To donate, go to: http://www.montereycountygives.com/
Alliance on Aging
Year Founded: 1970
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 19 paid, 200 volunteers
Budget: $1,495,274
655-1334
The Big Idea: The Alliance on Aging has initiated a new outreach program called Benefits Checkup, a case-management approach to screen elderly individuals throughout the county for eligibility for a variety of public entitlement benefit programs that can help seniors stretch their income further, pay for prescription drugs and even put healthy food on the table. Depending on needs, the program provides information, both verbal and written, about other senior programs such as HiCAP (California Health Advocates) Medicare advising, Meals on Wheels, peer counseling, Legal Services for Seniors, employment training, an Ombudsman for long-term care, day (health) care, home-energy assistance, Monterey County’s Information and Assistance program, Alzheimers services, Supplemental Security Income and Medi-Cal.
Explanation of Benefits: “Thanks to AOA Benefits Check-up, CalFresh benefits became effective the following month. Also, I applied for the CARE-PG&E discount program.”
Community Foundation for Monterey County
Year Founded: 1945
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 16 paid, 60 volunteers
Budget: $2,200,056
375-9712
The Big Idea: The Women’s Fund of Monterey County, a project of the Community Foundation for Monterey County, is an endowment that ensures there are permanent resources to meet the changing needs of women and girls in our community. It focuses on two goals: to advance women’s economic security and to invest in the future of girls. As an example, last year the Women’s Fund launched a countywide collaborative that helps girls ages 11 to 18 make positive health and lifestyle decisions and develop leadership skills. More than 400 girls have participated in the peer-education program to date; the nonprofit wants to reach more than 3,000 girls in the upcoming years. The Community Foundation imagines a future where every woman and girl in Monterey County has what she needs to be healthy, confident and able to fulfill her dreams. Donations can help make this a reality.
Strong Enough: “We learned that as women we are much stronger than we thought. We can make good choices to benefit our future and not harm it.”
– Ilyanna Rose and Roxanna Sanchez
Friends of the Pacific Grove Public Library
Year Founded: 1974
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 0 paid, 40 volunteers
Budget: $40,000
648-5760
The Big Idea: Friends of the P.G. Library wants to meet the needs of two segments of Pacific Grove’s population – seniors and teens – by developing an outreach program that supports access to library resources unbounded by physical location. P.G.’s population is considerably older than that of California in general with over 22 percent ages 64-plus, twice the state’s average. Traditional library visits for seniors aren’t always possible. Additionally, P.G.’s young adults face a tough time finding meaningful work experience. Friends of the P.G. Library’s big idea is to hire student interns to create a system to get library materials to housebound seniors. This would involve the logistics of physical delivery, enhancing electronic access and training seniors to use it.
Friendly Faces: “The Friends is a vital resource for the Pacific Grove Library, providing funding for programs, materials and operations; hundreds of volunteer hours; and public advocacy.”
– Steven Silveria, interim director, PG Library
Gateway Center of Monterey County
Year Founded: 1979
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 110 paid, 45 volunteers
Budget: $3,998,931
372-8002
The Big Idea: The Gateway Center, which provides services to more than 75 Monterey County adults with intellectual disabilities, this year launched its Community Access program. In 2014 it needs funding for vehicles that will allow its clients to travel to community service projects as well as cultural and social events in and around Monterey County. Community support for this project allows Gateway Center clients to continue to participate in community events.
Bridging Communities: “Because of our Supported Living Services Program Johnson Mcnamara was able to remain in his home after his mother passed away.”
Housing Resource Center of Monterey County
Year Founded: 1984
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 7 paid, 25 volunteers
Budget: $589,970
424-9186
The Big Idea: Housing Resource Center for Monterey County, which provides services to homeless and very-low income individuals and families, has prevented homelessness for more than 30,000 Monterey County residents. In 2014, it needs help with its Homeless Prevention program, providing emergency financial assistance, security deposit guarantees, Smart Money Skills Financial Literacy Training, Fair Housing Education and supportive services to prevent homelessness. The financial and supportive services help households in our communities attain and maintain safe, affordable, permanent housing.
Staying In: “With HRC’s help, I was able to avoid eviction, stay in my home and find a wonderful new job. I am now able to pay my rent. Thank you so much!”
