Pasadena Community Foundation

One Arroyo Foundation - a PCF Agency Fund - broke ground this weekend on its Arroyo Trail Project, an exciting milestone! 🌳
PCF provided vital funding for this project with a Capital Grant. The project will restore the Arroyo Seco’s trail system to their natural beauty and making them safer and more accessible for all. We thank local photographer Brian Biery for sharing his event photo with us.

Pasadena Community Foundation was honored to tour Altadena Meals on Wheels last month to learn how one of our 2024 Senior Grants is helping the organization rebound after the pandemic. Follow the link and learn how you can help out this vital service.
https://pasadenacf.org/altadena-meals-on-wheels-bounces-back-with-pcf-senior-grant/

You still have time to see "If All the Sky Were Paper," a moving play produced by Arroyo Repertory Theatre and funded by a Pasadena Community Foundation 2023 Arts & Culture Grant. Using historical war correspondence as its foundation, the play celebrates service, sacrifice, honor, courage, and human resilience in the ultimate tests of conflict. Catch it before it closes on July 7!

We met with two dozen of our dynamic PCF Scholars last week at Pasadena City College for lunch, conversation, and the chance to meet some of the newest scholars who have just been accepted into the program. We love these students and their energy, and are looking forward to another great school year with all of them!

Pasadena Community Foundation's 2024 Arts & Culture Grant recipients have been announced! 💯
Sixteen local nonprofits received funding - including Armory Center for the Arts, A Noise Within Theatre, Side Street Projects, Mt Lowe Chamber Players, Boston Court Pasadena, The Pasadena Symphony | The Pasadena POPS, Light Bringer Project, and MUSE/IQUE. 🎉
Check out the full list here:
https://pasadenacf.org/2024-arts-culture-grants-announced/

We visited The Pasadena Village today to celebrate the launch of their very helpful website, https://agingsgv.org , which Pasadena Community Foundation funded. The website features a wealth of topics for older adults like Legal Help, Care at Home, Technology Assistance, Nutrition & Meals, and much more! We are so proud to have partnered with The Villagers to create such an resource. 🤩

Altadena was colorful, loud, and proud on Saturday, thanks to the efforts of Altadena Pride and all those who attended the community walk-about and the festivities at the Altadena Senior Center. PCF had a blast! 🤩🌈💜

This little cutie and his mama, clients of Elizabeth House, will benefit from a recent grant from Pasadena Child Health Foundation, which is one of PCF's funds.
Read all about Elizabeth House's important approach to maternal health and perinatal and child intervention. 🥰
https://pasadenacf.org/pchf-grant-support-perinatal-program-at-elizabeth-house/

Hey hey! Our spring newsletter has just hit mailboxes, but you can also read it online: https://tinyurl.com/555drsuu . Find articles about our recent grant to Eaton Canyon Nature Center Associates, a longstanding scholarship program that PCF will now steward, a center spread about the John Muir High School Early College Magnet arts program, and more!

Shelly Lowe, Jaynie Studenmund, and Jordi Stringfellow (pictured here) are committee members of the Enduring Heroes Fund, a PCF fund. They played an integral role in creating Pasadena's Enduring Heroes Memorial, located near Orange Grove and Colorado Boulevards. They joined many others yesterday in a Memorial Day celebration to remember those 11 Hometown Heroes from the greater Pasadena area who gave their lives to protect our nation, as well as living veterans who have served since September 11, 2011.

