Peace4Kids Receives Major Grant Support

Peace4Kids is proud to have received major grant support this year from the following foundations:

• Karisma Foundation (3-year grant)
• Annenberg Foundation (2-year grant)
• Ralph M. Parsons Foundation (2-year grant)
• Weingart Foundation (2-year grant)
• S. Mark Taper Foundation
• Crail-Johnson Foundation
• Angell Foundation
• John Gogian Family Foundation
• Bank of America Foundation
• National Foster Care Fund
• Edison International
• The James Irvine Foundation
• Dwight Stuart Youth Foundation

We are honored that these prestigious foundations have chosen to invest in our mission and our youth. Over $300,000 has been raised this year in grant funding, and we intend to match this with private, individual contributions. With their help and yours, Peace4Kids will continue to reach greater heights and help bring hope within reach for foster youth in South Los Angeles.

Peace4Kids Celebrates Its Largest Program Expansion Ever For the last eight years, Peace4Kids operated on Saturdays with its program at 99th Street Elementary and then the Watts/Willowbrook Boys and Girls Club. Two years ago, we took the next step by hiring our first full-time staff. Last year, we moved into our first program space in Compton.

Now, Peace4Kids has made its largest expansion to date. In October, Peace4Kids formally launched its Emancipation Services Program (ESP). Over one year in the making, the “ESP” is our effort to provide supports and services to current and former foster youth ages 12-24 that enable them to access the most basic and vital of community services, during the years before and after emancipation. Based on the trust we cultivate with them, Peace4Kids is in a unique position to make active referrals for emancipating youth, and help steward their venture into adulthood.

Peace4Kids has hired a Resource Specialist and plans to hire a second Resource Specialist (full-time employees) early next year, each of whom will manage a caseload of foster youth. The responsibility of the Resource Specialists will be to enable transitioning youth to better access physical and mental health services available to them, as well as provide them with financial education, vocational counseling, transitional housing consultation, and general guidance regarding self-sufficiency. The Peace4Kids Resource Specialists will be on-call 24 hours a day for crisis intervention.

This program is in very high demand, and Peace4Kids worked closely with the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services to launch the ESP. Over the last year, Peace4Kids has also worked cooperatively with local foundations, such as The California Endowment, to plan and develop the ESP. Thanks to the hard work and vision of many, the ESP will be a bridge to a better future for foster youth in South Los Angeles.