Faces of Sharing - Getting to know Sharing Prince George's David & Keisha Hawkins

“What I love about Sharing Prince George’s is that they are humans in service of humans,” Keisha Hawkins shared when I asked her about her Sharing Prince George’s experience.

“I think sometimes in life, we lose sight of our humanity,” she added. “Sharing Prince George’s helped me see the beauty and humanity in my community.”

As long-time residents of Prince George’s County, Keisha and David Hawkins joined Sharing Prince George’s in 2022 – bringing with them a tremendous amount of energy and experience in community engagement.

“I am the Community, He’s the Foundation,” Keisha said when describing the couple’s approach to giving back. “I’m passionate about getting my feet on the ground and getting involved in the logistics of community work in action. He is great at the critical, work behind-the-scenes like networking and connecting people.”  

David and Keisha met while studying at Howard University. Early on in their relationship, the couple enjoyed making time to get involved in community through volunteer work with organizations like the Red Cross and Capital Area Food Bank, while pursuing their respective careers – David in Banking Investments and Keisha in project management. Both have enjoyed finding ways to leverage those careers to give back to the community they love.

David provides monthly workshops with Medicare to educate people on how to manage their finances and achieve their financial goals, while Keisha is heavily involved with Meadows House Foundation – an organization that teaches aviation to youth through youth empowerment, workforce development, and STEM trainings in College Park. Both share a passion for helping others obtain valuable experiences and perspective beyond their current circumstances– helping them broaden their horizons and access their fullest and brightest potential for their future.

“It bothers us that people are forced into environments and situations where they don’t have the resources to change their circumstances,” the couple shared. “We believe it’s important to step up and be the change we want to see in our community.”

The couple was first introduced to The Community Foundation in 2016 through David’s colleague, Virginia Chueng -- a Trustee on The Community Foundation’s Board of Directors and a former member of the advisory board for The Community Foundation in Montgomery County.

At the time, David was working in Montgomery County and was often asked to attend events for nonprofits doing work in the area, including events for The Community Foundation. However, when he was invited to join Sharing Montgomery in 2019, he quickly realized that the initiative was a whole different story.

“I’d never seen this level of organization and collaboration in grantmaking,” David shared. “I was introduced to so many great organizations through the Sharing initiative that were doing incredible work in the community. It really made me want to be more involved.”

Over time, David realized that what he really wanted was to give back in the community where he and his family live – in Prince George’s County.

“Neither of the banks I work for have a presence in Prince George’s County,” David explained. “So I don’t get as many chances to learn about the people who are doing the work in my own backyard.”

So when David had an opportunity to join Sharing Prince George’s a few years later, he was excited to bring Keisha in on the action. Now in their second year on Sharing Prince George’s, the couple say they have thoroughly enjoyed being able to use their knowledge gained through Sharing Prince George’s to benefit their community.”

“We love contributing to these local organizations, however we can,” David shared. “Just knowing about the work that they do helps us to strengthen our community.”

In addition to making monetary and in-kind donations, David and Keisha have also referred friends and family members to some of the nonprofit partners – allowing them to access much needed services that they otherwise might not have known about.

“Sharing Prince George’s helped me to understand the larger scale impact of philanthropic work through a community lens,” Keisha shared. “It allowed me to interact with people from across my community, coming together to give back to the community they live in.”

“I believe in the ‘community’ part of the ‘The Community Foundation’,” she continued. “Sharing Prince George’s allowed me to see that in action.”

Keisha recently joined the advisory board for The Community Foundation in Prince George’s County, where she says she’s excited to be a force for change and an advocate for change in her community – in addition to continuing her involvement in Sharing Prince George’s with David and many of her fellow advisory board members.

“If you live in Prince George’s County and want to see improvements in your community – this is the organization to be a part of.”

Want to get involved? The Sharing Prince George’s Fund Committee welcomes new members! Contact Eliza Tolbert-Howard ([email protected]) to find out more about how you can be a part of this impactful fund!

Faces of Sharing - Getting to Know Sharing DC's Fonda Sutton

For Sharing DC Member Fonda Sutton, participating in the Sharing DC initiative has been a labor of love for the city she is proud to call home.

“I love Washington, DC,” Sutton shared. “I’ve lived in this city longer than my own birthplace. For me, this work is not only necessary – it’s personal.”

Born in a rural town in Eastern North Carolina, Sutton fell in love with DC as a young girl visiting relatives who had moved to the nation’s capital to pursue government jobs. Growing up, Sutton eagerly looked forward to spending time over the summers in “Chocolate City”.

After high school, Sutton moved to DC to attend Georgetown University – becoming the first member of her family to earn a college degree (and later a law degree – also from Georgetown). Following graduation, Sutton began a long and prestigious career within DC’s education system, working with some of the city’s early charter school founders and as a leader at DC Public Schools. She currently serves as the Partner of Public Engagement and Advocacy at Education Forward DC – an organization that provides grants to support  more high-quality educational opportunities for students.

Sutton says that while she loves some of the changes that she’s seen in the city over the years, she is mindful of DC’s ever-changing legacy for its Black and Brown residents – particularly the need to make increased investments to reduce inequities and build wealth.

“I’m super excited about the network of organizations that Sharing DC is building – especially those who are working to serve Black and Brown residents in the city,” Sutton shared. “It is so important that we highlight and support the work that they are doing.”

As a seasoned grant maker and community advocate, Sutton is no stranger to funding community work. However, Sharing DC was one of her first glimpses into donor-advised grant making – a process that she says is a win-win scenario for everybody.

“The organization I currently work for is an intermediary grant maker – we raise funds and then make investments to support and improve the education ecosystem,” Sutton explained. “It’s been heartening to instead rub shoulders with individual donors – people who really care about their community and are thinking about the grassroots level impact of their giving.”

Sutton’s experience and perspective – both in grant making and in the community – have been invaluable to the Sharing DC committee, as members work together to decide how to best use collective funds to have the greatest potential impact on the community.

“It’s a beautiful view into private philanthropy,” Sutton said of her experience on Sharing DC. “It’s a great give and take opportunity to work with other donors to strengthen the community around you.”

“It’s also a great opportunity for smaller organizations to get funding – support that makes a big difference for the work that they do in their communities,” she added. “I’ve had the privilege of observing and working with some of these organizations, and I can tell you that it means the world to them.”

Sutton says she has also enjoyed meeting with smaller nonprofit organizations that she was not previously familiar with, some of which she has been so impressed with that she has sought out ways to support them outside of Sharing DC in small and personal ways – like holiday donations through her personal book group.

“I think that many of us are very aware of the larger organizations doing good work on the issues that we relate to, based on our own experience,” she added. “But there are so many smaller organizations really hustling to serve in our community – and if they just had a little more support, it would go so far for the work they are doing.”

When asked about her future plans for participating in Sharing DC, Sutton had this to say.

“It’s important work, and I love to be a part of it – I will be there, as long as they will have me.”

Want to get involved? The Sharing DC Fund Committee welcomes new members! Contact Isabel Spake ([email protected]) to find out more about how you can be a part of this impactful fund!