– Marina
Independent Transportation Network
Year Founded: 2011
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 2 paid, 39 volunteers
Budget: $193,350
233-3447
The Big Idea: Senior drivers over the age of 70 are more likely to be involved in traffic accidents than any other group except very young drivers. But on the flip side, seniors who don’t drive tend to become isolated from friends and family, which affects their physical and mental health. And without transportation it’s tough to go grocery shopping, pick up prescriptions, make doctor’s appointments and visit senior centers that provide services and activities. Independent Transportation Network provides personalized transportation for seniors age 60 plus and visually impaired adults. This also improves the lives of sons, daughters and grandchildren who won’t have to leave work or family to drive an older relative or neighbor. Gives! donations will help ITN provide rides – any day, any hour, for any reason – for local senior citizens. The nonprofit also needs volunteer drivers who can contribute an hour or two a week.
Service with a Smile: “I now am using the money they gave me for my car to be transported anywhere I want to go. I just call and am always picked up on time and brought home on time.”
Interim, Inc.
Year Founded: 1975
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 163 paid, 52 volunteers
Budget: $8,900,000
649-4522
The Big Idea: United Way Los Angeles estimates that permanent, affordable supportive housing, like Interim’s, costs the community 43 percent less than homelessness, jails and hospital stays for adults with mental illness. The nonprofit’s Big Idea, MCHOME, also saves Monterey County residents money because housing homeless people reduces the costs of police and emergency medical services. Interim’s MCHOME homeless outreach and services program needs donations to pay for motel rooms and temporary emergency housing for homeless adults with mental illness. The program’s goal is to get these individuals housed in permanent housing and help them obtain income from employment and/or public benefits, as well as helping them access health and mental health care.
Speaking Truth: “Last year’s MC Gives! campaign supported Success Over Stigma, Interim’s peer-led community education program that works to make a positive change in public perceptions of mental illness. One student at Salinas High School [at an SOS presentation] commented, ‘I have been trained my whole life to be afraid of people with these disorders but yesterday changed my whole view. Thank you for making me a less ignorant person.’”
Legal Services for Seniors
Year Founded: 1985
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 7 paid, 12 volunteers
Budget: $543,000
899-0492
www.legalservicesforseniors.org
The Big Idea: Since 1985, Legal Service for Seniors has helped more than 77,000 Monterey Country seniors with legal issues such as landlord-tenant conflicts, Medicare insurance mix-ups, Social Security mistakes, consumer fraud, elder abuse, simple wills, advance health care directives and more. It helps prevent seniors from losing their homes and life savings by providing legal assistance from licensed attorneys and legal advocates to low and very-low income seniors at no cost to the clients. The nonprofit’s rural outreach in South and North Monterey County now accounts for one sixth of its client appointments. Help LSS expand assistance to these seniors where they live in the underserved areas of Monterey County by funding additional outreach hours from legal advocates.
Public Defenders: “Legal Services for Seniors successfully represented a senior in superior court against a bogus claim of property damage by a landlord who was trying to bully our client out of his apartment security deposit.”
Loaves, Fishes & Computers, Inc.
Year Founded: 2008
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 1.5 paid, 50 volunteers
Budget: $141,467
393-9260
The Big Idea: For every $200 donated, Loaves, Fishes & Computers’ 26x26 Campaign will provide a complete computer system to each of the 26 housing units that the nonprofit’s Veterans Transition Center operates. The big idea from LFC, which provides low-cost computers to low-income families, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities, aims to give local vets access to computers and the Internet that most of us use every day. The complete system includes a one-year warranteed desktop with operating system and MS Office software, LCD monitors, keyboards, mice and bookmarks for health, education, social, employment and government services. The funds will also support lunch and travel expenses ($15 per day) for LFC volunteers, many who are currently unemployed and work with the organization every day.
Teach a Man (or Woman) to Use a Computer: “The folks at LFC are the real deal! Check out the great community service they provide daily. Thank you!”
– Steve Hutson
Monterey County Association of Families Caring for Children
Year Founded: 1984
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 0 paid, 55 volunteers
Budget: $66,104
770-7039
The Big Idea: Monterey County foster parents struggle in many ways: lack of meaningful support, stipend reimbursements that do not cover expenses, challenging behaviors of traumatized children and intense frustrations with “the system.” MCAFCC, the only organization in Monterey County that provides foster family support by other foster families, will soon open the Heart-to-Heart Resource Center to meet these foster parents’ needs – and improve foster family recruitment and retention. It needs community donations to fund the center, which will house a clothing closet, diaper bank and food pantry, and will also include space for education, networking and support gatherings.
Support System: “MCAFCC has provided support to our family in countless ways, making us better able to care for the children placed in our home!”
