Ken Crawford is channeling his energy into Sixty Miles East, a Riverside arts platform inspired by the RAM exhibition, while continuing to contribute to the Gazette and celebrating being back home after the house fire.
Participants at the Inland Empire Community Collaborative's "Voices for Change" event at The Cheech Marin Center in November. The IE Children's Cabinet convenes stakeholders across both counties for policy and advocacy work supporting children from birth to age 24. (Photo courtesy of Inland Empire Community Collaborative)
Parkview Legacy Foundation announced $1.2 million in inaugural grants this week, awarding 13 Riverside-area nonprofits in its first-ever funding cycle — including three Collective Impact grants supporting organizations that coordinate multi-agency efforts across the region.
The awards are the first for the foundation, which was created in 2019 from the sale of Parkview Community Hospital to a for-profit operator. After five years of community research and relationship-building, the foundation launched its grants program in August with a structure designed to fund work other funders often overlook.
"The collective impact work is uniquely exciting because it's exactly the type of effort we need to move from urgent services toward long-term advancements in the vital conditions required for a thriving region," said Damien O'Farrell, the foundation's president and CEO, in an interview.
Grant requests totaled nearly $3.6 million — three times what the foundation could award. Grants ranged from $50,000 to $125,000 and will be distributed in early 2026.
Funding the 'Backbone'
Among the three Collective Impact grant recipients is the Inland Empire Community Collaborative, a 109-member coalition that provides training, advocacy support and coordination across both counties.
Susan Gómez, IECC's CEO, said the grant will support the IE Children's Cabinet — a coalition of more than 180 stakeholders focused on children from birth to age 24. The cabinet formed during COVID-19 when nonprofits, including O'Farrell in his previous role, rallied around a single issue: childcare.
"At that time, childcare was an economic driver," GĂłmez said. "Whether I'm a foster agency or a food agency or serving mental health, we all needed childcare."
What began with 15 to 20 organizations has grown into a two-county coalition that received Gates Foundation and First 5 funding.
But GĂłmez said the Parkview grant addresses what other funders typically don't: the coordination work itself.
"A lot of funders fund direct projects but don't understand what it takes to coordinate multiple organizations," she said. "That's what Parkview is doing for us."
The Children's Cabinet convenes organizations, health providers, educators and funders for advocacy and policy work — the kind of cross-sector coordination that requires dedicated backbone support.
A Local Funder Who Understands
Gómez said the foundation's approach feels different from typical grant-making — more focused on long-term systems change than one-time program support.
"It's forward-thinking in terms of looking at system change work that's really here for the long term," she said. "That's the uniqueness around Parkview wanting to fund in this way."
O'Farrell said the foundation intentionally built flexibility into its grants. ". . . We're not telling the organizations how to use the money they've been granted or holding them to specific budget line items," he said. "We trust that the organizations will use the funds as they are most needed."
GĂłmez noted the significance of support from a regional funder rather than Los Angeles or coastal areas.
"We have a funder within our region that understands the challenges we face," GĂłmez said.
The Inland Empire has long faced a philanthropic funding gap compared to coastal California. Recent data shows the region receives roughly $25 per capita in foundation funding, compared to more than $245 per capita in Los Angeles County.
Full Grantee List
The three Collective Impact Fund recipients are Growing Inland Achievement, Inland Empire Community Collaborative and Inland SoCal Housing Collective.
The 10 Core Operations and Capacity Support Fund recipients are the Autism Society of the Inland Empire, El Sol Educational Centers, Family Services Association of Riverside County, Inland Counties Legal Services, Inland Equity Community Land Trust, Path of Life Ministries, Sigma Beta Xi, Smile Unto Him, TruEvolution and Youth Mentoring Action Network.
The foundation plans to follow up with every applicant — funded or not — to explore other ways to support their work, including connecting organizations with potential partners and funding sources.
Applications for the foundation's Special Needs Fund, which provides smaller one-time grants, are accepted on a rolling monthly basis. More information is available at parkviewlegacy.org.
Equity weighed heavily in the selection process, O'Farrell said. "If we're not going about things in ways that work for those who are suffering and struggling, we're missing the opportunity to bring long-term positive community change," he said.
"It's been over six years, but we feel like we're just getting started."
