The Pomona Economic Opportunity Center (P.E.O.C.) was founded on the mission to provide an opportunity for day laborers, household workers, and other low-wage, immigrant workers in Pomona and the Inland Empire find safe work at a fair wage, including expanding a person’s employability by teaching new trades and skills. Beyond helping secure employment, they show people how to advocate for themselves and shape policies that impact their lives and use these organizing skills to help improve the overall conditions for all immigrant workers.

Then hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children began arriving in Pomona.

Children ranging in ages from 7 to 14 years old who had overcome unfathomable hardships traveling alone, began arriving at Fairplex in early May of this year. The children who arrived unaccompanied at the U.S.-Mexico border were to be temporarily housed at Fairplex, which was designated a federal Emergency Intake Site (E.I.S.), as they waited to be reunited with family or placed with sponsors.

A powerful advocate for immigrants, the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center immediately mobilized.

To read the full story, click here.

The Weingart Foundation is proud to announce our first round of grants and impact investments for F.Y. 2022. These grants and program-related investments advance equity and racial justice by strengthening nonprofit infrastructure in frontline communities, growing people power and movements, and addressing critical needs in communities of color. Our funding also underscores the Foundation’s growing commitment to bolstering new and innovative work.

We are honored to partner with these remarkable organizations. These nonprofits are serving communities that have been hit hard by the pandemic, socioeconomic uncertainty, and deep racial disparities, and each is doing inspiring work during this time of unprecedented need. To read more about our September 2021 grants and program-related investments, and to see the full list, click here.

The Weingart Foundation is proud to support the Committee for Greater L.A., a group of civic leaders that organized at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the recovery efforts prioritize LA County’s most marginalized communities.

The Committee’s Black Experience Action Team last week released its The Path to Justice Runs Through Equity: Ending Anti-Black Racism in Los Angeles report, a call to action for all with specific recommendations for addressing institutional racism.

Joanna Jackson, Vice President of Programs at the Weingart Foundation, serves on the Black Experience Action Team and has this to say about the report.

I joined the Weingart Foundation as President and C.E.O. this past January with a strong appreciation for the role the Foundation plays in combating the historic and chronic barriers that have resulted in an inequitable Southern California. Since then, my appreciation for this work—and for the extraordinary leadership of our nonprofit partners—has deepened and grown as I’ve engaged with community leaders from across the region.

Looking ahead, the Foundation’s current funding priorities will remain in place through the 2021-2022 fiscal year. Our F.Y. 2022 Program Plan builds on our existing framework and focuses on addressing structural racism and socioeconomic injustice throughout our Southern California region. To read Miguel’s full message and watch his video, click here.