![Preparing meals at Mama's Kitchen.](jpg/mamas-kitchen831c.jpg)
Ten San Diego County nonprofit organizations were surprised with $10,000 grants from Cox Charities this week for local programs that support K-12 education, digital equity, conservation and sustainability, and military and veterans.
Cox Charities is a philanthropic foundation led and funded by Cox Communications employees and supported by the company.
The 2024 San Diego Cox Charities community grant recipients and their programs are:
- Alpha Project — Its Permanent Supportive Housing program for veterans provides residents with emergency rental assistance, food, transportation, household supplies, and medical equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers, and power chairs.
- Cyber Seniors — Digital training workshops in English and Spanish for older adults that include basic technology training, as well as practical knowledge on how to use technology to connect to friends, family and the community.
- Downtown San Diego Partnership Foundation — The O-Lot Digital Resource Hub in downtown San Diego will close the digital divide for clients temporarily living in a safe sleeping site and invest in their future by providing access to critical resources to help end their homelessness.
- Experience Nature Unplugged — Through outdoor classrooms and nature-inspired STEAM activities, the nonprofit empowers tweens and teens to use technology intentionally to build community, reduce loneliness and inspire confidence in outdoor settings.
- Forever Balboa Park — Expansion of volunteer programs to maintain and enhance Balboa Park for all visitors, and recruit and train 100 tree maintenance corps volunteers who will help maintain new biodiversity gardens and exterior gardens around the restored Botanical Building.
- Healthy Day Partners — The Straight 2 The Plate Mobile Garden Classroom helps food insecure individuals and families grow their own healthy food and become less reliant on food donations by providing gardening workshops in underserved communities.
- Living Coast Discovery Center — The grant will provide field trips to the center for schools with high poverty levels so that students can explore a nature reserve, interact with wildlife and participate in hand-on STEAM activities.
- Mama’s Kitchen — The grant will fund meals for 360 critically ill veterans in San Diego County. Meals are home-delivered and medically tailored to improve the quality of life for critically ill veterans and their families.
- San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum — The grant will enable the museum to provide 525 scholarships for younger students from under-resourced communities in San Diego County to participate in STEM educational workshops.
- TERI Inc. – The grant will enable the nonprofit to double its capacity for neurodiverse students to participate in its STEM programs and robotics.