MENLO PARK, Calif. – The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has authorized $72,245,003 in new grants to a total of 198 organizations. Some highlighted new grants awarded include:
Education – Supporting California Community Colleges
The Foundation announced a total of $14,834,000 in grants from its Education Program, including support for several projects to address the needs of the California Community College system. A $1,300,000 grant to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching will support a program to strengthen pre-collegiate, or remedial, education in community colleges. The program operates at eleven colleges in the state and aims to improve academic outcomes for students enrolled in remedial classes. The Foundation also made a $275,000 grant to the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy at California State University, Sacramento to conduct research on the current community college financing system and communicate the problems and potential solutions to policymakers. Finally, the Foundation is supporting the Community College Leadership Development Initiative at the University of San Diego with a $182,000 grant to continue its work to recruit and cultivate administrative leadership at community colleges.
Environment – Addressing the Threat of Global Climate Change
The Environment Program at the Hewlett Foundation has made a total of $12,149,133 in new grants, including several to support its goal of identifying strategies to avoid catastrophic climate change. The Clean Air Task Force, a non profit organization, and the Columbia University/NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies each received $200,000 grants to provide the technical, policy and public education groundwork for an effort to limit global temperature change by reducing air pollution. The Princeton Environmental Institute will use a $400,000 grant to analyze opportunities to deploy low-carbon technologies to mitigate climate change. In addition, a $500,000 grant to the InterAcademy Council, a creation of 90 National Academies of Science, will enable the organization to conduct a study articulating a vision for a transition to cleaner, affordable energy generation and use.
Global Development – Reducing Trade Barriers in Developing Countries
The Foundation’s Global Development Program announced a total of $9,729,000 in new grants, several of which are aimed at reducing agricultural trade barriers that put developing countries at a disadvantage. A $1,235,000 grant to Oxfam Great Britain will support its “Make Trade Fair” program, a global effort to change the rules of international commerce and reform agricultural policies in the United States and the European Union. The Program also made a $700,000 grant to the American Farmland Trust to support policy research, constituency building and media outreach related to the reauthorization of the U.S. Farm Bill in 2007. The German Marshall Fund of the United States is the recipient of a $100,000 grant to gather and publicly disseminate data on farm subsidies in European Union member countries in an attempt to facilitate an informed discussion about EU farm policy.
Performing Arts – Supporting the Bay Area Dance Community
The Foundation’s Performing Arts Program made $5,960,500 in new grants, including a number of grants to support the Bay Area’s vibrant dance community – the second largest in the U.S. The Foundation has awarded grants to several unique dance companies, including the Oberlin Dance Collective ($300,000), an acclaimed modern dance company, community theater and dance school based in San Francisco, LINES Ballet ($300,000), a preeminent contemporary ballet company, and Chhandam Chitresh Das Dance Company ($120,000), one of the world’s leading dance companies and schools presenting performances and training in kathak, a classical dance form from northern India. In addition, the Performing Arts Program is also supporting the San Francisco Ballet ($750,000), World Arts West ($180,000), Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley ($110,000), and Peninsula Ballet Theater ($105,000).
Philanthropy – Enhancing the Relationship Between Philanthropy, the Public and Government
The Philanthropy Program, which announced $1,343,370 in new grants, is focusing on building public understanding of philanthropy, creating stronger relationships between foundations and government regulators, and improving foundation governance and effectiveness. The Program made a $150,000 grant to the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, which serves more than 4,000 grantmakers nationwide and recently launched an Effectiveness and Accountability Initiative to help increase foundations’ philanthropic effectiveness. A $100,000 grant to Northern California Grantmakers, an association of 160 foundations and corporate giving programs in Northern California, will help the organization strengthen foundations’ relationship with government, media and nonprofits.
Population – Promoting International Reproductive Health Research
The Foundation’s Population Program made $21,214,000 in new grants, including a significant investment in research about how population and family planning and reproductive health affect poverty reduction efforts and economic growth in developing countries. A $1,000,000 grant to the African Economic Research Consortium, a network of economic scholars, will enable the Consortium to support research on population and reproductive health issues by scholars in sub-Saharan Africa. Two grants totaling $1,400,000 to the Population Reference Bureau and a $1,500,000 grant to the World Bank will help fund several research centers and projects, including an investigation of the linkages between reproductive choices, demographic shifts and poverty, and socioeconomic outcomes in the developing world.
Regional Grants – Improving the Lives of California Foster Youth
The Regional Grants Program helps improve the lives of Bay Area residents and it has announced $3,220,000 in new grants. Supporting disadvantaged youth is a focus of these grants, including a $900,000 grant to the California Connected by 25 Initiative, a program that seeks to improve outcomes for 2,140 foster youth and former foster youth, ages 16-20, living in Alameda, Fresno, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Stanislaus counties. The Initiative provides assistance to government agencies that serve foster youth in those counties, and increases coordination with local non-profit organizations. Along with the Hewlett Foundation, several other local foundations have made a total of more than $4.4 million in grants to the Initiative, which the five counties are matching with their own $4.8 million investment.
About the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been making grants since 1966 to help solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. The Foundation concentrates its resources on activities in education, environment, global development, performing arts, philanthropy, population, and makes grants to support disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Foundation has total assets of approximately $6.87 billion. A full list of all the Hewlett Foundation’s grants can be found at http://www.hewlett.org/grants.