Fiscal Sponsor: Community Health Academy
The Alameda County Health Workforce Consortium supports a range of educational and mentorship programs that encourage people of color to pursue health careers and thereby improve the health in their communities. With the Fund's assistance, the Consortium will hire a consultant to help strengthen these programs by raising awareness and pursuing additional funds.
Grant Amount: $20,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 10/21/2009 through 10/21/2010

The Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation's Solar Energy Efficiency Green Careers program trains disadvantaged Latino young adults in solar panel installation and energy efficiency. The pilot program worked to increase the employment prospects for its fifteen students by providing initial career training. The Fund's grant allows for continued training and job placement assistance, as well as for relationship building with potential program partners.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 05/13/2009 through 05/13/2010
Project Web Site: www.sscf.org

The Ella Baker Center advocates at the local and state level to create training, jobs, and business opportunities for low-income communities in the emerging 'green economy.' In 2007, the Center led work in Oakland to design the first ever Green Jobs Corps. This grant supports the Center's work to ensure equitable implementation of Recovery Act programs related to green jobs, the design of effective green jobs training programs, and advocacy on relevant legislative initiatives.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 05/11/2009 through 05/11/2010
Project Web Site: www.ellabakercenter.org

The English Center offers a highly effective English language program for new immigrants, coupled with job placement support. The Fund's grant helps the Center provide scholarships for working-poor students whose earnings are just high enough to make them ineligible for a full Pell grant, but who otherwise could not afford tuition and fees.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 01/01/2010 through 01/01/2011
Project Web Site: www.englishcenter.edu/

Goodwill Industries provides workforce development opportunities to people with the most significant barriers to employment. The Fund's support helps Goodwill undertake significant organizational restructuring to expand its services beyond skills enhancement and employment into long-term work with its employees and clients. This work will be focused on ensuring sustained economic security.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/23/2009 through 11/23/2010
Project Web Site: www.sfgoodwill.org

The mission of JVS is to strengthen the Bay Area community and fulfill Jewish values by helping people, particularly those with barriers to employment, acquire the skills and resources they need to secure meaningful employment and advance toward self-sufficiency. JVS builds its programs around specific industry sectors and works closely with employers to design and deliver training and job placement services. Several programs within JVS address the needs and aspirations of immigrants and, as a Jewish organization, JVS is well positioned to build bridges between Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Thus this core support grant is jointly funded by the Fund's Economic Security and Jewish Life programs.
Grant Amount: $150,000 [2005] , $150,000 [2006] , $150,000 [2007] , $150,000 [2008] , $150,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 12/07/2009 through 12/07/2010
Project Web Site: www.jvs.org

REDF offers intensive technical assistance and funding to develop and expand social enterprises. These enterprises, in turn, create jobs in areas with limited employment options for people facing barriers to work. The Fund's grant supports REDF in leveraging development contracts to create transitional jobs and long-term employment in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 06/30/2009 through 06/30/2010
Project Web Site: www.redf.org

Springboard Forward provides career planning and coaching that helps low-wage workers improve their performance and advance in their careers. Springboard engages employees in career planning through a series of workshops as well as one-on-one coaching. It also provides training to improve the effectiveness of supervisors. Employers report improved employee relationships, superior job performance, and, as a result, higher retention. The Fund's grant focuses on collaborations with transitional employment programs to support their workers' progress into mainstream employment.
Grant Amount: $65,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 06/30/2009 through 06/30/2010
Project Web Site: www.springboardforward.org

Upwardly Global helps new immigrant professionals relaunch their careers in the United States by offering job-search training, career counseling, and placement services. Upwardly Global has strong partnerships with employers who accept referrals, participate in workshops, attend networking events, and encourage their employees to volunteer as mentors. With general operating support from the Fund, Upwardly Global will help more than 200 immigrant job seekers in 2010.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/23/2009 through 11/23/2010
Project Web Site: www.upwardlyglobal.org

