Red String's Jeff Adachi Legacy Project (JALP) was created to honor Jeff who passed away in 2019 at the young age of 59.  Through the JALP program, our hope is that for those of us who loved Jeff and those who may not have had the chance to meet him, can see and feel his spirit in the work that we are doing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

Through the JALP, we are working to carry forward Jeff's ideals of creating a fairer, more just society that works not just for the few, but for all. We do this by partnering with local San Francisco Bay Area charities and making an investment in under-served people and communities to enable them to create solutions and changes that work best for them and their own community. Jeff called this approach, "community empowerment" - motivating involvement by giving the people who are most affected by the change they are seeking the power to make it happen.

 

Each of our JALP partner charity members are working on issues Jeff cared most about from stopping the school-to-prison pipeline to youth homelessness, from violence prevention to crisis response services, and from after-school programs to helping kids find their passions, and in the process, saving lives, uplifting livelihoods, and building healthier, safer, and more vibrant communities.

 

To learn more about our JALP, please check out our video, and after seeing our work, I hope you will come to share in our collective passion, purpose, and charity. 

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Legacy Project Current Grant Recipients:

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• Youth Development and Education

  • City Surf (since 2022)

  • Sunset Youth Services (since 2022)

• Community Relations and Advocacy

  • B-Magic (Bayview and Hunters Point) ( since 2020)

  • Mo-Magic (Fillmore and Western Addition) (since 2021)

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The Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica (SMBGC) has been serving the Los Angeles communities since 1944 and has had a significant impact (4000+ kids) and reach across Los Angeles County.  The organization provides programs and services to disadvantaged youth providing opportunities and skills to achieve self-sufficiency.  Programs such as their Healthy Lifestyles program teaching financial literacy among other subjects;  Community Service program,  building a service leadership mindset;  21st Century Learning and Pathways pillar, providing homework help, STEM education and coaching to help students chart a course to higher education and career pathways that align with their passions and talents. Through the years SMBGC has continued to innovate and grow their programs and service offerings to keep kids engaged and develop skills and competencies needed for 21st Century career paths.

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​Red String 2024 Grant and Project:  In honor of Margaret Bushee, an early patron of Red String and a lifetime educator, who passed away on January 4, 2024 at the young age of 83, this Red String grant provides the funding to create a new program, SMBGC Junior Youth of the Year award at their four sites, focused on Club students ages 10 to 13 years old.  Modeled after the Boys and Girl Club's national Youth of the Year award, the Junior YoY award will complement and deepen their current offerings for younger members.   The initial year's award will be named in Margaret's honor.

 

 

City Surf was started because of a teacher’s genuine interest in sharing a lifetime passion with his students.  Built into this passion of surfing was a unique way of connecting with kids outside the traditional classroom, providing an opportunity to kids who rarely had this opportunity and teaching analogous life lessons of resilience, teamwork, addressing fears and challenges.   City Surf also provides a caring community, job skills and leadership training.  As an organization, City Surf is continuously growing its financials, partners, reach and impact.  

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Jeff always advocated that the way to break the cycle of incarceration was to give at-risk youth hope and a future by providing them with programs, resources, and opportunities to help them discover, learn, and realize their full potential.  Although we see City Surf’s program as a unique way of connecting youth outside the traditional classroom, we realize that youth engendered development begins with the personal pursuit of a self-identified passion.    

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Red String 2025 Grant and Project:   Red String grant provides funding to sponsor summer interns as part of CSP's Surf Instructors in Leadership Training (SILT).   SILT is an internship program available to high school students who have previously participated in a CSP Youth Surfing program. Students are trained to be successful surf instructors and mentors, including First Aid/CPR and lifeguard training. 

 Through partnerships with industry and educators, EXP prepares high school students for careers through career exploration activities, industry mentoring, paid summer internships, and college scholarships.  EXP brings industry and schools together to solve problems and overcome obstacles so that students from under-served communities receive access to education, experience and opportunities.

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By helping schools and industry work together, EXP is changing how society prepares students for life and bringing genuine opportunity to every young person they reach.   During the 2019-2020 school year, EXP programs are serving more than 6,400 high school students in 10 Southern California high schools.

