The woman in the picture lives in south San Jose. She drives one and a half hours to work at an East Palo Alto middle school from 8am to 3pm and then returns home to her family. After dinner, she leaves to clean an office building until 3am and starts the day again after a short sleep. This woman is a recipient of our new effort of getting cars for low-income families with no means of transportation.

At Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, we take pride in our grassroots emphasis, and we are interested in creating relationships with businesses that benefit the community. After two trial runs in giving used cars to families and 18 months of discussions and trust-building, a local car dealer has agreed to provide cars for the working poor. Car recipients are recommended by local nonprofit partners who work closely with low-income individuals. This is a great service as low-income families often don’t have transportation and a car is most welcome.

We hope to expand this idea and develop relationships with other businesses that are interested in addressing the needs of their communities in similar ways.