Thrive Prince George’s Guaranteed Income Pilot Begins Monthly Cash Payments

The pilot will provide $800 per month for 24 months to seniors and youth who have aged out of the foster care system.

The public-private partnership behind Thrive Prince George’s, the county’s first-ever guaranteed income pilot program, are pleased to announce that cash distributions will begin this month as part of a two-year, $4 million pilot that seeks to provide greater economic stability and mobility for families in the region. The program will provide monthly cash payments of $800 to 50 youth (age 18-24) who have aged out of foster care and 125 seniors (age 60+) for a 24-month period with no strings attached.

“Studies have shown that modest guaranteed basic income pilots can decrease poverty by as much as 40%,” said Tonia Wellons, President and CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation. “We strongly believe that this program will improve the lives of many in Prince George’s County and will reduce the racial wealth gap in a way that makes it viable for the county to consider providing guaranteed basic income for years to come.”

The pilot program application period opened on December 11, 2023, and received over 5,000 inquiries for 175 slots before closing in mid-January 2024. The partners determined eligibility requirements to ensure that limited resources would be directed towards participants residing in high poverty zip codes (according to ACS and Census), representing ALICE households (earning above the Federal Poverty Level but less than the basic cost of living), with preference given to caregivers and returning citizens.

Thrive Prince George’s is funded through a public-private partnership leveraging both public and private philanthropic resources from the Greater Washington Community Foundation, Prince George’s County Executive and County Council, and the Meyer Foundation. 

"This initiative is an innovative example of how we find solutions through public-private partnerships," said Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. "Thanks to this collaborative pilot program, we're weaving a stronger social fabric and helping people improve their quality of life."

While several pilots are currently operating around the region – including in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, DC, and Montgomery County – and the country, this is the first guaranteed income program to exclusively serve residents of Prince George’s County.

“I’ve championed the guaranteed basic income program for years because I know it provides an opportunity to tackle poverty and create better quality of life for our residents,” said County Council Member Krystal Oriadha. “My hope is with more jurisdictions moving to implement programs like this, we will see an investment at the state and federal level that will allow these pilots to become permanent. I am excited about partnering with organizations like the Greater Washington Community Foundation to make this dream a reality.”

Guaranteed income programs have proven to be one of the most promising approaches to increasing financial stability. The positive impact of guaranteed income has been studied for decades, with evidence indicating that monthly cash payments can reduce income volatility and support recipients in attaining full-time employment, greater housing stability, improved health outcomes, and more.

“The Meyer Foundation is glad to partner in the growing local movement for economic justice by investing in efforts that honor the humanity and self-determination of individuals in our region,” said Meyer Foundation President and CEO George L. Askew, MD. “The positive impacts of guaranteed basic income programs like Thrive Prince George’s County have been well researched and ultimately create greater momentum toward the policy and systems change we hope to see throughout Greater Washington and beyond.”

The Community Foundation will administer the pilot program as part of its Together, We Prosper Campaign for Economic Justice, which is focused on investing in economic strategies that will increase economic mobility to help close the region’s racial wealth gap.

It has also partnered with Court Appointed Special Advocate Prince George’s County (CASA) and United Communities Against Poverty (UCAP), two community-based organizations in Prince George’s County that led the recruitment, selection, and onboarding of participants, and are distributing the cash payments.

"One's quality of life should not decline due to the privilege of age. The ability to thrive should also not be contingent upon one's socioeconomic status in their community. UCAP is privileged to have the opportunity to take a role in a pilot program that will immediately and positively impact the life of the participant...THRIVE Prince George's,” said Rasheeda Jamison-Harriott, President & CEO, United Communities Against Poverty, Inc. (UCAP).

“Youth who have experienced foster care are more likely to experience hardships such as unemployment, health issues, increased rates of incarceration, and many become unhoused. Thrive Prince George's allows Court Appointed Special Advocates/CASA to help disrupt cycles of generational poverty, create a continuum of care, and increase the likelihood of long-term stability for young people as they adjust to independence. These are our emerging adults. We want them to know that we see them, and we are honored for the opportunity to stand with an ecosystem of organizations committed to their long-term success,” said Yolanda Johnson, Executive Director, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Prince George's County.

Other program partners include Prince George’s County Department of Social Services; Prince George’s ChangeMakers, an advocate for the adoption of a guaranteed income program in Prince George’s County; and Capital Area Asset Builders, which will offer technical assistance based on its experience operating several similar programs.

The Community Foundation has also partnered with Urban Institute to measure how the economic status of participants improves over time and implement an evaluation program that balances quantitative and qualitative measures that have historically demonstrated client progress and program viability.

For more information about Thrive Prince George’s, visit www.thecommunityfoundation.org/thrive-prince-georges.  

Learning Together: Launching the Community Impact Forum Series

On April 18, The Community Foundation kicked off our Community Impact Forum series at Imagination Stage in downtown Bethesda. The event (formerly known as the Funder roundtable) is set to be the first in series of Impact Forums that The Community Foundation will host across our region to bring together fundholders, board members, corporate funders, and leaders from local private foundations.

The events – which have a strict no-solicitation policy – are designed to help participants learn more about the region and exchange ideas with other people who share a passion for strengthening the local community. 

“The Impact Forum is designed to bring us together to better understand the needs we’re experiencing in communities, look at the lessons we’ve learned from the past, and discuss the strategies we can collaborate on to solve for the future,” shared Tonia Wellons, President & CEO of The Community Foundation.

Following the warm welcome from our CEO, guests heard from Darius Graham, Managing Director of Community Investment at The Community Foundation about the soon-to-be-released VoicesDMV Community Insights report.

The VoicesDMV Community Insights report is part of a comprehensive civic engagement initiative originally launched by The Community Foundation in 2017. This year, The Community Foundation has partnered with Gallup to conduct a regional survey to uncover how residents are doing, what challenges they are facing, what their hopes and dreams for the future are, and how they view important issues.

“Effective community work starts with hearing the voices within our community,” Graham explained as he shared some exclusive findings from the report. “That’s why we are excited to share this critical resource with all of you. Together, we can use these findings to not only drive future dialogue, but also future investments.”

To learn more, be sure to register for VoicesDMV’s official release event on Tuesday, May 21 at 10 a.m. More information about the event is available on our website.

Following the presentation, Anna Hargrave, Executive Director for Montgomery County, moderated a conversation with Alan Berube, Interim Vice President and Director of Brookings Metro and co-author of the book Confronting Suburban Poverty in America.

“We are at a point in this country where poverty is more pervasive in the suburbs than it is in big cities,” Berube shared when asked to respond to insights from the VoicesDMV report. “When we talk about how we address poverty in suburbs – like Montgomery County – we have to talk about the systemic barriers that are contributing to it.”

Berube explained that most suburban communities in America were not originally designed with the infrastructure necessary to serve families living below the federal poverty line.

As more families from diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds have migrated to the suburbs in recent decades, many jurisdictions have been struggled to develop systems such as public transportation systems, scalable wrap-around services, and other basic aspects of anti-poverty infrastructure that are often more readily accessible in larger cities.