– Lisa Williams
Monterey Hostel Society
Year Founded: 1992
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 0 paid, 18 volunteers
Budget: $2,500
649-0375
The Big Idea: Imagine visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium alone on your first day to Monterey County. You chat about it over dinner at the hostel and the next morning join new friends to help cleanup a local beach. The experience is priceless; keeping the doors open to the county’s most affordable ecofriendly accommodations, however, requires community donations. The hostel isn’t just for visitors. So many nationalities and backgrounds staying together under one roof provides an opportunity for locals to meet new friends and experience other cultures. Donations will help offset the cost of planning and hosting events and experiences connecting travelers with the local community by hospitality and activities that encourage conversations, participation and intercultural exchange.
Hostel Hospitality: “We’re here on a field trip and the people here have been nothing but amazing. I played the guitar and decorated the hostel for Christmas!”
– Callysa from Sacramento
Monterey Peace and Justice Center
Year Founded: 2004
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 1 paid, 30 volunteers
Budget: $46,000
899-7322
The Big Idea: The Peace Resource Center has outgrown its facility. Over the years it has become a home-base to more than 20 grassroots organizations – the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) being the most recent – that promote nonviolence, social justice and environmental sustainability. The center hosts year-round programs that include speaker forums, free English as a Second Language classes taught by Monterey Institute of International Studies students, free legal services provided by California Rural Legal Assistance, CSU Monterey Bay Student Service Learning activities, a lending library, an art gallery and monthly community potlucks. All this and more takes place in a rented facility with limited meeting space, disruptive noises from adjacent apartments and poor ventilation. Another local nonprofit has provided the opportunity to share expenses in acquiring a larger, permanent space, and MPJC must raise $100,000 to cover its share. The nonprofit needs donations to supplement its building fund for peace-building.
All Welcome: “The Peace Resource Center is a place for action, for dialogue, for understanding and for consensus building. All opinions matter and differences of opinion need not lead to conflict.”
– George Riley, Green Party
National Coalition Building Institute-Monterey County
Year Founded: 1993
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 1 paid, 12 volunteers
Budget: $60,400
373-4606
www.facebook.com/NCBI Monterey County
The Big Idea: National Coalition Building Institute-Monterey County – the only organization in the county that address all forms of prejudice and oppression related to race, class, sexual orientation, religion and other differences – offers programs, leadership training and coalition-building aimed at making safer, more welcoming communities. Its big idea, to hire an AmeriCorps Volunteer Infrastructure Project (VIP) Fellow, will enable the nonprofit to expand its diversity teams to more schools, increase the number of its community trainings, and develop and deploy “Response Teams” when critical and emotionally charged conflicts divide our community. The VIP will focus on recruiting and training high school, college and community volunteers; recruiting at least 25 professionals and business partners as long-term volunteers to lend their expertise in the areas of website design, social media, program and fund development; and building a donor and volunteer data base.
Student Leaders: “The NCBI workshops that I helped lead in my school were inspiring to others and helped shift people’s attitudes.”
– Jenny Phan, Seaside High School class of 2013
Rebuilding Together-Monterey/Salinas
Year Founded: 1995
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 1 paid, 250 volunteers
Budget: $65,000
296-0473
The Big Idea: Most years, the nonprofit’s annual goal is to rehabilitate 15 to 20 homes and one nonprofit, focusing on whatever the needs that the low-income homeowner or nonprofit requests. In 2014, however, the group wants to go beyond what the homeowner identifies and make sure each home it rehabilitates is safe and healthy. This means making sure each home has smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, grab bars, door locks, proper outdoor lighting, railings and more. A new working furnace can make the home warm, or painting the exterior can restore homeowner pride, but if, for example, the home doesn’t have a smoke alarm, it’s not safe. Help make houses safe homes for people in our community.
Labor of Love: “Besides the repairs, for which we are thankful, we experienced a great feeling of compassion and love by all of the volunteers.”
– Frank and Emma A.
Shelter Outreach Plus
Year Founded: 1978
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 29 paid, 557 volunteers
Budget: $1,329,777
384-3388
The Big Idea: Shelter Outreach Plus’ clients face an upward battle because of a lack of education and marketable job skills that would improve their employment income. Monterey County’s high housing costs make this task even more daunting. For more than 20 years, Shelter Outreach Plus’ I-HELP Program has worked with the local faith community in Salinas and on the Monterey Peninsula to provide overnight shelter and food to single homeless men – a total of 50 men each night. In September 2013, however, lack of funding forced the agency to end transportation to faith communities in Salinas and move clients served by the program to a fixed-site shelter in Marina. Shelter Outreach Plus needs community support to preserve this program in 2014 and provide transportation to and from faith-sites – the linchpin of the program. The men, who have often lost hope, benefit from the uplifting care, compassion and understanding. They become more motivated to pursue self-sufficiency through their renewed sense of self-worth.
Brighter Days Ahead: “Thanks to I-HELP… I can weather through my hardships and eventually move on with a desirable future.”
