
Implementation & Impacts Achieved
PCF has awarded grants from the COVID-19 Response Fund since it was launched on March 15, 2020. Over $600,000 in charitable dollars have been mobilized according to PCF’s response framework. All programs and services being funded support community needs within one or more of PCF’s focus areas.
Grantmaking
Resources from the COVID-19 Response Fund are strategically deployed according to PCF’s knowledge and expertise for maximizing charitable impact. This considers the amount of charitable dollars available, opportunities to leverage resources across the system, and what the priority needs are at any given time. These decisions are made by PCF’s Grants Committee, comprised of experts across the fields of public health, finance, business, law, and government, and are informed by PCF’s needs assessment process.
The rapid pace grantmaking process is built upon PCF’s deep understanding and long history of working with safety net providers across the region. This foundation enables the grantmaking team to quickly and confidently make funding decisions for the COVID-19 response without needing a lengthy grant application process.

Focus Areas
PCF’s emergency response addresses the immediate and long-term community impacts of COVID-19 by focusing support across seven key areas.
- Food: Improvements to and scaling of infrastructure for managing food distribution to agencies throughout the region. Also includes the purchase of food to meet increased demand.
- Seniors: Providing critical services for at-risk and homebound seniors including reliable food and medication delivery.
- Youth: Assisting underserved youth with needed technology, essential supplies, and programming to continue their learning and social connections.
- Essential workforce: Increasing local supply of personal protection equipment and other provisions for workers on the front lines.
- Housing: Addressing the supply of affordable housing options and tenant security considering widespread employment and economic impacts.
- Mental health: Supporting a swift transition to HIPPA compliant tele-therapy among counseling providers serving at-risk and underserved populations.
- Census: Outreach to hard-to-count populations to promote and encourage participation in the 2020 Census so that state and local programming and services are commensurate to meet the needs of underserved families.
Grants
Generous contributions from individuals across the community have enabled PCF to make a steady stream of grants from the COVID-19 Response Fund. Below are all the grant recipients to-date. Click on the organization name to learn more about the grant and the community needs being addressed.
AMI Housing - $50,000
Purpose:
$50,000 grant supports housing and supportive services in Placer County to individuals who are low income homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Focus Area Addressed
- Housing
Impact:
This funding will assist two hundred individuals to remain housed and prevent a surge in homelessness. It will also help people get back on their feet after an incredibly difficult year.
Auburn Interfaith Food Closet - $5,000
Purpose:
$5,000 was granted to Auburn Interfaith Food Closet for purchasing additional food.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
Impact:
Funds support food supply necessary to maintain “standard packages of food” to a growing 670 families in need.
Blossom Place - $15,600
Purpose:
Supportive housing for young mothers that addresses employment and child care issues, medical and mental health needs, and life and parenting skills which helps them achieve stability for themselves and their children.
Focus Areas Addressed
- Mental Health
- Housing
Impact:
Instills confidence and skills the mothers need to live and parent independently.
Boys & Girls Club of Placer County - $15,000
Purpose:
$15,000 grant to update and improve their internet service and transition their server to the cloud in order to provide online programming and support to club members. This is relevant during COVID and for power outages. By making this improvement, they will be able to continue services for at risk youth of our community.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Youth
Boys & Girls Club of Placer County - $8,000
Purpose:
$8,000 grant provided 30 low-income households in the Auburn area with several months of prepaid WiFi to support distance learning.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Youth
Impact:
This need was fulfilled by the Boys & Girls Club because of their knowledge and connections with families in need so that wireless hotspots could be delivered quickly and efficiently. This allowed students to continue their coursework remotely as well as access the virtual programming provided by the Club.
Boys & Girls Club of Placer County - $1,000
Purpose:
$1,000 Self Care Grant for Staff
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Chapa-De Indian Health - $4,500
Purpose:
$4,500 Self Care Grant for Staff
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Child Advocates of Placer County - $20,000
Purpose:
$20,000 grant will train and assign 50 Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) to children who are either in foster care, in the juvenile justice system, or are involved in sex trafficking. Assigned by a court order, CASA volunteers are able to meet weekly with the child, contact all related parties, and report their findings directly to the judge, social workers and attorneys.