“The pandemic magnified these needs all around the country but especially in the suburbs,” Berube outlined. “The number of people living below the Federal Poverty Line in the suburbs is now three times higher than those living in larger cities.”

“Fortunately, many community foundations have played a huge role at stepping in and mobilizing to meet those needs.”

Berube applauded the Greater Washington Community Foundation for collaborating with local leadership to establish community partnerships that have allowed nonprofits to expand into Montgomery County, begin to address some of these infrastructure gaps, and push for systemic change that will help the entire community. He encouraged donors and community leaders to continue to seek out and fund organizations – especially smaller community-led nonprofits -- that see and treat the “whole family”, as opposed to solving for isolated issues.

Attendees left the event feeling energized to continue the conversation and work together to address our community’s most pressing needs.

If you’d like to learn more about future convenings, please contact Anna Hargrave at [email protected].

Sharing NoVA: Building Community, One Grant at a Time

The small but mighty team behind Joyful Hands - a first-time nonprofit partner with Sharing NoVA that works to provide education, literacy and access to community resources in the Richmond Highway Corridor.

For Yolonda Earl-Thompson, making a difference in the community has always started in one place – in the community.

“Community-led efforts are important because they bring humanity and trust into the change that the community seeks,” Earl-Thompson shared.

“When change happens from within the community, it is a seed planted that takes root and encourages future community members to value and evolve the work.”

Currently the founder and Executive Director of mental health advocacy nonprofit, LAZERA Ministries, Earl-Thompson has more than a decade of experience in community-based advocacy and nonprofit work in the Richmond Highway Corridor in Southeast Fairfax County – one of the priority neighborhoods identified by The Community Foundation in its 10 Year Strategic Plan.

So when The Community Foundation decided to launch its Sharing Northern Virginia initiative, this past year, they asked Earl-Thompson to help facilitate -- ensuring that the new initiative would have the greatest possible impact on communities in Northern Virginia.

“Sharing Community Funds are designed to connect donors to the organizations that are doing the most good in their community – no matter how big or small they are,” shared Benton Murphy, Director of Fund Administration and Special Projects at The Community Foundation. 

First launched in Montgomery County and later in neighboring DC & Prince George’s County, The Community Foundation’s Sharing Community Funds are designed to bring together donors who share passion for building more equitable, just, and thriving communities. 

A community event with Loving Hands Touch Ministry, Inc, a nonprofit partners with the new Sharing Northern Virginia initiative that provides essential human services to underserved communities.

Facilitated by The Community Foundation’s staff and partners like Earl-Thompson, Sharing donors learn first-hand about the challenges facing their specific community. Together, they meet with and make impactful grants to visionary nonprofits working on the frontlines of our region’s most pressing needs.

Across the region, the initiatives have already had a tremendous impact -- distributing more than $2.7 million to dozens of nonprofit organizations in DC, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County since 2022 alone. 

For the inaugural launch of Sharing Northern Virginia, The Community Foundation convened a small group of community leaders and professional advisors like Lindsay Shetterly to be a part of this exciting initiative. Shetterly is a wealth advisor who works with clients to help them maximize the impact of their charitable giving.

“Through the Sharing NoVA program, I learned from local leaders about the diversity and depth of needs in our community,” Shetterly explained. “While many of these organizations are young and still building their foundations, their work is incredibly meaningful and crucial to many.  They are changing lives.” 

“I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of this initiative.  I am now more aware of how I can support and serve the organizations that are bridging the gaps, creating pathways for success, and inspiring people to make their dreams a reality.”

Working with Earl-Thompson, the Sharing Northern Virginia committee met with several nonprofit organizations based in The Community Foundation’s priority neighborhoods in Richmond Highway and Bailey’s Crossroads. Committee members learned about the history of the communities, as well as ongoing issues of food insecurity, accessibility of transportation and educational opportunities, and other pressing community issues that nonprofits are working tirelessly to meet in their communities.

“It’s important that we take the time to not only meet the people doing the work, but also to understand the community where the work is being done,” Earl-Thompson shared. “The better we can understand the community, the more impactful our investments can be.”

Hardemon Dynasty, Inc a nonprofit partners with the Sharing Northern Virginia initiative that provides affordable housing and wrap-around services to young adults aging out of foster care.

At the end of the process, the Sharing Northern Virginia Committee awarded a total of $100,000 in multi-year funding to eight different nonprofit organizations. The grants were awarded towards general operating costs – allowing organizations to invest in their infrastructure and sustainability. What is especially exciting is that many of these organizations were receiving a grant from The Community Foundation for the very first time. 

“What makes Sharing Funds unique is that we have an opportunity to fund organizations that haven’t yet received the funding or recognition that they deserve,” Benton added. “A lot of them are younger, innovative organizations that are doing incredible work, but don’t have the capacity, staffing or connections to go after big grants or media opportunities.”

Organizations like Joyful Hands – a small nonprofit that has been providing access to school supplies and nutritious food to over 300 school-age children in the Richmond Highway corridor. 

“We are incredibly enthusiastic about the opportunity to increase our service capacity in our community,” Founder Elizabeth T. Rainey shared. “This multi-year funding will help us expand our reach, deepen our impact, and enhance our community programs.”

The Community Foundation plans to use the multi-year funding as a platform to create a cohort with the eight nonprofit partners – allowing them to learn from each other and collaborate in order to have an even greater impact on the community. The cohort will also provide a forum for The Community Foundation and future Sharing Northern Virginia committees to learn more about community needs and discuss ways to make more innovative and impactful investments in future funding rounds.

Click here to Meet the 2024 Sharing Northern Virginia Nonprofit Partners!

Want to get involved in Sharing Northern Virginia and find ways to make meaningful investments in your community?

New committee members are always welcome! Contact Benton Murphy at [email protected]

Leaders of the Future: Sharing Northern Virginia Nonprofit Partners

In 2024, The Community Foundation is highlighting 'Leaders of the Future' - individuals and organizations who inspire us to look towards a brighter future for Greater Washington.

This month, we are excited to highlight nonprofit leaders from our very first round of Sharing Northern Virginia funding. Sharing Community Initiatives facilitate connections between donors and nonprofits to build more equitable, just, and thriving communities.

Part of that initiative includes awarding intentional, multi-year grants designed to empower our nonprofit partners and the communities they serve. In 2024, Sharing Northern Virginia was pleased to award $100,000 in multi-year grants to eight incredible organizations doing impactful work in Northern Virginia. Below are a few responses from some of our partners about the critical work they are doing in our communities!

• Joyful Hands

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  Murraygate Village Apartments, Stony Brook Apartments, Creekside Village Apartments, Audubon Estates along the Richmond Highway corridor in Alexandria, Virginia are among the vibrant communities that Joyful Hands has had the privilege to serve. While we have provided assistance to several communities, our primary focus and dedication lie with the Murraygate Village community.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  Our mission is deeply rooted in the conviction that education, literacy, and access to community resources are foundational pillars of thriving societies.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  The funding from the Sharing Community Initiative will have a significant impact on our work at Joyful Hands. With this support, we will be able to expand our reach and deepen our impact. For example, we provided essential school supplies to over 300 school-age children and access to nutritious food for more residents each month. This funding will be invaluable in addressing food insecurity and enhancing our community programs.

