The Weinberg Foundation has a lot of news to share! We hope you will take a few minutes to read our latest e-news. Also, we invite you to like the Weinberg Foundation on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Weinberg Foundation selects new trustee

The Weinberg Foundation is pleased to announce that its newest trustee, Paula Pretlow, was approved unanimously by the Board of Directors on September 27, 2017 and will begin her term on January 1, 2018. The Foundation launched a nationwide search in August to identify a new trustee to succeed Barry Schloss, of blessed memory.

The Weinberg Foundation trustees are responsible for setting the policies that guide the Foundation’s grantmaking and investment programs. Paula Pretlow has built a career helping company leaders maximize shareholder and stakeholder value—negotiating hundreds of millions in revenue across her career. As a consultative thought partner, growth driver, and management executive, she brings a unique blend of strategy, sales planning, and team development to her work.

Pretlow is a former Senior Vice President of The Capital Group, a $1.4 trillion privately held investment management firm. While there, she headed the firm’s public fund business development and client relationship group and was also responsible for large client relationships. Prior to joining Capital in 1999, Pretlow worked with Barclays Global Investors (now BlackRock). She began her career as a corporate banking officer at Wells Fargo Bank.

Pretlow is passionately and actively involved on nonprofit and foundation boards, including The Kresge Foundation; Northwestern University, her alma mater; the San Francisco Symphony; and her synagogue, Congregation Emanu-El, of San Francisco. In the private sector, she serves as an independent trustee on the board of an investment fund.

Pretlow holds a B.A. in political science from Northwestern University and an MBA in finance and economics from the University’s Kellogg School of Management. She is a 2017 fellow at Stanford University’s Distinguished Careers Institute—a yearlong residential program drawing on the university’s wealth of innovation and knowledge to create new pathways for its selectively chosen participants.

Pretlow has been recognized with The Women’s Legal Defense & Education Fund’s Aiming High Award, and in 2016, The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools’ Wall of Fame Humanitarian Award. In 2016, she was the convocation speaker for Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences and an “In the Lead” speaker for Groundbreakers: Women in Leadership Summit, where she shared the program with Gloria Steinem and Ali Wentworth.

Paula Pretlow is the proud mother of two young adults, Neil and Alison, and mother-in-law of Tanya. She loves traveling to developing countries and enjoys music and theater.

Baltimore Library Project celebrates 14th new library in Baltimore City Public Schools

The Weinberg Foundation, and its more than 30 Library Project partners, hosted a celebration today marking the grand opening of the 14th library renovated as part of the Baltimore Elementary and Middle School Library Project. The newly renovated space is located at Francis Scott Key Elementary/Middle School, where today’s official celebration took place. Featured speakers included Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh and Dr. Sonja Santelises, CEO, Baltimore City Public Schools.

The Baltimore Library Project is a multi-year, collaborative effort to build or transform up to 24 Baltimore City Public School libraries in selected elementary/middle schools where existing funds can be leveraged. Of the total $30 million invested by all Project partners, the Weinberg Foundation has committed $10 million as part of this effort to strengthen academic achievement among students. As of today, 14 new spaces serving 6,000 students—or 10 percent of the total number of students, pre-kindergarten through grade eight, in all of Baltimore City Public Schools—have been built or completely renovated.

Each new library is well-equipped, well-staffed, and well-resourced, including beautiful design, new furniture and graphics, and the latest technologies. The new space also features an “Enoch Pratt Parent Place” for parents/guardians, and informal reading areas, as well as separate areas for study and research, instruction, and group discussion.

In addition to the grand opening event, Francis Scott Key Elementary/Middle School hosted a community celebration for families including tours, provided by Heart of America Foundation, of the renovated library. Later this fall, the school will receive a mobile food pantry, coordinated by the Maryland Food Bank, that will provide 25 pounds of food, including fresh produce, for members of the school community.

To learn more about today’s event, and the Library Project in general, click here. To see the feature video from the grand opening celebration, click here.

Summer Funding Collaborative final results

In the Weinberg Foundation’s August e-news, we announced that 12 of Baltimore’s largest charitable funders—the Summer Funding Collaborative—once again partnered this summer to provide a total investment of more than $3 million in grants to 92 programs serving low-income Baltimore City youth. 

The Baltimore Summer Funding Collaborative supports high-quality summer programs for students, pre-kindergarten through grade 12, with the goal of reducing “summer slide”—learning loss over the summer months—and providing high quality opportunities for the City’s children. Programs focus on literacy; early childhood and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education; youth employment; college and career readiness; and enrichment such as sports and the arts.   

