Russell Family Foundation Awards in Grants

Russell Family Foundation Grants

The Russell Family Foundation has announced its year-end grants totaling more than $2.3 million to 25 nonprofits serving the Pacific Northwest region. These grants focus on providing more access for youth to experience the outdoor environment, supporting local groups pursuing systemic change for the Puget Sound and empowering various local communities through leadership development.

As part of the grants, the foundation is awarding $1,049,055 to the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation to support the independent nonprofit, the Puyallup Watershed Initiative and its Communities of Interest. It is also granting $750,000 directly to the Puyallup Watershed Initiative 501(c)3. The Initiative, which formerly was a special program of The Russell Family Foundation, will celebrate its first year as an independent organization next month.

The Puyallup Watershed Initiative focuses on addressing issues facing the region through six Communities of Interest including active transportation, agriculture, environmental education, forests, just and healthy food systems and stormwater. The grant supports its collective efforts to enhance the quality of life in the region, which comprises of more than 1,000 square miles from Mount Rainier to Commencement Bay in Tacoma, Washington.

Additional grants focus on the advancement of The Russell Family Foundation's collective efforts to improve quality of life in the Puget Sound area including conservation efforts for the Salish Sea/Puget Sound and leadership development for environmental equity and sustainability, among others.

The Russell Family Foundation seeks to promote meaningful and lasting change by contributing to a sustainable and peaceful world for people, places and communities. Each of the grants further this mission by expanding opportunities for community-driven organizations to be catalysts for change, collaboration and continued learning.

"These organizations are a part of the fabric of our community working to create a socially just and environmentally conscious world," said Richard Woo, Chief Executive Officer at The Russell Family Foundation. "With efforts rooted in community, these locally-based groups are able to generate positive impacts while advocating for solutions to the most pressing issues facing our communities across Puget Sound."

Details for the additional grants are as follows:

• Rural Community Leadership Program in Pierce County, Rural Development Initiatives: $60,000 (multi-year) Rural Development Initiatives strengthens rural people, places and economies in the Pacific Northwest. The grant will support the launch of a Pierce County Leadership Cohort designed to provide a diverse group of individuals in rural areas of the county with tools to be more effective community leaders.
• Environmental Leadership, Environmental Science Center: $50,000 (multi-year) Environmental Science Center increases environmental stewardship and watershed knowledge for youth through field studies in salmon habitat, training the next generation of environmental leaders and restoring Puget Sound. The grant will support educational programming, hands-on training for students, student internships and more.
• REACH Housing 4 Success, Tacoma Community House: $50,000 (multi-year) REACH provides support for employment, education and other resources, including housing for young people experiencing homelessness through its Housing 4 Success program. The grant will support the program in its work with youth ages 16-24, who are experiencing homelessness. It will assist them on an individual basis and will work to place each person into housing.
  
  From there it works with these individuals by helping set them on a path to success in life.
• College Completion 2020, Foundation for Tacoma Students: $40,000 Foundation for Tacoma Students is the backbone organization for the Graduate Tacoma movement, a partnership of more than 268 community organizations and citizens that work toward the goal of increasing high school and college completion rates for Tacoma students. The grant supports its College Completion 2020 project, which seeks to close gaps in access…