Focus Area Addressed
- Youth
Impact:
Help 260 foster, probation, and commercially sexually exploited children return safely to their parents, or barring that, to help place them in permanent
homes with “forever families” through adoption or guardianship. This grant will also assist the youth to deal with the trauma that accompanies entering the foster care system by providing them with “a different kind of adult” – one that is consistent, reliable, and caring.
Community Service, Education and Research Fund (CSERF) - $5,500
Purpose:
$5,500 grant supporting the production of face shields to be distributed to health care providers and nonprofits in Placer County.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Impact:
A month in to the project, over 15,000 face shields were produced. The City of Rocklin has allowed use of their Community Center adjacent to Johnson-Springview Park for operations. It is a clean and controlled environment for safely cleaning and producing shields.
Giving Hearts - $1,800
Purpose:
$1,800 grant was sent to Foresthill Residents for Responsible Growth as fiscal agent to Giving Hearts, to deliver needed supplies to widowed, disabled, and shut-in seniors and underserved youth.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
- Seniors
- Youth
Impact:
The grant helped support a COVID-19 emergency care package event that included a drive-thru giveaway at Foresthill High School and package delivery to homebound seniors and families. Foresthill Residents for Responsible Growth partnered with Giving Hearts, Foresthill Community Development Council, Foresthill VFW Auxiliary, Foresthill High School, and the faith-based community to help safely distribute the giveaway items, which included shelf-stable food, toiletries, school supplies, and gift cards to local food vendors.
Foresthill Residents for Responsible Growth - $7,800
Purpose:
Grant is for the Giving Hearts group during the COVID-19 pandemic.
$1,800 from the Ralph E. and Rose A. Hoeper Endowment
$1,000 from the Nancy and Kenneth Kahn Family Fund
$6,000 from the COVID19 Response Fund
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
Impact:
Support will provide assistance at an event that will serve 500+ Foresthill residents with food and critical supplies.
Forgotten Soldier Program - $27,600
Purpose:
Holistic care that focuses on healing the whole person – mind, body, and spirit- with a range of therapeutic modalities at no cost to local Veterans.
Focus Area Addressed
- Mental Health
Impact:
Veterans and their families receive effective, compassionate treatment for their PTSD, moral injury, anxiety, pain, and depression, and support with successfully integrating back into civilian life.
Health Education Council - $20,000
Purpose:
$20,000 grant is seeding a pilot Family Meal Roseville program, a collaborative project spearheaded by the City of Roseville to help address food distribution to those in need and the local economy.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
- Essential Workforce
Impact:
By mobilizing independent restaurants as micro-commissaries to create meals, the project helps both small businesses and local farmers and purveyors. Health Education Council took on the project as an extension of the five-year Invest Health partnership with the City of Roseville to supply meals to families in low-income neighborhoods.
Insights Counseling Group - $35,410
Purpose:
Individual and family psychotherapy to low- to middle-income families who struggle with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, which have worsened due to the pandemic.
Focus Area Addressed
- Mental Health
Impact:
Community members have access to the care they need to address their mental health.
Insights Counseling Group - $1,000
Purpose:
$1,000 Self Care Grant for Staff
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Keaton's Child Cancer Alliance - $20,000
Purpose:
Assistance for childhood cancer families experiencing financial burden, trauma, isolation, and emotional distress.
Focus Area Addressed
- Mental Health
- Food
- Housing
Impact:
Families that are highly stressed are given reprieve in the form of grocery gift cards, rental assistance, and aid with navigating the cancer journey.
Kids First - $1,500
Purpose:
$1,500 grant is for emergency support needs.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Housing
Impact:
Emergency support needs such as help with utility payments or support toward rent, hotel vouchers.
Kids First - $5,000
Purpose:
$5,000 grant is for emergency support needs.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Housing
Impact:
Emergency support needs such as help with utility payments or support toward rent, hotel vouchers.
