MARGUERITE CASEY FOUNDATION TO PROVIDE $1 MILLION IN GRANTS FOR DOZENS OF COMMUNITY-BASED SOCIAL-SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS ACROSS WASHINGTON STATE

Grants Mark the Launch of the New Foundation’s Annual “Home State Fund”

SEATTLE, WA (September 22, 2003) – Marguerite Casey Foundation, a new foundation dedicated to helping low-income families strengthen their voice and power, today announced it plans to make grants totaling $1 million to 47 different organizations across Washington State.

The grants mark the launch of Marguerite Casey Foundation’s “Home State Fund,” a newly created giving program through which the Foundation will assist locally-based organizations working to better the lives of Washington’s poorest and most under-served families and communities.

“Marguerite Casey Foundation’s grants are designed to help advance the work of community–based organizations serving a diverse cross section of Washington State’s low-income population, while at the same time building on Casey Family Programs’ 37-year legacy working with communities across Washington State,” said Luz Vega-Marquis, President and CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation. “The factors that cause poverty are as varied as Washington’s neighborhoods and communities themselves. That’s why we are supporting dozens of groups who work in areas ranging from education and health care, to housing and community organizing.”

Based in Seattle, the Marguerite Casey Foundation was created in by Casey Family Programs to help expand Casey's outreach and further enhance its 37-year record of leadership in child welfare. The Foundation has approximately $550 million in assets and disburses some $25 million annually to low income families and communities in the Deep South, the Midwest, California, and along the US/Mexico Border. The Foundation has been making grants nationally since mid-2002, but until now had not yet funded the work of Washington-based organizations. In April, the Foundation’s Board of Directors approved annual fund of $1 million for Washington-specific grants, providing an important local complement to the Foundation’s national giving strategy.

“Our national grant making strategy was determined through careful examination of the nation’s poverty and population trends, as well as extensive dialogue with the constituencies and communities most in need,” said Ruth Massinga, Chair of the Marguerite Casey Foundation Board of Directors and President of Casey Family Programs. “By targeting programs and organizations that provide Washington’s low-income families and children with an opportunity to succeed, we’re now putting that national strategy to work right here in our own back yard.”

Marguerite Casey Foundation grants were awarded to 47 different organizations in eight different counties across the state, and range in size from $5,000 to $50,000 each. According to the Foundation, grant recipients were selected based on several criteria, including their ability to work with and grow a base of low income families; their ability to train parents and youth as leaders, advocates or organizers; and their track record of success in achieving meaningful social or policy change at the local level. In choosing its Washington grantees, the Foundation was assisted by staff members from Casey Family Programs who work in communities across the state. Among those selected to receive the Foundation’s one-year grants are the following:

• Children’s Services of Sno-Valley (North Bend) – A $10,000 grant to increase this group's ability to expand its work with families, including early intervention, services for developmentally disabled children and parent training workshops.
• The N.A.T.I.V.E. Project (Spokane) – A $25,000 grant to provide a wide range of services to historically underserved Native American families and youth, including substance abuse treatment and a medical clinic which provides quality, affordable healthcare to Native and non-Native families.
• Northwest Communities Education Center / Radio KDNA (Yakima) – A $15,000 grant to support Radio KDNA, a Spanish language public radio station that provides educational programs and critical information for low-income migrant families, involving parents and children in programming.
• Refugee & Immigration Parent Education Network (Seattle) – A $20,000 grant to support work with the Seattle Public School System to create a Bilingual Education program model that ensures academic achievement and a centralized Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center.
• Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition (Seattle) – A $30,000 grant to organize and support welfare mothers' ability to have more control over their lives and to engage the Dept. of Social & Health Services on needed changes to the revamped welfare system.
• Urban League of Metro Seattle (Seattle) – A $50,000 grant to help low-income African-American families navigate systems by providing youth with life skills and positive views of life, and working with adults around issues of jobs, housing, and family preservation.

For a complete list of the foundation’s Washington grantees, please visit the Marguerite Casey Foundation Grants Database.

The Foundation’s Home State Fund is also intended to honor its namesake Marguerite Casey’s long philanthropic legacy here in Washington State. From her role as a Seattle University benefactor, to the beloved Waterfall Gardens Christmas tree she presented each year as a holiday gift to Seattle’s homeless residents, Marguerite Casey’s lifelong generosity helped lift and improve the lives of tens of thousands of people throughout Washington State. It is this same spirit of giving that led her brother, United Parcel Service founder Jim Casey, to choose Seattle as the home for Casey Family Programs in 1966, and it is why the Foundation created in Marguerite’s name is headquartered in Seattle today.