Did you know that May is Water Safety Month? 💦 For many years, one of our PCF funds - the Pasadena Child Health Foundation - has provided vital funding for the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center’s Water Safety Program for ALL third graders in PUSD! These lessons, as well as the required transportation and gear, are offered at no cost to the students or their families - equitable access to lifesaving skills and fun! We are so proud to support this important program with our partners at Rose Bowl Aquatics Center! 🤿

Reminder! This Monday, Memorial Day, Pasadena Community Foundation partners with Descanso Gardens for a free admission event for Veterans, active-duty military members, and their families. This event is generously funded by the Pipia & Ma Welcome Home Fund, a PCF fund. 9am-5pm, May 27, 2024. Full details here: https://www.descansogardens.org/event/memorial-day-at-descanso/

Hey, Pasadena-area nonprofits! PCF's 2024 Capital Grant applications are now open! 🥳 This is your chance to apply for PCF's largest annual grant program. Deadline to apply is July 30, 2024 at 5PM.
All the info you need is right here: https://pasadenacf.org/grants/capital-grants/

Pasadena Community Foundation provided funding to support Synchromy's 2024 Urban Birds event, which took place on May 18 at Arlington Garden in Pasadena. The event included a live raptor presentation by Hawk on Hand Falconry, tables from local conservation groups including California Native Plant Society-- San Gabriel Mountains Chapter, and creative music performances from Guillermo Brown (pictured) and many other artists. It was a great day at the Garden!

We have a graduation announcement that is very close to our hearts here at Pasadena Community Foundation. Our colleague, Cirenia "Cici" Amador, just graduated from CSUSB California State University San Bernandino with a Masters of Public Administration, Public Finance. Wow! 😎 Cici is an integral part of PCF's Grant Programs Team, and we have cheered her along as she has prioritized her education while also working full time and serving as a super mom to her children. Congratulations, Cici, we are so proud of you! 🤩

Synchromy was one of 18 nonprofit organizations to receive one of PCF’s inaugural Arts & Culture Grants last year, and this weekend, that funding helps Synchromy stage Urban Birds 2024 event at Arlington Garden. 🦉 Visitors to the free event can enjoy live music, art-making projects, raptor performances, milkweed planting with California Native Plant Society, and much more! The event runs 12:00-4:00pm at Arlington Garden in Pasadena on Saturday May 18. Free and open to the public!

PCF's Program Director, Jeannine Bogaard, attended the Altadena Rotary Scholarship Awards luncheon last week, honoring 18 students who are graduating or studying vocational programs at Pasadena City College and who were selected to receive scholarships from Altadena Rotary and Pasadena City College Foundation. Congratulations, students!

Mark your calendars! 🇺🇸 Pasadena Community Foundation is proud to partner with Descanso Gardens for a free admission event at Descanso Gardens for Veterans, active-duty military members, and their families on Memorial Day, May 27, 2024. This event is generously funded by the Pipia & Ma Welcome Home Fund, a PCF fund. 🇺🇸 Full details here: https://www.descansogardens.org/event/memorial-day-at-descanso/

Several of Pasadena Community Foundation staff members spent a beautiful evening in the shadow of City Hall last night, thoroughly enjoying Pasadena Educational Foundation's inspiring showcase of PUSD's myriad programs and its multi-talented students and teachers. 🤩

Pasadena Community Foundation hosted nationally recognized child welfare advocate David Ambroz for a community presentation about foster care and child poverty. We welcomed the opportunity to learn from David together with many of our community partners. Read more about David and the event here: https://pasadenacf.org/pcf-legacy-event-features-author-david-ambroz/

PCF was so honored to attend the Pasadena Heritage celebration of Sue Mossman's retirement on Saturday evening. Our President Jennifer DeVoll joined Program Director Jeannine Bogaard and many, many others in saluting Sue's magnificent 40+ years leading the preservation and advocacy efforts of Pasadena Heritage. Congratulations, Sue!

