Community Foundation awards $485,000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 3, 2007
Contact: Billie Blair, President
Santa Fe Community Foundation
505-988-9715, ext. 1

Community Foundation awards $485,000

The Santa Fe Community Foundation granted $485,000 to 56 nonprofit agencies serving Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Mora, San Miguel, Taos, and Rio Arriba counties, a 58 percent increase over last year.

The Foundation received 157 applications totaling $1.9 million to the Community Grants Program, Lesbian and Gay Community Funding Partnership and the Native American Advised Fund.

In addition, the new Future Santa Fe Fund, a giving group of young philanthropists, made first-time grants of $12,000.

Donor advisors added $51,300. These are funds individuals, families and businesses have set up at the Foundation to manage their investment and provide giving advice.

Alexis Girard, chair of the Board of Directors, said the donor funding came as a result of a Board decision to introduce donors to the needs of excellent nonprofits. “Community foundations are a tremendous resource for donors who want to join forces in strategic giving,” said Girard.

Each year, the Foundation awards grants in November through its Community Grants Program in the areas of arts, civic affairs, education, environment and health and human services.

From the Community Grants Program:

ARTS

Española Valley Fiber Arts: $8,000 to provide education, training and economic opportunities in the fiber arts.

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Strings in the Schools Program: $4,000 for the Strings in Our Schools program.

Santa Fe Performing Arts: $10,000 for young artists to develop skills through after school performing arts classes.

Santa Fe Teen Arts Center: $10,000 for youth entertainment, arts education, entrepreneurial studies and artistic production.

Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association: $10,000 for music education programs through the schools with a focus on violin education and the Mozart and Mariachi program.

CIVIC AFFAIRS

CASA, First Judicial District: $10,000 to train mentors who help young people, ages 14 to 18, in foster homes Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, and Los Alamos counties.

Homewise, Inc.: $13,500 to help Spanish-speaking New Mexicans become homeowners.

Santa Fe Farmers' Market Institute: $10,000 to support Northern New Mexico agriculture and to educate people about locally grown food.

Santa Fe Habitat for Humanity, Inc.: $10,000 for money management classes and home and yard maintenance programs for low-income Santa Fe families.

Santa Fe Mountain Center: $10,000 for the Emergence Program's Youth Allies for Sustainability project, with a goal of creating community leaders

Think New Mexico: $10,000 for general operating.

Triangle District Project, Prospero Adult Literacy Project: $5,860 for the grassroots Prospero Adult Literacy Project connecting adults with limited literacy skills to neighborhood literacy classes.

EDUCATION

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern New Mexico: $17,500 to expand mentorships to Mora, San Miguel, Rio Arriba and Taos counties.

Chimayo Valley Boys and Girls Club: $16,000 for after-school and summer programs for youth that help prevent crime and drug abuse.

Cooking With Kids, Inc.: $5,000 for hands-on learning for children with healthful, fresh and affordable foods from diverse cultures.

Fine Arts for Children & Teens: $12,000 for teaching art-making, literacy and life skills to at-risk youth.

Girls Incorporated Of Santa Fe: $13,000 to expand services to girls ages 5 to 18.

Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe: $15,000 for free tutoring in basic literacy, English-as-a-Second Language and financial literacy.

Santa Fe Public Schools ADELANTE Program: $21,500 to strengthen educational opportunities for homeless students, including school supplies, clothing, tutoring, transportation, after school programs and other services.

Santa Fe Youth and Family Center Consortium: Zona del Sol: $2,860 for operating expenses for the group eight non-profits serving for youth and families in the Tierra Contenta neighborhood.

Vecinos del Rio, Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project: $3,360 to educate youth and adults in protecting petroglyphs, ancient and irreplaceable rock art.

ENVIRONMENT

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety: $750 to insure clean water for the Buckman Wellfield project.

Earth Care International: $12,000 to educate teenagers to create a sustainable world and develop leadership skills.

Earth Works Institute: $6,000 to create a watershed-wise community among users of the Arroyo de los Chamisos Park.

Forest Guardians: $750 for protection of engendered species.

