Nonprofit receives $235,000 in grants

Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy, a nonprofit based in San Bernardino, recently received a $100,000 grant from the California Wellness Foundation and a $135,000 grant from the inland Empire Community Foundation.

The grant from the California Wellness Foundation is “for core operating support to provide mental health and healing services to youth in San Bernardino County impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a news release.

“We truly can’t thank the California Wellness Foundation enough for their generous gift to our program,” Terrance Stone, chief executive officer of Young Visionaries Youth Leadership

Academy, said in the news release. “The foundation’s support will allow us to continue providing resources, mental health and healing services to youth in San Bernardino County impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic who need them most.”

The California Wellness Foundation partners with community organizations to remove barriers to individual and community wellness.

Through its grantmaking program, Advancing Wellness, it supports organizations that are advocating for quality education, fighting for good jobs with fair wages and benefits and working to make streets and neighborhoods safe, according to the news release.

The foundation awards more than $35 million every year, supporting direct services, public policy, leadership and capacity building.

The grant from the Inland Empire Community Foundation is an Expanded Learning Advancing Educational Equity Grant. The goal of the program is to support San Bernardino County’s efforts to improve public health and public safety by addressing areas disproportionately impacted by youth violence by interrupting cycles of violence and retaliation in the cities of San Bernardino and Rialto and in the High Desert region, according to the news release.

Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy is a nonprofit organization that has been serving the youth of San Bernardino County since 2001. The organization’s purpose is to help enrich the lives of young people through activities and instruction in the areas of education, employment, health, mentoring and community service.

Since its founding, Young Visionaries has provided services and resources to more than 145,000 young people, offering training in areas including academic development, violence prevention, employment development, leadership and life skills development and teen pregnancy prevention, according to the news release. The organization has also provided entertainment events.

Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy’s administrative office is at 696 S. Tippecanoe Ave., San Bernardino.

For information about the organization and its programs, go to yvyla-ie.org or call 909-7931695.