The Kennedy Austin Foundation (909) 620-0912 Office (800) 660-4927 Fax
We are a family-crisis intervention community. Our mission is to empower, equip and educate families in crisis.

We are a family-crisis intervention community. Our mission is to empower, equip and educate families in crisis.
Crown of Courage Billboard at the Pomona Fox Theatre
The Kennedy Austin Foundation's goal is to help families heal during a crisis.
The Kennedy Austin Foundation is a family-crisis intervention center serving families, youth and the homeless, in the tri-city community of Pomona, Claremont, and La Verne, California.
We serve people of myriad circumstances, ages, faiths, and cultures, providing our participants with wellness and crisis-intervention programs that are designed to educate, equip, and empower to overcome the effects of major loss.
KAF offers 16-week group programs in Grief & Loss for families who have lost a child, Domestic Violence Survivors for women only, Anger Management for dealing with one’s triggers, Mental Health classes for dealing with mental disorders, Parenting classes, and the Write the Wrongs writers workshop.
The Write the Wrong Writer’s Workshop began in August of 2016, in collaboration with Tri-City Mental Health Services. The workshop was developed to help individuals seek emotional healing and growth through journaling.
We also offer a special 16-week program for children 5- to 18-years-old called Creating Space, for children who are or have experienced childhood trauma.
Kennedy Austin Foundation has a food giveaway every Wednesday each week.
ETHEL GARDNER, THE CROWN OF COURAGE
The Kennedy Austin Foundation was founded by Ethel Gardner in March 1998 and it was born of tragedy: On May 31, 1992, Ethel’s 17-year-old son, Damon Jermaine Jones, died from injuries received in a car accident. He was on life support for seven days. Ethel’s world was rocked with grief and pain.
One year later in July 1993, Ethel created A Mother's Cry Grief Support Group to help other families dealing with the loss of a child. In March 1998, the Mother's Cry Grief Support Group became The Kennedy Austin Development Center, later named The Kennedy Austin Foundation.
The foundation’s name was inspired by the birth of Ethel's first granddaughter, Kennedy Austin, whom she thought she would never see, and who brought life and healing to Ethel's broken heart.
The videos below comprise three episodes detailing Ethel’s life before, during, and after the loss of her child. You will find the series, particularly episode 2, compelling---please share it with family, coworkers, and friends.
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Kennedy Austin Foundation Crown of Courage T-Shirts
Your donations will help the Kennedy Austin Foundation, a 501c(3) nonprofit, continue to serve as “first responders” to those in crisis by providing food, clothing, shelter, and even end-of-life planning resource services.