MILPA Year Founded: 2013 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 22 paid, 4 volunteers Budget: $2,500,000 (831) 676-3079 milpacollective.org BIG IDEA: Land-based learning is the key to MILPA (Motivating Intergenerational Leadership for Public Advancement). This nonprofit offers hands-on experiences that uplift ancestral knowledge by practicing cultural healing, sustainability and spiritual observances. MILPA also makes time for fun, integrating field trips and family dichos, or sayings. MILPA’s Big Idea is to build a solid, values-based organization invested in developing future leaders grounded in cultural and ecological wisdom. “My friends and I had never been kayaking before. Thanks to MILPA, we got to try something new and learned about our wetlands. I feel lighter and wish school felt like this.” -Joey Soto, 17 MONTEREY BAY ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP (MBEP) Year Founded: 2015 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 8 paid, 17 volunteers Budget: $1,600,000 (626) 660-5555 mbep.biz BIG IDEA: Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP) has its eye on high-wage, no-degree-required jobs across innovative sectors like clean technology, ag tech and advanced air mobility. The Monterey Bay Tech Hub leverages the California Advanced Air Mobility Corridors Initiative (CAAMCI) to build an apprenticeship pipeline from underserved communities. Support is needed for a two-year expansion of this Big Idea, including partnerships with community colleges, regional airports and employers and scaling up to a sustainable regional and national model. “Like anywhere, Central Coast workers yearn for quality jobs that can support a family. But not every place invests in opportunities for its younger workforce. MBEP’s work expands the credible pathways to career employment and the equitable workforce growth that’s needed for our economy to truly thrive.” -Kevin Heuer MPC FOUNDATION Year Founded: 1994 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 7 paid, 100 volunteers Budget: $2,317,213 (831) 655-5507 mpcfoundation.org BIG IDEA: Donors to last year’s Dollars for Scholars campaign helped MPC Foundation provide much-needed emergency help to 363 students. This help included food, temporary shelter, textbook aid and support for research experiences. This Big Idea even went beyond MPC to reach local high schoolers with potential. MPC Foundation’s Evans College Incentive Program supports students attempting higher education while facing difficult circumstances. Participants receive specialized guidance, academic counseling and financial support to graduate and transfer to four-year institutions. “At MPC, I’ve taken on leadership roles, mentored students from underrepresented backgrounds and helped expand access to clinical shadowing opportunities for my peers. Balancing these commitments with my studies has been challenging, but scholarships from the MPC Foundation helped lighten the financial load, allowing me to focus on what truly matters: learning, growing and giving back. I will be transferring [to Santa Clara University] this fall to continue my undergraduate studies with the goal of one day attending Stanford Medical School and becoming an interventional radiologist.” -Kite Hampton NCBI MONTEREY COUNTY Year Founded: 1993 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 2 paid, 20 volunteers Budget: $28,000 (831) 231-4052 ncbimonterey.org BIG IDEA: NCBI Monterey County brings diverse 98 Monterey County GIVES! 2025 mcgives.com EDUCATION & YOUTH DONATE ONLINE MCGIVES.COM SALINAS AREA READING FOR FUN Year Founded: 1975 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 0 paid, 60 volunteers Budget: $68,225 (831) 455-0885 BIG IDEA: Salinas Area Reading For Fun (SARFF) delivers a straightforward mission on a Big Idea scale. SARFF provides more than 13,000 preschool through sixth-grade students the opportunity to freely choose three books a year. Students in the program come from Title I schools in Salinas and North County, classified as schools with a high percentage of students eligible to receive free and reduced lunch. SARFF encourages literacy by letting kids browse for books that interest them, connecting reading with joy, and helps them each build a home library. “I love books and I want my sister to read books to me and to be smart.” -kindergarten student at Laurel Wood School SPOTLIGHT “Public libraries are the mind, heart and soul of healthy communities.” -Kent Leatham, Pacific Grove Public Library Friends and Foundation
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