Kids First - $500
Purpose:
$500 Self Care Grant for Staff
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Latino Leadership - $850
Purpose:
$850 Self Care Grant for Staff
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Latino Leadership Council - $5,000
Purpose:
$5,000 grant providing support to Latino families in the form of food boxes, rent assistance, and online programming, including the Comadres crafting program, cooking, gardening.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
- Mental Health
Impact:
Addresses the multiple stressors placed upon underserved individuals and families during the COVID-19 crisis by offering relief from economic hardship, essential supplies and peer support.
Lighthouse Counseling and Family Resource Center - $50,000
Purpose:
$50,000 grant supports the hiring of an additional resource center staffer to meet the demand of the community for services.
Focus Areas Addressed
- Mental Health
- Food
- Housing
- Youth
Impact:
Supports vulnerable community members who are impacted.
Lighthouse Counseling and Family Resource Center - $25,000
Purpose:
$25,000 grant supports Lighthouse’s general operations and infrastructure due to increased demand in mental health services since the pandemic.
Focus Areas Addressed
- Mental Health
Impact:
Supports vulnerable community members who are impacted.
Lighthouse Counseling and Family Resource Center - $15,000
Purpose:
$15,000 grant to equip and train Lighthouse counseling staff to quickly transition to a virtual counseling format.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Mental Health
Impact:
Funding supports Lighthouse to help address critical mental health services as low-income families experience additional hardships from loss of income, social connections, and other stressors.
Lighthouse Counseling & Family Resource Center - $1,500
Purpose:
$1,500 grant is to be used for telehealth services
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Mental Health
Impact:
Support will provide mental health services for those at risk families in Placer County during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lighthouse Counseling & Family Resource Center - $500
Purpose:
$500 Self Care Grant for Staff
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Local Media Foundation - $1,000
Purpose:
$1,000 grant supports Gold Country Media to publish six area newspapers to keep the public informed.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Impact:
Funding supports Gold Country Media to continue to bring the community accurate, trusted news to keep people informed during crucial stay at home orders and quarantine.
Loomis Senior L.I.F.E Center - $10,000
Purpose:
Meals delivered to and check ins provided for isolated seniors who are unable to come together at their community center due to the pandemic.
Focus Area Addressed
- Food
- Seniors
Impact:
Local seniors are able to maintain some connection and have something to look forward to due to the senior center’s programming pivot.
My Mother's Voice - $2,500
Purpose:
$2,500 grant supports meals for families in need in the Roseville area through a coordinated effort with Title One schools.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
- Essential Workforce
Impact:
Funding supports the provision of meals for economically-disadvantaged students in Placer County. Partnering with an award-winning restaurant in Roseville, My Mother’s Voice is delivering meal boxes with fresh nutritious foods to serve 4 per box.
My Mother's Voice - $8,000
Purpose:
$8,000 grant supports meals for families in need in the Roseville area through a coordinated effort with Title One schools.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
- Essential Workforce
Impact:
Food for families over the weekends when schools are closed has continued to be a problem for families stretching grocery dollars. Requests for meal boxes have picked up significantly. Nutritionally, they depend on cheap calorie fillers, leftover lunches from the week, or odd bits that aren’t healthy. Many parents still are enduring job losses with reduced hours so covering rent, food, utilities, and essentials is causing intense stress. Stretching monies for rent and food, plus essentials is going to be increasingly difficult as the pandemic effects linger for our less educated parents.
NorCal Resist - $5,000
Purpose:
$5,000 grant is used for vulnerable community members for rent and cash aid due to the pandemic.
Focus Areas Addressed
- Food, Housing, Mental Health
Impact:
Supports vulnerable community members derived from social injustices and inequalities in our communities.
North Valley Community Foundation - $10,000
Purpose:
Grant is for Connecting Point to operate a 24/7 COVID help line until 211 is officially launched.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
- Mental Health
- Seniors
- Youth
- Housing
Impact:
Allows phone support for COVID related calls, relieving the stress among community members and reducing the need for other kinds of intervention.
