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2002 Community Partners - Civil Society
Downtown El Cajon, Inc.
International Women's Kitchen
Awarded $30,400 for building a new community kitchen.
The project gives 20 local multiethnic women (30 in 2003) a chance
to work together to achieve economic independence, which includes learning
the following micro-enterprise skills through their cooking: earning low
interest loans, filing tax returns, learning accounting, marketing, advertising,
business and nutrition skills. More importantly, these women are gaining
the confidence of being successful, contributing members of their community
and for their families. The diversity of the women includes Chaldeans,
Kurdish, Nigerian, and Mexican. In the process of cooking and gaining
entrepreneurial skills, the women have learned to work together to promote
their business. The community of El Cajon also benefits because of the
effective ripple effects that a civil society grant would sustain. This
award winning, replicable project is unique and its reputation has spread
throughout San Diego County. IWK has a five-year lease and may take the
kitchen equipment with them at the end of the lease.
“El Cajon Community Development Center Corporation was awarded
a grant for our International Woman’s Kitchen. Your generosity will
enable us to empower woman to change economic future and increase their
connection to the community.”
Lisa Lind
Community Development Coordinator
El Cajon Community Development Corporation
www.downtownelcajon.com
Mid-City Community Court
San Diego City Attorney's Office
Awarded $30,000 for a Mid-City community Court coordinator.
The purpose of this project is to institute a mid-city community court
to improve safety and neighborhood conditions. It joins together community
partners, social services and criminal justice to solve quality of life
crimes through restorative justice. In short, a highly diverse community
of 16 neighborhoods has come together to improve the quality of local
life by finding a way to deal with "minor" crimes, such as prostitution,
noise, vandalism etc. that are largely ignored in the criminal justice
system in favor of felonies and major crimes. This project brings together
many agencies and empowers residents to solve their crime problems through
a local alternative court. The community court will hand out punishments
where the offender repairs his own community and takes educational courses
in lieu of having a criminal record. This is restorative justice. The
project has already received a large contribution from the city and police
department and will ultimately pay for itself from fines and fees. This
project is compelling in that it empowers residents of several diverse
communities to solve their own problems and to improve their lives and
the lives of local offenders who can then become productive members of
society.
“The San Diego Women’s Foundation grant to the San
Diego Attorney’s Office allowed us to implement the Mid-City Community
Court after three years of planning. Mid-City community members are now
directly involved in holding offenders who commit misdemeanor crimes in
Mid-City accountable through swift and meaningful intervention. We’ve
had 94 offenders participate in the Mid-City Community Court. They’ve
been ordered by the Court’s sanctioning Panel, which includes community
members, to perform community work in Mid-City and participate in rehabilitative
and educational programs. The Mid-City Community Court is working to enhance
quality of life and improve public access to the justice system. This
grant has also provided us with the opportunity to secure additional grant
funds and other resources to sustain the court. Thank you SDWF for giving
us the financial support we needed.”
Joan Dawson
Head Deputy City Attorney
Neighborhood Prosecution Unit
San Diego City Attorney’s Office
Monarch High School
Volunteer/Mentor Program
Awarded $25,000 for the salary of a volunteer coordinator
for the Volunteer Mentor Program. 
The Monarch School started in 1988, and its mission is to provide an environment
where homeless and at-risk youth can break the cycle of homelessness through
education. It is a year-round school, serves grades 6 through 12, and
each student attends on a voluntary basis. Often, these children are the
most responsible members of their families. Critical to each student's
success is the Volunteer Mentor program, which provides the youth with
adult mentors. The program's goal is to give the youth examples of adult
mentors who have struggled and succeeded in their own lives. These role
models encourage each student to make better choices, develop leadership
skills, and promote long-term self-sufficiency.
Partnerships will be developed with neighborhood groups, local business
professions and civic clubs to attract volunteer mentors who have similar
ethnicity and cultural experiences of the student body. Volunteers that
mirror these demographics will have a significant and long-term positive
impact on the youth served by The Monarch School. The Monarch School is
thriving partly due to the dedication of community volunteers, business
and civic leaders and teachers. It is a model program, unique to other
homeless high schools because of their collaborative efforts, and one
that can be replicated nationally.
