The Caucus Foundation is in its eighth year and has established a place in student financial assistance and mentoring that is unique in the entertainment industry. We encourage diversity in our grant recipients and Caucus members mentor each new awardee on their film and on their entry into the industry.

We continue to receive grant applications at the rate of eighty plus per year and generally award ten grants each year. We have now reached an award and grant distribution level of $805,000 which includes the recent Fall 2009 round of grants and two years of our internship program.

The Caucus Foundation Alumni Network (CFAN) is growing in strength and numbers. Their Dinner-For-Five events have been well received. Their dinners with Mark Goffman, Writer, Janet Graham Borba, Senior Vice President of Production for HBO Films and Mini-series, and Robert Papazian, Producer, were a terrific success and future dinners are planned with members of the Caucus Foundation Advisory Council including cinema photographer Alan Daviau and HTV/Illuminate executive Jim Hardy.

Judy Zaylor, formerly a Warner Television executive, has joined the Foundation Advisory Council while Bob Papazian was appointed the Caucus member liaison for the Council. Advisory Council member Teri Schwartz was recently appointed Dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

Advisory Council member Robert Mandel, Dean of the American Film Institute, will receive the Caucus Foundation’s Educators Award for his outstanding service at AFI’s Cinema and Television Conservatory during the Caucus 27th Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 6, 2009 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

We must commend our Foundation Administrator Penny Rieger for her tireless efforts and outstanding contributions to the Foundation. And of course, to all of the Caucus members who contribute their time and unending service.