Santa Fe Conservation Trust: $12,000 to preserve open lands, rivers and streams, working farms, trails and natural view sites.

HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

American Lung Association, Not-On-Tobacco Program: $7,860 to help Santa Fe teens quit smoking.

Bienvenidos Outreach: $5,000 for boxes of food and sack lunches for the homeless.

El Centro Family Health: $12,000 to create a plan for integrating services at the Rio Arriba Commons (medical clinics, Public Health, and Health and Human Services).

Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families: $17,500 for services for families experiencing domestic violence.

Faith At Work: $9,000 to provide direct support to the working poor and case management.

Family Strengths Network: $10,000 for parenting programs at the family resource center.

Gerard's House: $10,000 to support grieving children and teens in Santa Fe.

IMPACT Personal Safety: $9,000 for hands-on violence-prevention training for children and adults.

La Familia Medical Center: $10,000 for psychiatric services for low-income and uninsured residents.

Las Cumbres Community Services: $12,000 for therapeutic services through the Community Infant Program for ages 0-3.

New Mexico Suicide Intervention Project: $5,860 to reduce the risk of youth suicide.

Saint Elizabeth Shelter: $17,500 for emergency and transitional housing, onsite case management, and counseling for the homeless.

Santa Fe Rape Crisis and Trauma Treatment Center: $15,000 to address sexual violence and other forms of trauma.

Temple Beth Shalom, Interfaith Leadership Alliance: $12,000 to join faith-based groups and civic organizations to address youth homelessness.

The Food Depot: $8,000 for Food-4-Kids, providing healthy foods to elementary school children in Santa Fe's poorest schools.

Women's Health Services: $17,500 for women-centered health care.

Youth Shelters and Family Services: $17,500 for a transitional living program, emergency shelter; street outreach, and counseling.

From the Lesbian and Gay Community Funding Partnership:

Girls, Inc.: $3,500 to encourage girls to increase their own and others' understanding of LGBT concerns.

IMPACT Personal Safety: $3,000 to teach verbal and physical self-defense skills to those over 55 in the LGBTQ community.

PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays): $2,500 for education, advocacy and support to the Santa Fe immigrant and Spanish speaking LGBTQ community.

Santa Fe Mountain Center: $3,500 for Gay Straight Alliances to educate the school community about homophobia, gender identity and sexual orientation issues.

Santa Fe Rape Crisis and Trauma Treatment Center: $6,000 to teach anti-oppression, prejudice-reduction and diversity honoring experiential workshops to middle and high school students, and provide training for faculty through YODA (Youth Organizing Diversity for All).

The Dream Tree Project: $5,000 for a safe place for the Gay Straight Alliance to meet and participate in suicide prevention activities with Taos High School.

Wise Fool New Mexico: $3,000 to permit young queer women to attend Women's Circus Workshop Intensive, BUST, a theatre arts experience.

From the Native American Advised Fund:

Cornerstones Community Partnerships: $2,000 to help Nambe Pueblo teach native youth adobe making by building a new ceremonial kiva.

Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Council PeaceKeepers: $1,000 for Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse Awareness events.

IMPACT Personal Safety: $2,000 for a Children's PREPARE violence prevention workshop at Santa Clara Pueblo Day school.

New Mexico Suicide Intervention Project: $2,500 for culturally relevant youth suicide prevention strategies at the Eight Northern Pueblos.

Pueblo of Tesuque, Agricultural Initiative: $3,200 toward creating a healthy, sustainable food supply for Native and non-Native people.

Tewa Women United: $3,000 for Environmental Health and Justice, Women's Leadership and Economic Literacy, Indigenous Women's Health and Reproductive Justice and V.O.I.C.E.S. sexual violence program.

Established 26 years ago, the Santa Fe Community Foundation has assets of close to $30 million and awards grants from earnings on endowments. It improves the quality of life for people in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico, now and for future generations, by building and managing endowment funds in order to award grants; helping nonprofits operate more effectively; convening area residents to discuss issues of critical importance to the community; and providing leadership for key community initiatives.

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