BALTIMORE, June 7, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the United States with an estimated $2 billion in assets and a mission to provide funding for direct-service programs supporting low-income and vulnerable individuals and families. In the last year alone the Foundation distributed $96 million in grants. Today the Foundation named Sheryl Goldstein as the new Program Director for the Foundation's U.S. Education grant work. Goldstein, who will join the Foundation on July 8, 2013, takes the position vacated by Amy Gross, who left the Foundation last month to become the Executive Director of the France-Merrick Foundation.
Last year the Foundation awarded $6.6 million in education-focused grants in the United States with an emphasis on the greater Baltimore region. Major categories of funding included support for early childhood education, after-school and summer programs, STEM programs, and the Weinberg Library Project among other priorities. An incomplete list of education-related grants recently approved/paid by the Foundation include: Baltimore Child Abuse Center, Cristo Rey Network (nationwide), Family League of Baltimore City, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Early Childhood Center at Henderson-Hopkins, Living Classrooms Foundation for the Ralph Young Family Support Center, Inner City Scholarship Fund (New York), Higher Achievement, KIPP Baltimore, Middle Grades Partnership - Baltimore Community Foundation, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Baltimore, Teach For America, YMCA of Maryland, Parks & People Foundation, and the Fund For Educational Excellence.
Prior to joining the Weinberg Foundation, Goldstein worked in numerous legal and public service roles in the United States and overseas. Most recently, she served as Director of Program Development for the Police Executive Research Forum in Washington, DC. Goldstein is well-known and highly-regarded for her work as Director of the Mayor's Office on Criminal Justice in Baltimore. Additional prior positions include Goldstein serving in senior posts with the Center for Court Innovation in New York City, the Baltimore Jewish Council, the Baltimore County Executive's Office, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Kosovo. Goldstein received her B.A. at the University of Michigan and earned her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center.
"Sheryl brings a wealth of professional knowledge and an incredible diversity of experience," said Rachel Garbow Monroe, Weinberg Foundation President. "Among other things, she has litigated cases in state and federal courts, created and supervised a resource center for defense counsel in Kosovo, with a focus on protecting the rights of the accused, and assisted in the training and support of criminal justice agencies and NGOs in the U.S. and abroad that are working to reform their local justice systems. But most importantly," Monroe added, "her resume reflects a core desire to educate and to fundamentally improve the world around her. That passion will be powerful and invaluable as she advances the Foundation's work serving children in need and their families. I had the privilege of working with Sheryl briefly more than a decade ago. She is highly regarded as a superior professional and also as a straight-forward thinker who is kind and thoughtful in all she does. She will quickly become an integral member of the Weinberg Foundation's professional team."
For more information about the Weinberg Foundation in general, and education-related grants in particular, visit the Weinberg Foundation's web site at www.hjweinbergfoundation.org.
About The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, one of the largest private charitable foundations in the United States, provides approximately $100 million in annual grants to nonprofits that provide direct services to low-income and vulnerable individuals and families, primarily in the U.S. and Israel. Grants are focused on meeting basic needs and enhancing an individual's ability to meet those needs with emphasis on older adults, the Jewish community, and our hometown communities of Maryland, northeastern Pennsylvania, and Hawaii. The trustees, some of whom also serve as executive officers of the Foundation, are Donn Weinberg, Barry I. Schloss, Robert T. Kelly, Jr., Alvin Awaya, and Chair Ellen M. Heller. Rachel Garbow Monroe serves as the Weinberg Foundation's President. For more information please go to www.hjweinbergfoundation.org.