The interests and passions of Paul and Diane Garrett guide the BetterWorld Trust. We recognize the inherent dignity of all members of the human family, and our endeavors flow from this basic principle.

We have refined our focus areas so that we may work more effectively and reach as many people as possible. 

We currently focus our work in three primary sectors:

Education and Literacy

We believe that a quality education is essential for all children to grow up to make effective choices about their own lives. It is critically important in our personal relationships and in finding productive ways to achieve financial independence.

BetterWorld supports various programs in the field of education - some with an emphasis on providing access to education, others promoting literacy from preschool age to adulthood. We also support programs that help teachers become better educators, and thereby inspire a lifelong love of learning.

In particular, we seek to:

• Improve Kindergarten readiness for children

• Strengthen local resources directed to improving access to high quality early care and education

• Increase the number of children who receive a first-rate education

• Improve the quality of education

• Promote the professional development of teachers

• Increase opportunities for children to attend college

• Expand teacher resources and knowledge about solid literacy curriculum

Recent Activity – The BetterWorld Trust has provided grants to the following organizations:

• Books For Africa

  • Creative Centre for Community Mobilization (CRECCOM) – Malawi

  • Ethiopian Knowledge & Technology Transfer Society (EKTTS) – Ethiopia

  • Ghana Book Trust (GBT) – Ghana

  • Minnesota Kenyan International Development Association (MKIDA) – Kenya

  • Poverty Eradication Network (PEN) Trust – Tanzania
    

• Education Enrichment Systems (EES) – Vista

• Education Synergy Alliance (ESA) – San Diego

• Fallbrook Child Development Center – Fallbrook

• Fallbrook STEAM Program – Fallbrook

• San Diego Grantmakers – San Diego

• The San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum – Escondido

• Word’s Alive – San Diego County

Youth Development

BetterWorld partners with organizations that help adolescents successfully navigate their social settings and avoid "risky" lifestyles.

In particular, we support organizations that:

• Create healthy social settings for youth, including recreation centers and job training programs

• Promote greater interaction and involvement with parents, and with adult or peer mentors

• Stress the importance of knowing how, when and where adolescents interact with their families, peers and unrelated adults in home, employment, recreational and educational settings

• Integrate youth development with community-based development

Recent Activity -- The BetterWorld Trust has provided grants to the following organizations:

• Boys and Girls Clubs of North County -- Fallbrook

• California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) – ACE Scholars Services – San Marcos

• Voices For Children/CASA Riverside – Riverside County

BetterWorld supports programs that provide training, education and research in a variety of health care areas. Our organizational partners understand that prevention, treatment and care, along with proper nutrition, safe water and good sanitation, are all vital for maintaining good health.

Sectors within our Health & Environment focus include:

Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture

BetterWorld envisions a world free from hunger. Food security exists when people have nutritious food available to them at all times. This means they have a stable food supply without fluctuations or shortages from season to season or year to year. It also means that food is affordable and of adequate quality. Environmental problems, such as climate change and land degradation, can and do threaten food security.

BetterWorld forms partnerships with organizations that:

• Promote sustainable agricultural practices, including soil and water management
• Encourage farmer-to-farmer cooperation
• Improve market access for smallholder farmers
• Strengthen community-based solutions for redressing poverty and hunger
• Link nutritional and agricultural interventions and research
• Increase agricultural productivity through better access to seeds and fertilizers, and improved market conditions and trade networks

Recent Activity – The BetterWorld Trust has provided grants to the following organizations:

• Fallbrook Food Pantry – Fallbrook
• Fallbrook Senior Center – Fallbrook

Clean Water & Sanitation

Worldwide, more than one billion people lack access to clean drinking water. Many more are in need of basic sanitation facilities, including latrines. Young children are particularly vulnerable to the ill effects of unsafe water, insufficient quantities of water, and poor sanitation and hygiene. Without clean water and sanitation, sustainable development is impossible.

BetterWorld's water and sanitation focus seeks to:

• Supply people with a sustainable source of clean drinking water
• Help families gain access to basic sanitation facilities, such as latrines
• Equip schools with sanitation and hand-washing facilities

      In addition to supporting these goals, BetterWorld seeks partnerships to:

• Make potable water available for safe consumption
• Provide access to water and appropriate technology for smallholder farmers, family livestock and agricultural purposes

Clean Energy 

Global warming is profoundly changing our world. Unless and until everyone realizes this fact and begins to take personal responsibility for addressing our individual, family, corporate and public energy use, climate change trends will continue to be a very real cause for alarm.

BetterWorld partners with organizations that are working to educate people and communities about how they can address global warming. In particular, we support measures that:

• Accelerate the use of clean, renewable energy sources like solar and wind power
• Increase energy efficiency and conservation
• Preserve forests around the world

Maternal & Child Health

BetterWorld supports the concept of "Healthy Women, Healthy World." Women play a unique role in maintaining the health and well-being of their families and communities. BetterWorld works with partners to provide cost-effective and preventative measures that improve maternal and child health.

At the same time, many of the modest gains in women's health realized in recent decades are now threatened or have been reversed due to war, economic instability and AIDS. The illness or death of a woman has serious and far-reaching consequences for the health of her children, family and community.

Recent Activity – The BetterWorld Trust has provided grants to the following organizations:

• Last Mile Health – Community Health Assistant Training – Liberia
• Community Solutions for Change – Vista

Shelter / Housing

Worldwide, nearly one billion people live in urban slums, and that figure is expected to double by 2030.

Housing problems have far-reaching consequences. The high cost of housing leaves low-income families little money for other basic necessities like food, clothing or health care. Substandard housing can endanger the health and safety of its occupants, erode their hope and self-worth, and impair their children's ability to succeed in school. Many organizations, community groups and others have joined together to tackle this significant social problem - decent housing for all.

BetterWorld partners with organizations to create sustainable livelihoods in distressed communities. We are especially interested in venture philanthropy, including improved access to business capital for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs (SME’s).

Venture Philanthropy

BetterWorld partners with lending organizations whose purposes are to help people work their own way up the economic ladder, with dignity and pride. By having access to capital, people can grow their own businesses. They can become financially able to afford basics like running water, better health care, more nutritious food, and access to education for their children.

We work with organizations that have the know-how and capacity to:

• Apply business solutions to development challenges
• Provide cost-effective and appropriate financial services to the poor
• Help small-scale producers increase their incomes and build sustainable livelihoods
• Improve production processes and links to markets
• Develop distribution networks to reach disadvantaged consumers with affordable products
• Identify ways to support inclusive economic systems in which the poor can participate and move up the economic ladder