Foundation Awards Grants to 4 Agencies

The California Community Foundation has awarded spring quarter grants totaling more than $140,000 to four San Fernando Valley nonprofit agencies.

The grants are being given to address issues related to children, education, health, the environment and civic affairs in disadvantaged and underserved communities.

Lauren Kay, spokeswoman for the foundation, said the group was particularly interested in new small projects that “had some success and were able to document that success, such as Studio City’s Halycon Center’s PeaceBuilders program.”

The Halcyon Center for Child Studies will use its $25,000 grant in a program that addresses racial conflicts and tensions at two elementary schools in the east San Fernando Valley.

The other three grants will go to the Glendale chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to encourage independent living among its clients by providing home nursing therapy; the North Valley Family Counseling Center of San Fernando to expand its educational and tutoring programs for low-income Latinos, and the Van Nuys-based Students Run L.A. program to assist potential school dropouts by training them for marathon races.

The foundation received more than 200 funding requests from nonprofit organizations. Each application was reviewed by program officers, and those receiving grants “won on their own individual merit,” Kay said.

But, she added, receiving a grant from the foundation “doesn’t mean they will receive ongoing funding. Rather, we like to see an organization grow and find long-term funding.”