AnewAmerica works with first-generation immigrants to help them establish and maintain robust small businesses, increase their incomes, save for a more solid asset base, and achieve a better standard of living for their families. AnewAmerica is distinctive among local micro-enterprise programs: It focuses on helping clients develop socially responsible business practices and requires them to give back to their communities through volunteerism or participation in the political process.
Grant Amount: $100,000 [2007] , $100,000 [2008] , $100,000 [2009] , $100,000 [2010] , $100,000 [2011]
Project Dates: 10/29/2010 through 03/29/2010
Project Web Site: www.anewamerica.org

Fiscal Sponsor: San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Foundation
The Benefits Access Coalition works to coordinate the agencies connecting low-income people with social services and public benefit subsidies. The Fund's support will help the Coalition increase the efficiency and effectiveness of participating agencies, extending their reach and their ability to deliver aid to people in need.
Grant Amount: $10,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 10/22/2009 through 10/22/2010

Community Financial Resources (CFR) helps connect Alameda County residents without bank accounts to the financial products and services they need to save and manage their money more effectively. People without bank accounts can lose more than 5% of their income to check cashers. The Fund's grant supports CFR's work on behalf of the Alameda County Community Asset Network (AC CAN) to create a searchable inventory of entry-level banking products coupled with a questionnaire that helps people find the products that best suit their needs.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 05/12/2009 through 05/12/2010
Project Web Site: www.communityfinancialresources.net

The Bay Area Match Fund raises resources to support financial education and matched savings programs that help low-income people save and invest in education, a business, or a home. Leveraging individual contributions through an on-line donation platform and securing major donors, the Bay Area Match Fund aims, over two years, to help 1,000 low-income households invest in their own long-term financial stability.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 09/11/2009 through 09/11/2010
Project Web Site: www.savetogether.org

CEO Women provides training and business development assistance to immigrant women who want to launch small businesses. The program offers classroom training that incorporates business skills and English language instruction as well as ongoing technical assistance from staff and a cadre of trained business volunteers. CEO Women is expanding its reach by opening a new office in San Jose and developing a distance learning program and tools.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2008] , $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 07/11/2009 through 07/11/2010
Project Web Site: www.ceowomen.org

Fiscal Sponsor: United Way of the Bay Area
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of the few meaningful tax advantages available to the working poor. To increase tax filing and the use of the EITC in low-income communities, the Fund supports Earn It! Keep It! Save It! This campaign provides free tax return preparation for 26,000 individuals and families in San Francisco and Alameda counties annually. The dollars reclaimed through the EITC provide critical income to low- and moderate-income households and help to stimulate the local economy.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/23/2009 through 11/23/2010
Project Web Site: www.earnitkeepitsaveit.org

EARN is nationally recognized in the asset-building field for its work to help low-income households save money and build wealth. By the end of 2008, EARN had helped more than 2,000 people save money in an Individual Development Account. EARN is enhancing its capacity for research and evaluation, bringing the experiences and insights of its savers to bear on policy development.
Grant Amount: $100,000 [2008] , $100,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/21/2009 through 11/21/2010
Project Web Site: www.sfearn.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Earned Assets Resource Network
HelloWallet is an online financial management tool that seeks to make dependable, sophisticated financial guidance available to low- and moderate-income people. Clients can access customized financial planning resources, tools for managing and monitoring their funds, and information about products from more than 90,000 different financial institutions to help them find the best match. The Fund's grant helps subsidize free HelloWallet subscriptions for 2,700 low-income San Francisco residents. Fiscal sponsor, EARN, will identify and train nonprofits to distribute these subscriptions to their clients.
Grant Amount: $25,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 02/26/2010 through 02/26/2011
Project Web Site: www.hellowallet.com/

The Legal Service for Entrepreneurs program of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights provides free legal clinics and pro bono legal representation to low-income entrepreneurs. With support from the Fund, more than 250 attorneys and paralegals from Bay Area law firms donate their expertise to the program, allowing their approximately 400 yearly clients to pursue avenues towards business success that might otherwise remain closed to them.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 10/09/2009 through 10/09/2010
Project Web Site: www.lccr.com

After several years of development, business incubator Mandela MarketPlace recently opened Mandela Foods, a cooperatively owned grocery store in West Oakland. The store provides its local worker-owners with a chance to build their skills, incomes, and assets as part of its plan to help revitalize this largely neglected neighborhood. The Fund's grant allows for an experienced general manager to oversee Mandela Foods and train its worker-owners during its initial two years.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 05/13/2009 through 05/13/2010
Project Web Site: www.mandelamarketplace.org

