Grant recipients must serve underprivileged, at-risk youth
Published in the March 4 – 17, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
The Intero Foundation is looking for groups in the South Valley to provide financial assistance to improve the lives of local young people. Since it was started in 2002, the nonprofit has raised more than $3 million to support more than 120 charities that positively promote the well-being of children in need.
Nonprofit organizations that help at-risk youths should start now in preparing their application for the Intero Foundation fall 2015 grants, said Karlene DiNapoli, a Morgan Hill-based Intero real estate agent who is a local organizer for the foundation’s grants.
“We’re trying to get people thinking about this, it’s not too early,” she said. “This is for all over the Bay Area, but with my grants I like to focus on South County.”
Last year, money was provided to Freedom House, the Morgan Hill-based Discovery Counseling Center and the El Toro Youth Center in Morgan Hill operated by the Boys & Girls Club of Silicon Valley.
Freedom House is a safe house for victims of human trafficking and its location is not disclosed to the public to protect the girls and women. It received the biggest grant every donated by the Intero Foundation at $15,000.
The foundation requires documentation as well as interviews and on-site visits, so DiNapoli recommends that South Valley nonprofits that wish to apply start now, even though the grants will be awarded later this year.
“I’m looking for new local recipients who we can help in their mission,” she said. “They have to be serving underprivileged, at-risk youth who might be dealing with physical handicaps, emotional handicapped, and difficult financial situations.”
Intero created the foundation to serve families and youths who might not have the benefits in life other people do. The deadline to apply for Morgan Hill and Gilroy groups is July 30.
“The agents are a really great, giving group of people and they’ve developed this foundation a few years ago and all the agents contribute to it in funding, and every year we give it out,” DiNapoli said.
For more information, visit the Intero Foundation’s website at www.interofoundation.org or contact DiNapoli at (408) 612-7090 or at [email protected].
