming our environment and pushing middle class and low-income families out of existing communities in the Bay Area. The Foundation’s Bay Area Livable Communities Initiative is working with nonprofits and regional agencies to shape plans for new development that will change our current growth patterns. The goal of this initiative is for half of the Bay Area’s new homes, between now and 2030, to be located in walkable neighborhoods near public transit that have a mix of jobs, shops, community services, and homes affordable to families of all income levels.

Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Achieving social justice through a healthier environment
Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) seeks to empower low-income Asian Pacific Islander (API) communities to achieve environmental and social justice. APEN believes that the environment includes everywhere we live, work, and play, and works on three levels: direct organizing in local communities, building a network of API organizations, and working in multiracial alliances to affect regional and national social change. APEN is making our environment healthier while empowering our community. 

Center for Environmental Health
Protecting families and the environment from harmful chemicals
The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) promotes clean alternatives to chemicals in consumer products that are proven to cause diseases. Researchers now link environmental contamination to asthma, autism, cancers, impaired fertility, birth defects, and learning disabilities. Children are especially vulnerable, as they are exposed to these dangers even in the womb. In addition, CEH’s work protects our environment, because the same contaminants that endanger our health can, for example, seep into groundwater and burn off into the air we breathe. The organization plays a critical role motivating change – it has stopped metal plating companies from emitting dangerous chemicals, forced drug companies to take the lead out of baby diaper rash cream, and spearheaded a campaign to “green” hospitals.

Communities for a Better Environment
Helping communities say no to pollution
Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) is a social justice organization with a focus on environmental health and justice. CBE works in urban communities in northern and southern California with low-income African Americans, Latinos, and other people who bear the brunt of environmental pollution and toxics from freeways, power plants, oil refineries, seaports, airports, and chemical manufacturers. These communities experience high rates of asthma and respiratory illnesses, heart problems, cancer, low birthrate, and miscarriages, which are exacerbated by higher than average rates of poverty, inadequate housing, poor schools, inadequate healthcare, and social services. CBE assists community residents who want to challenge polluters with outreach, scientific and policy research, and legal assistance.

Marine Mammal Center
Rescuing California’s marine mammals
The Marine Mammal Center is dedicated to marine mammal rescue, rehabilitation, release, education, and research. The Center saves injured, sick, and orphaned marine mammals (including seals, sea lions, dolphins, porpoises, whales, and sea otters) along 600 miles of California coastline, from Mendocino through San Luis Obispo Counties. It also educates the public through exhibits, educational programs, and behind-the-scenes views of animal rehabilitation. The Marine Mammal Center is internationally recognized for its scientific rigor in studying the health of marine mammals, the high quality of veterinary care administered to these animals, and the educaiton programs provided to the public about marine mammals, ocean conservancy, and environmental stewardship.

Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science
Sustaining healthy ecosystems
Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science (PRBO) is dedicated to conserving birds, other wildlife, and ecosystems through innovative scientific research and outreach. Since its inception in 1965, PRBO has established research headquarters in Bolinas and the North Bay, and worked in diverse ecosystems throughout the nation and in Central America. PRBO works in partnership with wildlife and habitat management agencies, nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, private landowners, fisheries, and others to advance win-win solutions to conservation challenges.

Transportation and Land-Use Coalition
Livable communities for all
The San Francisco Bay Area expects a surge of two million new residents by 2030. Unless we change our current growth patterns, new development will continue to bulldoze our farmland and hillsides for luxury estates, big-box stores, and strip malls. Middle and low-income families will continue to be pushed out of existing communities in the Bay Area, and quality of life will plummet as congestion skyrockets and those who do not drive become more isolated. The Transportation and Land Use Coalition works to promote intelligent and sustainable land-use patterns and efficient, equitable transportation systems by encouraging dialogue between public agencies, private developers, and groups of concerned citizens. The Coalition consists of nearly 90 organizations that share a vision for a region with healthy, vibrant, walkable communities that provide all residents with a variety of public services, housing, and transportation choices.

Social Justice

Get Out the Vote Program
Increasing participation of hard-to-reach voters
In our democracy, the ability to vote is the most powerful tool that a citizen can wield. The Foundation’s non-partisan “Get Out the Vote” program aims to increase voter registration, provide voter education, and encourage voter participation. With our quick-turnaround mini-grants, grassroots organizations and local faith-based leaders are able to register voters, educate them, and mobilize their communities to go to the polls on election day. The program has a particular focus on encouraging low-income residents, people of color, and new citizens to vote.

California Youth Connection
Empowering foster youth
California Youth Connection (CYC) is a statewide foster youth empowerment and advocacy organization that is guided, focused, and driven by current and former foster youth ages 14-24.  With leadership and advocacy training, CYC youth have helped to pass legislation they themselves initiated to improve the foster care system, most recently AB 1858 (Steinberg) to raise educational standards for foster youth in non-public, non-sectarian schools.  The youth sit on policy committees, provide testimony, and help educate the public about their own needs – including a two-day training for social workers that they design and deliver. 

Friendship House Association of American Indians
A home for healing
Since 1963, Friendship House Association of American Indians has provided culturally appropriate substance abuse treatment services to American Indians relocated from their reservations to the urban centers of the San Francisco Bay Area.  In 2006, Friendship House realized its dream and opened the American Indian Healing Center, a new four-story, 80-bed facility treatment and community center in the Mission District. The new facility has doubled the capacity of the adult residential treatment program and has provided the ability to house additional health services for the local American Indian community. Friendship House is a nationally recognized treatment model that preserves families, improves communities, and saves lives.

Partnership for Immigrant Leadership and Action
Lifting up the voices of immigrants
While the growth of immigrant communities has contributed to California's economic and cultural vibrancy, many immigrants face significant obstacles that prevent them from fully participating in political and civic life. The Partnership for Immigrant Leadership and Action (PILA) has assisted over 45,000 Bay Area immigrants to become U.S. citizens since 1997. In January 2000, it shifted its focus to integrating newly naturalized citizens and other immigrants into civic life. Today, PILA supports immigrant-serving organizations to develop grassroots immigrant leaders and foster electoral participation, parent empowerment, and other methods of civic participation.

Project Avary
Supporting the children of incarcerated parents
Project Avary offers a residential summer camp and monthly field trips for children whose parents are incarcerated, emphasizing social skills for daily life, self-expression through creative arts, environmental education and stewardship, physical fitness and nutrition, and life skills. Project Avary is the only project of its kind in the nation providing targeted services to this neglected population. It now serves 100 children each summer at a camp on the Navarro River in Mendocino County.

Swords to Plowshares
Caring for our war veterans
Swords to Plowshares is a critical center of support, advocacy, and services for war veterans. It has successfully transitioned from its origins serving Vietnam War veterans to now accommodating all veterans, including those from the current Iraq War. As a leading advocate for homeless and low-income veterans, it transforms national policy and provides comprehensive services, including counseling, employment programs, housing, and legal assistance.