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Red String 2025 Grant:   As a philanthropic organization, Red String has a unique perspective from working with nonprofit organizations operating within similar sectors.  One of Red String's goals is to use its grants as a catalyst to enhance capabilities and capacity, improve services, and drive better outcomes. The Synergy Project, a Red String collaborative grant project between EXP, Sharefest, and WomenShelter Long Beach is designed to  leverage each other's best practices and tools, capabilities, and capacities, and improve programs and services to the high schools and students they serve.  For Red String, the Synergy Project is an experiment to learn whether disparate organizations with similar objectives, when working together, can successfully collaborate, overcome their differences, and create programs and services that are greater than the sum of their separate efforts.​ 
 

Food Shift was founded in 2012 as a project of Earth Island Institute.  Food Shift focuses on rescuing surplus food that would otherwise waste away in landfills and utilize it to fuel their social enterprise kitchen. They address food insecurity and joblessness in their community through a catering program and job training program, which is designed for those facing high barriers to employment including homelessness, unemployment, disability, domestic violence, addiction and incarceration.  Food Shift creates delicious meals for their catering and food donation programs, simultaneously imparting culinary skills and job-training to their kitchen apprentices while preparing and distributing nutritious meals to food insecure communities.  Apprentices earn a livable wage while learning how to work in a professional kitchen, allowing for room to grow before stepping into the next role of their careers.  

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Food Shift is a UAIAI members recommended candidate charity. 

 

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Red String 2024 Status:  The Board decided to hold on FoodShift as we search for additional project managers in the San Francisco Bay Area and get a status of FoodShift's Enterprise Kitchen. 

 

Our project managers pay an important role within the organization.  Project Managers are the primary point of contact for our partner charities  and are responsible for working with the partner to develop grant projects and engaging with partners through volunteerism and participation.

​Heart of Ida is a small charity with big ambitions.  Heart of Ida, Long Beach’s only 501 (c)(3) dedicated exclusively to serving low-income seniors, helping their seniors stay connected, healthy, happy, and loved.  By partnering with local government, like-minded community organizations, and volunteers, their programs are designed to address both seniors’ physical health and mental wellbeing, including providing farm fresh foods, groceries, and hygiene items; access to basic technology, training, and support; connections to dozens of critical resources; and ongoing, heartfelt, personal connection.

 

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Red String 2024 Grant: The grant provided funds to purchase items to be included in Heart of Ida's Operation Holiday Hearts project that delivers holiday joy and cheer to seniors throughout Long Beach with gift-bags packed and hand-delivered by volunteers, families, school children, and scouting groups.

Jazz Angels help underserved youth find their passions through the art of music, and in the process, build their self-esteem, confidence and leadership skills and, promote community involvement.  Since 2006, over 3,000 students have gone through their program with over 90 percent graduating from high school and going onto secondary education.   With the devastating decline of music education in public schools, underprivileged youth rarely have the opportunities to experience the creative process of performing arts.  Jazz Angels creates the opportunity for young people to hear and learn about jazz, encourage them to play an instrument, and provide opportunities for them to perform.  Much more than music lessons in Long Beach, this is a program that provides a rich life experience for a young musician.

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Red String 2025 Grant Project: Grant provides funding for Jazz Angels to purchase needed instrument accessories and other music equipment and essentials.    

J-Sei provides family activities as well as assisted living for seniors including bilingual staff and culturally sensitive care to help promote independence, safety, and well being.  J-Sei provides a culturally sensitive small assisted living facility for elderly adults and a community center offering educational and wellness classes, cultural events, home delivered and congregate meals, a food pantry, case management, a caregiver registry, and transportation.  Over the years, J-Sei has expanded its services and programs to include families and younger generations.   For many home bound fixed income older adults, the combination of financial, health, and food insecurity makes them especially vulnerable when an unexpected life event occurs. 

 

J-Sei is a UAIAI members recommended candidate charity. 

 

 

Red String 2024 Status:   The Board decided to hold on J-SEI as we search for additional project managers in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Our project managers pay an important role within the organization.  Project Managers are the primary point of contact for our partner charities  and are responsible for working with the partner to develop grant projects and engaging with partners through volunteerism and participation.

