The California Wellness Foundation has announced two new grants under the five-year, $30 million anti-violence initiative it launched last December.
Because of the high involvement of youths in interpersonal violence, both as perpetrators and as victims, the initiative will focus primarily on youths up to age 24.
The Woodland Hills, Calif.-based foundation will award $12 million to 18 community-based programs in California.
The vast majority of the groups are located in the San Francisco Bay area and in Southern California. According to the foundation, 12 California counties account for more than 95 percent of youth homicides in the state.
Also this summer, the Wellness Foundation announced that it will award $4 million to the Injury Prevention Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore for an evaluation of the anti-violence initiative.
The center will work in partnership with Stanford University and the RAND Corporation.
Giving by corporations and corporate foundations to nonprofit groups declined 3.8 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars last year, according to the 1993 edition of “Giving U.S.A.,’' the annual report on philanthropy published by the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel Trust for Philanthropy.
Corporate groups gave away about $6 billion in 1992, accounting for about 4.8 percent of all philanthropic giving. Approximately one-third of all their contributions went to education-related projects, noted the report, which was released last month.
Although only 11 percent of the 1992 education dollars were awarded to K-12 programs, the proportion of corporate contributions allocated to precollegiate education has been increasing gradually since the late 1970’s.
Meanwhile, foundation giving increased 3.8 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars in 1992. Foundations awarded $8.83 billion in grants in 1992, about 6.6 percent of total giving.
Foundation assets rose by 3.1 percent, which suggests a “modest’’ growth in grantmaking activity for 1993, the report said.
Giving by individuals rose 2.7 percent over 1991 figures, totaling $101.9 billion. Contributions from individuals account for the vast majority of philanthropic giving, slightly more than 80 percent.
Copies of the report are available for $45 each, prepaid by check or money order, from the A.A.F.R.C Trust for Philanthropy, 25 West 43rd St., Suite 820, New York, N.Y. 10035; (212) 354-5799.
Aspiring grant recipients can find advice on turning their applications into winners in the August issue of Here’s How, a newsletter published by the National Association of Elementary School Principals.
The article, entitled “Six Steps to Successful Grant-Writing,’' advises schools to form grant-writing teams. Each team should include researchers, “idea people,’' writers and editors, a budget developer, a proofreader, and a coordinator.
Copies of the newsletter are available for $2.50 each from N.A.E.S.P.'s education products department, 1615 Duke St., Alexandria, Va.; (703) 684-3345.
The Los Angeles law firm of O’Melveny and Myers has established a $1.5 million college scholarship program in honor of its former chairman, Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher.
Beginning this fall, the Christopher Scholarship Fund will identify promising students in Los Angeles public schools who are at risk of dropping out, and encourage them to finish high school and go on to college.
Potential recipients will be targeted in the 10th grade, and could receive as much as $16,000 toward their college expenses.
Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of both financial need and academic performance.
Mr. Christopher has noted publicly that he was only able to attend college because he received a scholarship.
He attended the University of Redlands from 1942 to 1944, and finished his bachelor’s degree at the University of Southern California after enlisting in the U.S. Naval Reserve.
Mr. Christopher’s wife, Marie, is a former public school teacher.
In a related development, the University of Redlands has established a scholarship program that will be linked to the Christopher Fund.
The university pledged to admit any $16,000 award winner, match the award dollar for dollar, and meet 100 percent of the student’s financial need for four years.
The Kellogg Foundation has selected 19 communities to participate in the first phase of its $18.2 million “Families for Kids’’ adoption initiative.
Launched in the spring of 1992 by the Battle Creek, Mich.-based foundation, the program is intended to help find permanent homes for more of the 425,000 children currently in foster care in the United States.
The 19 programs, located in 15 states, will each receive a $100,000 planning grant.
Five recipients are in Michigan. Other states with winning sites are: Arizona, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Washington.
--M.S.