The Collaborative has finished collecting final reports for its 2017 programs and is proud to announce some of those findings:

• The Summer Funding Collaborative supported a total of 12,000 students.
• The Weinberg Foundation’s $1 million funding commitment served more than 4,200 of those students through 40 programs.
• The average daily attendance across all sites was 78 percent.
•  A recent RAND report found that students deemed “high attenders” (20 days or more) gain math, English language arts, and social-emotional skills comparable to 20-25 percent of what students learn in a typical school year. 

We are also excited to share this video with you that highlights the benefits of the Summer Funding Collaborative. 

On behalf of all of the Summer Funding Collaborative partners, we thank all of the grantee organizations for their exceptional work as part of this initiative and throughout the year. The Summer Funding Collaborative is already planning for next summer. The 2018 summer application will be available by late January. Look for more details in the months ahead!

Baltimore program providing low-income older adults with vital home repairs grows to $12 million

The Weinberg Foundation recently co-hosted an event to celebrate the expansion of Housing Upgrades to Benefit Seniors (HUBS), a program that provides home modifications and repairs, as well as wraparound services, for low-income older adults who wish to remain independent. Mayor Catherine E. Pugh was the featured speaker at the event.

In Baltimore City, more than a quarter of all owner-occupied homes are owned by older adults, and 17 percent of all older adults in the City live below the poverty level. Because members of this population are more likely to live on a fixed income and experience limited mobility, they often have substantial housing needs. HUBS, therefore, was created in 2015 to connect many of these vulnerable older adults with services for which they are eligible. The project has been successful, but limited funding and systemic challenges have hampered the initiative. The result is a backlog of more than 600 low-income older adults waiting—some for as long as three years—to receive vital home repairs to their roofs, furnaces, and hot water heaters.

To eliminate this current backlog, and to ensure prompt service moving forward, the Weinberg Foundation has partnered with the Stulman Foundation, the City of Baltimore, and numerous organizations to support the expansion of the HUBS program. Specifically, the Weinberg Foundation has committed $3.5 million, which will leverage more than $8 million in additional funding, including City and State dollars, creating a total program budget of nearly $12 million.

Without intervention such as that from HUBS, many low-income older adult homeowners would be forced to vacate their homes, contributing to a pattern of blight in their neighborhoods. Additionally, many of these households are intergenerational, and these interventions improve the home environment for all members of the family.

The Weinberg Foundation is committed to helping low-income older adults age in their communities with independence, dignity, and maximum quality of life. These goals are at the heart of the Foundation’s Together We Care initiative, a series of projects focused on sharing and replicating best practices that promote aging in community in Baltimore and throughout Maryland.

HUBS Partner Organizations:

Weinberg Foundation President and CEO to receive distinguished service award

JPRO Network has named Weinberg Foundation President and CEO Rachel Garbow Monroe as the 2017 recipient of the Mandelkorn Award for Distinguished Service. This award recognizes individuals who have made significant and enduring contributions in the field of Jewish community organization practice.  

The president of the Morris and Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation and co-chair of JPRO’s awards committee, Maxyne Finkelstein, had this to say about Monroe’s recognition: “The committee selected Rachel for this award from among an outstanding group of nominees because she has played an outsize role in articulating a vision for the future of our field. Through her Board leadership at JPRO Network and Leading Edge, Rachel has ushered in a new chapter in which we invest in and support the development of professionals at all career stages.”

Ms. Monroe will receive the award at JPRO’s 45th annual awards event, which will be held on Monday, November 13 at the JFNA (Jewish Federations of North America) General Assembly in Los Angeles.

More than $17 million in additional new grants announced

Older Adults

The Foundation supports organizations that help low-income and vulnerable older adults to age in their communities with independence and dignity. This is the largest single area of grantmaking by The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.

The Jonah Kirshenbaum Fund for the Aged
Beer Sheva, Israel
$1,000,000 capital grant to support the construction of the Beit Jonah Kirshenbaum Day Center that will provide 190 older adults—many of whom are Holocaust survivors—with the services needed to age in community.

