The 2025 Partner Grant process helped us to focus our efforts around two initiatives we launched in June.
Focusing on a microcosm of the San Diego region in El Cajon, where refugees from the Middle East and Latin American immigrants have settled, we’ve joined forces with a group of non-profits that serve this population. Together, we are laying the groundwork for a future where flourishing isn’t the exception – it’s the norm. Because when communities are rooted in connection, transformation is possible.
Click here to learn more about our Place-Based Project.
Serving as the lead organization in this project, Good Shepherd Ministry Center provides a variety of community services including a food bank, clothing closet, diapers, hygiene items, a community garden and hennery, yoga, and housing.
This holistic program prepares underserved students to be the first in their families to attend college through after-school programs that begin in the third grade. It supports families and children from third grade through college.
This innovative program fosters healing for the broken-hearted through various art forms and projects, addressing the many unmet needs of San Diego’s refugee community, focusing on women and teen girls.
We also recognize the crisis facing our youth, especially those who face Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) that negatively impact a child’s development, health, and well-being. The impact on a child’s ability to thrive because of effective mentoring is unmistakable, and our project seeks to uplift this community-based solution so that every youth navigating adversity has access to mentorship.
Learn more about our Youth Mentorship Collaborative.
Casa de Amistad pursues a holistic, long-term approach, supporting students from elementary school through high school and into college to promote lifelong success, expanding access to education, and breaking cycles of poverty and injustice. Their model of mentorship creates long-term support for kids.
Working to end cycles of poverty, violence, drug use, gang affiliation, and incarceration in East/Southeast San Diego, Youth Empowerment lifts up lived-experience peer mentors with programming that includes mentorship, leadership development, in-school programming, systems engagement, and advocacy with Credible Messenger Mentors, trained in evidence-based practices and trauma-informed care. Their new program focuses on increasing girls’ access to programming.
The Intergenerational Tutoring Program at San Diego Oasis utilizes older adult volunteer mentors to address the critical need for targeted, proactive educational interventions, particularly for low-income, at-risk elementary school students, in County-wide Title 1 schools.
DETOUR equips girls of color with mentorship, leadership training, and workforce development opportunities to overcome systemic barriers and thrive in their academic, professional, and personal lives.
Girls Rising pairs at-risk girls ages 8-17 with volunteer female mentors, who offer guidance and help them overcome barriers to achieve their goals. With a robust continuum of evidence-based mental and physical health services, Mentors meet two to four times monthly with a mentor and host frequent group events.
Through music, media, and workforce development, David’s Harp Foundation creates spaces where youth reclaim their voices, access economic opportunities, and build trusted relationships that foster healing and self-determination. Their funding will help them start a program in the girls’ detention facility.
Adult mentors, skilled in trauma-informed care, create a safe space where youth can heal, grow, and thrive after experiencing isolation and trauma because of separation from an incarcerated parent. Programs are designed to empower youth to become engaged citizens, excel in school, and lead healthy lives.
An individualized tutoring/mentoring program for kids who have escaped war-torn countries, SDRT also offers special events and field trips, providing access to community organizations, holistic care, and experiences they would otherwise not have in their cultural enclaves in their communities.
The wraparound support services at Epiphany Women in Focus include no-cost culturally connected, emotional and behavioral health services, family reunification, restorative justice trainings, financial literacy, and conflict resolution services. The program also offers emergency resource needs, health and wellness classes, resource navigation, healing circles, gardening classes, job readiness classes, mentorship, emotional support, and case management—primarily women and girls.
In September 2024, the Kinship Fund launched our first grant-giving with Connection Grants. Connection Grants are small grants to nonprofit organizations providing services that uplift women and girls through the focus areas of education, mentorship, the prevention of youth incarceration, and the development of whole-person well-being.
Funding to provide counseling services to women to facilitate emotionally healthy and thriving families.
Funding to purchase adaptive equipment to enable children with disabilities to experience martial arts programs.
Funding to purchase security equipment for on-site protection during youth programming hours and after-hours security.
Funding the Military Spouse Symposium, enhancing the well-being and contributing to the overall resilience of military families.
Funding to provide new clothes, hygiene items, gift cards, phones, and emotional support items to victims of domestic violence.
Funding to send 10 low-income, first-generation high school students to Northern California colleges as a part of the College & Career Readiness Program.
Funding for the Safari Leadership Adventure, honoring the work of young leaders who have excelled as peer mentors.
Funding field trips to the ocean for youth of low socioeconomic status to participate in surfing and leadership development programs.
Funding to provide youth with outdoor education and environmental stewardship activities to build self-confidence, leadership skills, and emotional well-being.
Funding to provide expert-led support and training to utilize Salesforce software to manage outreach, relationships, and data better.
Funding to support FIRE, a girl-focused engineering and robotics program, and improve the deficit in STEM education.
Funding to support general operations to increase the reach of services and prevent future harm to families who have experienced trauma, abuse, and adversity.
Funding to support the annual camping retreat, which provides a high-quality camping experience that meets the unique needs of high-risk girls.
Funding for physical improvements to the organization’s Peace Garden.
Funding to support a program for socially and economically disadvantaged women to gain financial independence and self-sufficiency.
Funding to support a college tour for Latina middle and high school girls to support their path to higher education and professional careers.
Funding to establish a new scholarship fund that allows low-income seniors to participate in enriching educational activities.
Funding to sponsor two teen moms and their babies for one year of programming dedicated to empowering and supporting teenage parents.
Funding to provide survivors of domestic violence and their dependent children with safe transportation options to places of safety.
Funding to provide program support to counsel, educate and support women for successful reentry into their communities after incarceration.
Funding to provide graphic novels and Spanish-language books for the Adolescent Book Group.
Funding to support the Organizational Transformation Program, developing and supporting credible messenger youth mentors.
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