Redwood City, Calif. (PRWEB) February 08, 2012

ABS CBN Foundation International, now on its 10th year, announced their official partnership with Seafood City Supermarkets in their campaign, “A World of Hope para sa Bantay Bata” that will benefit the nonprofit’s flagship program. All Seafood City Supermarket locations are participating through collecting donations at the check-out counter and by donating proceeds from customers’ purchase of select Pamana products.

“This partnership with ABS CBN Foundation, specifically with Bantay Bata (Child Watch), is a testament of Seafood City’s unwavering support and commitment to uplift the quality of life of the less privileged Filipino children who are the hope and future of our homeland,” said Amy Simonet, Marketing Manager for Seafood City Supermarkets.

Grocery stores in California located in Chula Vista, National City, Mira Mesa, Cerritos, West Covina, Carson, Eagle Rock, Vermont, North Hills, Panorama City, Union City, San Jose, Milpitas, Concord, Vallejo, Sacramento, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and in Seattle, Washington are now participating in the fund raising effort. Customers can donate their contributions at drop boxes with the cashiers, add their gift to their receipts or buy select Pamana products such as fish sauce, palm vinegar, soy sauce, bihon, and canton noodles. A portion of these sales will go towards the program.

Bantay Bata’s mission is to create and provide a safe, nurturing and loving environment where Filipino children can develop and realize their full potential through the rescue and care of abused, abandoned and sick children. It also provides food and nutrition, medical assistance, counseling support, legal help, scholarships and temporary housing for the children of the worst abuse. Through seven regional centers across the Philippines, the 24-hour Bantay Bata 163 hotline receives at least 15,260 calls for help every year - or 42 rescue calls a day.

“As the needs of disadvantaged Filipino children continue to grow, our partnership with Seafood City Supermarkets reminds us that the global Filipino is ready to help,” said J. Robbie Fabian, President of the ABS CBN Foundation International. “We encourage everyone to support businesses that promote a community and network of philanthropy for less fortunate Filipinos.”

ABOUT ABS CBN FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL:

ABS CBN Foundation International is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged Filipino children and their families in the Philippines and around the world. Its flagship program, Bantay Bata (Child Watch), is a child abuse rescue operation that responds to an average of 15,300 calls for assistance a year. The program assists more than 21,000 children and families in relocation communities and feeds at least 4,400 severely malnourished children a year. Its education program serves 4.2 million elementary school children and their teachers.

In the United States, the organization partners with Filipino-American organizations and associations in addressing community issues—youth truancy, housing, issues affecting the elderly, health, and emergency needs. For more programs and information, visit www.abscbnfoundation.org.

Continuing its nearly decade-long effort to help cities expand access to high-quality afterschool programs, The Wallace Foundation has announced that it will award up to $7.8 million in grants to nine cities as part of a four-year initiative to improve local citywide afterschool systems that serve children and youth. The cities and grantee agencies include:

• Baltimore: Family League of Baltimore City
• Denver: Mayor’s Office for Education and Youth
• Fort Worth, Texas: Fort Worth Parks and Community Services Department
• Grand Rapids, Mich.: Our Community’s Children
• Jacksonville, Fla.: Jacksonville Children’s Commission
• Louisville, Ky.: Metro United Way
• Nashville, Tenn.: Middle Tennessee Community Foundation
• Philadelphia: The Fund for Philadelphia
• St. Paul, Minn.: St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department

Each city will receive a grant of up to $765,000 over four years to strengthen existing systems for coordinating local afterschool opportunities offered by city agencies, schools and nonprofit organizations. In addition, the foundation will provide a $1 million grant to NLC’s Institute for Youth, Education and Families (YEF) to help coordinate the initiative and serve as a resource to the participating cities.

“We’re pleased to continue our strong partnership with the National League of Cities, which has been an effective partner in building understanding that cities can improve children’s access to high-quality afterschool by improving their use of data and focusing on quality,” said Nancy Devine, director of learning and enrichment at The Wallace Foundation.

Participating cities were chosen following a rigorous selection process that began in the spring of 2011. Through a previous initiative funded by The Wallace Foundation, the YEF Institute identified 27 cities that are among the most advanced in their efforts to build citywide afterschool systems marked by six key elements: committed leadership, a public or private coordinating entity, multi-year planning, reliable information, expanding participation and a commitment to program quality. In nearly all of the cities, at least half of public school students qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches.

The YEF Institute’s October 2011 report, “Municipal Leadership for Afterschool: Citywide Approaches Spreading Across the Country,” shows how these cities have made a fundamental shift toward in-depth collaboration across numerous stakeholders and program providers.

The Wallace Foundation selected nine cities from those included in the report that have made substantial progress on key building blocks of an afterschool system and have exhibited strong mayoral leadership and long-term planning.

The report underscored cities’ need for assistance on two key system elements: gathering reliable data and improving program quality. Through the new project, cities will receive assistance in building or expanding management information systems to track data on program participation and its connection to learning outcomes in school.

