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La
Casa de las Madres
Neighborhood
Parks Council
San
Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocate Program
The
Friends of the Public Library on behalf
of Stefanie Buchalter (The Women
Making a Difference Grant Award)
La Casa de
las Madres
The
mission of La Casa de las Madres is to respond to calls for help
from domestic violence victims of all ages, 24 hours a day, 365 days a
year. Domestic violence victims must have access to a safe place as
well as services supporting their transition to a violence free life.
La Casa de las Madres provides that bridge for battered women, teens
and children seeking to escape abuse in their intimate partnerships and
seeks to prevent future violence by educating the community about
domestic violence. The grant money will be used to help ensure that
thousands of local women, teens, and children have access at all times
to a safety net which includes the following domestic violence
services:
- Two
(2) 24 hour toll-free crisis phone lines
- Eight-week
emergency shelter program
- Drop-In
Counseling Center
- The
Domestic Violence Response Team, which accompanies
officers responding to crime scene calls, follows up on police and
medical reports indicating violent crimes against women, and assists
medical personnel responding to abuse
Kli>La Casa’s Teen Program, which provides
adolescent-appropriate intervention and prevention services to battered
and at-risk youth and their children/siblings - Case
Management Program, which provides advocacy, counseling
and referrals to help formerly homeless residents sustain independent
housing, build skills and community, and continue to move through the
healing process, while building permanently violence free lives
- The Safe
Havens Project, which addresses the needs of
domestic violence victims as they develop and implement custody
arrangements with their batterers
www.lacasadelasmadres.org
Volunteer
Volunteers may assist La Casa in its goals of empowering individuals
and building a supportive, judgment-free community for domestic
violence victims and survivors by helping with a wide range of program
activities. La Casa runs a 24-hour program, and volunteer opportunities
can vary within that timeframe, including weekday, weekend, daytime and
evening hours. Regular, direct service volunteers are required to take
part in La Casa’s biannual 40-hour training; however numerous
other projects are available. For example: helping with meal
preparation; facilitating fieldtrips; organizing the facility, supply
closets and packages; assisting with Adopt A Room implementation;
outreach campaign and event support. Activities are flexible and
plentiful and can be organized as availability and need arise. They
will be located at our community office or confidential shelter space
in San Francisco.
Additionally, volunteers can help us support the women and children
experiencing domestic violence by sponsoring a drive in your workplace.
Some items, such as diapers and formula, are always in demand. Or, hold
a toothbrush and toothpaste drive, and ask your coworkers to donate
items to benefit the women, teens and children that La Casa de las
Madres serves.
Neighborhood
Parks Council
Neighborhood
Parks Council (NPC) advocates for a superior, equitable
and sustainable park and recreation system. NPC provides leadership and
support to park users through community-driven stewardship, education,
planning and research.
The grant money will be used for The Playground Initiative, a
partnership between the NPC and Recreation and Park Department (RPD),
which works towards ensuring that all children in San Francisco have
access to a safe and engaging play space in their neighborhood. The
Initiative will leverage hundreds of volunteer hours to make basic
repairs to improve safety conditions at playgrounds. Improvements vary
by playground but often include the following: trash pickup, sand
sifting, beautification projects, plantings, weeding, sand addition and
equipment painting. Typical tasks involved in the upgrades include:
purchasing paint for equipment, purchasing replacement sand, or sifting
the existing sand to remove garbage, needles, and glass, as well as
repairing or upgrading equipment, such as adjusting the S-hooks on
swings to meet regulation.
www.sfnpc.org
Volunteer
The Playground Initiative relies on the strengths and enthusiasm from
the community. GGMG members will have the opportunity to have group
playground workdays at play sites that were given C, D, or F grades. In
addition, if a GGMG member were interested in starting a park group at
their park, NPC would work with them to further empower the community
with ways to ignite interest around that particular park. For examples,
GGMG members can hold small social gatherings at the park to help build
awareness on playground safety.
San
Francisco Court
Appointed
Special Advocate Program
It
is the vision of SFCASA that every child has a safe, loving home and
is given the opportunity to thrive. The SFCASA mission is to train
community volunteers to serve as officers of the court to advocate for
the best interests of abused and neglected children in the foster care
system.
The grant money will be used to achieve permanency, expand opportunity,
and improve quality of life for annually increasing numbers of San
Francisco’s children in foster care through fulfillment of
the following 2009-2010 objectives:
- To
recruit, screen, train and supervise a minimum of 80 new
SFCASA volunteers
- Through
the activities of SFCASA volunteers, to provide
services leading to family preservation, reunification, kinship
placement or safe, stable and nurturing homes for a minimum annual
total of 330 children in the funding year
- To
provide comprehensive assessment of the healthcare,
educational and after-school needs of a minimum of 330 client children
and thus to promote clients' optimal health, improved academic
performance and self-esteem
www.sfcasa.org
Volunteer
SFCASA volunteers are ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
SFCASA volunteers are appointed by a judge and empowered to stand up
for abused and neglected children in court. We ask each volunteer to
make an 18-month commitment to serve on a case, spending 2-4 hours per
week. For more information, please contact the training manager, Leah
Cerri at leah@sfcasa.org or 415.399.6132.
The
Friends of the
Public Library
on behalf of
Stefanie Buchalter
(The Women Making a Difference
Grant Award)
The
Women Making a Difference award honors a GGMG member who either
founded or plays an active role in a charity or community organization.
As a long-time volunteer and recent chair of the San Francisco Public
Library's Laureate dinner, Stefanie Buchalter exemplifies this honor.
Stefanie is also working with both GGMG and the library to bring
speakers to GGMG events. With all grant awards, the Community Support
team evaluated how the organization benefits both the GGMG community as
well as our greater community. We chose the San Francisco Public
Library because it is a key resource for families across San Francisco
and has a history of providing relevant and beneficial programs for
children of all ages.
At the heart of its endeavors, Friends of the San Francisco Public
Library seeks to build healthy, vibrant communities through the
city’s extensive library system. The grant money will go
directly to the public library system and will be used for the
following services at every branch library: young parents and toddlers
can enjoy storytimes that help build language skills; school-aged youth
can find a comfortable place to study and,now in partnership with the
San Francisco Unified School District, pre-selected materials that
complement their schoolwork; teens can explore college or career
options; job-seekers can get free, online resume building help;
immigrants can use the Citizen Tool Kit to study for the Citizenship
exam; older adults can bridge the “digital divide”
by attending weekly computer classes and people from all walks of life
can check out new books from their favorite writers or back issues of
their favorite magazines.
www.friendssfpl.org
Volunteer
Friends of the San Francisco Public Library offers various
volunteer opportunities. Volunteers are needed to help with office
projects, sort books at our Donation Center, and staff various book
sales and special events. Additionally, our Neighborhood Library
Campaign committees and Board of Directors is always looking for
enthusiastic support.
Our Annual Big Book Sale, which takes place every September at Fort
Mason, is a great opportunity for organizations hoping to volunteer as
a group. Groups are needed to help set up, staff, and break down the
Sale.
For more information on any of these volunteer opportunities, please
call Andrea Blum, Volunteer Manager, at (415) 522-8606.
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