The Jacobs Family Foundation is a $21 million family fund that was created to revitalize a southeastern San Diego neighborhood called "The Diamond". Frustrated by the limited results they achieved by providing grants and technical assistance to nonprofits, President and CEO Jennifer Vanica and the Jacobs family decided to work directly with the community. Instead of just funding the 200 nonprofit agencies that are located in the Diamond's two square miles, they wanted to go straight to the neighborhood's 80,000 multiethnic residents to better determine their needs and priorities. The foundation's efforts to develop direct communications with residents, and to allow that input to drive their work, has allowed it to achieve results rarely seen in the community-development field.