Cities also plan to develop online program locators to help families find programs that meet their needs and will adopt quality standards and utilize assessment tools to measure program quality. Joint professional development opportunities for school and afterschool staff will increase program capacity to better meet the needs of young people.

“Research tells us that more children and teens can get access to high-quality afterschool experiences when communities coordinate the work of the many different groups involved,” said Devine. “We want to encourage more cities to adopt this system-building approach, and one of the things we can expect to see is more cooperation between schools and afterschool programs as they collaborate to better the education of our neediest urban kids.”

The new grants are the second phase of an initiative The Wallace Foundation began in 2003 to help five cities — Boston, Chicago, New York City, Providence, R.I., and Washington, D.C. — better align the efforts of local afterschool providers.

An analysis of the first phase of the initiative can be found in a recent report from RAND Corporation called “Hours of Opportunity: Lessons from Five Cities on Building Systems to Improve After-School, Summer and Other Out-of-School-Time Programs.” A number of studies have linked high-quality afterschool programs with better attendance and achievement in school and reduced likelihood of drug use, criminal activity and other negative behavior.

REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.), a national outdoor gear and clothing retailer, today announced the distribution of $600,000 to 14 nonprofit partners across the country through its Stewardship Leader Grants. REI selected one leading organization in each of its largest markets to provide larger grants for their volunteer programming, as well as local REI outreach team support.

“These organizations focus on providing meaningful and fun ways to care for local outdoor trails, parks and waterways,” said Kevin Hagen, REI’s corporate social responsibility director. “By collaborating with these nonprofits on a long-term basis, we strive to strengthen these programs and mobilize our co-op members and communities to volunteer for the places we love.” 

The recipient organizations and respective grant amounts include:

• Alice Ferguson Foundation (Washington, D.C.): $40,000

• American River Parkway Foundation (Sacramento): $30,000

• Bay Area Ridge Trail Council (Bay Area North): $50,000

• EarthCorps (Puget Sound): $55,000

• Forest Park Conservancy (Portland): $35,000

• Friends of the Parks (Chicago): $35,000

• Georgia Conservancy (Atlanta): $45,000

• Heal the Bay (Los Angeles): $45,000

• Mississippi River Fund (Minneapolis): $35,000

• New York Restoration Project (New York): $40,000

• San Diego Canyonlands (San Diego): $35,000

• Save the Bay (Bay Area South): $50,000

• Trustees of Reservations (Boston): $50,000

• Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (Denver): $55,000

“The REI Stewardship Leader Grant will allow us to create the foundation for a well-designed, professional statewide volunteer program so that we can be even more effective at conserving the natural lands and ecosystems on which we all depend,” said Lisa Caissie, Trustees of Reservations’ volunteer services director. “This grant enables us to match our volunteers with the high-quality, effective opportunities they want and we need to help us reach our ambitious strategic goals, together.”

“Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado believes that taking care of the great outdoors is something that every person can and should be part of, and our partnership with REI helps us extend that opportunity to people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities,” said Ann Baker Easley, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado’s executive director. “This grant will allow us to dramatically expand opportunities for Coloradoans, especially youth and families, to learn about the importance of caring for the outdoors and get involved as volunteers.”
 
REI and its local stores have a long-standing partnership with each of these organizations and the recent grants add greater momentum to the volunteer programs supported through $4.2 million in grants provided last year. Additional information about REI’s corporate giving philosophy and social responsibility efforts is available at www.rei.com/stewardship.

In San Joaquine County, CA kids just got a new place to feel safe, the public transportation system.

Actually, they’re are 115 of them, since the new Safe Place program designates any San Joaquin Regional Transit District bus as a place to go to get away from a dangerous situation.

If there’s an immediate danger, the bus driver can call police, but the program is geared toward runaways and homeless children and children to young adults from the ages of 12 to 21.

“It really opens up our ability to serve youth,” said Linda Mascarenas-Colgan, director of Family and Youth Services of San Joaquin County. The agency offers everything from counseling to long-term shelter.

The reasons children end up homeless can vary. They could have run away from home or been thrown out by parents in the heat of an argument, she said. Or they could be fleeing a situation in which parents are using drugs.

On the streets, they can end up living in vacant apartments, maybe preyed upon by pimps and drug pushers, she said.

“Our goal is to work with RTD to prevent this from happening,” she said.

And thousands of young people already step onto those buses every day. About 16,000 people ride the transit district’s buses on an average weekday, and a recent survey of riders found 16 percent were younger than 18, according to the agency.

Once a young person gets on a bus and asks for help, RTD and Family and Youth Services will coordinate to get the person to the nonprofit organization’s facility.

Nationally, there are 143 organizations in 40 states that take part in the Safe Place program, said Hillary Bond, a spokeswoman for the national organization. About 15 of those agencies have safe places on buses.

“It essentially extends the doors of the agency out into the community,” she said.

At the Stockton kickoff at the Downtown Transit Center, officials invited representatives from other organizations who could either get the word out or even consider hanging the yellow-and-black logo outside some doors that aren’t on wheels.

“We’re really going to try and grow this program,” said Norm Tuitavuki, operations superintendent.