FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                        
For More Information Contact:
Tracey Roden/ Chrysalis: 310-401-9381 / TraceyR@ChangeLives.org

Jewish Community Foundation Makes Gift in Support of Chrysalis

Los Angeles, CA, (February 2007) -- Adlai Wertman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Chrysalis, has announced that the organization has received a $10,000 General Community Grant from the Jewish Community Foundation.  The grant will be used specifically for its program to help homeless and economically disadvantaged individuals become self-sufficient through employment.

With a nationally recognized program model, Chrysalis believes that the most important step out of poverty is a steady job. To that end, Chrysalis offers a host of employment services, through a unique synergy of supportive social services and paid transitional employment, to strengthen clients’ employability and help them secure and retain work. Services include counseling, job-preparation classes and resources, transitional employment, and job-retention training. According to Mr. Wertman, “At the heart of Chrysalis is our strong belief that every person has the potential to find work and become self-sufficient.” And the organization’s record over the years substantiates the claim: 93% of individuals completing Chrysalis’s program successfully secure employment.

Of the recent gift, Mr. Wertman said, “The Jewish Community Foundation is truly instrumental to the Los Angeles community in its generous giving and we at Chrysalis are deeply grateful for their support to help our homeless and poor clients find work and move out of poverty.” Marvin Schotland, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Community Foundation, remarked, “We are proud to support an organization that is so effective at combating homelessness and poverty throughout Los Angeles. Chrysalis brings about positive change for many, many people.”

Established in 1954, the Jewish Community Foundation is the largest manager of charitable assets and the leader in planned giving solutions for Greater Los Angeles Jewish philanthropists. The Foundation currently manages assets of nearly three-quarter billion dollars and, according to the National Foundation Center, ranks among the ten largest Los Angeles foundations (based on assets).  In 2006, The Foundation and its 1,200-plus donors distributed $63 million in grants to more than 1,500 organizations with programs that span the range of philanthropic giving.

Chrysalis is the only independent nonprofit organization in Los Angeles County exclusively dedicated to assisting homeless and poor men and women to secure and maintain employment. Since 1984, Chrysalis has helped 25,000 individuals on the path to self-sufficiency at its centers in downtown Los Angeles (Skid Row), Santa Monica, and the San Fernando Valley. To learn more, please visit Chrysalis’s web site at www.changelives.org.                                                            

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