COX Charities Awards $70,000 in Grants to Nonprofits including Crystal Cove Conservancy
COX CHARITIES AWARDS $70,000 IN GRANTS TO ORANGE COUNTY AND PALOS VERDES AREA NONPROFITS
ORANGE COUNTY AND PALOS VERDES, CALIF. – SEPTEMBER 4, 2025– Cox Charities awarded a total of $70,000 in grants to six Orange County region nonprofits and one Palos Verdes area nonprofit with programs that meet the needs of our community. Cox Charities, a philanthropic foundation that is funded by employee donations, has served California communities since 1996.
The 2025 nonprofit grant recipients in the Orange County region are:
- Supporting our Military & Veterans focus area:
- Dayle McIntosh Center for the Disabled: The Veteran Independence Program (VIP) gives veterans the opportunity to receive home and community-based services in a consumer-directed way, helping them remain independent and empowered in their homes and communities. Veterans are supported in overcoming barriers related to housing stability, health, and mental wellness.
- Homefront America: Unmarried service members are often left behind during the season of giving. The Homefront America Single Service Members Holiday Program aims to change this by bringing holiday cheer to single service members at Camp Pendleton with gift cards redeemable for gas, food, goods, and services at all military bases.
- Supporting our Conservation and Sustainability focus area:
- Crystal Cove Conservancy: Through Crystal Cove Conservancy’s Marine Protected Area Science Expedition students are immersed in real-world science as they investigate threats to California’s coastline and explore engineering solutions to environmental challenges where they collect data, analyze trends, and act as environmental engineers on a research expedition.
- Bracken’s Kitchen: The Rescued Food Program combats local waste in Orange County, where organic material accounts for over 30% of discarded trash. This food is then utilized by the Community Feeding Program to create millions of nutritious meals, delivered to individuals grappling with hunger through local partnerships. Packaged foods are distributed at community-based sites such as homeless and domestic violence shelters, senior centers, colleges, and veteran program centers.
- Supporting our K-12/STEM focus area:
- Samueli Academy: The Samueli Academy Engineering Pathway Program is a dynamic, hands-on educational track that prepares underserved youth in Southern California for high-demand careers in STEM and the skilled trades. Grounded in the belief that every student deserves access to real-world learning experiences and meaningful career pathways, this program serves over 400 high school students annually, many of whom are first-generation college students and come from low-income backgrounds.
- Hope Harbor: The Access to High-Quality Education for At-Risk and Homeless Teens program uses education as a tool to break the generational cycles of addiction, abuse, poverty, incarceration, and mental illness opening doors for a brighter future for at risk, homeless teens.
- The 2025 nonprofit grant recipient in the Palos Verdes area is:
- Supporting our K-12/STEM focus area:
- Friends of the Cabrillo Aquarium: The STEM Educational Opportunities for Underserved Populations program provides fun, hands-on learning experiences to students—sparking curiosity about the ocean, encouraging environmental stewardship, and opening doors to STEM careers. Funding covers bus transportation for field trips, program costs for Sea Search and other school visits, and vital upgrades to exhibits to enhance learning opportunities.
- Supporting our K-12/STEM focus area:
“Cox Charities grants enable our team members to give back to the communities we call home,” said Colleen Dillaway, Orange County and Palos Verdes Market Vice President. “Made possible by voluntary employee contributions, these grants provide vital support to nonprofit organizations fostering positive change for our neighbors. We are proud to see our employees step up to donate and advise on where these investments are made.”
Established in 1996 Cox Charities’ giving programs are overseen by a diverse volunteer board of Cox employees who live and work in communities throughout Orange County and Palos Verdes. To date, Cox Charities has contributed more than $11 million to California communities in San Diego, Orange County, Palos Verdes, and Santa Barbara. To learn more about Cox Charities, visit https://www.coxcharitieswest.org.
About Cox Communications
Cox Communications is committed to creating meaningful moments of human connection through technology. As the largest private broadband company in America, we own network infrastructure that reaches more than 30 states. Our fiber-powered wireline and wireless connections are available to more than 12 million homes and businesses and support advanced cloud and managed IT services nationwide. We’re the largest division of CoxEnterprises, a family-owned business founded in 1898 by Governor James M. Cox that is dedicated to empowering others to build a better future for the next generation.
Through Cox Business, Hospitality Network, RapidScale and Segra, Cox Communications provides a broad commercial services portfolio including advanced cloud, managed IT and fiber-based network solutions that create connected environments, unique hospitality experiences and support operational applications for nearly 370,000 businesses.
Media Contact: Charla Batey, Charla.Batey@cox.com, 949-354-1787