Placer County Health and Human Services - $7,500
Purpose:
$7,500 grant is being used to temporarily place vulnerable residents who are impacted by extreme heat, poor air quality and power shutoffs in area hotels.
Focus Areas Addressed
- Housing
Impact:
Supports vulnerable community members who are impacted.
Placer County Law Enforcement Chaplaincy - $10,000
Purpose:
$10,000 grant supports first response organization called upon to provide psychological first aid and practical assistance to individuals and families
impacted by fatalities and personal loss.
Focus Area Addressed
- Mental Health
Impact:
An increase in emotional resilience and family stability for those suffering from a loss with greater likelihood of seeking ongoing professional support when
needed.
Placer County Office of Education - $21,500
Purpose:
$21,500 grant supports the outfitting of mental wellness centers in Roseville Joint Union High School District, Roseville City School District, and Auburn Union School District elementary, middle, and high schools.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Youth
- Mental Health
Impact:
Wellness Centers that are inviting, homey, clean, and welcoming are places students, staff and families want to visit. Centers that are hidden on a campus, furnished with only desks, old carpet and chipped paint are not inviting. Many students have commented that the latter feel like they’re for “weird kids” or “kids with problems”. When we can make the centers look like places anyone would want to visit, anyone does! Students learn that everyone has mental health and everyone can care for their wellness. Reducing stigma goes such a long way in keeping our students and community healthy and well.
Placer County Office of Education - $3,500
Purpose:
$3,500 grant supports school supplies and resources for homeless students.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Youth
Impact:
Funding supports helping homeless students and their families prepare for the upcoming school year. This includes age-appropriate school supplies/backpacks, books, hygiene products, clothes, and food, to be distributed in a socially distant manner.
Placer Food Bank - $50,000
Purpose:
$50,000 was granted to the Placer Food Bank to assist with improvements to and scaling of infrastructure for managing food distribution to 60 partner agencies throughout the region. Grant funds also supported resources for “free farmers market” distribution events, helping meet a surge in demand.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
- Seniors
Impact:
Following the grant award in late March 2020, Placer Food Bank reported a 100% increase in demand for Free Farmer’s Market events. Fund dollars helped make it possible to process and deliver food for an average of 300 families per event.

Placer Food Bank Program Manager directs clients through the mobile distribution event on April 24, 2020 at Johnson Springview Park in Rocklin. Approximately 475 families were served during the two-hour event.
Placer Food Bank - $1,000
Purpose:
$1,000 was granted to the Placer Food Bank for food assistance
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
- Seniors
Impact:
Following the grant award in late March 2020, Placer Food Bank reported a 100% increase in demand for Free Farmer’s Market events. Fund dollars helped make it possible to process and deliver food for an average of 300 families per event.
Placer Food Bank - $47,433
Purpose:
$47,433 grant supports infrastructure needs to increase the food banks’s capacity to ensure food is safely and efficiently distributed to all who need it now and into the future.
Focus Area Addressed
- Food
Impact:
Puts critical infrastructure in place that will aid Placer Food Bank in meeting the increased demand for food assistance.
Roseville Alano Club - $5,000
Purpose:
Support for a program that assists those in the substance abuse community on their journey to stability and sobriety.
Focus Area Addressed
- Mental Health
Impact:
Members of this community have a space where they can safely gather and receive support in their fight against addiction.
Salvation Army - $15,000
Purpose:
Two $7,500 grants were sent to Salvation Army sites ($15,000 total) to support underserved youth across South and Mid Placer areas spanning Colfax to Roseville.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
- Youth
Impact:
Funds support programs that provide underserved and economically-disadvantaged youth from single-parent households with food boxes and sack lunches, as well as activity bags.
