A Pinellas County-based nonprofit that helps foster youth transition to adulthood by connecting them to social services, mentors and public programs is the second recipient of funding from
Social Ventures Partners Tampa Bay.
Ready for Life, a grassroots organization now in its seventh year, got $15,000 in unrestricted funding to invest in its efforts in addressing homelessness – an issue given high priority by SVP Tampa Bay partners in 2015.
Of the 44 applicants, three programs made the final cut. The other two were
Alpha House of Tampa and
Positive Spin.
“We had many excellent candidates,” says Rebekah Heppner, Founder and Executive Director. “And all three of the finalists have missions that meet our focal point. But Ready for Life was at the right time in its growth where we felt we could make the biggest impact.”
SVP Tampa Bay, launched in January 2014, is the first Florida affiliate of the global Social Venture Partners network, a philanthropic model based on venture capitalism with social returns as the goal.
Nearly 40 cities in eight countries are part of the network.
The funding is just one component of being selected as a SVP investee.
The recipients also get free professional consulting from the SVP partners, who donate at least $5,000 and a diverse array of pro-bono expertise in helping the organizations grow and prosper. Tampa Bay now has 27 partners backing the initiative.
“The money is huge and the partnership is even bigger,” says Scott Clendening, board member of Ready for Life. “Our organization is growing and the number of people we serve is growing. The assistance and leadership they will be able to provide us will be invaluable.”
Ready for Life depends solely on private funding. This year’s budget is about $250,000 -- up from $75,000 when it first began.
Clendening, who works in commercial real estate, has been with the group since the beginning. He wanted to do something worthwhile in the community, and Ready for Life’s mission fit that bill.
Some 25 percent of youth aging out of foster care experience homelessness during the first year of being on their own. Less than half of them have a high-school diploma, and 42 percent of the young women that age are pregnant or already parenting a child. Through Ready for Life, they can receive parenting support and assistance in earning a GED.
Hundreds of volunteers and a small staff step in with assistance in several areas, from providing bus passes, help in finding an apartment, tutoring and advice on how to dress for a job interview. Clendening says the group is helping nearly 500 clients “in some form or fashion.”
“We’ve become their extended family,” he says. “So many of these young adults fall through the cracks and are lost in the system. We’re there as their connectors, as their advocates. The success stories will really touch your heart. And our community is better off when they become self-sufficient.”
His greatest joy?
“As a father of three girls, I live on a chick farm,” Clendening says. “Now I’m mentoring four young men.
They’re so cool and wonderful. It’s a new experience for me and I love it.”
Community Tampa Bay, whose mission is to promote dialogue and respect among all cultures, religion and races by cultivating leaders to change communities, got the first SVP investment of $25,000 last year. The partners gave the group another $20,000 this time around.
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