Category: Stories

Tackling big problems together

Posted on: Jul 7, 2013

When the economy faltered and the housing bubble burst, we brought 35 donors together to create a program for local families at risk of losing their homes. So far, more than 1,200 households have benefited from bilingual foreclosure education workshops, personalized financial assessments, and re-housing services—all free of charge.  Our funding ($365,000 over 5 years)…

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Supporting innovative partnerships

Posted on: Jul 5, 2013

When a group of nonprofits wanted to launch a public-private initiative to connect low-income households without bank accounts to affordable, mainstream financial services, we engaged 36 donors to help. In Napa County, it’s estimated that more than 2,000 households are “unbanked,” which means they use expensive check-cashing or pay-day lending services that can cost each…

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Sparking dialogue on key issues and trends

Posted on: Jun 4, 2013

When a groundbreaking book was published about the sweeping demographic changes taking place across the nation, we invited the author, Paul Taylor, to Napa to talk about this important topic. We convened a group of local donors and stakeholders to meet with Paul and discuss his findings, which are based on several decades of demographic…

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Backing new and effective programs

Posted on: May 21, 2013

When Napa Emergency Women’s Services (NEWS) wanted to try a different approach to helping victims of domestic violence, we engaged one of our donors to provide seed funding. NEWS developed a team that delivers crisis intervention services immediately, on the scene of a domestic dispute, and connects victims to help from other agencies. Their program shifted…

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