Escondido Community Foundation Awards $228K To Nine Mental Health Groups

A philanthropic organization Friday awarded $228,000 to nine Escondido-based organizations intended to improve the social and emotional wellbeing in the city.

The Escondido Community Foundation, an affiliate of The San Diego Foundation, provided the award to address issues of social isolation, anxiety, depression, suicide and abuse, and to provide specific support for young people in the community.

"The Escondido community has a long road of recovery from the effects of the ongoing pandemic," said Kenneth Lounsbery, board chair of The Escondido Community Foundation. "Our goal with this grant funding is to invest in our friends and neighbors from the inside out.

"These nine organizations and their programming will improve the social and emotional well-being of our Escondido community, especially those who are most at risk, to receive the support and care they need in this time," he said.

The grantees are:

• $28,000 to the Alabaster Jar Project to support its resource center to continue serving and providing survivors of human trafficking with part- time employment opportunities, housing, therapy, peer-support and community resources;
• $18,000 to Solutions for Change for case management and counseling to help families affected by homelessness, addiction, generational poverty, trauma and domestic abuse to secure full-time employment opportunities, as well as stable housing, family reunification and emotional and mental support;
• $23,000 to Outside the Lens to support the organization's partnership with the San Pasqual Academy to provide youth with internship and industry mentorship opportunities;
• $30,000 to Center for Community Solutions to support the organization's shelter capacity to meet current needs through a full spectrum of shelter services and related hotline crisis assistance to current victims and survivors of domestic violence;
• $18,000 to Community HousingWorks to improve child learning development programs and support the organization's apartment communities to create a safer place to learn, grow and thrive;
• $15,000 to North County Lifeline to support the organization's mission to identify, address and prevent youth suicide by providing mental health programs and other community resources to foster safer school environments;
• $33,000 to Palomar Family Counseling to extend treatment, assistance and promote long-term social and emotional support to 45 women and their children who have been exposed to or are at risk of experiencing domestic violence;
• $33,000 to HealthRIGHT 360 to develop the construction of a playground to provide residents of Serenity Villages a safe, organized play area to enjoy fresh air and the outdoors; and
• $30,000 to the Tariq Khamisa Foundation to provide middle-school youth with mentoring services and social-emotional learning opportunities.