Community Partnerships

The Progress Investment Charitable Fund is an endowed fund that supports model programs focused on disadvantaged communities across the United States. It is a philanthropy partnership between Progress Investment Management and The Twenty-First Century Foundation. The Progress Investment Charitable Fund and the Twenty-First Century Foundation are deeply committed to initiatives that support an emerging, multi-ethnic world. 2008 grantees include:

BOSTON

Roxbury Youthworks, Inc. (RYI)

RYI is a community-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to create healthy families and strong communities, to inspire young men and women to recognize and develop their strengths, and to prepare them to lead independent and self-sufficient lives. RYI combats the root causes of juvenile delinquency in the inner city neighborhoods of Boston by providing innovative support services to court-involved and other youth up to 21 years of age. Their goal is to reduce delinquent behavior and to increase positive and productive outcomes for youth. RYI’s overall strategy is to assist system-involved youth and provide wrap-around services for those overcoming delinquency or family problems.

CHICAGO

Black Ensemble Theatre

The mission of the Black Ensemble Theater is to produce entertaining, educational and enlightening African-American theater, utilized as a tool to reinforce the positive attributes of society while providing programming to help eradicate social issues such as racial disharmony, violence, ignorance and inhumanity.

Grand Boulevard Federation

The mission of the Grand Boulevard Federation is to involve and support residents in participating fully with public/private agencies and organizations in the planning and decision-making process about community issues. Specifically, this grant supports educational training and workshops for parents and community residents to foster full participation in the planning processes of all Bronzeville’s public schools.

Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE)

Parents United for Responsible Education’s mission is to support and enhance the quality of public education in the city of Chicago by informing parents about educational issues, bringing the views of parents into the decision-making process, and acting as an advocate for parents in their relationships with school administrators. PURE provides support primarily through Local School Councils, offering a variety of workshops for parents and focusing attention on parent perspectives in school meetings, press conferences, public testimonies and editorials.

HARTFORD

Democracy Works

Democracy Works is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to public education, coalition building, advocacy and community organizing around issues related to making democracy work fairly, inclusively and vibrantly. All programs focus on increasing civic engagement among communities of color, immigrants and young people.

LOS ANGELES

Community Coalition

Formed in direct response to the crack cocaine epidemic that penetrated South Los Angeles in the late 1980s, Community Coalition is a grassroots organization working to transform the social and economic conditions that foster addiction, crime, violence and poverty. Community Coalition employs a leadership development approach focused on African-American men and boys in three key areas: (1) youth leadership that impacts public policy in schools, (2) networking among social service, health and legal community agencies to ensure that South Los Angeles has an equitable share of resources, and (3) resident organizing to combat the proliferation of drug trafficking and prostitution.

NEW YORK CITY

Brotherhood/Sister Sol

The Brotherhood/Sister Sol promotes educational achievement, helping young people to develop a clear understanding of the world around them and to respect the essential connection they have to each other so that they can work collectively to create social change. This single-gender, chapter-based program organizes weekly meetings guided by adult leaders to help young men and women gain decision-making and leadership skills, foster positive peer relationships and offer a safe space for teens as they deal with the pressures and challenges of growing up.

The Eagle Academy for Young Men

The Eagle Academy is a public/private venture youth-serving organization that promotes academic enrichment, character development and mentoring/community service as a means to effecting change in urban communities, especially in Black males.

THE BRONX

Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (new in 2008)

The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC) is a coalition of congregations and community organizations in the northwest Bronx that is organizing around a range of issues that include affordable housing, tenant rights, environmental justice, and public education.

OAKLAND

Cinnamongirl, Inc, (new in 2008)

program offering schooling strategies for high achievement, leadership training, self-esteem building, life and health enhancing skills, and cultural enrichment learning opportunities for highly motivated teenage girls in Alameda County and its surrounding counties. Cinnamongirl, Inc. engages professional women from across the corporate spectrum to mentor, conduct workshops and seminars, and provides counseling to teenage girls.

Leadership Excellence

Leadership Excellence provides grassroots community organizing and leadership skills to African-American youth ages 5 to 18. Leadership Excellence utilizes a social justice approach to youth development that focuses on engaging young people in personal and social problem-solving.

The Mentoring Center (TMC)

The Mentoring Center’s two-tiered mission is to improve the quality and effectiveness of mentoring programs and to provide a direct service mentoring program model designed to transform the lives of the most highly at risk youth. The Mentoring Center (TMC) was created to serve as a technical assistance and training provider for Bay Area mentoring programs. TMC has served more than 800 mentoring programs in its 12 years of operation, and has worked with more than 25,000 youth and volunteer mentors.

Wall Street Wizards

The Wall Street Wizards is a financial literacy program providing urban, disadvantaged youth with the opportunity to observe, learn and participate in the financial markets as well as learn about career opportunities in finance. The Wall Street Wizards offers high school students a steadily increasing mix of classroom education and on-site career exposure. The students come from all over the San Francisco Bay Area to learn about money management, investing and career opportunities in the world of finance.

SAN FRANCISCO

Juma Ventures (new in 2008)

Juma Ventures empowers youth to make successful transitions to independence in adulthood, through an innovative program that integrates employment in social enterprises and essential support services. Juma's program provides the foundation for youth to transcend challenging circumstances, fulfill their inherent potential, and positively impact their communities.

CAMINOS/Pathways Learning Center

CAMINOS/Pathways Learning Center is a nonprofit organization based in the Mission District. Its mission is to empower low-income, recently arrived immigrant women and their families by facilitating access to computer technology and the Internet, providing related job skills, continuing education and other community resources. CAMINOS/Pathways fosters economic security and helps these women contribute to their communities and strengthen their family life as they adapt to a new culture.

Conscious Youth Media Crew (CYMC)

CYMC began as an after-school program that grew into its own nonprofit in 2003 as a result of its growing success and ability to engage youth traditionally absent from after-school enrichment programs. Today, CYMC is a youth-driven digital production studio dedicated to providing low-income, high-risk youth with state-of-the-art media training and workforce skills, while promoting community engagement, youth leadership and social change.

San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocate Program (SFCASA)

The San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocate Program is a community-based organization that recruits, screens, trains and supervises culturally diverse volunteers to serve as advocates and mentors for abused and neglected children and youth under the jurisdiction of San Francisco’s juvenile dependency court. SFCASA volunteers are sworn officers of the court. Volunteers provide judges with information that they would not have access to otherwise and that they need to make sound decisions for children and youth. SFCASA volunteers are trained to assess their individual clients’ needs and to address those needs that, if unmet, block achievement in school, lead to high-risk behaviors and ultimately prevent productive citizenship.

Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD)

An international museum, MoAD is committed to showcasing the “best of the best” from the African Diaspora. MoAD initiates collaborative ventures with institutions of similar vision from around the world. The Museum’s programs are designed to connect all people through the celebration and exploration of the art, culture and history of the African Diaspora.

PASADENA

Scholarship Audition Performance Preparatory Academy (new in 2008)

The Scholarship Audition Performance Preparatory Academy (SAPPA) serves communities in Southern California as an outreach and training program that identifies youth in underserved communities and connects them to existing music and arts education programs. SAPPA also provides music workshop programs in selected areas and, although this program is for all young people, it is currently focusing on communities with the highest percentage of at risk youth.