• Article
• Jan 25, 2016

Today 50 Fund, the legacy fund of the San Francisco Bay Area Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, announced the recipients of $2 million in Game Changer grants.  Grants of $200,000 are going to nine nonprofits that are helping to close the opportunity gap for low-income youth by making place-based investments in local communities and by creating a more environmentally sustainable future. 

“The 50 Fund Game Changer program is all about placing big bets on organizations that are making a profound difference in the lives of our young people and in the places where they live, learn and play,” says Keith Bruce, CEO of the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee. “These grants are an opportunity for us to make a statement, in the week before our region is on display to the world, that we are ‘community first’ in our approach to redefine what this world-class event can mean to the hosting city or region.

The 50 Fund’s Game Changer program is 50 Fund’s flagship competitive grants program that has already awarded $2.5 million to Bay Area nonprofits. The program rewards well-run, effective, and scalable initiatives that have evidence of impact. For this final Game Changer round, 50 Fund looked for Bay Area nonprofits that were strengthening the local community through both their infrastructure and through collaborations and also by connecting youth to the natural resources that surround them.

The Game Changer “Community Investment” focus area made investments in development projects, fixtures, furnishings, and equipment, or retiring debt that would free up cash for greater program investment. The “Sustainable Environments” focus area looked for organizations that were either creating greater access to the environment for low-income kids or by cultivating greater stewardship of natural resources by youth in their communities. Grantees in the “Sustainable Environments” focus area also have the chance to receive a share of an additional $200,000 that will be decided by fans who are participating in the Host Committee’s “Play Your Part” campaign to promote a “net positive” Super Bowl.

The nine grantees include:

Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose 
San Jose, CA

To address the lack of connection to the natural world in nearby densely urban neighborhoods by building an outdoor play space that is a bridge to nature, combining interactive experiences in a natural setting with conservation, demonstration and educational programs that respond to the learning needs of diverse families.

Education Outside 
San Francisco, CA

By using green schoolyards as innovative outdoor learning laboratories and connecting students with nature and healthy food as a regular part of their school day, Education Outdoors is creating resilient students that have the critical thinking skills and inspiration needed to achieve high-quality careers in the sciences, life-long health, and an environmentally sustainable future.

Environmental Volunteers 
Palo Alto, CA

To provide affordable, easy-to-schedule, efficient and safe transportation for low-income youth (K-12) in the San Francisco Bay Area that facilitates access to science and environmental education field trips. The Game Changer grant will expand the Transportation Fund’s reach with an additional 340 busses sending over 13,000 more students on field trips.

Hunters Point Family 
San Francisco, CA

Hunters Point Family’s Healthy Bayview program will be scaled to increase the capacity of Hunters Point Family’s extensive community gardens and food education programs and also support the development of a state-of-the art aquaponics social enterprise that will increase healthy food production (produce and protein) and distribution to over 1,000 Bayview Hunters Point families each year.

In addition to the $200,000 Game Changer grant, these organizations will participate in ‘Play Your Part‘—a campaign that rewards ‘net positive’ behavior (e.g. taking public transportation to Super Bowl events) by allowing fans to allocate an additional $200,000 among these four grantees.

Community Investment focus area grantees are:

Brava! For Women in the Arts 
San Francisco, CA

To reopen three storefront spaces connected to the building, which have been closed for seven years,  which will double their capacity to host youth classes and programming, including Brava’s main program, MAPA@Brava—a comprehensive music, dance, design, and technical theater training program for youth ages 13 to 18.

HOPE SF 
San Francisco, CA

To scale the youth employment, health, and education programs of HOPE SF—the nation’s first large-scale public housing revitalization project to prioritize current residents while also investing in high-quality, sustainable housing and broad scale community development.

Restaurant Opportunities Centers United 
Oakland, CA 

To support a ROC-The Bay collaboration with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC) to establish Restore Oakland, an innovative community center in East Oakland designed to expand ROC’s programs for Oakland’s most vulnerable youth, and add restorative justice programming to help these youth address more of their needs.

San Jose Conservation Corps 
San Jose, CA

To support San Jose Conservation Corps’ career technical education program (CTE) to capitalize on the needs of the green construction industry. The program focuses on weatherization/energy efficiency and solar photovoltaic installation to help San Jose’s neediest youth to find career and personal success in a growing industry.

University of San Francisco 
San Francisco, CA

To help address the opportunity gap in mental health for children in the Western Addition as part of Engage San Francisco—an intentional, systematic and transformative university-community initiative that will achieve community-identified outcomes supporting children, youth and families through student learning, research and teaching.

Together with its Playmaker program, early literacy initiative The Re(a)d Zone, and fitness and play initiative PLAY 60, Play On, 50 Fund has made $7.5 million in grants to more than 135 Bay Area nonprofits.