FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 14, 2021

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

SAN FRANCISCO (December 14, 2021) – The James Irvine Foundation Board of Directors approved 28 grants totaling $36 million last week. The grants primarily support the Foundation’s three initiatives focused on working Californians (Better Careers, Fair Work, and Priority Communities).

The full list of board-approved grants includes:

Initiatives

Better Careers

Goodwill Industries of Southern California

An 18-month grant of $500,000 to support a pilot program, Connecting Employers to Young Adult Workers, to support young adult workers facing system barriers in Los Angeles County, as co-developed through the Better Careers Design Group process.

Growth Sector Company

A three-year grant of $2 million to support pathways to engineering and computer science degrees and careers.

Hartnell College Foundation

A two-year grant of $500,000 to support a pilot Modern Life Skills Mentorship Program for first-generation immigrant youth in the Salinas Valley, as co-developed through the Better Careers Design Group process.

NOVAworks Foundation

A three-year grant of $575,000 to support designing and implementing greater career mobility and access to opportunities for hospitality workers.

Opportunity at Work, Inc

A three-year grant of $750,000 to support the expansion and solidification of Opportunity@Work’s regional network model and talent hiring marketplace serving low-income, non-degree-holding Californians.

Rubicon Programs, Inc.

A one-year grant of $500,000 to support the piloting of the Returning Home Program that provides financial support, mentorship, and career development for previously justice-involved individuals, as co-developed through the Better Careers Design Group process.

San Francisco Foundation

A three-year grant of $3 million to support building worker power through workforce development and improving job quality for workforce practitioners of color.

Women in Non Traditional Employment Roles

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

Fair Work       

National Domestic Workers Alliance Inc.

A three-year grant of $4.2 million, including regranting, to ensure labor protections and improved professional opportunities for domestic and home care workers in California.

National Employment Law Project

A one-year grant of $3,046,000, including regranting, to strengthen recovery of low-income workers’ wages and ensure other legal protections through support for the California Strategic Enforcement Partnership.

Regents of the University of California, on behalf of its Los Angeles campus

A two-year grant of $1.4 million to support workers’ rights organizations in California with research, policy analysis, and youth development that centers racial justice.

The Partnership for Working Families

A five-year grant of $500,000 to support a strategic reserve that advances future infrastructure and impact opportunities for the member organizations of the California Coalition for Worker Power.        

Priority Communities

Central Valley Community Foundation

A two-year grant of $2 million to build the capacity of grassroots organizations and residents in Fresno to engage in economic justice dialogue.

Engage R+D, Inc.

A three-year grant of $605,000 to support a developmental evaluation of activities to advance inclusive economies in Irvine’s priority communities.

Regents of the University of California, on behalf of its Riverside campus

A two-year grant of $1.8 million to jumpstart the OASIS HUB Innovation Ecosystem by creating entrepreneurial opportunities in the Inland Empire.

University of Southern California

A three-year grant of $1 million to provide data and support for collaborative economic development efforts in Fresno and Salinas, using a solidarity economics framework.

Leadership Awards

Capitol Impact Consulting, LLC

A one-year grant of $2.25 million for the grant funds associated with the 2022 Leadership Awards.

A one-year grant of $2,085,000 for a Foundation-Administered Project by Irvine, through Capitol Impact, to administer The James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards program.

Additional Grantmaking

Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment

A 10-month grant of $600,000 to launch a partnership to support the successful enrollment of Black participants in the Southwest Carpenters’ job training programs, and to implement an internal assessment of employment and job-training pipelines.

Community Partners

A one-year grant of $800,000 to strengthen the organizing and civic engagement capacity of Tribal communities and Native organizations in California, through an entity such as California Native Vote Project.

Economic Development Corporation of Los Angeles County

A three-year grant of $400,000 to strengthen pathways into infrastructure careers with family-sustaining wages through the launch of a career development portal.

Housing California

A one-year grant of $500,000 to support an inclusive planning process to strengthen California’s affordable housing policy advocacy ecosystem.

Jobs for the Future, Inc.

A six-month grant of $500,000 to support planning for the High Road Training Fund in California.

Liberty Hill Foundation

An 18-month grant of $1.5 million to support five grassroots members of the Los Angeles Community Land Trust Coalition to strengthen and scale community ownership of land and housing strategies in Central, East, and South Los Angeles.

Public Policy Institute of California

A two-year grant of $2.5 million to produce timely, relevant, and widely accessible information on key policy issues facing California and advance constructive dialogue with key stakeholders from across the political and geographic spectrum.

Southern California Grantmakers

A three-year grant of $600,000 to launch and assess the impact of a guaranteed income pilot program in Los Angeles County, through an entity such as the Center for Strategic Partnerships.

UNITE-LA, Inc.

A one-year grant of $400,000 for general operating support.

University of Southern California

A two-year grant of $1 million to support the USC Equity Research Institute to provide timely, actionable research and narratives that support community-driven coalition efforts focused on economic, racial, and social inequities in California.