Pasadena Community Foundation is so proud to announce the inaugural recipient of the Leola Sudduth and Thomas Foster Kennedy Scholarship - Eloheem Mahone, a senior at John Muir High School Early College Magnet. This scholarship endowment was established by the late John J. Kennedy and his 9 siblings in 2014 - it took on added significance after the untimely death of the Councilmember in 2022. Read more about this stellar student, who as Lena Kennedy notes, "will beautifully mirror and uphold the legacy of excellence, learning, and community service cherished by my parents and my brother, the Honorable John J. Kennedy.”
https://pasadenacf.org/muir-senior-awarded-pcf-inaugural-kennedy-scholarship/

PCF was on hand for the exciting groundbreaking ceremonies for the Bob Lucas Memorial Library in Altadena yesterday. The branch library will undergo extensive renovation and expansion. On hand were Kathryn Barger, many Altadena Town Councilmembers, Altadena Library District leaders, and numerous family members of Bob Lucas. Read more about Bob Lucas here: https://www.altadenalibrary.org/bob-lucas-a-black-gladiator-for-literacy/

Our President & CEO, Jennifer DeVoll, had the honor of attending Pasadena Rotary's Community Grants Awards yesterday, where 14 local nonprofits were awarded funding. Jennifer is pictured here with Sylvia Tolbert (right) and Dionne Shelton (left) from Learning Works Charter School, one of the grantee organizations. Learning Works partners with PCF to administer our Gloria B. Lee Scholarship funding to youth from underserved areas who are pursuing STEM education. We are so proud of Learning Works and grateful to the Rotary for recognizing our joint efforts!

Pasadena Community Foundation is thrilled to support Cougar Conservancy with one of our 2024 Animal Welfare Grants. They plan to do very important work in our community in the coming year with PCF's help!

We are ecstatic to announce that the Cougar Conservancy is an Animal Welfare Grant recipient from the Pasadena Community Foundation in support of our wild animal welfare and wildlife conservation efforts.

With the help of this grant, we aim to create lasting benefits for both the wildlife and the residents and recreationists of Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre. Over the next year, we aim to provide educational opportunities, increase social tolerance of wildlife, prevent conflict, and enhance the communities' connections with nature.

Thank you for your generous support, Pasadena Community Foundation! Learn more at bit.ly/grant-awarded

Our hearts sing when we get to share this kind of news: Tram Hoang-Le, a senior at Marshall Fundamental, has been awarded Pasadena Community Foundation's inaugural Taylor & Don Hall Scholarship award! 🤩 Tram, a first-gen student with a 4.37 GPA, receives $20,000 toward her future studies in pharmacology. We snapped this cute photo of Tram with Marshall's principal, Lori Touloumian, last week.
Read all about Tram and her career dreams here: https://pasadenacf.org/pcf-hall-scholarship-awarded-to-pusd-senior/

Lots of rain did not stop Pasadena Community Foundation from thoroughly enjoying the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants Garden Tour throughout LA this weekend. Several of our grantee organizations tabled at garden stops, including Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy at a Verdugo Hills garden, and Pasadena Audubon Society which was set up inside the beautifully serene Native Habitat Garden at Washington Elementary STEM Magnet School, pictured here. PAS played an important role in helping establish the garden, which hosted numerous guests on Sunday as a garden tour stop. 🦋🎋🌼

Free Community Event Alert! 💥 Pasadena Community Foundation hosts nationally recognized author and child welfare advocate David Ambroz on Thursday, April 25, 6PM, at the University Club of Pasadena. David is an inspiring speaker dedicated to advocating for foster and homeless youth, as well as mental health and social justice. Full details here: https://pasadenacf.org/pcf-david-ambroz-event/

PCF staff has donned our glasses to watch the solar eclipse ☀️- pretty phenomenal!

Pasadena Community Foundation is proud to support Pacific Clinics with a 2024 Senior Grant!

The $10,000 grant will be used to help older adults living with mental health conditions who face financial hardships in Pasadena. We’re helping fill “gaps” in coverage for necessities such as medication, food, eyeglasses, dental care, durable medical equipment and more. Additionally, this grant will help cover deposits for affordable senior housing, furniture items like beds and fans, and home modifications such as grab bars and accessibility ramps not covered by Medicare.

Thank you, Pasadena Community Foundation, for awarding us with a 2024 Senior Grant! 😊