2019-2020
Jewish Federation Los Angeles proudly congratulates the winners of the 2019-2020 ChangeMaker Challenge:
The Academy Project
This Co-Op after school program is located at Mann UCLA Community School, created specifically for foster and homeless middle-schoolers, to provide a welcoming, safe space where all members feel they belong and receive music enrichment and private lessons via partnership with The Harmony Project and 60 minutes of one-on-one reading support via The Reading Partners Program (TCRPP).
Aviva Family and Children’s Services
Launching a new residential program, Wallis House, which will provide a safe home off the streets for women between the ages of 18-24, including mothers and their young children, who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness, where residents will receive therapeutic support and skill-building opportunities needed to transition to a self-sufficient life off the streets.
Central City Neighborhood Partners
L.A. City and You — a youth leadership program designed to encourage youth to become civically engaged in their local communities by engaging in discussions focused on issues that are currently impacting their communities, and providing a space for them to take action towards making a change.
Conaxion Inc.
Helping small businesses grow and expand their operations through the Small Business Success (SBS) program — providing educational and financial literacy workshops on access to capital, personal and business credit, legal structure, and finance essentials.
The Dinner Party
A partnership between The People’s Supper and Shoulder to Shoulder that will invite faith leaders, secular activists and advocates to a two-part training and shared meal in L.A., designed to build trust and connection among leaders in the Jewish, Muslim, and mainline and evangelical Christian communities and other local civic leaders.
Jewish Multiracial Network
Creating “Pursuing Tzedek” — a unique manual to share advice and resources aimed to inspire, support and empower Jewish families and educators to engage young people in meaningful anti-racist conversations (and action!) grounded in Jewish values.
L.A. Family Housing
Matching people experiencing homelessness with housing through the Shared Housing Model — matching low-acuity people experiencing homelessness (seniors, young single mothers, etc.) with community members with spare rooms to rent, allowing for cost-savings for both parties, and promoting better community understanding around homelessness.
Pathways L.A.
Through the Family Engagement Program, assisting vulnerable families in metro Los Angeles to strengthen the family unit by implementing an evidence-based curriculum, creating space for parent-child bonding, providing parent educational seminars and brain building activities for children, assisting parents in building self-sustaining community, and connecting parents to other vital resources in the community.
The Purple Aisle
Hosting pop-up action labs where engaged citizens come together to collaborate on policies, projects, and technology that address social challenges through rapid problem solving experiences, equipping them with innovation training, tools for rapid problem solving, research assistance, and access to subject matter experts. These labs culminate with opportunities for everyday citizens to pitch their solutions to policymakers, foundation executives, and social responsibility officers.
Shakespeare Youth Festival
Bringing together youth from across Los Angeles County to offer several week-long, full-day Shakespeare programs that use Shakespeare themes to shed light on the multi-cultural diversity present in Los Angeles and the varied social justice issues our youth and culture face locally and worldwide.
Women’s Voices Now
Through the Girls’ Voices Now program, 18 young women ages 14-18 from low-income areas and underrepresented communities in Los Angeles will participate in a free, high-quality digital media arts training course where students will learn how to create and produce their own short documentary and how to use the medium of film to affect positive social change in their communities.
Would Works
Providing people experiencing homelessness or living in poverty the dignity of working toward a financial goal through a social enterprise designed to give individuals the opportunity to work by hand sanding, assembling, finishing, and packaging wood homewares and furniture products.
2018-2019
Jewish Federation Los Angeles proudly congratulates the winners of the 2018-2019 ChangeMaker Challenge:
CASA of Los Angeles
Training CASA volunteers to help them identify, educate and support family members and other adults who are willing to formally commit to a sustained relationship with a foster child.
Engineer Factory
Partnering with Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles to bring together troops of various races, ethnicities, and faiths by working together on fun, hands-on, project-based STEM engineering projects and building cross-community friendships.
East LA Community Corporation
In partnership with the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, continuing to provide over 15,000 Boyle Heights and Eastside residents monthly with 25 pounds of fresh food and pantry items for free through the Mobile Food Pantry.
Junior League of Los Angeles
Developing a life skills curriculum targeted for homeless and commercially and sexually exploited children ages 12-18 and running this program at four group homes in Los Angeles.
More Than Sex-Ed
Bringing their comprehensive, inclusive, fact-based sexual health education program to those who mentor foster youth.
Safe Parking Los Angeles
Providing nighttime refuge for people who are living in their vehicles.
Sages and Seekers
Senior-to-Student experiential-learning program centered around weekly meetings to combat social isolation and develop empathy and social-emotional skills.
South Bay Children’s Health Center Association, Inc.
South Bay Youth Project providing short term health and wellness services to youth in their schools and within the community.