Los Angeles LGBT Center
Los Angeles, CA
$1,000,000 capital grant to support the development of an LGBT senior services center adjoined to an affordable, independent senior housing community that will enable LGBT older adults to remain independent with maximum quality of life.
https://lalgbtcenter.org/  

Saint Elizabeth Community
Greenwich, RI
$1,000,000 capital grant to support the development of four new Green House© homes that provide maximum quality of life and independence for nursing-home eligible older adults within a home-like environment.
http://www.stelizabethcommunity.org/
 
UMRC Foundation
Chelsea, MI
$1,000,000 capital grant to support the construction of an addition to the Huron Valley Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) Center that will allow older adults to age in their communities with maximum independence and quality of life.
http://umrc.com/umrc-foundation/

The Westchester Public-Private Partnership for Aging Services
Baltimore, MD; Lackawanna and Wayne Counties, PA; Stamford, CT; and Westchester County, NY
$1,000,000 program grant over two years ($500,000 per year) to support the expansion of the Telehealth Intervention Program for Seniors (TIPS) that provides health monitoring services to vulnerable older adults, in addition to services that enable them to remain healthy and independent.
http://westchesterpartnership.org/

MedStar Health
Columbia, MD
$500,000 program grant over two years ($250,000 per year) to support the MedStar Total Elder Care (MTEC) program that uses house-call centered primary care and comprehensive case management to reach and serve isolated older adults.
https://www.medstarhealth.org/#q={}

The United Way of Central Maryland
Baltimore, MD
$480,000 program grant over two years ($240,000 per year) to support the development of a network of aging services “hubs” that will provide coordinated, efficient, and person-centered services for an estimated 30,000 older adults annually.
http://www.uwcm.org/

Cathedral Square Corporation
Burlington, VT
$350,000 capital grant to support the construction of 29 independent-living apartments that will be operated by Supports and Services at Home (SASH) programming—a model that enables vulnerable older adults to remain independent with maximum quality of life.
https://cathedralsquare.org/

National Council on Aging
Arlington, VA
$350,000 program grant over two years ($175,000 per year) to support the Economic Security Initiative, which utilizes financial counseling as part of a “No Wrong Door” platform for screening and connecting older adults with services necessary for them to remain independent with maximum quality of life.
https://www.ncoa.org/

American Supporters of Yedid
Throughout Israel
$300,000 program grant over two years ($150,000 per year) to support the Citizen Mobile Rights and Health Clinic that provides health assessments and services as well as referrals for more than 4,000 older adults annually.
http://www.yedid.org.il/english

TRU Community Care
Lafayette, CO
$250,000 capital grant to support a new facility that will house the Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), which follows a model of care that addresses every area of health for older adults.
http://www.trucare.org/

Presbyterian Villages of Michigan Foundation
Emmet County, MI
$175,000 program grant to support the development of Bay Connect, a collaborative “No Wrong Door” effort that will provide rural older adults and caregivers with coordinated home and community-based services.
http://www.pvmfoundation.org/

American Committee for Melabev
Jerusalem, Israel
$150,000 operating grant over two years ($75,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization that provides therapeutic activities for older adults with Alzheimer’s and dementia as well as respite and support for family caregivers.

Workforce Development

The Foundation supports organizations that are committed to helping people help themselves by obtaining and retaining employment, preferably on a career track. Grants are directed to organizations that provide job training, placement, and retention for unemployed or underemployed individuals.

Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners
New York, NY
$530,000 operating grant over two years ($265,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization that works to help individuals become productive participants in the US financial system and to achieve their financial goals.
https://www.neighborhoodtrust.org/

Civic Works
Baltimore, MD
$500,000 program grant over two years ($250,000 per year) to support the Baltimore Center for Green Careers, a program that provides participants with certifications in Brownfields remediation (the restoration of a former industrial or commercial site where future use is affected by environmental contamination), residential energy efficiency, and solar energy installation. https://civicworks.com/

South Baltimore Learning Corp
Baltimore, MD
$420,000 operating grant ($210,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization that provides literacy, job training and placement, and higher education services for adults.
http://southbaltimorelearns.org/

Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare
Baltimore, MD
$300,000 operating grant over two years ($150,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization that addresses healthcare worker unemployment and underemployment by identifying career pathways that lead to economic independence.
http://www.baltimorealliance.org/

Hope Program
Brooklyn, NY
$200,000 operating grant over two years ($100,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization that helps low-income individuals become self-sufficient by providing them with work-readiness training, internship opportunities, job placement and retention services, and on-site mental health services.
http://www.thehopeprogram.org/

Getting Out and Staying Out
New York, NY
$150,000 operating grant over two years ($75,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization that provides ex-offenders with workforce training and mentoring services.
http://gosonyc.org/

Tsofen High Technology Centers
Nazareth, Israel
$120,000 program grant over two years ($60,000 per year) to support a program that provides job-training and placement services in the hi-tech industry for Israeli-Arabs.
http://tsofen.org/en/

Education

US - The Foundation supports organizations that ensure children are ready for kindergarten; achieve grade-level academic performance in reading, math, and science; and graduate from high school prepared for college and the workplace. This portfolio includes an emphasis on early childhood development, STEM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Math) literacy, out-of-school time, and child and family safety.

