Destino Grantmaking

“El Centrito is grateful for the financial support we have received from Destino: The Hispanic Legacy Fund. The grants throughout the years have helped us provide educational services to the youth and families of Oxnard. Destino helps our children succeed and enables us to carry out our important work”
—Luann Rocha Executive Director El Centrito de la Colonia

Destino: The Hispanic Legacy Fund at the Ventura County Community Foundation is the only permanent endowment in Ventura County dedicated to meeting the needs of Latinos and strengthening the countywide Latino community. It engages donors in effective grantmaking to deserving nonprofit organizations that excel in providing the needed programs and services.

Latinos are Ventura County’s largest and fastestgrowing population, representing two-thirds of the county’s net population growth. Deep in Destino’s philosophy is the belief that an investment in their future is a crucial building block to a stronger Ventura County. Destino Founders vote annually to determine areas of funding interest and priorities. A grants committee of respected local leaders and Destino Founders develop and distribute the Request for Proposals, review the applications, and recommend the final grants.

Regrettably, we always receive requests in excess of our grants budget, often 3-5 times the available amount. As Destino embarks on its second decade, we will continue inspiring donor interest to increase the grants pool and provide further support for programs that create a stronger, well-informed and involved Latino community countywide.

Since its founding in 1996, Destino continues to make a dramatic positive impact in the lives of Ventura County Latinos, awarding to date 114 grants to 46 organizations, totaling more than $838,000. These funds have supported important needs such as financial literacy (2004), health and youth services (2005), programs that address the growing epidemic of obesity (2006), and improved college preparedness for Latino youth (2011). Destino grants have also focused on “family strengthening,” grantmaking which encompasses counseling and support services for both single parent and two-parent families, mental health, anger management, care for special needs family members and caregivers, and other related areas.

For more information on Destino's grantmaking, please contact Linda Garcia at lgarcia@vccf.org or call us today at (805) 988-0196, ext. 120.

Local organizations that have benefited from Destino grantmaking over our first decade include:

• American Association of University Women
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County, Inc.
• Boys & Girls Club of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme
• Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley (formerly Sta Paula)
• Boys & Girls Club of Simi Valley
• Boys & Girls Club of Ventura
• Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation
• California Lutheran University
• California State University Channel Islands Foundation
• Camarillo Hospice
• Carnegie Art Museum
• Chaparral Middle School
• City Corps of Central Coast
• City Impact
• Clinicas del Camino Real
• El Centrito Family Learning Centers (formerly El Centrito De la Colonia)
• El Concilio del Condado de Ventura
• Fillmore High School
• Friends of Blanchard Community Library - Family Literacy Program
• Future Leaders of America
• Higgy Foundation
• Hueneme School District - Richard Bard Elementary School
• Inlakech Cultural Arts Center (Fiscal sponsor: Lucha, Inc.)
• Interface Children Family Services
• Many Mansions
• Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project
• Moorpark Unified School District
• Moorpark Unified/Special Education - Mesa Verde Middle School
• Ocean View School District - Ocean View Early Education School
• Parents of Murdered Children, Ventura County Chapter
• Rio School District - Rio del Valle Junior High
• Santa Paula High School
• Segue Career Guidance Program, Inc.
• Services United
• Teatro de las Americas, Inc.
• The Wellness Community
• Tri-Counties Labor Foundation
• Ventura College Foundation
• Ventura County AIDS Partnership
• Ventura County Leadership Academy
• Ventura County Medical Center - Summer Student Scholars Program
• Ventura County Medical Resource Foundation
• Ventura County Parks Foundation - El Rio PAL
• Ventura County Superintendent of Schools
• Ventura Youth Employment Services
• Westminster Free Clinic