Salvation Army Auburn - $2,882
Purpose:
$2,882 grant is to be used to help community members in need of food, rental assistance, utilities assistance, Youth Activity bags, lunches for families and homeless.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
Impact:
Support will provide assistance to help alleviate the hardship of COVID-19 on families and individuals
Salvation Army Auburn - $500
Purpose:
$500 Self Care Grant for Staff
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Salvation Army - $450
Purpose:
$450 Self Care Grant for Staff
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Seniors First - $30,000
Purpose:
Two grants have been provided to Seniors First to support food delivery to homebound seniors. The first was $10,000 for purchase of shelf stable meals and the second was $20,000 to support a volunteer coordinator.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Food
- Seniors
Impact:
Funds have enabled the organization to supply meals to all eligible seniors, which involved doubling the number of routes, eliminating a wait list of 145 people, and hiring additional staff to handle volunteer coordination needs.
Seniors First - $500
Purpose:
$500 grant supports food delivery to home bound seniors.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Seniors
- Food
Impact:
Funds have enabled the organization to supply meals to all eligible seniors.
Sierra College Foundation - $5,000
Purpose:
This grant is for mental health services for Sierra College students.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Mental Health
Impact:
Students get the counseling and support they need to address anxiety, stress, and depression resulting from the pandemic. This work is life saving and helps students progress toward their degree and career.
Sierra Native Alliance - $1,000
Purpose:
$1,000 grant is for economic and social support needs of Placer families meeting gaps in finances to maintain family housing, transportation, and communication resources.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Housing
Impact:
Support will provide assistance in the amount of $200-$800 per family with the potential for aiding more families in need.
Sierra Native Alliance - $4,000
Purpose:
$4,000 grant is for economic and social support needs of Placer families meeting gaps in finances to maintain family housing, transportation, and communication resources.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Housing
Impact:
Support will provide assistance in the amount of $200-$800 per family with the potential for aiding more families in need.
Sierra Native Alliance - $2,500
Purpose:
$2,500 grant is to provide resources for meeting the wellness needs of youth and children.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Youth
Impact:
The funds will be used to adapt summer wellness activities for youth to online digital formats, providing emotional support for children whose social and academic routines have been disrupted by COVID-19. The focus is on building resilience and adaptability for youth and caregivers.
Sierra Native Alliance - $500
Purpose:
$500 Self Care Grant for Staff
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Sierra Native Alliance - $5,000
Purpose:
$5,000 grant will allow Sierra Native Alliance to conduct outreach to Native population on the Covid vaccine.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
- Seniors
- Youth
Impact:
With an increase in vaccination numbers, Native populations can avoid serious illness and death and California can get closer to herd immunity.
Sight Word Busters - $5,000
Purpose:
$5,000 grant will support technology for online literacy tutoring and training of senior volunteers.
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Seniors
- Youth
Impact:
Senior volunteers will have the resources and training they need to continue providing training in a safe and effective manner. Students increase their reading abilities and stay in touch with their beloved tutors.
St. Vincent de Paul Roseville - $500
Purpose:
$500 Self Care Grant for Staff
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Stand Up Placer - $2,000
Purpose:
$2,000 Self Care Grant for Staff
Focus Areas Addressed:
- Essential Workforce
Stand Up Placer - $25,000
Purpose:
$25,000 grant supports the domestic violence shelter’s general operations and infrastructure due to increased domestic violence.
Focus Area Addressed
- Mental Health
Impact:
Supports vulnerable community members who are impacted.
Supporting The Taylor House, Inc. - $10,000
Purpose:
Food, rent, and therapy for young women who have aged out of the foster system and cannot pay regular program fees due to reduced or cut employment.
Focus Area Addressed
- Mental Health
- Food
- Housing
Impact:
Young women who come from an unsteady background are able to create a strong foundation for their future.
Wellness Within - $20,000
Purpose:
Support groups and therapeutic workshops by Zoom that address the emotional and mental distress of those impacted by cancer during the COVID crisis.
Focus Area Addressed
- Mental Health
Impact:
Cancer patients can process their experience in the supportive, safe community of others with a similar diagnosis, improving their outlook and overall wellbeing.
Make an Impact
Please donate and help address community needs arising from the COVID-19 crisis. By giving to your local community foundation, you can rest assured that every dollar is being maximized for rapid and strategic impact.