LOS ANGELES BOARD OF HARBOR COMMISSIONERS APPROVES $644,794 IN GRANTS TO FUND COMMUNITY PROJECTS
Harbor Community Benefit Foundation Grants and Contracts Total
$6.3 Million to Date
SAN PEDRO, Calif. - January 25, 2018 - The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners has approved 10 grants totaling $644,794 as part of the Harbor Community Benefit Foundation (HBCF) grant program. The grants support projects by local community non-profits that help promote health care, health education, community outreach and access to respiratory care in the harbor communities of San Pedro and Wilmington.
“The Harbor Community Benefit Foundation grant program is one of many ways the Port helps and supports meaningful programs that have a real and tangible impact on the health and well-being of our community,” said Ambassador Vilma Martinez, who serves as president of the Los Angeles Harbor Commission. “These winning proposals have potential to serve our community’s most urgent needs.”
Grants awarded ranged from $5,460 to $225,000, the latter amount going to St. Mary’s Medical Center to help fund a high-tech mobile care clinic providing respiratory screening, diagnosis and treatment services at no cost to low-income patients in Wilmington and San Pedro. The other large grant of $118,000 went to the Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health to support a health program targeting students San Pedro and Wilmington who miss more than eight days in a school year due to asthma.
Other grant awardees included:
- Broad Elementary for campus tree plantings and a student marine life outreach program
- Friends of Cabrillo Marine Aquarium for a Young Scientist Program and Symposium
- International Bird Rescue for aquatic bird rescue training and research
- IQAir to install air filtration systems at two preschools in Wilmington and San Pedro
- Memorial Medical Center Foundation for asthma intervention and a home visitation program
- Port of Los Angeles High School for a new “Aquaculture at the Port” course
- Robert F. Kennedy Institute of Community and Family Medicine to fund a Healthy Start chronic illness education program
- Wilmington Community Clinic to support a dedicated program for asthma
The 10 grantees were selected by the HCBF Board of Directors from among 19 full applications submitted for HCBF’s consideration. The bulk of the grant awards - $578,094 - support programs serving both Wilmington and San Pedro.
HCBF is an independent 501(c)(3) that administers the Port Community Mitigation Trust Fund (PCMTF) funded by the Port of Los Angeles, the product of an environmental settlement between community advocates and the Port of Los Angeles. Including today’s grant awards, the Port and HCBF have awarded a total of $6.3 million in grants and contracts under the fund. These include $185,000 for a Wilmington Noise Mitigation Study; $2,168,000 in Healthy Harbor Grants; $306,000 for a STEAM Pilot Program; and $3,360,843 in Community Benefit Grants. The Board of Harbor Commissioners’ role is to approve HCBF’s grants from the PCMTF for compliance with the governing agreement.