CALIFORNIA CARES

Letter from Alicia Lara, Vice President Programs, The California Endowment, to Director John Klimek, UCSF Contracts and Grants

December 21, 2001

Due to the tragic events of September 11th and the current economic downturn, it is clear that non-profit organizations need support. The Endowment has recently released its support for "California Cares," a collaborative effort with the Southern California Association of Philanthropy, Northern California Grantmakers, California League of Foundations, and United Way. The "California Cares" partners have pooled their resources to launch a media campaign targeting California's charitable donor base to encourage generous local gift giving to nonprofit organizations like yours.

As a part of The Endowment's commitment to assisting California's nonprofits address the needs arising from September 11th and the economic downturn, an additional $2.3 million has been allocated to support nonprofits responding to community mental health needs that are a direct result of these events. Our goal is to provide immediate funding for projects and programs that enhance and coordinate existing resources and efforts within the state and/or across the nation that respond to the mental health needs of local California communities as a result of September 11th and the economic downturn.

Although The Endowment will not provide funding for core operating support or direct services, we are interested in achieving our goal through the following three objectives:

• To improve the timeliness, applicability, coordination, and dissemination of research-based recommendations and evaluation efforts on the impact of the 9-11 events and/or the economic downturn on the mental health of California communities to key stakeholders and policy makers.



• To improve the coordination and scope of public awareness and education campaigns addressing the mental health needs of local communities especially the underserved and multicultural communities directly resulting from the events of 9-11 and/or the economic downturn.



• To improve the organizational capacity of traditional and non-traditional mental health service providers to appropriately and adequately address mental health issues resulting from 9-11 and/or the economic downturn.

If you are working on these issues and require funding support, please submit a CommunitiesFirst application and indicate that the funding request is in response to the Special Opportunity in Mental Health Funding Response to the September 11th events and/or economic downturn. CommunitiesFirst applications may be downloaded from The Endowment's website (www.calendow.org) or sent to you by contacting 1-800-449-4149. If you have questions regarding this funding opportunity, please contact your regional Program Officer. We look forward to working with you.