Since 2006, Jubilee REACH has worked within the Bellevue, WA community to build community and transform the lives of students and their families,  Partnering with the Bellevue School District Jubilee Reach has strived to create solutions that improve not only the individual child's life, but solutions that strengthen families and the community. In March 2020, Jubilee Reach initiated their Groceries for Families (GFF) program in response to the emerging food security issues facing families in the Bellevue and surrounding communities due to the health pandemic.  At the peak of the pandemic, the GFF program served over 700 families with food, hygiene products, and supplies.   As the health pandemic abated and government food subsidies ended, Jubilee saw that the need within the community persisted.  Jubilee reached out to their volunteers and community businesses for donations of food and essentials  to keep the GFF program operating.   Currently, the program is supporting over 250 families.  The program is scheduled to run until at least the end of June.

 

 

Red String 2025 Grant and Project:   Red String grant provides funding for purchase of needed groceries and essentials that are not made available through donations; delivery of meals to home-bound elderly; and funding for Jubilee Reach's ESL program that offers free in-person English language classes for adult learners.  We continue to be impressed with Jubilee Reach’s leadership, operations, and resourcefulness that has enabled the Grocery for Families program to continue supporting struggling families navigate through uncertainty and challenges.

Since 1993, KidWorks has grown into a vibrant community development non-profit that offers to low-income, at-risk youth in Central Santa Ana, one of Orange County’s most challenging neighborhoods, educational support, leadership and character-building programs, and health and fitness activities that begin with preschoolers and follow youth into their college years.  In total, KidWorks operates four centers that have become safe havens in gang-heavy, high-crime and overcrowded residential areas in central Santa Ana. KidWorks serves nearly 800 children, youth and parents weekly and reaches over 4,000 community members annually.

 

 

 

Red String 2024 Grant Project:  In California, only 10 percent of students attending city colleges successfully transfer to universities after two years, and 15% after three.  KidWorks’ students fair slightly better with 18 percent transferring after 2 years.    KidWorks’ newly established College Transfer Program aims to improve the transfer rate of their students by providing more one-on-one counseling and support to their students.  Red String’s grant helps fund CTP’s pilot program with their 2024 Class of graduates who are starting at local community colleges this Fall.  The grant will help fund counseling, support services, and program assessments with a goal over the next three years to increase the percentage of their community college students transferring to universities within three years to 50 percent.

Long Beach Day Nursery (LBDN) has been providing high quality early care and education (6 months to Pre-K) to the Long Beach community since 1912.  LBDN's high-quality programming includes nationally accredited child care centers (the only accredited centers in the city of Long Beach open to the public), early literacy programming, early math, and science education, nutrition and healthy connections programs, physical education, parent engagement, and training, early intervention, Stepping Stones to Success Scholarships, low teacher-child ratios, and continuity of care practices that keep children with the same teacher for up to 3 years of schooling.  Long Beach Day Nursery serves approximately 325 children each year, and over 60% of the children served come from low-income families.

 

 

Red String 2024 Grant Project: 

This Red String grant funds on-boarding materials and DII Refresher training for LBDN personnel ($2,000).    

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Like many businesses, LBDN has faced challenges in hiring and retaining personnel.  The importance of  having a qualified and stable teaching staff is key to quality early care and education, and the importance of retaining staff especially with the challenges that the current business environment presents. 

In 2023, Mo’Magic (Mobilization for Adolescent Growth In Our Communities) consolidated operations with it's sister organization, B’Magic, to create the Magic Programs.  Magic has its roots in the San Francisco Public Defenders Office and maintains their original missions as a community convener and connector of other Bayview Hunters Point and Fillmore districts' community and faith based organizations and local government agencies to collectively help solve local issues and work to keep young people from entering the criminal system.  By placing both organizations under single leadership will create greater synergies, drive a common strategic direction, and improve organizational efficiencies and effectiveness. 

 

Red String 2024 Grant and Project:  Since the Magic Programs inception, ensuring students start the school year with the essential supplies to be successful continues to be a key tenet.  This year, we again will be a corporate sponsor of the Magic Program's signature Backpack Giveaway event providing over 4,000 students from low-income families in the Bayview Hunters Point and Fillmore Districts of San Francisco with backpacks and school supplies. 