  What excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  At Joyful Hands, we are incredibly enthusiastic about the opportunity to increase our service capacity. By expanding our reach to more families and youth, we aim to make a more profound impact on the overall well-being of our community and its residents. Through our expanded services, we hope to provide vital resources and support that will not only address immediate needs but also create lasting positive change in the lives of those we serve. We believe that by extending our reach, we can foster a stronger, more resilient community where every individual has the opportunity to thrive.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  As a nonprofit leader, our dreams and aspirations for the future are deeply rooted in creating a more equitable and compassionate society. We envision a future where every individual, regardless of their background or circumstances, has access to the resources and opportunities they need to thrive. We aspire to continue expanding our impact, reaching more marginalized communities, and providing meaningful support that empowers individuals to overcome challenges and achieve their full potential. Ultimately, we hope to contribute to a future where kindness, empathy, and collaboration are the cornerstones of our communities, creating a world where everyone has the opportunity to lead a fulfilling and dignified life.

• Hardemon Dynasty, Inc

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  We currently serve communities in Alexandria, Woodbridge, Fredericksburg, Richmond, and Petersburg, Virginia.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  Our Mission and continued effort is to provide affordable housing to young adults that will age out of foster care along with providing support and resources such as life skills during their transition to independence.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  With the funding received from Sharing Community Initiative, we're able to get one step closer to our goal of assisting 2 young adults with a financial housing subsidy and hygiene essentials for this year.

  What excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  What excites us the most is that others believe in our vision and understand the need to be a support system for our young adults who are ageing out of foster care.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  Our dream is that no child has to face homelessness. We are inspired by knowing that every effort we make on their behalf is a step in the right direct towards their future. With the help from partners like Community Foundation we can build a housing development where they are safe in the comfort of their own home.

• Culmore Clinic

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  We provide healthcare services at no cost to eligible adults in Fairfax County and our primary service area is the Bailey's Crossroads to Seven Corners corridor. Fifty-five percent of our patients have a Falls Church address.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  Culmore Clinic advances health by bringing community together to provide primary care, health education and disease prevention services at no cost to uninsured neighbors in Fairfax County. We serve a diverse, growing population of adult residents in a densely immigrant populated area of Fairfax County. Residents of our community are often unable to access healthcare, affordable health insurance or public assistance. Culmore Clinic exists to help these uninsured residents of our region receive the healthcare they need to thrive.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  Funding from the Sharing Community Initiative supports our patients by helping us sustain our volunteer supported healthcare services. As a medical home for our patients, we are not only supporting annual check-ups, but also chronic disease management and medical screening for a variety of health conditions. As an example, one of our female patients is currently undergoing radiation treatment after a mastectomy. This 56-year-old patient was referred for mammography after an in-clinic exam revealed a lump in her breast requiring further screening. This patient credits Culmore Clinic with saving her life. The support from the Sharing Community Initiative allows Culmore Clinic to continue to provide cancer screening and other health and wellness initiatives.

  What excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  The collective impact of the Sharing Community funding throughout our region is the perfect demonstration how regional philanthropy programming expands the offerings of nonprofits for the benefit of community members for whom meeting basic needs can be challenging. We are fortunate to be among those organizations receiving support and are eager to be connected to the broader community of nonprofits who all share a mutual interest in helping our neighbors.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  Our commitment to patient health and wellness is our greatest priority. We strive to provide culturally sensitive medical care to all members of the community who struggle to access quality care. Our "why" is the widespread need for healthcare services. Our "how" is the community of volunteers and donors who come together to support their neighbors. It is our hope that this model of harnessing the expertise and skills of community members to help their neighbors in need is multiplied across the region.

• Loving Hands Touch Ministry, Inc

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  We serve Mount Vernon, Hybla Valley, Bailey's Crossroads, and Springfield communities in Northern Virginia

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  Loving Hands Touch Ministry is a non-profit organization that provides essential human services to underserved communities. Its mission is to address immediate needs while empowering individuals and families to achieve self-sufficiency, ensuring access to necessities like food, shelter, healthcare, and education. Through its vital services, the organization aims to uplift marginalized communities and break the cycle of poverty.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  The funding from the Sharing Community Initiative will be instrumental in supporting our efforts to serve underserved communities. The funding will also be a game-changer, allowing us to expand our outreach and provide vital services that make a tangible difference in the lives of those we serve.

  One successful outcome was our summer drug prevention program in Baileys and Hybla Valley last year. This program provided educational resources and counseling to at-risk youth, teaching them healthy coping mechanisms and positive decision-making skills. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants and their families, with many crediting the program for helping keep them away from substance abuse.

  Another impactful outcome was the Women's Health is Wealth program, which empowered women through health education and screening services. By improving access to healthcare, we facilitated referrals for screening of various conditions that impact women, ultimately enhancing the overall well-being of women in our community. Numerous participants expressed gratitude for the life-changing support provided through this program.

  Additionally, our after-school bullying program for elementary students proved highly beneficial. This program equipped young students with essential coping strategies to constructively address bullying situations. By cultivating a supportive environment and promoting empathy, we aimed to create a safer and more inclusive school experience for all children.

  What excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  As a first-time recipient of the Sharing Community Initiative funding, I am most excited about the opportunity to expand the reach and impact of our programs within the communities we serve. This vital financial support will enable us to strengthen existing initiatives and explore new avenues to address pressing needs more comprehensively.

  One area I am particularly enthusiastic about is the potential to enhance our youth development programs. The funding could allow us to introduce additional educational and mentorship components, providing young people with valuable skills, guidance, and resources to navigate challenges and unlock their full potential. By investing in our youth, we can foster a brighter future for the entire community.

  Furthermore, I am excited about the prospect of collaborating with other organizations supported by the Sharing Community Initiative. Such partnerships could lead to innovative cross-sector approaches, leveraging our collective expertise and resources to tackle complex social issues more effectively. By joining forces, we can amplify our impact and create sustainable, holistic solutions that uplift our communities.

  Above all, I am grateful for the recognition and support from the Sharing Community Initiative, which will enable us to continue our mission with renewed vigor and increased capacity. This funding represents a vote of confidence in our work and will empower us to effect meaningful, lasting change in the lives of those we serve.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  Firstly, I aspire to see our organization become a beacon of hope and empowerment for even more individuals and families in need. My vision is to expand our reach, forging new partnerships, and exploring innovative approaches to address the multifaceted challenges faced by marginalized communities. By consistently evolving and adapting our programs, we can remain responsive to the ever-changing needs of those we serve.

  Additionally, I dream of fostering a more inclusive and equitable society where every person, regardless of their circumstances, has access to the resources and opportunities necessary to thrive. I envision our organization playing a pivotal role in breaking down systemic barriers and advocating for policies and initiatives that promote social justice, economic mobility, and equal access to essential services.

  Furthermore, I aspire to nurture a culture of collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the nonprofit sector. By fostering strong networks and open dialogues, we can learn from one another's experiences, leverage collective wisdom, and amplify our collective impact. Together, we can champion sustainable solutions that address the root causes of societal issues, rather than merely treating the symptoms.

