The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is giving back to the community in California through $1.2 million of grants designed to help dozens of disparate campaigns and nonprofit organizations that serve economically disadvantaged areas.
The endowments, which will aid 54 organizations that are giving back to society in a variety of ways – from battling teen pregnancy, to improving the performing arts – were approved by the foundation’s board this past November and were announced last week.
The foundation awarded a grant to the Bayview Hunters Point Foundation, a nonprofit human services agency, based in San Francisco. It aims to use the $150,000 grant to open a youth center and clinic that offers pregnancy prevention and mental health services.
On another note, two grants were given by the foundation to two music-oriented causes, also based in San Francisco. The Hewlett Foundation gave $100,000 to the EXIT Theatre, for the expansion of its four-venue, 250-seat "theatreplex," which provides constant opportunities for any willing actors and low cost rentals of performance areas to production crews. A $250,000 grant was given to the Music National Service Initiative as well, a national nonprofit with a team of 20 music teachers in four major cities – deemed a "musical Peace Corp" by the organization – to teach music full-time in hospitals, public schools, public schools and parks.
Adding an environmental aspect to the well-rounded set of endowments is a $250,000 grant to the Coalition for Clean Air, of Los Angeles, that will work to lessen the level of air pollution in Los Angeles and the Central Valley.
As the result of other Hewlett Foundation contributions to the RAND Corporation, a study published today revealed striking connections between two different fields: health and the environment. California’s pollution has caused more than $193 million in hospital care from 2005 to 2007, according to the report.