REGION — The San Diego Women’s Foundation granted $273,090 in funding to seven nonprofit organizations addressing disparities in early childhood education, particularly in promoting kindergarten-ready students.
The selected organizations help children become “kindergarten-ready,” better equipped to meet educational milestones and less likely to drop out of school or experience other adverse outcomes in life.
Through the contributions of the foundation’s members and the community, the foundation has awarded grants to two North County organizations: Vista-based Solutions for Change, which received $30,000, and Escondido-based Palomar Family Counseling Service, which received $60,000.
According to the San Diego Women’s Foundation, Solutions for Change addresses root causes of poverty and dependency by equipping people with the skills, knowledge and resources to permanently solve their challenges and transform their life.
The organization blends affordable housing, education, employment training, career pathways and personal development all within one cohesive program. Its students learn how to take their lives back through employment training and career pathways that teach them how to sustain themselves and their families.
Palomar Family Counseling Service, which provides affordable clinical family counseling and mental health services, offers several youth programs that address challenging behaviors, improve school readiness, offer coaching and support to improve parent-child relationships and provide a full continuum of services to ensure family stability.
The other five regional organizations include $25,000 for the Monarch School Project, $29,090 for Episcopal Community Services, $30,000 for Guitars in the Classroom, $45,000 for Logan Heights Community Development Corporation and $54,000 for The Healthy Early Years Clinic at San Diego State University.
“We are honored to be partnering with these seven phenomenal organizations,” said Stephanie Cook, executive director of the San Diego Women’s Foundation.
The selected organizations work to address the widening educational inequities in pre-kindergarten education for children from under-resourced communities, addressing both immediate impacts as well as long-term structural and systemic change. The pre-kindergarten years are when children learn social, cognitive and other critical skills that lay the foundation for educational success.
Children who are “kindergarten-ready” are better equipped to meet educational milestones. Children from families earning a low income disproportionately lack access to educational resources that children from middle- and upper-income families enjoy
Studies have shown that by age 5, half of children living in poverty are neither academically nor socially ready for school. As of the most recent census report, roughly 40% of San Diego County’s youth live in poverty.
“We look forward to seeing the impact of our partnership for youth from under-resourced communities,” Cook said.
Founded in 2000, the San Diego Women’s Foundation connects, educates and inspires women to come together in collective philanthropy. The contributions and talents of the foundation’s 200-plus members have resulted in over $5 million in grants that have been awarded to over 100 nonprofit programs, touching thousands of lives in and around San Diego.
