Bay Area

San Francisco Foundation Awards First Grants From Its Newly Created SFF COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund

Published

4 years ago

April 2, 2020

The San Francisco Foundation announced Monday that it has begun awarding grants from its SFF COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. Less than two weeks after announcing the fund’s creation, the San Francisco Foundation made grants totaling $200,000 to thirty-two organizations working on tenant protections, food distribution, worker protections, and support for unhoused people, among other areas. The donor community responded quickly as well with individual and corporate donors committing to support the fund immediately.

The Emergency Response Fund makes grants of $3,000–$25,000 to frontline nonprofit organizations that are serving: low-wage workers most affected by the crisis; residents who are homeless or in danger of becoming unhoused; people who may not be able to get food during this time; and communities who have been racially targeted as a result of bigotry connected to the pandemic.

The fund was launched on March 17th to provide quick funding to nonprofit organizations in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Mateo counties. This first set of grants will be followed by additional announcements.

An essential component of the fund is to get resources to the community quickly.

“We have already been inundated with requests for funding, with more than three hundred applications in the first week alone,” said Fred Blackwell, CEO of the San Francisco Foundation.

“And of course, the needs across communities are extraordinary. There is a great deal of important work being done to address this by donors and philanthropy across the region. One of the critical roles of our foundation is to make sure that small grassroots organizations that are deeply connected to their communities have the resources they need to quickly serve people on the ground.”

“As this situation develops the need will only get greater,” said Ruben Orduña, the foundation’s Chief of Philanthropy, who oversees the foundation’s fundraising activities. “We are asking donors, corporations and other funders for their help to support this work. Their dollars will go straight back into the communities where the money is needed most and to the kinds of organizations providing services and leadership to best address this very difficult situation.”

Donors wishing to contribute to the fund can visit www.sff.org.

Contact: Eric Brown, ebrown@sff.org, 415-733-8589.

Courtesy of SF Foundation

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Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

Published

3 days ago

April 26, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

DA Pamela Price Stands by Mom Who Lost Son to Gun Violence in Oakland

Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018.

Published

6 days ago

April 22, 2024

Oakland Post

District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones

Publisher’s note: Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018. The photo was too small for readers to see where the women were and what they were doing. Here we show Price and Jones as they complete a walk in memory of Scott. For more information and to contribute, please contact Carol Jones at 510-978-5517 at morefoundation.help@gmail.com. Courtesy photo.

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

State Controller Malia Cohen Keynote Speaker at S.F. Wealth Conference

California State Controller Malia Cohen delivered the keynote speech to over 50 business women at the Black Wealth Brunch held on March 28 at the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center at 301 Van Ness Ave. in San Francisco. The Enterprising Women Networking SF Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) hosted the Green Room event to launch its platform designed to close the racial wealth gap in Black and Brown communities.

Published

1 week ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

American Business Women’s Association Vice President Velma Landers, left, with California State Controller Malia Cohen (center), and ABWA President LaRonda Smith at the Enterprising Women Networking SF Chapter of the ABWA at the Black Wealth Brunch.

By Carla Thomas

The Enterprising Women Networking SF Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) hosted the Green Room event to launch its platform designed to close the racial wealth gap in Black and Brown communities.

“Our goal is to educate Black and Brown families in the masses about financial wellness, wealth building, and how to protect and preserve wealth,” said ABWA San Francisco Chapter President LaRonda Smith.

ABWA’s mission is to bring together businesswomen of diverse occupations and provide opportunities for them to help themselves and others grow personally and professionally through leadership, education, networking support, and national recognition.

“This day is about recognizing influential women, hearing from an accomplished woman as our keynote speaker and allowing women to come together as powerful people,” said ABWA SF Chapter Vice President Velma Landers.

More than 60 attendees dined on the culinary delights of Chef Sharon Lee of The Spot catering, which included a full soul food brunch of skewered shrimp, chicken, blackened salmon, and mac and cheese.

Cohen discussed the many economic disparities women and people of color face. From pay equity to financial literacy, Cohen shared not only statistics, but was excited about a new solution in motion which entailed partnering with Californians for Financial Education.

“I want everyone to reach their full potential,” she said. “Just a few weeks ago in Sacramento, I partnered with an organization, Californians for Financial Education.

“We gathered 990 signatures and submitted it to the [California] Secretary of State to get an initiative on the ballot that guarantees personal finance courses for every public school kid in the state of California.

“Every California student deserves an equal opportunity to learn about filing taxes, interest rates, budgets, and understanding the impact of credit scores. The way we begin to do that is to teach it,” Cohen said.

By equipping students with information, Cohen hopes to close the financial wealth gap, and give everyone an opportunity to reach their full financial potential. “They have to first be equipped with the information and education is the key. Then all we need are opportunities to step into spaces and places of power.”

Cohen went on to share that in her own upbringing, she was not guided on financial principles that could jump start her finances. “Communities of color don’t have the same information and I don’t know about you, but I did not grow up listening to my parents discussing their assets, their investments, and diversifying their portfolio. This is the kind of nomenclature and language we are trying to introduce to our future generations so we can pivot from a life of poverty so we can pivot away and never return to poverty.”

Cohen urged audience members to pass the initiative on the November 2024 ballot.

“When we come together as women, uplift women, and support women, we all win. By networking and learning together, we can continue to build generational wealth,” said Landers. “Passing a powerful initiative will ensure the next generation of California students will be empowered to make more informed financial decisions, decisions that will last them a lifetime.”