“Monarch is a school for the homeless and at-risk youth, ages
7-18, who believe that education is their way out of life of poverty.
The support that Monarch received from the San Diego Woman’s Foundation
allowed us to hire a volunteer coordinator to oversee the tutors and mentors
that these kids desperately need. It didn’t take long to realize
that both of these programs were so critical to student success that we
reshaped the program to include them as 2 separate full time positions.
All of that was the result of the important first step made possible by
the SDWF. Last month we hit a new high of 40 mentors and our tutors logged
more than 343 hours!”
Rosa Parks Community Garden
Scripps Health
Awarded $31,000 for a community garden start-up costs including equipment,
supplies, curriculum integration support and educational materials.
The goal of the Rosa Parks Community Garden Project is to bring students,
teachers, parents, and neighbors together to build a vibrant and sustainable
community garden in City Heights. The garden will be a hands-on outdoor
classroom at Rosa Parks Elementary School, where students will plant seasonal
vegetables, herbs and trees. The teachers will incorporate the garden
activities into the curriculum for health, nutrition, science, math, and
reading. Hands-on learning in this garden representing 36 cultures will
help cross language barriers and facilitate teaching, learning, self-sufficiency,
leadership and community dialogue.
 This
is a true neighborhood collaborative project with resources already committed
from the Rosa Parks Elementary principal and teachers; The Cesar Chavez
Service Clubs; Rosa Parks Parents Group; City Heights Parks and Recreation;
The Cooperative Extension; Junior Master Gardener Pilot Project; Project
LEAN; Padre Dental; and Scripps-Children's City Heights Wellness Center
and Teaching Kitchen. Also, many neighbors and families helped the students
clear the plot of land and have agreed to help during weekends and school
vacations.
“The goal of the Rosa parks City Heights Community garden
is to offer a dynamic learning environment for students to integrate learning
theory from a variety of academic disciplines, including science, math,
reading, environmental studies, nutrition, and health. Grant funds from
the San Diego Woman’s Foundation helped to create and build the
needed infrastructure for the school-based, community garden in the urban
area known as City heights. The inclusive nature of the project serves
as a means to foster human and community development through involvement,
participation, and ownership. Objectives archived this year include the
following:
• Built a secure sustainable infrastructure to support on-going/community
gardening activities
• Integrated the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener’s
Curriculum with the California School Grade Standards to facilitate academic
achievement in the area of the math, science, and geography.
• Established a web page devoted to the Rosa Parks City Heights
Community Garden as a communication tool for students and community members.
• Engaged students and parents in the garden activities to motivate
child-parents interaction and to link nutrition (healthy diet and food
consumption) with learning and healthy lifestyles.”
Sherman Heights Community Center Corporation
Awarded $13,600 for one personal development training program with
one-on-one life skills counseling and program evaluation for participating
neighborhood Latinas.
The Sherman Heights Community Center's 
mission is to enable individuals and families to reach their greatest
human potential by offering many programs to people of all ages. The New
Generation of Leaders Program was created in 1999 and has trained 60 Latina
women to work in specific Community Center roles such as tutors, mentors,
science docents, cultural arts team leaders, childcare providers and program
organizers.
Previously dedicated to providing service to their families, these women
have found that community volunteering and leadership require new skills.
They have asked for help in developing communication and leadership skills.
Two facilitators with Masters Degrees in Human Development have assessed
the program leaders' strengths and needs and planned a focused personal
growth and leadership program, which will help the women develop skills
in communication, conflict resolution, decision-making, and teamwork.
They will also develop fundraising leadership, so that the program will
be self-sustaining. The skills these women acquire will affect the success
of all the programs at the Community Center and reach thousands of participants
each year.
“Sherman Heights Community Center Training to Become Leaders
of the Future: On May, 9, 2002, 33 woman received certificates for their
completion of 12-weeks of human development leadership training. There
were profound changes and a greater display of human values, such as tolerance,
respect, honesty, and solidarity. The workshops reminded many of the women
that they had a lot to offer and gave them a greater commitment to the
community. Thank you for our new generation of leaders.”
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