  Ultimately, my dream is to witness a future where our organization's services are no longer as desperately needed – a future where every individual and community has the means to achieve self-sufficiency and live with dignity. While this may seem like an ambitious goal, I believe that through unwavering dedication, strategic partnerships, and a shared commitment to positive change, we can make significant strides toward creating a more just and equitable world for all.

• Future Kings

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  We serve the Hybla Valley community in Northern Virginia.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  We want to use education, mentoring, training, practical experiences, and mastery of 21st century technology in order to create a pipeline of young men from underserved communities who excel in STEM related careers and positively influence their communities.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  This funding has allowed us to expand our offering from Prince William County into the Rt. 1 corridor of Fairfax County. In this case, this funding will allow us to bring a cybersecurity internship program to the Hybla Valley area.

  What excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  Most exciting for us is the support for helping us reach students in our target demographic access advanced training in college-level cybersecurity training. This training will directly impact the students ability to gain entry-level employment in cybersecurity

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  We would like to see a pipeline of students from economically challenged household into lucrative STEM-based careers

• The Growth and Healing HUB

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  The Growth And Healing HUB can provide service to anyone residing in the state of Virginia. However, our office is strategically located in the Mount Vernon/Gum Springs/Alexandria region of Fairfax County, in the 22306 and 22309 ZIP codes.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  The HUB’s mission is to grow and nurture the mental health and well-being of children, youth, young adults, and families. We accept most major insurance and will turn no one away due to inability to pay.

  What excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  The Sharing Community initiative is a game-changer. It allows us to expand our fiduciary team, keeping administrative costs lean. This translates directly into more resources for what matters most: our community. By hiring additional clinicians, we can make an even greater impact on the lives of those we serve. That's what the HUB is all about – creating a meaningful difference.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  The HUB aspires to be the cornerstone of mental wellness in our community. We strive to be recognized for exceptional care and impactful outreach programs. Here, everyone feels safe and supported, receiving the help they deserve.

• New Hope Housing

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  We serve homeless individuals in northern Virginia, including Arlington, Fairfax and Alexandria City.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  Our mission is to provide case management, permanent housing and shelter to support the needs of homeless individuals in Northern Virginia.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  We just received the funding and believe it will help us to improve our organizational capacity and infrastructure.

  What excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  I'm excited to have the opportunity to rethink the way the organization delivers service and to reimagine the work. As the new ED its a perfect time to work with the staff to help them vision for the future.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  My goal is to deliver services in a way that we can demonstrably see how it puts our clients on a pathway to sustainable housing. I am also excited about playing a role in reducing incidents of homelessness and making sure that clients have tools to help them navigate in a community that has priced them out.

• Arm & Arm Inc

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  Rt 1 Richmond Hwy Corridor, Mt Vernon

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  Our Mission is to work with individuals during high-crisis transition periods of their lives. Changing the paradigm of how transition servicess are delivered.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  The Sharing Community Initiative has allowed us to increase our outreach capacity in some of the most hard hit areas like the 7-elevens on Lockheed, and Russell. This has lead to an increase in supportive services and a decrease already in erratic bus behaviors.

  What excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  We are most excited about the new networking connection and opportunities with other small non-profits in the area. We are also excited about the simplicity of the application process.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  We want to grow our Peer-Based work to the point where those served will become members, volunteers and serve yet others who we can't reach. This builds whole and health communities and empowers residents.

Want to get involved in Sharing Northern Virginia and find ways to make meaningful investments in your community?

New committee members are always welcome! Contact Benton Murphy at [email protected]

Community Foundation's Sharing Community Funds Announce $910,000 in Funding for Regional Nonprofits

The Greater Washington Community Foundation is excited to announce $910,000 in grants awarded through its Sharing Community Funds this past cycle.

The Sharing Community Funds bring together donors who share our passion for building more equitable, just, and thriving communities.  With expert facilitation by Community Foundation staff, donors join together to learn first-hand about the challenges facing our community. Thanks to the generosity of this growing community of givers, together we discover and invest in visionary nonprofits working on the frontlines of our region’s most pressing needs.   

In alignment with our Strategic Vision, the Sharing Community Funds focused on the three intervention areas of the racial wealth gap — Basic Needs, Economic Mobility, and Community Wealth Building.

This year, The Community Foundation also celebrated the launch of a new Sharing Community initiative in Northern Virginia! Click here to Learn more!

See Below for a complete list of our nonprofit partners for 2024, sorted by category.

2024 Sharing Community Fund
Nonprofit Partners- Basic Needs

• Sharing DC

  •DC Jobs with Justice engages in systems change advocacy campaigns to meet basic needs like housing stability, minimum wages, cash assistance, and health access.

  •Wendt Center for Loss and Healing provides access to high quality mental healthcare services for low-income and marginalized children, adults, and families.

• Sharing Montgomery

  •The UpCounty Hub (2024 Multi-Year) was founded with the philosophy of providing low-income individuals and families with food and other essential social services without barriers, allowing them to maintain their privacy and dignity. Since its founding in 2020, the UpCounty Hub has grown every year, currently feeding approximately 1,100 families a week via drive-thru distributions, home deliveries, and its choice-pantry walk-in services. More recently, its services expanded to include social services, connecting residents to vital resources such as SNAP.

  •AfriThrive empowers African immigrants to grow and share healthy, culturally appropriate produce with residents facing food insecurity. Its training programs help families achieve self-reliance and economic stability.

  •Care for Your Health provides culturally sensitive in-home health care to elders. Patients are served by trained staff from their own community in touch with their circumstances and needs.

  •Community Bridges, Inc empowers girls in elementary, middle, and high schools to discover their unique identity, voice, and potential through leadership development, college and career readiness, and family support and mentoring.

  •Community Farmshare strives to create a local sustainable food system. It supports small scale farmers by purchasing fresh produce for low-income children and residents struggling with diet-related chronic diseases.

  •Crittenton Services of Greater Washington helps teenage girls achieve academic success, make healthy choices, and chart their own bright futures. Its virtual and school-based programs teach teenage girls to value their education, build healthy relationships, speak up for their own needs, and explore paths toward college and careers.

  •Horizons Greater Washington supports students from low-income families for nine years, from kindergarten through eighth grade. The organization works to foster a joyful environment full of academic, artistic, and athletic activities that inspire young minds and build a love of learning.

  •Housing Unlimited provides affordable, independent housing for adults in mental health recovery in Montgomery County. The organization promotes independence and recovery by providing a stable and comfortable home, allowing tenants to focus on becoming valued and integrated members of the community.

  •Kingdom Global Community Development Corporation operates the East County Hub which distributes food, diapers, and COVID-19 support. The organization also has other public-private partnerships that address food security, health and wellness, education, employment, and housing.

  •Manna Food Center works to eliminate hunger through food distribution, healthy eating education, and advocacy. Its extensive network includes supported more than 50,000 participants over the past year, distributing 4.6 million pounds of food.

  •Mary's Center provides health care, education, and social services to build healthier and stronger communities. In response to COVID-19, Mary’s Center worked to prevent the spread of the virus by offering testing and vaccinations to community members through the Greater Washington region.

