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Women’s Fund Donors Follow Their Money on Site Visits
Seeing the impact of their gifts in action was a gift in itself for more than 100 members of the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara, who toured local nonprofit agencies last week to see what their $725,000 in grants were doing to improve the community.
First stop was PathPoint (formerly known as Work Training Programs Inc.), recipient of $75,000 for a rehabilitation specialist for adults with mental illness who are living in the 61-unit El Carrillo homeless recovery housing project operated by the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara.
Jennifer Newbold, vice president/director of operations, shared a letter from “Mary,” one of the residents who had struggled through domestic violence, rape, substance abuse, untreated mental illness and the removal of her children from her custody.
“So here I was at 42 and on the street. They treated me like a murderer not like a lady that need some help. PathPoint staff was there when I needed to walk and talk about my past and future. They helped me get off booze and street drugs. They encouraged me to go on with my life and helped me get a volunteer job,” for which she was recently honored for volunteering the most number of hours.
“I am now a ‘queen of my own apartment’ with the help of others,” the letter continued. “Thank you goes to PathPoint for all they have done for me, to the Judge that helped me get off the street, to the housing authority and for the grants (like the Women’s Fund) that help people like me.”
“Steve,” a formerly homeless man who was hit by a train and lost a leg, also shared his story and opened up his apartment to the visitors. “I was a one-man crime wave before I got help,” he said. “God wanted to make sure I hit my bottom before I came back, thanks to the help of good people like you.”
“It was so moving,” Women’s Fund member Carrie Randolph said. “It makes you feel really good about your donations.”
The Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara is a collective group of volunteer donors focused on the needs of women, children and families in Santa Barbara, Goleta and Carpinteria. Fund members pool their charitable donations, research critical community needs, and then determine by vote which agencies will receive the funds collected during the year. More than $2.2 million has been awarded by the fund, which counts as key partners The Orfalea Fund and the Santa Barbara Foundation.
Casa Serena’s Main House was the group’s next destination. Program director Nancy Belknap gave a tour of the residential program’s facility, where women are taught the life skills they need to complete a safe path to recovery from alcoholism. The Women’s Fund’s $75,000 donation funded scholarships for recovery services.
“To date we have been able to serve over 30 women and all that that means for their families and the community as a whole,” explained Belknap.
Cynder Sinclair, executive director of Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics (SBNC), led the tour of her organization. The Women’s Fund’s $80,000 donation enabled the clinics to upgrade a computer health-tracking system designed to increase prevention exams and tests for women, and avoid expensive emergency room visits for routine illnesses for women and their families. Sinclair thanked the Women’s Fund for “helping SBNC build a medical home for thousands of the most vulnerable Santa Barbara residents.” In addition to this year’s donation, in 2005 the Women’s Fund granted SBNC $105,000 to complete the capital campaign for the Eastside Family Dental Clinic, which the group also toured.
Also on the program was a luncheon at the United Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County, which received $80,000 to expand after-school programs for at-risk teens in areas vulnerable to gangs, along with progress reports from the other six 2008-09 grant recipients:
» Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy, which received150,000 toward a new building to expand the hands-on science and engineering program for high school students.
» Future Leaders of America, which received $65,000 for a Latino youth leadership and education program designed to create college-educated, civic-minded role models who give back to their communities.
» Breast Cancer Resource Center, which received $30,000 for a new computer system to help provide peer support and information to cancer patients and their families.
» AllforOne Youth & Mentoring, which received $65,000 for a program director to help high-risk youth make healthy choices and avoid gang involvement.
» The Parent Project, which received 35,000 for parent-adolescent communications training to help strengthen relationships between elementary/junior high students and their families.
» CORE at Santa Barbara Junior High, which received a grant of $70,000 for an individualized intervention program designed to explore productive choices for at-risk seventh- and eighth graders.
» Click here for more information about the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara.
— Noozhawk contributor Leslie Dinaberg can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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