Students 4 Students
Supporting the S4S Transitional Housing Fund to assist current shelter residents in transitioning to permanent housing.
2017-2018
Jewish Federation Los Angeles proudly congratulates the winners of the 2017-2018 ChangeMaker Challenge:
Reading Partners
Partnering with local elementary schools and volunteers to assist students struggling with reading.
Center for Council
Bringing together Los Angeles law enforcement officers and community activists to explore how storytelling can improve local community-police relations.
Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network
To assist in closing service gaps in the juvenile justice pipeline and ensure more consistent tracking and evaluation of service provision and impact.
Karsh Family Social Service Center
Expanding the mobile food pantry bringing groceries to 50 poverty-level families in Koreatown and the addition of a licensed nutritionist.
Our Children LA
Adding new features to the WIN (What I Need) app that currently assists homeless and resource-insecure youth in connecting with over 1,800 free or sliding-scale, low-cost service providers located around the county.
South Central Family Health Center
Creating a curriculum to address the health literacy gap in South Los Angeles to assist parents of patients in learning information on well-child health and tools to better communicate with providers.
Stepping Forward LA
Assisting foster youth in finding work after they leave the foster care system through vocational support and mentoring.
2016-2017
Jewish Federation Los Angeles proudly congratulates our previous winners of the ChangeMaker Challenge:
Latino Resource Organization, Inc.
For the past six years, the Latino Resource Organization (LRO) has offered a Youth Literacy, Tutoring, and Mentoring program. The program has been increasingly successful both in its results and in its partnerships with organizations such as United Way and the Robert L. McCormick/L.A. Times Foundation. One key component is a summer “camp” — now full-time and nine weeks long — that emphasizes education in a relaxed, informal setting. Participants rotate every 90 minutes among active learning, arts, and physical fitness stations.
New Beginning Outreach Foundation
New Beginning Outreach Foundation improves the lives of participants and prevent crime in the community by training individuals to make right choices and decisions, to change negative behaviors into positive behaviors, to learn and accept responsibility, to acquire independence, to gain self-confidence, and to give and recieve respect. NBOF takes an employment centered approach that incorporates housing, mentoring, trainings, education, self-help, auxiliary, and other comprehensive services to assist the offender in integrating safely back into the his/her community and society.
Safe Place for Youth
The HOMIE! Program is a new mentorship program at S.P.Y designed to connect young people seeking housing with caring individuals who have successfully navigated the housing search. For young people seeking services at S.P.Y, their current housing interests represent their first time searching for and securing an independent place to live. The challenges are enormous and the search can be a true barrier. The program is designed to create ties between housed and unhoused neighbors, and offer a meaningful volunteer opportunity in which a community member can have a concrete impact helping to move a young person off the streets.
Shomrei Torah Synagogue
Shomrei Torah Synagogue has teamed with Imagine LA, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that for the last 10 years has worked with faith-based organizations to reduce homelessness in the city. Imagine LA fights homelessness by matching teams of mentors with families who are struggling and who need some support and guidance to stay on track. Ten of STS’s congregants have committed to training and to serving as mentors — one to each member of an Imagine LA family for at least a year and perhaps for as long as two years. Mentors meet in person with their mentees at least once every two weeks, and stay in contact by phone, text or email during the in-between weeks as well.
University Synagogue
University Synagogue has committed to a focused Tikun Olam agenda to address homelessness and hunger in LA. In partnership with St. Joseph Center, we are focusing on Education, Advocacy and Action. The Community Garden Project is a pinnacle of our work together. Our garden produces fresh, organic vegetables that are delivered weekly or semi-weekly (depending upon harvest) to the St. Joseph center food pantry in Venice. The garden is sustained and the food is harvested and delivered by a multi-generational group of congregants.
2013-2016
2015-2016
Grocerships
Netiya
Popstheclub.com, Inc.
Kidsave
National Council of Jewish Women Los Angeles
People for Parks Los Angeles
Youth Business Alliance
2014-2015
A Wider Bridge
The Advot Project
The Bruin Experiment
Goldhirsh Foundation
Koreatown Youth and Community Center
Mayor’s Volunteer Corps – Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti
Organization of Chinese Americans – Greater Los Angeles
RaiseAChild.US
Swipes for the Homeless
Urban Guild Policy Institute
30 YEARS AFTER
2013-2014
West Angeles Community Development Corporation
Proyecto Jardin, a project of Community Partners
Freedom School Partners
IKAR, in partnership with LA Voice-Pico
B’Nai David Judea
Bridge to a Brighter Future
Robert Duke
Pico Union Project
Camp Chesed
Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA
LA Voice
Come Together Youth Conferences