Sun Street Centers
Year Founded: 1968
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 91 paid, 230 volunteers
Budget: $4,000,000
753-5135
The Big Idea: When Sun Street Centers first opened there were more than 10,000 alcohol-related arrests a week. Within two years that number went down below 1,000. It costs less to deal with alcohol and drug abuse through recovery instead of the penal system. The nonprofit needs help funding its youth program, Safe Teens Empowerment Project in Salinas (STEPS), which offers employment opportunities to youth who work in the community to prevent the onset of alcohol and drug use among their peers. These youth learn to make presentations to City Council, work with law enforcement on DUI checkpoints, shoulder tapping for alcohol and tobacco, and give Gateway Drug Presentations to students and parents.
The Right Steps: “As a STEPS student, I obtained skills and assets that have molded me to be the strong person that I am today.”
– Sylvia Ramirez, age 21
The Village Project, inc.
Year Founded: 2008
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 11 paid, 9 volunteers
Budget: $430,174
392-1500
The Big Idea: In 2012, Seaside saw 24 shootings and 3 killings. In 2013, there have been 27 shootings and three killings. The Village Project’s Young Men and Boys Violence Interruption group reduces violence by offering a curriculum-based program that creates a path for young men to achieve success in their lives. As a member of the Peninsula’s Blue Ribbon Committee tasked with identifying ways to reduce gang violence and murders in Monterey County, TVPI’s executive director identified three key drivers for youth involvement in gangs: poverty, academic distress and a lack of mentorship. The program addresses each driver by employing a facilitator, who, as a former gang member turned entrepreneur, uses his personal narrative to depict the tragic downside of gang membership. It also emphasizes education as the single most effective solution to ending poverty and violence and offers free academic tutorial and other services. The success of the violence interruption program will help to reduce Seaside’s deadly statistics by giving young males an alternative to gangs.
Support System: “As a black person who had never been to counseling before, TVPI was a godsend. I learned to take control of my life.”
Veterans Transition Center of Monterey County
Year Founded: 1998
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 12 paid, 20 volunteers
Budget: $990,970
883-8387
The Big Idea: Veterans Transition Center of Monterey County helps homeless veterans find housing, food, clothing, military benefits, social services, bus passes and medical care. In doing so, it helps eliminate a larger social economic problem by getting smart, educated, talented skilled people back to work and in housing. In 2014, working with Habitat for Humanity, VTC plans to remodel an existing building into a community center that is centrally located in its transitional housing area. The Patton Park Community Center will function as a hub for activities ranging from meetings, classes, clubs, youth and adult sports, receptions, barbeques, and good ol’ community gatherings for the sake of solidifying the families and veterans within the resident community and the larger outside community.
Building Blocks: “Parnell Strickland came to VTC 10 years ago desperate to rebuild his life. He now has a job, a house, his health and a huge smile.”
Voices for Children
Year Founded: 1996
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 9 paid, 165 volunteers
Budget: $687,450
455-6800
The Big Idea: Voices for Children, formerly known as CASA Monterey County, needs support for its mentors who work with youth ages 19 to 21 who have transitioned out of foster care, but under California law, can still receive support services. With local dollars, Voices will match older foster-care youth with trained mentors who will help teens become self-advocates, working with them to identify their needs and access necessary services. Gives! enabled the nonprofit in 2012 – the first year for its Standing With Youth program – to help 68 percent of eligible youth (26 total) that requested and participated in extended-care services. Let’s help Standing With Youth bring the percentage to 100 percent this year.
Stand By Me: “My CASA [Court Appointed Special Advocate] has been a big support in my life. Without her, I don’t know what I would have done. She was always there for me, no matter what.”
– Jessica, age 17
YWCA Monterey County
Year Founded: 1972
Paid Staff and Volunteers: 34 paid, 16 volunteers
Budget: $1,074,70
422-8602
The Big Idea: The YWCA is the only domestic violence prevention agency in the county. More than 67 percent of its clientele are Spanish speaking, as is half the population of Monterey County. Bilingual training – which will expand the YWCA’s services and resources – seems like a no-brainer. Like its big idea says: El conocimiento es el poder (knowledge is power). In 2014, YWCA’s 42-hour domestic violence bilingual training will confront the cycle of violence by circumventing cultural and language barriers. Training is available to first responders, training partners, other service providers, court personnel, teachers, municipal employees and all others. The course takes place over eight weeks and will be offered four times a year, alongside the training in English to reach more people.
Powerful Words: “Attending the training has helped me to better understand the complexities involved in domestic violence and connect my clients to culturally-appropriate, Spanish-speaking, local resources.”
– Eladia Romero, Monterey County social worker
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