ConnectHER Endowment

When we first attended the Girls Impact the World Film Festival in 2014 at Harvard University, we knew it was something special. Young filmmakers from around the world told their stories alongside such established storytellers and speakers as Abigail Disney and Ian Somerhalder. Short films told of stories about female cotton pickers in Pakistan and teenagers in America dealing with unhealthy beauty standards. We were hooked!

As an actress and producer herself, Eloise loves to support young, talented voices. She has been a presenting sponsor of ConnectHER’s film festival for the last seven years., In 2020, the film festival officially changed their name the ConnectHER Film Fest. In addition, they launched a fellowship to help train filmmakers of all ages in places where there isn’t always access to cameras and education. They also hosted their first ever Pitch Fest at their International Women’s Day Event earlier this month that awarded money to a young woman to South Africa who won the pitch competition to get her film made. Even with all the challenges of the last year, they still found ways to grow and get more scholarships and training to filmmakers around the world. Eloise and John Paul wanted to do something to make sure their work would continue into the future. To make sure this happened, they donated $100,000 to start ConnectHER’s first ever endowment. We were thrilled to tell founder Lila Igram in person just yesterday.

One thing we haven’t even mentioned is that they provide a micro-grant each month to organizations working on issues like girls’ education, maternal health and preventing child marriage. You can join us in supporting their work as a Giving Circle member or Gem or just follow along with their incredible selection of events and projects.

JP’s Peace, Love & Happiness Family Foundation Endowed Chair at UT Dell Medical

We are so excited and proud to announce a $2 million gift to UT Dell Medical to endow a chair that will ensure that unhoused people in Austin have access to quality medical care.

Dr. Tim Mercer, assistant professor of population health and internal medicine, leads the school’s work to develop long-term, sustainable approaches to caring for those without homes in partnership with CommUnityCare Health Centers and Integral Care. Mercer practices as a primary care physician for CommUnityCare’s Health Care for the Homeless program:

“People experiencing homelessness and other vulnerable populations require innovative care models to address their health and social needs. JP and his family get this, and we are so humbled and grateful for their support. This endowment will allow Dell Med to make a permanent commitment to taking responsibility for the health and well-being of this population in our community.”

Mercer and his team lead the federal grant-funded Mobile, Medical and Mental Health Care Team serving people experiencing chronic homelessness who have a chronic medical condition, serious mental illness, and substance use disorder. Additionally, with his team at CommUnityCare, they collaborate with Austin Public Health and the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) to test, treat — and now vaccinate — this population for COVID-19, while ensuring people have a safe place to quarantine and recover.

JP’s Peace, Love & Happiness Family Foundation Endowed Chair will support the continuation and expansion of Dell Med’s street medicine programs, research, and training the next generation of doctors skilled at caring for vulnerable populations. As you know by now, John Paul lived in his car while getting his businesses started:

“At one time in my life I was homeless; I know what it’s like. The American dream happened for me. True success is doing something for someone else and asking nothing in return — success unshared is failure. My family and I wanted to invest in a permanent position to help people in need, and UT and Dr. Tim Mercer are the perfect partner for this.”

In the last year, as the pandemic’s effects became evident in vulnerable populations, we previously donated to support health care for people experiencing homelessness, including COVID-19 treatment, testing and contact tracing. John Paul also donated 20,000 surgical masks and 1,000 rapid COVID-19 tests to aid mobile testing teams caring for people without homes, as well as personally delivered meals for vaccination staff at UT Health Austin. We are so thrilled about Dr. Mercer’s work and for this gift to continue to benefit people for years to come.

We're Texas

We’re proud to be a supporting sponsor of the We’re Texas virtual benefit concert with our good friends Matthew McConaughey, Camila Alves and j.k. livin foundation that will help Texans recover from the winter storm. Check out all that talent! Join us on March 21st at 7PM CT at YouTube.com/MatthewMcConaughey or watch on Spectrum News 1 in Texas.

Also, please Donate! Donate! Donate! Go to jklivinFoundation.org or text TEXAS to 20222 and give a one-time $10 donation.

✌🏽

What do you give the man who gives so much? For our 10 year anniversary, we know we wanted to surprise John Paul and present him with something unique and special to thank him for his vision and generosity these past 10 years. We worked with local Austin artist Evan Wilson to commission this sculpture of John Paul’s peace sign hand. Evan works out of the Mobile Loaves & Fishes Community Forge — just one of the many projects John Paul and the foundation have helped support over these last 10 years.

