FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 23, 2020

Contact:
Vaishalee Raja,
Senior Communications Officer
213-283-2007
vraja@irvine.org

SAN FRANCISCO (June 23, 2020) – The James Irvine Foundation Board of Directors approved 22 grants totaling $36.2 million last week. The grants included support for the Foundation’s three initiatives focused on working Californians (Fair Work, Better Careers, and Priority Communities), including a grant to the Tides Center to support organizational and leadership development among worker organizations in California through the Haas Leadership Initiatives.

The Central Valley Community Foundation and Latino Community Foundation will each receive significant grants through our new Priority Communities initiative to regrant to local organizations in Fresno and Salinas, to improve economic mobility and job creation.

The full list of board-approved grants includes:

Initiatives

Better Careers

Center for Employment Opportunities
A two-year grant of $1.5 million to improve economic mobility for formerly incarcerated Californians.

Foundation for California Community Colleges
A two-year grant of $600,000 to support the next phase of growth and expansion of an apprenticeship program in California.

San Francisco Foundation
A two-year grant of $400,000 to support high-impact projects and the ReWork the Bay funder collaboration to increase access to quality jobs in the Bay Area.

The Shirley Ware Education Center
A three-year grant of $1 million to provide rapid-response trainings to address the COVID-19 pandemic, expand access to healthcare career pathway programs in the Central Valley and Inland Empire, and refine online training capabilities.

Fair Work

Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy
A two-year grant of $700,000 for general operating support.

Mujeres Unidas y Activas
A two-year grant of $800,000 to strengthen the leadership, voice, and economic mobility of domestic care workers, through an entity such as the California Domestic Workers Coalition.

New Venture Fund
A two-year grant of $450,000 to expand the use of digital platforms that better enable California workers to become advocates and organizers in their jobs and workplaces, through an entity such as Coworker.org.

Tides Center
A two-year grant of $4.5 million to provide leadership and organizational development services and regrants to worker rights organizations, through an entity such as Haas Leadership Initiatives (HLI).

United for Respect Education Fund
A two-year grant of $600,000 support efforts to reach, educate, and organize low-wage retail and warehouse workers in California working towards family-sustaining jobs.

Warehouse Worker Resource Center
A two-year grant of $600,000 for general operating support.

Priority Communities

Central Valley Community Foundation
A three-year grant of $15 million to invest in the implementation of six core projects that improve economic mobility and job creation in Fresno as identified during the community’s Developing the Region’s Inclusive and Vibrant Economy (DRIVE) initiative.

Latino Community Foundation
A three-year grant of $4 million to advance inclusive economic planning and quality job creation efforts that focus on Latinos in Fresno and Salinas.

New World Foundation
A two-year grant of $500,000 for the Quality Jobs Innovation Fund, a pooled fund supporting quality jobs preservation and creation in the Central Valley and the Inland Empire.

Valley Public Radio
A two-year grant of $360,000 to inform San Joaquin Valley residents about public policy issues through Valley Public Radio and digital platforms.

Additional Grantmaking

California Immigrant Policy Center
A two-year grant of $600,000 for general operating support in order to lead, coordinate, and support education and advocacy activities that protect and expand protections and benefits for California’s immigrant communities in the aftermath of COVID-19.

Mission Asset Fund
A one-year grant of $400,000 for general operating support in order to support immigrants, given the uncertain policy environment and the COVID-19 pandemic, and to strengthen and protect the financial health of low-income immigrants in California.

Sierra Health Foundation Center for Health Program Management
A one-year grant of $500,000 to protect the immigrant rights in the Central Valley.

KQED, Inc.
A two-year grant of $400,000 to support the California Report’s statewide coverage of issues facing low-income Californians.

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc.
A three-year grant of $750,000 to strengthen nonprofit and foundation feedback practices to more consistently listen to and use constituent voice to improve nonprofit services and impact.

ACCE Institute
A two-year grant of $500,000 for general operating support.

The UCLA Labor Center
A 15-month grant of $1.3 million to bring together key stakeholders to develop strategic recommendations for improvements to the public workforce system.

United Way of Greater Los Angeles
A two-year grant of $750,000 to build a coalition of supporters in Los Angeles that advocate for increased affordable housing.