Israel - The Foundation supports primarily capital projects in early education and for youth at-risk including early childhood centers, shelters for women and their children who are escaping intimate partner violence, and youth villages for youth at-risk without family support.

Thread
Baltimore, MD
$500,000 operating grant over two years ($250,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization that provides intensive mentoring services for high school students experiencing barriers to learning both in and out of the classroom.
https://www.thread.org/

Salvadori Center for the Built Environment
New York, NY
$450,000 operating grant over two years ($225,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization that provides STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programming for students and professional development for teachers.
https://salvadori.org/wordpress/ 

Boys’ School of St. Paul
Baltimore, MD
$300,000 operating grant over two years ($150,000 per year) to support the general operations of Bridges, a year-round out-of-school time program that provides academic support, enrichment, and mentoring for Baltimore City Public Schools’ students, grade four through college.
http://www.stpaulsschool.org/page.cfm?p=827

Maryland Out of School Time Network (MOST)
Baltimore, MD
$250,000 operating grant over two years ($125,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization that works to ensure youth have access to activities during out-of-school time hours and that after-school, summer, and mentoring programs have the training and support they need to best serve youth.
http://mdoutofschooltime.org/

The Middle Grades Partnership Fund at BCF
Baltimore, MD
$200,000 operating grant over two years ($100,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization that provides summer and after-school programs designed to improve educational outcomes and personal development, as well as increase acceptance of middle school youth into the high schools of their choice.
http://middlegradespartnership.org/

Ayelet HaShachar Youth Village for Girls
Golan Heights, Israel
$125,000 capital grant to support the renovation of a dormitory that houses 22 at-risk girls at this youth village, as part of a national program in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Naor Foundation.

Ben Shemen Youth Village
Ben Shemen, Israel
$125,000 capital grant to support the renovation of a dormitory that houses 36 at-risk youth, ages 12 to 18, from Ethiopia, the Former Soviet Union, France, Israel, and Sudan, as part of a national program in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Naor Foundation.
https://www.ben-shemen.org.il/home

Ben Yakir Youth Village
Hadera, Israel
$125,000 capital grant to support the renovation of a dormitory that houses 24 at-risk youth, ages 13 to 18, from Ethiopia and Israel, as part of a national program in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Naor Foundation.
https://www.benyakir.org.il/learn-more-about-ben-yakir

Dr. Israel Goldstein Youth Village
Jerusalem, Israel
$125,000 capital grant to support the renovation of a dormitory that houses 44 at-risk youth from around the world (disabled and non-disabled) at this Zionist youth village as part of a national program in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Naor Foundation.
http://www.israelyouthvillage.org/

Galim Youth Village
HaCarmel, Israel
$125,000 capital grant to support the renovation of a dormitory that houses 36 at-risk youth, grades 7-12, who come from countries across the globe, including Ethiopia, the Former Soviet Union, Israel (including Druze), North America, and South America as part of a national program in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Naor Foundation.

Hadassah Neurim
Netanya, Israel
$125,000 capital grant to support the renovation of a dormitory that houses 44 at-risk youth as part of a national program in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Naor Foundation.
http://www.neurim.org.il/en/

Kiryat Yearim
Abu Goush, Israel
$125,000 capital grant to support the renovation of a dormitory that houses 20 at-risk youth from Ethiopia and the Former Soviet Union, grades 7-12, at this village and school that offers vocational training as part of a national program in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Naor Foundation.

Manof Youth Village
Western Galilee, Israel
$125,000 capital grant to support the renovation of a dormitory that houses 36 at-risk youth, grades 10 to 12, as part of a national program in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Naor Foundation.