PLH x 10 Year Anniversary

January 2021 marks 10 years of us as a family foundation! We created a special page to celebrate with partners about their hard work and impact . Even though we had hoped to have a big party to celebrate, we are so grateful for friends that took the time to send us videos and celebrate with us virtually. We worked with some of our partners to create special limited edition items like PEACE, LOVE & HAPPY bracelets made by maker mums in Kenya with Ubuntu, custom painted bags from the artists who work at Community Works Entrepreneur Hub at Mobile Loaves & Fishes and heritage bean seeds from Grow Appalachia.

There are many ways to measure impact. We enjoy celebrating the stories, products and lives of those we get to invest in every day. Thanks so much for being a part of 10 years of peace, love and happiness!

2020 PLH Awards

Since 2020 has been a little (okay, a lot) different, we are trying something new this year. We looked at our local Austin community and wanted to award those who have done excellent work in the areas of homelessness and job readiness and entrepreneurship, especially in light of the challenges of this year. Some are existing partners, some are new, but all are doing the good and necessary work of peace, love and happiness in a year of so much uncertainty and loss.

We have given each of these organizations grants of $20,000 or more to help them keep their work going or expand their services and support here in Austin for people in need. Thank you so much to everyone — our nonprofit partners, first responders, healthcare workers, delivery people, teachers, parents, day care workers and all of you who put in everyday herculean efforts to keep your family and your community safe and thriving. We look forward to brighter things ahead in 2021, but, for now, let’s celebrate the people and organizations that went above and beyond in 2020:

Multicultural Refugee Coalition

Central Texas Food Bank

Lighter Loads ATX

JUST

The Other Ones Foundation

Saint Louise House

Jeremiah Program

SAFE

34,500 Masks

John Paul worked with one of his businesses to donate 34,500 masks to our partners Mobile Loaves & Fishes and Chrysalis to protect people affected by homelessness as well as several Native American reservations to help them stop the spread. Together, we can stop the spread and stay safe!

Project Repat/Open Arms

As John Paul is always saying, America Works. When we toured the Austin factory of Open Arms Studio, a project of Multicultural Refugee Coalition, we got to see seamstresses hard at work making upcycled t-shirt quilts. You better believe that John Paul cleaned out his closet, eager to get his own quilt made from shirts that brought back great memories.

Eastside Kings Blues Festival

2020 is the perfect year for the blues. We are longtime supporters of the East Austin-based music festival highlighting local blues legends, and we are so glad the were able to pivot this year for an online event. The mission of Eastside Kings Blues Fest is to preserve and promote the cultural heritage of African American Blues, Jazz, and Gospel. Usually held on 12th Street, it’s one of our favorite events of the year. This virtual event still highlights the amazing talents we have in Austin and gives people the ability to donate directly to musicians.

We worked with festival founder Eddie Stout at the beginning of quarantine to make small grants to musicians affected by the closures of bars and venues due to Covid-19. But, as John Paul says is the intro, the blues will never die. Get a glass of Patrón and settle in to watch world-class artists perform straight from Austin, Texas. We look forward to getting down soon with Ms. Lavelle and Birdlegg, and all the other amazing musical talents that make East Austin proud.

Hand Sanitizer

When covid-19 hit, Paul Mitchell, the company John Paul co-founded in 1980, quickly moved to support and protect salon owners and hairdressers while re-directing manufacturing to make essential items. We worked with leaders in the Navajo Nation and through their organizations Dezbah’s Elders and Kids, Divest Invest Protect and Hózhó2O to get hand sanitizer directly to people of the Navajo Nation. Hand washing is critical to stop the spread of coronavirus, but water is often hard to come by on Native lands. We hope this small donation has big impact and helps keep people safe.

Some of the most valuable work we do is simply connecting people to each other, whether that’s a business looking to donate product, a person wanting to volunteer or two people with a similar vision of how to transform their community. Money is so important to achieving goals, but there is nothing quite as inspiring and hopeful as the good work of people and local leaders looking out for their communities. As John Paul says, it will take we the people helping each other out to shift the energy on this planet. We are grateful for the leadership and dedication of these Navajo leaders as well as the generosity of companies like Paul Mitchell.