Meals on Wheels, Long Beach (MOWLB) delivers prepared cold lunches and hot dinners, as well as other essentials such as hygiene kits, to isolated elderly, disabled and chronically ill residents who lack the ability to shop for and prepare their own meals. The friendly visit that is an integral part of MOWLB’s delivery service provides what may be the only human contact experienced by the home-bound client that day.  MOWLB's hygiene kits program provides kits free to clients who cannot afford to purchase even the daily essentials.  The program is currently under-funded to meet the demands.  

 

 

Red String 2024 Grant and Project:  Grant provides funding to purchase hygiene kits for distribution to MOWLB clients.  We understand that providing hot meals, essentials, and a daily friendly smile can be vitally important to helping home-bound elderly persons remain safe, healthy, and well.  We also realize the impacts of increasing costs of food and essentials, packaging, and transportation have had on meal delivery organizations.     To better understand and learn more about MoWLB operations and efficacy, we are also planning to engage with MoWLB through volunteering.

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Since 2002, NWEA has focused on re-engaging out-of-school young people ages 16-29, who have encountered significant barriers to completing their high school or college education, by,  

 

• Providing personal attention, mentorship, technical assistance, and moral support to low-income young people navigating post-secondary education.

• Connecting low-income young people with information and resources, and support them in creating an individualized plan to meet their higher education goals.

• Advocating for and with low-income young people, and empower them to develop their own voices as they pursue their higher education.

• Providing financial resources that help low-income young people access higher education and meet their basic needs while in school.

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Red String 2025 Status:   In January, M. Yvonne Taylor was installed as NWEA Executive Director, replacing Laura DiZazzo, who stepped down in February 2024.  In 2025, we plan to reengage with NWEA to gain more insight into the direction and future strategies of the organization before determining our next steps.

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The Tomodachi Bento Project is a all-volunteer secular program run under the Orange County Buddhist Church that delivers hot, culturally sensitive meals to home bound elderly adults in Orange County and surrounding communities.  During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, TBP experienced a 2x increase in participants, from 40 to about 85 home-bound seniors.   Currently, TBP continues to deliver meals to about 70 home bound elderly persons.  For many of these elderly persons, TBP not only provides their elderly participants a delicious meal but also a friendly visitor checking in and making sure they're okay.

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​​​​​​​Red String 2024 Grant and Project:   We are happy to continue our sponsorship of Tomodachi Bento Project's Grandparent's Day, a national holiday celebrated in September.  The TBP at OCBC aims to provide meals to older adults. One of the benefits for its participants is that the seniors in the community are home-bound and can’t get around. It’s important to their safety and wellness that they have access to food and an opportunity to have regularly friendly "check-ins".  

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Rainier Scholars was founded in 2000 on the belief that all students deserve an equal opportunity to excel academically and become thriving community and workplace leaders.  They support students that are most underrepresented on college campuses, many of which come from low income households where the student will be the first in the family to achieve a college degree, changing the trajectory of families and future generations.  The life-changing journey starts in 5th grade and continues to college graduation, with the help of many partners to provide assistance & opportunities, academic counseling, career exploration, mentoring, internships, and comprehensive family support.  Rainier Scholars is focused on advancing equity in education with a proven model for student success.

 

A program analysis from MGS Consulting found that Rainier Scholars participants were 300% more likely to be taking college prep Honors courses than those not in the program,  99% are achieving admission to four-year colleges, and 90% are graduating or on track to graduate in four years. 
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​Red String 2024 Grant and Project:  ​Each year, 5th grade student participants are enrolled into a literature course as part of Rainier Scholars’ Summer Stretch Academy and Academic Enrichment Program (AEP).  Throughout time,  literacy is the single most significant skill to lift people out of poverty,  promote innovation and change, and create an informed and free society.  Knowing how to read opens up our minds to a lifetime of continued learning.  The course introduces students to a wide array of literature that explores youth relevant topics on  self-identity, values, and leadership while improving reading and comprehension skills.  Red String is proud to continue our support of the Summer Stretch Academy, AEP and it's scholars by providing each student from Seattle and Tacoma cohorts the collection of books for the course.

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Sharefest, founded in 2003, works with youth within the Los Angeles Unified School District’s continuation schools, whose students face significant barriers to college and career paths and are at greatest risk of dropout. Sharefest helps equip the students through academic achievement, personal development and community service. Its mission is to empower under-served young people to transform their futures and to become leaders of collaborative community change. To do this, the nonprofit is able to complete service projects and gather resources and volunteers through collaboration between local organizations, the faith community and businesses.