Opportunity Fund operates the Bay Area's largest micro-lending program, offering small business loans to low-income entrepreneurs who are unable to secure conventional financing. Opportunity Fund is currently refining its strategies to identify appropriate borrowers and is increasing guidance to current borrowers to help strengthen their business operations and prevent delinquency. The Walter & Elise Haas Fund's grant supports the Opportunity Fund's efforts to increase the economic stability of its loan recipients.
Grant Amount: $40,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 10/09/2009 through 10/09/2010
Project Web Site: www.opportunityfund.org

Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center provides comprehensive small business development assistance to entrepreneurs who do not have access to traditional business training, networks, or capital. In 2009, the Fund provides general support to Renaissance's San Francisco programs, allowing the agency flexibility in helping 1,650 low-income entrepreneurs strive towards economic stability.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/23/2009 through 11/23/2010
Project Web Site: www.rencenter.org

Fiscal Sponsor: The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Foundation
SF Works helps low-wage workers gain access to the rich array of benefits, services, discounts, and programs to which they are entitled, identifying an average of $1,000 in potential savings per employee per year. SF Works also encourages employers to hire individuals from disadvantaged communities by helping them to use hiring tax credits. SF Works will assist 2,000 low-wage workers in 2009.
Grant Amount: $75,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 06/30/2009 through 06/30/2010
Project Web Site: www.sfchamber.com/

WAGES supports immigrant women to establish cooperatively owned house-cleaning businesses that use non-toxic cleaning products and methods. WAGES recently completed a three-year strategic plan to double the number of co-op members it supports to 200 and develop new co-ops in San Francisco, Marin, and the South Bay. WAGES' house-cleaning co-op members earn $12-$14.50 per hour, receive health and dental insurance and short-term disability, and hold equity in their co-ops. This grant provides general operating support for the organization's expansion.
Grant Amount: $75,000 [2007] , $75,000 [2008] , $75,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/27/2009 through 11/27/2010
Project Web Site: www.wagescooperatives.org

Women's Initiative for Self-Employment provides low-income women with a broad range of business development services. With general operating support from the Fund, Women's Initiative offers its clients entrepreneurial readiness orientations and a broad range of training opportunities that address the intellectual and emotional sides of business success. These services extend the opportunities available to low-income women seeking to improve their financial prospects.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/23/2009 through 11/23/2010
Project Web Site: www.womensinitiative.org

Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC) of North Richmond was one of the first housing counseling programs in the region to develop loss-mitigation services for homeowners facing foreclosure. Although located in Richmond, CHDC serves residents of Alameda County, receiving referrals from public agencies, churches, and nonprofits. The Fund's grant supports CHDC's efforts to provide loss-mitigation and foreclosure-prevention counseling to Alameda County residents.
Grant Amount: $35,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 02/26/2010 through 02/26/2011
Project Web Site: www.chdcnr.com/

The Fund supports the Housing Economic Rights Advocates (HERA) in-person and phone counseling to homeowners and renters facing displacement through foreclosure. HERA is one of the few legal advocacy organizations with expertise on the foreclosure issue in California. As proven by their rate of success, the involvement of an attorney can help resolve a majority of these issues without litigation. Although anyone can approach HERA, the organization prioritizes assisting seniors victimized by predatory lending practices.
Grant Amount: $65,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/02/2010 through 04/02/2011
Project Web Site: www.heraca.org

Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) has a long history of helping low-income Latino households in San Francisco strive for economic advancement through home and business ownership. This grant supports MEDA's foreclosure mitigation program, offering one-on-one counseling, loan modification assistance, and educational workshops teaching homeowners about the default and foreclosure processes.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/02/2010 through 04/02/2011
Project Web Site: www.medasf.org

