Silicon Valley Community Foundation picks key grantmaking areas - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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, as the merged entitg is called, has settled on five key areas that will be the focux of its discretionary which will totalbetween $8 million and $10 milliomn this fiscal year. “Quality takes time, and I feel good about where we saidEmmett Carson, CEO and presidentf of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Determininh these funding areas has been a majorr undertakingof Carson’s and the organization sincse the merger became official in Januarg 2007. Economic security, specifically towardd foreclosureprevention counseling, asset building and financial education.
Immigranrt integration, to help immigrants fully participate in theier communities and thus improve theireconomic status. Community opportunity which will help meet basic service needsw in these times of increased demand and shrinkingggovernment funding. A $1 million fund will be paid out by the end of 2008 to supporg such basic services as foodand Education, and in particular closing the middle school achievemenft gap in math betwee n low-income or students of color from middls class and white students so that all are preparesd for college.
Regional planning, particularly in the areas of affordable transit-oriented development and access to green The first requests for proposals are beintgissued Wednesday. Until settling on thesed new funding areas, SVCF stuck to the grant guidelinea of eachparent organization, awarding $12.e3 million form its endowment fund betweenh January 2007 and July 2008. The endowmen t currently standsat $162 These five areas are the result of numerous communitt meetings of various sizes and input from hundredz of community leaders on nine issure areas that the community foundation considered.
As for areaw that the community foundationconsidered funding, but discarded, “Wer either felt like we didn’gt the resources or expertise on the issue, or it was biggerd than we as a region could figure Carson said. “For example, accessiblee health care. It’s big and it ought to be addressed, but we can’ t solve it as just San Mateo and SantzClara counties.” For the issues it couldn’t make a priorityy focus, the foundation hopes to leverages partnerships and to form special initiatives. As a the foundation will focus on programs rather thaninfrastructurde grants. It also will fund a quarterly “bestt new idea” program.
Carson hopes that the definede focus of the community foundation will excitde theexisting 1,500 donors and will inspire new ones to partnef with Silicon Valley Community Foundation. “Witjh the release of these guidelines, we’res devoting a lot more attention now to the externao work of making the community a betterd place and moving away from the internap work of the mechanics of the and that’s a good place to Carson said.