Children's Creative Project
$5000 for Michael Katz Storytelling Residencies in Goleta and Santa Maria Schools
In his workshops, Michael Katz teaches children the art of storytelling, exposes them to the folklore of different cultures, teaches them values, excites them about the theater arts, and supports them in overcoming fear and building confidence.


Community Counseling Center
$5000 for the Teaching Peace Project
The Community Counseling Center provides affordable counseling and educational services that promote healing and understanding. The Center's Teaching Peace Project helps children look at the roots of violence and build peacemaking skills, using the tools of council circle, cooperative communication, and mediation training.


Family Therapy Institute
$2500 for the AHA! Summer Program
The Academy of Healing Arts for Teens program strives to enhance young people's social, emotional, and goal-reaching skills. The curriculum includes Social and Emotional Skill Building, "Eracism," Stress Management, Coming of Age for Young Women, Coming of Age for Young Men, Life Skills Coaching Clinics, and Emotional Intelligence and Social Responsibility.
http://www.ftisb.org


Girls Inc. Carpinteria
$2500 for Artemis: A Heroine's Journey
This coming-of-age program for adolescent girls is designed to support girls in the passage to adulthood by deepening their self-awareness and building personal resilience. The program utilizes a number of experiential processes, including council circle and nonviolent communication.
http://www.girlsinc-carp.org


Girl Scouts
$3000 for the Santa Barbara Troop Program
The Girl Scouts promotes the values of integrity, honesty, tolerance, concern for others, and mutual respect. Through the Santa Barbara Troop Program, girls learn to make positive life choices and to care for themselves and the community.
http://www.gstc.org


La Casa de Maria Conference and Retreat Center
$4500 for Scholarships and Program Support
The goal of La Casa is to act as a catalyst for positive social change in areas of spiritual growth, healthy communities, social justice, and environmental sustainability. This grant supports the Spiritual Paths Institute: An Interfaith Dialogue, to be held in Spring 2005.
http://www.lacasademaria.org


National Conference for Community & Justice
$5000 for the Social Justice Internship Program
This program, designed for graduates of NCCJ's Youth Leadership Program, provides hands-on, real-world experience for young people seeking to work for social justice and positive social change.
http://www.nccj.org


Santa Barbara Symphony
$1500 for the "Informances"program
The Symphony's "Informances" program brings live music programs to seniors and disabled individuals living in convalescent, retirement, and rehabilitation communities. For those who are mobile, the program provides free passes to performances at the Arlington Theater.
http://www.thesymphony.org

Santa Ynez Valley High School
$3000 for production of a documentary film about "The Circuit"
"The Circuit" is a play about a Mexican immigrant boy's experience of growing up in the fields and schools of the Santa Maria Valley. Last year Santa Ynez Valley High School theater students performed the play at schools all over the county. This film shows how cast members worked out social and cultural issues to create an environment of creativity, mutual trust, and respect.

True Nature Society
$3000 seed funding for the Mentoring for Peace program
The True Nature Society facilitates the discovery and expression of the natural gifts of youth and adults through writings, workshops, lectures, consulting, storytelling and direct mentoring experiences. Its Mentoring for Peace program is dedicated to discovering, learning, experiencing and sharing mentoring tools that are in common among peaceful people, cultures and environments.

University Religious Conference of Santa Barbara
$500 seed funding for "Values for a Healthy Community"
The University Religious Conference will sponsor a series of interfaith dialogues on how basic spiritual values are lived in our personal and public lives, in our community and across cultures. These public dialogues, on topics such as forgiveness, compassion, understanding, and respect, will feature local leaders of various faiths.
http://www.urcsb.org

Michael Katz tells a tall one, holds audiences spellbound.