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​Red String 2025 Grant and Project:  ​Partner in Red String Foundation's Synergy project with EXP and WomenShelter Long Beach (see EXP for more information).  Sharefest and EXP have similar objectives, programming, and demographics.  A collaboration offers an opportunity to improves each other's capabilities, capacities, and services; ultimately, improving outcomes for their student participants.

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Established in 1967, Sound Generations is a comprehensive 501c3 non-profit organization that serves older adults and adults with disabilities in King County. Sound Generations supports almost 54,000 people annually and is Washington State’s largest provider of comprehensive services for aging adults and their loved ones located in King County.

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At Red String, we believe that our elderly loved ones are an invaluable asset to the community and deserve our utmost respect, care, and love, and that primary family caregivers are too often ill-prepared and unrecognized for the contributions they make, often at the expense of their own health, finances, and well-being.  We like the comprehensive service offerings that Sound Generations provides to both their elderly participants, primary family caregivers, and the broader Seattle community.   

 

Red String 2024 Grant and Project:  When it comes to aging in-place, it is often forgotten that caregiving encompasses more than just caring for the elderly person’s health and wellness.  It is also about the everyday mundane tasks that we need to do both in life and around the house to ensure the home remain safe, secure, and maintained.   For our second consecutive year, Red String provided funds in support of Sound Generation’s Minor Home Repair program.  The program provides home repair services to low-income families or elderly homeowners who may not qualify for other funding sources due to restrictions such as income levels, geography, or funding limits.      

Sunset Youth Services provides opportunities and resources to youth involved in the juvenile justice system to improve their lives.  SYS provide at-risk youth with justice services, one-on-one therapy, family support services, creative projects, and workforce development that help them to  build on their experiences, and knowledge and skills that better equip them to thrive in school, at work, in families, and in other social systems.

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​Red String 2024 Grant and Project:  ​Even though California became the first state to eliminate court costs, fees and fines for young offenders in 2018, youth can still be burdened with other non-criminal fines such as for parking tickets or traffic violations.  For youth, failing to make the payments may result in suspension of driver’s licenses limiting their ability to work or attend schools and an inability to expunge or seal records.   In discussions with SYS, we discussed the issues they have had in raising  philanthropic dollars to support their Justice Services program.  We listened.  Red String is providing funds to  help their youth pay off outstanding fees and fines, find accommodations or work, and access to transportation that will offer new hope and a fresh start in life.

Domestic violence is an all-too-common crisis that impacts 1 in 4 women in the US each year.  Helping children who may witness or endure it firsthand, is critical to break the cycle of violence.   For nearly 50 years, the WomenShelter of Long Beach (WSLB) has helped thousands of families overcome the trauma caused by domestic abuse. WSLB assists victims and their children by providing safe housing and supportive services including an emergency shelter, 24-hour crisis hotline, counseling, social services support, legal and health advocacy, and outreach.

 

Red String 2025 Grant and Project:  Partner in Red String Foundation's Synergy project with EXP and Sharefest (see EXP for more information).  The project provides WSLB an opportunity to extend their outreach to a demographic they were previously trying to connect with.

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Wrap the Kids hires homeless persons and gives them a second chance at making a difference by making handmade quilts to donate to children everywhere, but especially those who are sick or in need.  The organization also gives back to the homeless community by providing free clothing, hygiene kits, food items, blankets and other much-needed support.

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Homelessness in Long Beach has increased by 62% since 2020, according to the results of the city-run 2022 Homeless Point in Time Count.  27 percent of the people experiencing homelessness report family and relationship issues as the reason, 40 percent reported serious mental illness, and 34% reported substance-use issues. LA County’s homeless population increased by just 4.1% compared to 2020.  Continued economic uncertainty will continue to put added pressures on families and individuals making the issue of homelessness even more dire.

 

Red String 2024 Status:  With the passing of Susanna Twaite, founder of Wrap the Kids, in April 2024, we have been on hold.  Initial discussions with Wrap the Kids team members were encouraging that the organization would continue operations, but unfortunately, we have yet to see any movement.  We will continue to monitor Wrap the Kids in 2025.  

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