GGS Healthy Living Grant Program

Overview

Our History

Bella Vista Foundation (BVF) is the legacy of sisters Georgiana Gerlinger Stevens and Jean Gerlinger Kirkwood, who gave generously throughout their long and eventful lives in the Bay Area and beyond. Georgiana started her own foundation, the GGS Foundation, in 1992, to support literacy, healthy living, and youth development and empowerment. Jean founded the Kirkwood Family Foundation, later renamed the Bella Vista Foundation, in 1999 with a focus on environmental restoration and support for young children. In 2019, the boards of directors of both foundations, composed of family members, decided to merge under the Bella Vista name.

GGS Healthy Living

GGS Healthy Living supports organizations that enable youth to thrive and live up to their full potential by building resiliency, promoting healthy coping strategies and positive decision-making, and preventing unhealthy behaviors.

Program Area

GGS Youth Mental Health

Improving Youth Mental Health & Resilience

The GGS Youth Mental Health Program works to improve youth mental health and resilience by supporting youth mental health and substance use prevention and intervention programs that employ approaches that are culturally specific, trauma-informed, and led by people that represent the community served.

Programs We Fund

Those which:

* Build innovative and integrated strategies to expand access to youth mental health care in clinical settings, schools, and/or community-based programs 
* Focus on a multi-generational approach that involve parents and caregivers so they can support the children’s well-being 
* Engage youth in evidence-based program development and evaluation to ensure they are getting the support they need 
* Have youth-serving programs that are growing the pipeline of mental health professionals who are culturally and linguistically competent

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

* Organizations We Fund:
* Those serving at-promise middle and/or high school students in Marin and San Francisco counties.
* The Bella Vista Foundation awards grants to public charities operating under an IRS 501(c)(3) status, fiscally sponsored projects of 501(c)(3) organizations, and Federally Recognized Tribes.
* The foundation only supports non-sectarian programs.
* Only one request from an organization will be funded in a 12 month period.

Ineligibility

* The foundation does not award grants to individuals.
* The foundation does not award grants to public or private schools or their affiliated foundations.
* The foundation does not make grants to support endowments, events, concerts, annual appeals, videos or films, medical research, or capital campaigns.
* The foundation does not provide funding to programs that are solely virtual.
* This includes software applications.