Catherine Redlich and Robert Horwitz created their foundation in 1986, with a focus on “vulnerable children and families, education, criminal justice, drug policy, and global health,” according to the Redlich Horwitz Foundation’s website.
Horwitz’s professional career has seen him go from starting and selling a custom bicycle frame company to Wall Street to founding wealth management firm RH Associates. Redlich has a background in law, serving as a federal judicial clerk, practicing law in New York, and then founding the law firm Driscoll & Redlich. The two serve on several boards in addition to their own foundation’s, and have three children, one of whom is a former foster youth.
The Redlich Horwitz Foundation has evolved over the years, and in 2012, it moved into a new strategic phase. This was marked by the hiring of an executive director for the first time, and the decision to narrow the giving focus to projects and programs that will have the most meaningful impact on children in, and aging out of, New York’s foster care system.
Major Program Categories: The foundation’s focus falls on three main areas it has identified as ways to improve the lives of children and youth in New York’s foster care system, and make sure that foster care is just a stop on the way to a permanent, loving and stable home: improving permanency, creating system-level change, and emphasizing child well-being.
The foundation’s goal of improving permanency for youth in foster care means supporting efforts and initiatives that “decrease time in foster care through timely reunification, adoption, or kin guardianship; reduce re-entries into foster care by providing post-permanency supports to families; ensure that every youth who ages out of the system without a permanent family is connected with a supportive adult committed to a lifelong, permanent relationship with that youth,” according to the website.
System change grants address the educational barriers that face youth in foster care, and the ways that the New York foster care system is more broadly coming up short for those in its care. According to the foundation, “New York is spending more money for worse outcomes for children in foster care.” The foundation’s objectives related to these challenges are focused on reforming policy, creating college and post-secondary options for foster youth that are “financially accessible,” and supporting the “collection and analysis of actionable data to improve supportive programs for our young people,” according to the website.
Child well-being grants are guided by a framework developed by the Youth Transition Funders Group, a community of philanthropic organizations of which Redlich Horwitz is a member. The framework emphasizes a children and youth’s cognitive development, social and emotional well-being, mental health and wellness, physical health, safety and economic well-being.
Recent Redlich Horwitz Foundation grants have ranged from roughly $4,000 to $170,000, and have supported organizations such as You Gotta Believe, The Door, and Heartshare St. Vincent’s Services among others.
How to Apply: Engaging with the Redlich Horwitz Foundation as a grantee begins with an exploratory phone call or meeting between the organization and the foundation’s staff or trustees.
If the foundation determines that the organization’s work is aligned with the foundation’s goals and process, the nonprofit will be invited to submit a one page “concept note” outlining more details of the organization and project. Concept notes are reviewed quarterly by the Board of Trustees, after which a member of Redlich Horwitz Foundation leadership may follow up with additional questions of the organization.
If the project or program continues to seem like a good fit after these rounds of communication with the foundation, the organization will be sent a link to an online grant application. Successful applicants will set up an evaluation plan to lay the groundwork for the next stage of expectations and interactions between the foundation and the grantee. More information can be found here.
Name of Foundation: Redlich Horwitz Foundation
Location: New York, NY
Website: https://www.rhfdn.org/
Contact Information: Phone – (646)586-3337 or [email protected]
Coverage Area: New York, with occasional grants elsewhere in the U.S.
Subject Area: Foster Care – Improving Permanency, System Change, Child Well-Being
Total Assets: $32,389,813 (2014)
Last Year Total Grants Paid: $1005,082 (2014)
Recent News and Grantmaking:
http://www.fostercarenewsroundup.com/college-support-programs-for-foster-youth-in-new-york/
http://mailchi.mp/rhfdn/foster-care-roundup-college-support-for-new-york-foster-youth