A historically African American-focused community development corporation, San Francisco Housing Development Corporation (SFHDC) provides foreclosure-mitigation services primarily for residents of San Francisco's Bayview, Visitacion Valley, and Fillmore neighborhoods. This year SFHDC will partner with a national foreclosure-prevention organization, implement a new client-tracking tool, hire an additional housing counselor, and increase its outreach and community education activities. The Fund offers SFHDC support in providing financial education and counseling to homeowners, particularly in San Francisco's southeast neighborhoods
Grant Amount: $65,000 [2005] , $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/02/2010 through 04/02/2011
Project Web Site: www.sfhdc.org

A long-standing service organization located in Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood, Unity Council serves people from multiple immigrant communities. Within its Homeownership Center, foreclosure mitigation and financial education are key service strategies. Seeking to expand the reach and efficiency of this work, Unity Council recently launched an online portal where homeowners can sign up for assistance with, prepare, and submit loan modification requests electronically. With support from the Fund, the Council anticipates helping nearly three times as many distressed homeowners with financial education and foreclosure-mitigation counseling in 2010 as in 2009.
Grant Amount: $65,000 [2005] , $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/02/2010 through 04/02/2011
Project Web Site: www.unitycouncil.org

Oakland's foreclosure rate is among the highest in the nation, with currently 1,500 foreclosed properties in East and West Oakland. Support from the Fund helps Urban Strategies Council develop the Oakland Community Land Trust, a project to acquire, rehabilitate, and resell 200 foreclosed homes to low- and moderate-income families. The Land Trust seeks to create sustainable homeownership for individual families and improve the quality of life in targeted neighborhoods.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 11/23/2009 through 11/23/2010
Project Web Site: www.urbanstrategies.com

California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) undertakes policy advocacy, research and capacity building activities to ensure fair access to quality financial services in low-income communities. This grant supports CRC's advocacy work to strengthen state policies to address foreclosure. It also supports a third year of an initiative to raise new resources from financial institutions to strengthen and expand foreclosure housing counseling services statewide.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/02/2010 through 04/02/2011
Project Web Site: www.calreinvest.org/

Fiscal Sponsor: Brighter Beginnings
Research finds a strong correlation between socioeconomic status and health status. The Fund's grant supports the organization of a daylong forum to explore this connection, the Health=Wealth Symposium. This symposium will encourage innovative interaction and offer concrete training opportunities on integrating health and wealth building into existing programs.
Grant Amount: $5,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 02/19/2010 through 02/19/2011
Project Web Site: www.brighter-beginnings.org/

Fiscal Sponsor: San Francisco Unified School District
The Public Interest Radio project at KALW Public Radio explores current issues through the voices and experiences of those individuals most affected. This grant supports in-depth reporting on wealth and poverty and public education. The grant is supported equally by the Fund's Economic Security and the Education programs.
Grant Amount: $50,000 [2008] , $50,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 07/11/2009 through 07/11/2010
Project Web Site: www.kalw.org

Elevating the voices of people directly affected by the economic crisis, PICO affiliates in Oakland and Contra Costa County are leading a campaign encouraging investors to move their money out of banks with poor loan modification track records or which fail to invest in low-income communities. Large-scale progress toward ending the foreclosure crisis requires shifts in public policy and banking practices. PICO effectively builds popular support for this change by amplifying the voices of regular citizens and crafting thoughtful recommendations.
Grant Amount: $60,000 [2010]
Project Dates: 04/02/2010 through 04/02/2011
Project Web Site: www.piconetwork.org

Fiscal Sponsor: Community Initiatives
Communities of Opportunity (COO) is an initiative addressing long-standing poverty in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point and Visitacion Valley neighborhoods. It calls for improving how the City directs resources to its most distressed families, strengthens nonprofit infrastructure and increases the level of civic engagement in the area. A key project is the transformation of the underused Southeast Community Facility into an active training and education hub. This grant includes $100,000 from the Fund's mission-related special projects budget and $25,000 from the Economic Security program area.
Grant Amount: $125,000 [2009]
Project Web Site: www.communityin.org

The East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) advocates for the interests of working-class communities in the economic development process in Oakland. The Fund's grant supports EBASE's work to ensure that the use of Recovery Act funds in Oakland and redevelopment of the Oakland Army base both benefit the local working-class community.
Grant Amount: $30,000 [2009]
Project Dates: 10/09/2009 through 10/09/2010
Project Web Site: www.workingeastbay.org