Thank You, Whole Foods!

All of us here at Foundation for Second Chances would like to thank the Whole Foods at 3rd Street & Fairfax Avenue here in Los Angeles for supporting our programs! On Wednesday, March 16th, 5% of sales were donated to the tune of $6, 875.35! These funds will go a long way in ensuring that FFSC will continue to serve the Los Angeles community through its Mentoring Program, Reading Wheels literacy program, After School program, and large-scale Community Initiative events.

We look forward to continuing our partnership with Whole Foods in order to provide quality support and services to youth at-risk in our communities!

New Non-Profit to Benefit Mentoring Programs

We Get To Give aims to create a program for caring adult volunteers who mentor at-risk and high-risk youth in the Los Angeles area that will allow mentor-mentee pairs to experience events and activities that might otherwise be too expensive for mentors to fund.

We Get To Give is currently in the running for a $5,000 Pepsi Refresh grant that would  incorporate and establish their 501c3 status, solidify the participation of businesses and mentoring organizations, and create ID cards to launch the first year of the program. But in order to receive funding, they need your help! You can vote everyday through November 30 at the link below to help launch this incredible discount program for mentors and their mentees:

http://www.refresheverything.com/wegettogive

Foundation for Second Chances Mentoring and other community-based mentoring programs serving Los Angeles would benefit from the We Get To Give program, helping to ensure that mentors provide opportunities for their mentee to explore Los Angeles outside their usual neighborhoods while still developing and maintaining quality relationships

 FFSC Mentoring is proud to support We Get To Give in their mission, and wish them the best of luck in the competition!

Tavis Smiley and Second Chances Beautify New Designs!

On August 22nd, 2010, approximately 150 students, ages 13-18, representing the Tavis Smiley Foundation's Youth to Leaders program worked in partnership with Foundation for Second Chances to continue the agency's efforts to transform the campus of New Designs Charter School.

These students, hailing from all over the U.S., experienced a week-long Leadership Institute at the UCLA campus in order to empower them with essential skills to become effective leaders in impacting community change. After a series of workshops and exercises, this group of dynamic teens put theory into practice when they arrived at New Designs Charter School in downtown Los Angeles.

Students cycled through three stations, including planting a flower garden and rolling out new grass, reviving a dull hallway with beautiful new colors, and creating art in a poetry workshop led by spoken word artist Andre Ruiz. Some students were (literally) getting their hands dirty for the first time, but all were inspired to put ideas into action and make visions into reality.

Foundation for Second Chances is grateful to the Tavis Smiley Foundation for the opportunity to work with such a talented and passionate group of youth in serving the South Los Angeles community. We also extend our greatest thanks for the Tavis Smiley Foundation's sponsorship of one of Second Chances' own students in attending the leadership conference.

Below, find a selection of pictures from the day's activities! You can view the full gallery of the beautification project HERE and pictures from all aspects of the Institute HERE.

Aon and Second Chances Partner to Beautify New Designs Charter

In May, Second Chances Mentoring Program was selected to partner with leading global reinsurance intermediary, Aon, to serve our community. The project at hand? The beautification of a burgeoning, innovative charter school in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, New Designs Charter School.

On Tuesday, June 1st, the Los Angeles offices of Aon hosted a silent auction to raise funds on behalf of Second Chances Mentoring Program. Employees came out to bid on tickets for Disneyland, an autographed game ball from the Los Angeles Lakers, a week-long condo rental in Honolulu, a brand new Kindle, and so much more! Over $3,000 was raised that afternoon; combined with the Irvine office's silent auction the previous week, $4,500 was raised to help breathe new life into the New Designs campus.

Second Chances would like to recognize Aon employees for their support and generosity--from mobilizing volunteers to coordinating fundraisers, our sincerest thanks. Deepest thanks go to Sheryl Marx, Executive Assistant at Aon and Second Chances mentor, for nominating FFSC for this incredible community partnership. Our gratitude also extends to Warren Sata, Director of School Operations at New Designs, for all his support and enthusiasm.

On July 15, 2010, over 100 Aon employees will be repainting classrooms, implementing murals, building new seating areas, planting flowers, donating sports equipment, teaching classes, and creating a vegetable garden for the University Park campus of New Designs.