  •National Alliance on Mental Illness of Montgomery County (NAMI MC) provides comprehensive support, education, advocacy, and public awareness to promote recovery so that individuals and families affected by mental illness can build better lives.

  •Rainbow Community Development Corporation provides food security relief paired with other safety net services including PPE distribution, eviction and utility cutoff prevention, temporary short-term shelter, and job search and resume assistance.

  •Rainbow Place Shelter provides emergency overnight shelter to women during the hypothermia season and assists them as they transition to a better quality of life. Additionally, the organization is working to open a new year-round, LGBTQ-inclusive shelter to provide a safe haven for youth and young adults.

  •Red Wiggler Community Farm provides comprehensive on-farm training and education programs for adults with developmental disabilities. Half of its organic produce is donated to low-income households throughout Montgomery County.

  •Stepping Stones Shelter leverages partnerships to provide food and integrated essential services to low-income community members. Since inception, it has provided emergency shelter to over 1,035 Montgomery County families.

• Sharing Northern Virginia

  Joyful Hands is deeply rooted in the conviction that education, literacy, and access to community resources are foundational pillars of thriving societies. They provide access to essential school supplies and nutritious food for community members.

  Culmore Clinic advances health by bringing community together to provide primary care, health education and disease prevention services at no cost to uninsured neighbors in Fairfax County.

  Loving Hands Touch Ministry addresses immediate community needs while empowering individuals and families to achieve self-sufficiency, ensuring access to necessities like food, shelter, healthcare, and education.

  The Growth and Healing HUB grows and nurtures the mental health and well-being of children, youth, young adults, and families. They provide services to anyone residing in the state of Virginia and strive to help all feel safe & supported and receive the help they deserve.

  New Hope Housing provides case management, permanent housing and shelter to support the needs of homeless individuals in Northern Virginia.

  Arm & Arm, Inc provides peer-to-peer mentoring and trauma recovery services to communities across Northern Virginia.

2024 Sharing Community Fund
Nonprofit Partners - Economic Mobility

• Sharing DC

  •Byte Back creates opportunities for upward economic mobility by providing computer foundations, certification training and wraparound support to help marginalized adults develop essential digital skills.

  •TRIGGER Project (2024 Multi-Year) partners with the DC Department of Employment Services to provide paid summer jobs and advocacy training for youth who have experienced or are at-risk of experiencing gun violence.

• Sharing Montgomery

  •Identity, Inc. (2024 Multi-Year) empowers youth and their families with the social-emotional, academic, workforce, and life skills they need to succeed in the modern world. It operates at schools, in the community, and on playing fields, working to reach Latino and other historically underserved residents. Like family, Identity celebrates victories and offers extra help when something more is needed. Last year alone, Identity reached more than 45,000 Montgomery County residents.

  •Future Link (2024 Multi-Year) seeks to close the opportunity divide for first-generation-to-college, high-potential young adults (ages 18-25) by providing them with the resources, knowledge, skills, and personalized support needed to achieve their education and career goals. Annually, Future Link serves 300 students with transformative services including paid internships, career coaching, mentoring, tutoring, scholarships, and more.

  •Crossroads Community Food Network provides training and support for startup food businesses and healthy eating education to local students and shoppers at Crossroads Farmers Market. Its farmers market nutrition incentives allow federal nutrition benefits recipients to double the value of these benefits spent at the market.

  •Generation Hope provides cohort and one-on-one mentoring support plus scholarships for low-income teen parents pursuing college degrees. It recently added early childhood programming to equip families with the resources necessary for their children to start kindergarten with a strong academic foundation.

  •Housing Initiative Partnership develops innovative affordable housing. In addition, it seeks to revitalizes neighborhoods and equip people to achieve their housing and financial goals through financial coaching and bilingual housing counseling.

  •Interfaith Works provides emergency assistance and counseling, vocational services, food distributions, clothing, and shelter for those experiencing homelessness. With volunteers from 165 faith communities, its integrated prevention, stabilization, and empowerment programs support homeless low-income county residents.

  •Montgomery College Foundation, co-leads the Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success (ACES) program in partnership with Montgomery County Public Schools and The Universities at Shady Grove. ACES provides individualized academic coaching, scholarship opportunities, and career readiness to underrepresented high school students, for a seamless and supportive pathway to a bachelor’s degree.

• Sharing Northern Virginia

  Future Kings uses education, mentoring, training, practical experiences, and mastery of 21st century technology in order to create a pipeline of young men from underserved communities who excel in STEM related careers and positively influence their communities.

  Hardemon Dynasty, Inc provides affordable housing for young adults aging out of foster care and offer sufficient support during their transition to independence.

• Sharing Prince George's

  •Life After Release (LAR) is a women-led organization focused on building a post-conviction movement, identifying challenges and creating solutions for formerly incarcerated federal/state prisoners, bailed-out moms, and mothers of youth offenders and juvenile lifers. The organization work is grounded in a vision of self-determination for directly impacted communities and partners with Howard Law and other legal services to advocate for their legal empowerment.

  •Hillside Childrens Foundation provides essential mentoring programs for middle school and high school students. The programs are designed to provide students a path to economic mobility through college preparation and job readiness programs.

  •HomeFreeUSA (2024 Multi-Year) is a fast track to homeownership program that helps renters prepare for mortgage approval and homeownership. The program provides one-on-one guidance, housing counseling, and financial planning to help low-income individuals on the path to homeownership.

  •Leep to College Foundation helps at-risk youth by providing academic support, financial education and year-round formal and informal learning experiences to students in Prince Geoge’s County public schools. The program works with students starting in the 7th/8th grade and works with them until they graduate high school and beyond.

2024 Sharing Community Fund Nonprofit Partners - Individual & Community Wealth Building

• Sharing DC

  •Women Palante (2024 Multi-Year) empowers Latina women through a holistic approach to entrepreneurship that supports business creation, mental health, legal and financial orientation.

  •Gatebridge Community (2024 Multi-Year) is on a mission to transform low-wealth communities by fostering a culture of cooperative ownership to build wealth and create sustainable neighborhoods. The organization is partnering with the Coalition for Racial Equity (CREDE) and the National Coop Grocery to launch a network of five worker and consumer owned co-op grocery stores in the DMV – including two serving communities in Ward 7 & 8.

• Sharing Montgomery

  •Capital Area Asset Building Corporation provides financial literacy and matched savings programs, enabling low-income residents to become financially stable and pursue their dreams.

  •Habitat for Humanity Metro Maryland provides home preservation and homeownership programs that help low-income families live a more stable, self-reliant life. Its staff, homeowners, and volunteers have completed nearly 850 projects since its inception.

  •Montgomery Moving Forward is a collective impact initiative which convenes leaders from government, business, philanthropy, education, and nonprofits to solve complex problems facing the county. As a capacity building partner, Sharing Montgomery’s grant empowers MMF’s nonprofit leaders to advocate around pressing issues that affect their clients, especially around challenges related to economic opportunity and early childhood education.

