Zellerbach Family Foundation:
Investing in the Social Fabric that Builds Vibrant Communities
Founded in 1956, the Zellerbach Family Foundation has been a leading grantmaker in California’s Bay Area, helping to integrate new populations, lift up unheard voices, promote overlooked talent, and reform human service systems. The Foundation’s mission is to be a catalyst for constructive social change by initiating and investing in efforts that strengthen families and communities.
As a longtime supporter of California CASA, the Zellerbach Family Foundation (ZFF) has helped us advance our vision to one day provide every California child in foster care with the transformative service and support of a CASA volunteer. As Amy Price, a ZFF program executive, notes: “We have supported California CASA because of the critical role CASAs play in the lives of children. CA CASA supports the local CASA programs to increase their capacity and resources that allow them to do their important work.”
California CASA was fortunate to be among the Foundation’s 2020 grant recipients for Improving Human Service Systems. This support came as the pandemic impacted every facet of day-to-day life. Amy continues, “COVID-19 disrupted so many services and supports for children in foster care and significantly exacerbated the distress they were already experiencing. In the beginning of the pandemic, there was an incredible challenge with technology. Children were deprived the opportunity to visit with families. Reunification processes were stalled.”
As the world tried to find a new way to turn amidst a global pandemic, the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 roiled our communities, once again shining a glaring light on the racial and social injustices that continue to plague our nation. In the wake of this tragic event, many are recognizing and acknowledging serious problems that existed long before the COVID-19 outbreak. Amy continues, “When kids end up in the foster care system, it’s often because systems have failed them and their families. We must take a critical look at how racism is deeply embedded in the design of these systems and align resources and policies to better support families so they can support their kids.”
The work of California CASA mirrors these concerns. In addition to pursuing our vision of expanding CASA services to every one of the 83,000 California children who need advocacy, our statewide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force has been addressing issues that impact local CASA programs and so many children and youth in foster care. Moreover, we have invested in and committed to active legislative advocacy, supporting bills that focus on prevention, keeping families together, and increased investment in foster children throughout California. Amy spoke about the Zellerbach Family Foundation’s approach to systems change. “We know that our Foundation’s dollars go further when we can impact the way systems work, and we recognize that folks with personal experience with these systems need to be directly involved in efforts to change them. They need real positions of power and decision-making abilities.”
California CASA is grateful to the Zellerbach Family Foundation for its visionary approach to philanthropy, its commitment to improving human services systems, and its generous support of the Court Appointed Special Advocate model. We all have the same goal: to be catalysts for constructive change, and to help children in foster care, their families, and all the stakeholders in their lives. Thank you!