Our Board of Directors approved 10 grants at our board meeting in March. Please see the below press release for more details.

Irvine Board of Directors Approves More Than $14.2 Million in Grants on March 23, 2018

The James Irvine Foundation Board of Directors approved 10 grants totaling more than $14.2 million last week. The grants will support a range of organizations increasing opportunity for the people of California, including those working to expand economic and political opportunity for Californians who are working but struggling with poverty.

The grants include funding for efforts to protect immigrant rights and to promote civic engagement in California, as well as the first grants for the Foundation’s recently launched Better Careers initiative, which seeks to connect low-income Californians to good jobs with family-sustaining wages and advancement opportunities.

The board approved two grants to community foundations in Fresno and Salinas as regranting partners, part of the Foundation’s new pilot approach to grantmaking in its Priority Regions. Regarding the Foundation’s culminating work, the board approved a grant to support arts engagement in California, and two grants to support partners advancing Linked Learning.

The full list of board-approved grants includes:

Arts Engagement

Socius Group, LLC
A 30-month grant of $2.5 million to continue supporting the grantee-led learning community of New California Arts Fund grantee-partners to build capacity and expand the cohort.

Better Careers

LeadersUp
A three-year grant of $3 million to expand LeadersUp’s capacity as a talent development intermediary, creating a shift in business practice to improve the hiring and retention of Opportunity Youth in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Small Business Majority Foundation, Inc.
A one-year grant of $500,000 to implement a California strategy for amplifying the voice and engagement of small business to create quality jobs.

Linked Learning

Jobs for the Future, Inc.
A nine-month grant of $750,000 to plan and transition from the Linked Learning Regional Hubs of Excellence initiative. This effort will leverage the progress of the regional strategy to seed a sustainable peer network in California focused on improving economic mobility through secondary, postsecondary education, and workforce partnerships.

Linked Learning Alliance
A six-month grant of $965,000 to support strategic and business planning. The Linked Learning Alliance is a statewide coalition of education, industry, and community organizations dedicated to improving California’s high schools and preparing students for success in college, career, and life.

Priority Regions

Central Valley Community Foundation
An 18-month grant of $1.35 million to support resident engagement and leadership development in Fresno through a pilot regranting partnership.

Community Foundation for Monterey County
An 18-month grant of $1.25 million to support resident engagement and leadership development in Salinas through a pilot regranting partnership.

Protecting Immigrant Rights

Community Initiatives
A one-year grant of $800,000 to support the California Campus Catalyst Fund, which seeks to expand support and services for undocumented students and their families across California’s public higher education systems, through an entity such as Educators for Fair Consideration Advisory Committee.

Mission Asset Fund
A one-year grant of $500,000 to improve and protect the financial health of low-income immigrants across California.

United We Dream Network, Inc.
A one-year grant of $400,000 to engage youth in the protection of immigrant families and other vulnerable communities through education, organizing, and policy.

Voter and Civic Engagement

Mobilize the Immigrant Vote
An 18-month grant of $2.2 million to build an intergenerational movement of young people and families of color through voter and civic engagement across California.