FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 23, 2024 

Contact:
Luisa Montes,
Communications Officer
415-356-9940
lmontes@irvine.org

September 23, 2024 – The James Irvine Foundation Board of Directors approved 14 grants totaling $46.9 million last week. The Foundation also provided $18.2 million in grants this quarter that did not require board approval.  

The grants primarily support the Foundation’s four initiatives focused on working Californians: Better Careers, Fair Work, Just Prosperity, and Priority Communities, and Irvine investments in Housing Affordability. More information about all grants can be found in the Foundation’s database here, and the board-approved grants include:  

Better Careers 

Anti-Recidivism Coalition  

A three-year grant of $2 million for general operating support.  

Canal Alliance  

A three-year grant of $2 million for general operating support.  

Coalition for Responsible Community Development  

A three-year grant of $2.5 million to support pre-apprenticeships and career pathways for South Los Angeles residents facing barriers to employment.  

UAW Center for Manufacturing a Green Economy  

A three-year grant of $1.55 million to develop a United Auto Workers (UAW) high-road battery manufacturing apprenticeship program in California and scale it into a model for battery manufacturers and other advanced green manufacturing sectors.   

Fair Work  

Tides Center 

A two-year grant of $11.15 million to provide financial support and organizational development assistance to worker rights organizations in California, through an entity such as The LeadersTrust.  

Just Prosperity 

California Calls Education Fund  

A two-year grant of $1.8 million to ensure the issues and priorities impacting low-income workers and their families are at the forefront in California by strengthening the coordination and alignment of Million Voters Project’s statewide affiliates and advancing nonpartisan voter and civic engagement efforts.  

Chinese Progressive Association  

A two-year grant of $2.05 million to increase the civic engagement of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders living on low incomes by expanding statewide community organizing and advocacy infrastructure in California, through an entity such as AAPIs for Civic Empowerment Education Fund.  

Community Partners  

A two-year grant of $2.05 million to deepen power building, advocacy, and data research among Native communities and organizations in California, through an entity such as the California Native Vote Project.  

Priority Communities  

Kitchen Table Advisors 

A two-year grant of $1.75 million to advance the economic viability of Latinx-owned farms and ranches in the Salinas Valley region through wealth building, increasing market power, and enhancing self-determination.  

University of California, Riverside  

A three-year grant of $1.6 million to expand the capacity of SoCal OASIS (Opportunities to Advance Sustainability, Innovation and Social Inclusion) to grow diverse entrepreneurial communities in the Inland Empire.  

Housing Affordability  

California Community Foundation  

A one-year grant of $1.3 million to advance equity-centered inclusive development and land use policies in Los Angeles.  

San Francisco Foundation  

A two-year grant of $7.5 million to sustain and grow the capacity of statewide affordable housing and housing justice organizations to take collective action to ensure communities most impacted by California’s housing crisis can shape equitable solutions.  

University of the California Berkeley Foundation  

A two-year grant of $1.6 million to build the capacity of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation, Othering and Belonging Institute, and California Policy Lab to produce housing research and strengthen cross-campus collaboration and community engagement.  

Research and Development  

California Power Building Infrastructure Center 

A three-year grant of $8 million to support the growth, long-term health, and level of collaboration among nonprofit leaders and organizations working with and on behalf of low-income communities in inland California, through the Movement Innovation Collaborative.