Baltimore Child First Authority
Baltimore, MD
$120,000 program grant over two years ($60,000 per year) to support STEM Achievement in Baltimore Elementary Schools (SABES), an after school program that provides a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) curriculum for students, grades three through five, in four Baltimore City Public Schools.
http://childfirstauthority.org/

Maryland Book Bank
Baltimore, MD
$100,000 operating grant over two years ($50,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization that works to increase literacy rates for Baltimore City students through book distribution and home library development.
http://www.marylandbookbank.org/

United Way of Wyoming Valley
Throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania
$100,000 program grant to support the Grade Level Reading Campaign’s effort to increase third grade reading proficiency.
http://unitedwaywb.org/

YMCA of Central Maryland
Baltimore, MD
$100,000 capital grant to support the renovation of an early childhood center, at the Pleasant View Gardens Public Housing development, into a state-of-the-art Head Start Center that will serve 80 children.
https://ymaryland.org/

Jewels School
Baltimore, MD
$60,000 program grant over two years ($30,000 per year) to support this organization’s inclusive preschool that serves children with cognitive, physical, developmental, and sensory disabilities.
http://www.jewelsschool.org/

Fund for Educational Excellence
Baltimore, MD
$50,000 operating grant over two years ($25,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization that works to improve student achievement in Baltimore City Public Schools.
https://www.ffee.org/

Baltimore Youth Alliance
Baltimore, MD
$50,000 Small Grant over two years ($25,000 per year) to support a program that helps high school students to prepare for college entrance exams.
https://www.thebaltimoreyouthalliance.org/

Wide Angle Youth Media
Baltimore, MD
$25,000 Small Grant to support the general operations of this organization that provides youth with media arts education to tell their own stories and become engaged with their communities.
http://wideanglemedia.org/

Box of Rain Foundation
Baltimore, MD
$15,000 Small Grant to support a program that provides mentoring, after-school enrichment, and career-focused activities for youth from elementary through high school.
http://www.boxofrainannapolis.org/

Disabilities

The Foundation supports organizations that respect and promote independence, integration, and individual choice as the preconditions for a good life for children and adults with multiple disabilities.

LOGAN Community Resources
Benton Harbor, MI
$400,000 capital grant to support the renovation of a former school into an autism learning center that will provide one-on-one applied behavioral analysis therapy for children, ages 2-18. 
http://www.logancenter.org/

Basic Human Needs & Health

The Foundation supports organizations that meet the basic needs of individuals, families, and communities. These include programs in the areas of homeless services, economic assistance, food security, and health.

YWCA of Annapolis & Anne Arundel County
Arnold, MD
$1,000,000 capital grant to support the construction of a safe house that will provide refuge to women and children escaping domestic violence.
http://www.annapolisywca.org/

Cornerstone Montgomery
Montgomery County, MD
$600,000 capital grant to support the process of integrating shelter, primary and dental care, and behavioral health services in one accessible, safe setting for residents.
https://www.cornerstonemontgomery.org/

LA Family Housing Corporation
Los Angeles, CA
$500,000 capital grant to support the construction of a new campus, including a comprehensive service center, a health clinic, and a range of housing options for individuals and families.
https://lafh.org/

Primary Health Network
Schuylkill County, PA
$500,000 operating grant over two years ($250,000 per year) to support the general operations of this organization’s new community health center that will expand primary and specialty care services to 900 new patients over the first two years of operation.
https://primary-health.net/

Women’s Resource Center
Scranton, PA
$276,000 capital/operating grant ($176,000/$100,000) to support the renovation of the Carriage House, which provides emergency safe housing for families fleeing abusive relationships, and to support the general operations of this organization that provides domestic and sexual violence services.
http://wrcnepa.org/

Operation Warm
Baltimore, MD
$100,000 program grant over two years ($50,000 per year) to support the Baltimore Warmth in Winter program that provides new winter coats to more than 4,600 children each year.
https://www.operationwarm.org/

CASA of Luzerne County
Luzerne County, PA
$25,000 Small Grant to support the general operations of this organization that provides court-appointed volunteer advocates to represent children in legal proceedings.
http://luzernecasa.org/

Veterans

The Foundation supports organizations and programs committed to ensuring military members and their families effectively reintegrate into their communities. Grants made within this portfolio emphasize programs focused on workforce development, physical and mental health, and the elimination of barriers to a variety of services.

Fisher House Foundation
Biloxi, MS and Orlando, FL
$1,000,000 capital grant to support the construction of two 16-suite houses, at the Keesler Medical Center and the Orlando VA Medical Center, that will provide free, temporary housing for families of military and veterans receiving medical care.
https://www.fisherhouse.org/

Homeless Persons Representation Project
Baltimore, MD
$75,000 program grant to support the Homeless Persons Representation Project (HPRP) that works to obtain discharge upgrades for veterans with the goal of removing barriers to a variety of services.
http://www.hprplaw.org/