  •Nonprofit Montgomery supports local organizations around government relations, advocacy, strategic communications, financial management, metrics tracking, and cross-sector problem solving. As a capacity building partner, Sharing Montgomery’s support will enable our direct-service grantees to receive the personalized support and connections that will help them deepen their impact.

• Sharing Prince George's

  •Gatebridge Community is on a mission to transform low-wealth communities by fostering a culture of cooperative ownership to build wealth and create sustainable neighborhoods. The organization is partnering with the Coalition for Racial Equity (CREDE) and the National Coop Grocery to launch a network of five worker and consumer owned co-op grocery stores in the DMV – including one in Prince George’s County.

  •Seed Spot (2024 Multi-Year) is on a mission to educate, accelerate, and invest in diverse entrepreneurs who are creating solutions to social problems. The program provides entrepreneurs with mentors and an intensive 10-week impact accelerator designed to help them raise capital to start their business.

  •Washington Area Community Investment Fund (WACIF) promotes equity and economic opportunity in underserved neighborhoods in the DMV by providing access to capital products, services ,and capacity-building technical assistance for low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs.

Greater Washington Community Foundation Receives $500,000 PNC Foundation Grant to Support Small Businesses in Prince George's County

Eligible Small Businesses Along Blue and Purple Line Corridors Can Apply for Grants up to $20,000

The Greater Washington Community Foundation announced the launch of the Prince George’s County Small Business Support Program made possible through $500,000 in funding from the PNC Foundation to support small business infrastructure and development in Prince George’s County.

Managed by The Community Foundation, the program will provide grants and technical assistance to small businesses operating along the Blue and Purple Line corridors providing greater opportunities to harness the economic benefits of development in the area. The program, which was designed in conjunction with several leading business groups in the county, including LISC, Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce, Purple Line Coalition, Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation, FSC First and Bowie BIC, supports the growth and sustainability of small businesses as key employers and economic drivers in the county. The program will serve an area that is home to a number of BIPOC-owned small businesses, and it aligns with The Community Foundation’s ongoing efforts to foster economic mobility and community wealth building with a goal of helping to close the region’s racial wealth gap.

“Ninety-five percent of all businesses in Prince George’s County are small businesses and they contribute nearly half of all jobs in the county,” said Tonia Wellons, president and CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation. “We are proud to work with the PNC Foundation to enhance small business infrastructure and connect business capital to the region’s economic anchors to help address persistent racial wealth disparities and set a new paradigm for economic development in Prince George’s County.”

Small businesses along the Purple Line and Blue Line corridors in Prince George’s County face significant challenges while these transformational infrastructure projects are under development. Due to disruptions caused by construction, as well as the ongoing effects of the pandemic, small businesses require increased access to resources and support for operational costs, technical upgrades, and other assistance to retain and grow their customer base and workforce.  

“Our grant to the Greater Washington Community Foundation is a reflection of our shared focus on making an impact on the communities where we live and work,” said D. Jermaine Johnson, PNC regional president of Greater Washington and Virginia. “Delivering our resources in support of this program will have significant impact for our region’s small businesses. It will enable entrepreneurs to further realize their vision and strengthen economic vitality in Prince George’s County.”

The PNC Foundation grant is in line with similar support for small businesses in other markets in which the bank operates designed to provide deep technical assistance and micro equity funding.

Eligible small businesses may apply for up to $20,000 in grants between April 15 – May 13 2024. Selected program participants can apply the grant funding to help cover operational costs (payroll, rent, utilities, etc.), technology, marketing, capital improvements, relocation services and technical assistance to build business capacity for sustainability and strategic growth.

This program will specifically target small businesses that employ 10 or fewer employees and have been in operation for more than 3 years out of a location within the target corridors in Prince George’s County. Applicants will need to demonstrate financial need, sustainability and growth potential, potential to create jobs and/or stimulate economic growth, community impact and business regulatory compliance.

For more information on eligibility and to complete an application, https://www.thecommunityfoundation.org/for-nonprofits.

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Greater Washington Community Foundation

For over 50 years, the Greater Washington Community Foundation has ignited the power of philanthropy to respond to critical community needs and build a thriving region where every person prospers. A galvanizing force for economic justice, The Community Foundation partners with generous individuals, families, and businesses, making it easy and effective for our donors to identify impactful nonprofits and support the greater good in the communities we call home. As the region’s largest local funder, the Greater Washington Community Foundation has invested nearly $1.7 billion in building equitable, just, and thriving communities across DC, Montgomery County, Northern Virginia, and Prince George’s County. To learn more, visit thecommunityfoundation.org.

PNC Foundation

The PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group (www.pnc.com), actively supports organizations that provide services for the benefit of communities in which it has a significant presence. The foundation focuses its philanthropic mission on early childhood education and community and economic development, which includes the arts and culture. Through PNC Grow Up Great®, its signature cause that began in 2004, PNC has created a bilingual $500 million, multi-year initiative to help prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life.

Economic Justice for All

On Tuesday, April 30, The Community Foundation is hosting the 2024 Health Equity Summit - With Equity & Economic Justice For All at Riverside Church. Click here to Register!

Editor’s Note: In this guest post, Dr. Marla Dean, Senior Director of the Health Equity Fund shares her point of view on what health equity for all means to her and why it’s important for funders and community partners to come together on this issue.

I purchased a home in Ward 7 in the Southeast quadrant of the city. When my husband and I decided it was time to buy this home, we wanted a neighborhood that reminded us of the places where we were born and nurtured. I grew up in Detroit, the home of the automobile, unions, Motown, Aretha Franklin, and Kem. My husband grew up in Roosevelt, NY., the home of Dr. J, Eddie Murphy, Howard Stern and Public Enemy. We grew up in communities rich with culture, the arts, and radical political thought. We were excited about our predominately African American, East of the River neighborhood. Our neighborhood boasts beautiful, single-family brick homes, many with attached garages, large front and back yards, and sprawling hills. Except for the hills, it is just like the places we grew up.

When we moved to our community, I had no idea that we were not only moving east of the Anacostia River but we were moving to what so many deemed “the other side of the tracks.” This experience was not new to us because my husband came from a small section of Long Island in the ultra-wealthy New York City suburbs that most people avoid. And Detroit has always been a place thought of as persistently dangerous and abysmally poor.

While I love my neighborhood, over time I came to understand the history of structural racism in DC and how it impacts our daily lives. A history of redlining, school segregation and lack of home rule has resulted in vast inequities between the eight wards. Some impacts are trivial. When my son, Aaron, now a graduate of Morehouse College, was in high school wanting to date a young lady from another part of town, her father told me he was very concerned about his daughter dating someone from Southeast DC. Others have more far-reaching implications, like the impact of concentrated poverty on a community’s safety, hopes and dreams, the experience of food deserts, or the fact that so many of our school-age children leave their communities daily, heading north and west in search of a “quality” education.

Can you imagine the effects of having to spend years leaving your own community because you are consistently told that your own community cannot educate you well, or the loss of social connectedness to family, friends, and neighbors because you are spending hours in a day traveling to and from school?  As one person said in a recent community listening session, “As a Black woman . . . I see that our network is not as strong as it used to be in the city. I was here for Chocolate City. But I just don't know what is happening and what has happened to us as a people in DC, my Black people.” These are the social impacts but there are economic impacts too.

By now, many of us have heard the statistic that the Greater Washington DC Region has a racial wealth gap of 81:1 white to Black. But did you know that this racial wealth gap increases exponentially as one’s level of educational attainment increases? (Long, 2020)

Can you imagine a world where the higher the education level you reach, the wider that wealth gap becomes between you and your white peers?  This is because my community experiences lower assessed home values, greater student loan and other debt, and significantly lower wages. Can you imagine being a child watching all of this at play and coming to the realization that education is not the great equalizer. As another community member said in one of our listening sessions, “I think one of the things that's really contributing to the crime is gentrification. Because we're seeing all these extravagant buildings that nobody can afford.” Imagine looking around you and seeing great wealth but also knowing you will never experience its benefits. So, our pursuit for economic justice for all can only be realized when we all experience real equity and true liberation.

For more information about the Black-White Economic divide, please read  

Heather Long’s article, “The Black-White Economic Divide Is as Wide as It Was in 1968.” Washington Post, 4 June 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/04/economic-divide-black-households/.

Liberation for All

On Tuesday, April 30, The Community Foundation is hosting the 2024 Health Equity Summit - With Equity & Economic Justice For All at Riverside Church. Click here to Register!

Editor’s Note: In this guest post, Dr. Marla Dean, Senior Director of the Health Equity Fund shares her point of view on what health equity for all means to her and why it’s important for funders and community partners to come together on this issue.

As a Detroit native, I am proud that my late Congressman John Conyers (D-Detroit) introduced a reparations bill into Congress every year since 1989. He did this for nearly 30 years until he retired from Congress. Many towns, and even a state or two, have reparation taskforces. A very few have distributed some form of reparations to the descendants of those who were enslaved, faced Jim Crow, and suffered under de facto segregation. The point is the call for reparations ain’t new.

I have always had a marginal relationship with the call for reparations. I have never spoken against them, but I have also thought they would never happen in my lifetime. Completely understanding that reparations are the only true remedy to make my people whole, I thought of reparations like my 98-year-old grandmother thought of a Black president: it could never happen in her lifetime. But it did.

So, I kept my eye on reparations, while preferring to work on issues that seemed closer in proximity and had a greater probability of being solved like poverty, racism, and sexism. And as I watched from my side eye, the movement gained momentum. I even had the audacity to attend a symposium co-hosted by Harvard Public Health Magazine and Harvard’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights titled, Can Reparations Close the Racial Health Gap? There I learned that if African Americans had the same health outcomes as our white peers there would literally be 8 million more African Americans alive today in these United States of America. This is when and where I decided that reparations were a matter of life and death, and I would no longer have a marginal relationship with the call for them.

Then, I learned that white DC slaveowners were the only class of people to receive reparations from the federal government for slavery through The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862. President Lincoln signed the bill into law on April 16, freeing enslaved people in the District and compensating owners up to $300 for each freed person. This act maintained the wealth of the slaveholders and left all the formerly enslaved barren except for a few.

One such man was Gabriel Coakley. Coakley, a former slave, was able to purchase his family from their white slaveholders. And because he technically owned them at the time of the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862, he was one of the rare Black people who received reparations. From his “windfall of riches,” he was able to set his family on a path to intergenerational wealth that holds until today.

Imagine if all the formerly enslaved had the same opportunity that Coakley did. What would be our collective lot today?  Would there be an 81:1 racial wealth gap? Would there be 8 million more African American souls walking around this country? Would our health outcomes mirror those of our white peers? Would we all be free from the shackles of oppression? The opportunities and possibilities are endless.

That is why it’s all the more important for us to accelerate the push for reparations. Because our pursuit for liberation for all can only be realized when we all are free, and reparations have been made and paid.

For more on the story of Gabriel Coakley, listen to MSNBC’s Trymaine Lee’s Podcast:   “Uncounted Millions: The Power of Reparations.” 22 February 2024, MSNBC.com. https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-podcast/uncounted-millions-take-s-owed-rcna139059

Health Equity For All

On Tuesday, April 30, The Community Foundation is hosting the 2024 Health Equity Summit - With Equity & Economic Justice For All at Riverside Church. Click here to Register!

Editor’s Note: In this guest post, Dr. Marla Dean, Senior Director of the Health Equity Fund shares her point of view on what health equity for all means to her and why it’s important for funders and community partners to come together on this issue.

I remember that one day in September of 1978 as clearly as I remember summers in my hometown of Detroit. Detroit summers are something to behold. It is a musical city, and more diverse than most imagine. Each weekend, a vibrant ethnic festival takes place downtown at Hart Plaza. Each festival honors an ethnic group’s culture, and they all are pregnant with the promises of equity, justice, and liberation.

My memories of the 17th of September, three short days after my ninth birthday, shine above even those captivating celebrations. On that day, tears streamed down my face as I witnessed the signing of the Camp David Peace Accords on television, and I thought Middle East Peace was imminent between the Jews and Arabs who form two major communities in my hometown.

On that day, I first understood something about my life’s purpose: I was put on this Earth to advocate for all people’s liberation, but specifically for my own people, descendants of unknown African lands. I carried this level of intensity through every stage of my life - high school, college, work, community, and marriage - until a day I can’t remember well where I nearly lost my memories and my purpose.

The details escape me, but in 2016 I suffered a stroke at work. I did not know what was wrong, but I did know something was not right. Riding in an Uber to the hospital here in DC, I could not quite figure it out. “What is happening to me?” I wondered. My husband rushed to the hospital to be by my side. Eventually, I was discharged without a diagnosis. Both of us have college educations, yet we were unable to receive the care and information everyone deserves in a city as wealthy as DC. Immediately, I found a neurologist who diagnosed and cared for me, but I was never given an exact cause for my stroke, except for stress. After this experience, I understood medical inequity is stressful, and it can even kill (Szabo).

I carry the stress of a community which knows it is not valued. I carry the stress of an African American woman who is trying to hold herself and her community together. I carry the stress of people who are yearning to be free.

I once had a supervisor say to me, “Marla, you have no time or tolerance for frivolity.”  When she said that, I thought, “how can anyone relax with so much work to be done?” That same year I had my stroke.

Now, almost 8-years into a journey of healing, I am trying to understand the concept of self-care. As one of my former employees once told me, “Dr. Dean, rest is revolutionary.”

So now as I work to advance health equity for all, I am reminded to be gentle to myself. These inequities are social and structural, and they manifest themselves in our health. Only 20% of health outcomes are due to medical care or access. 80% are due to other factors. So, our pursuit for health equity for all can only be realized when we all experience real justice and true liberation.

For more information about medical errors and minority women, please read Liz Szabo’s article, “Medical Errors Kill Scores Each Year in the U.S., Especially Women and Minorities.” NBC News, 15 Jan. 2024, www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/medical-mistakes-are-likely-women-minorities-rcna133726

For more information about health equity, please view Dr. Francis’, Dr. Iton’s, and Dr. Smedley’s report, “Envisioning a New Health System Rooted in Equity” Urban Institute, 27 Dec. 2023. https://www.urban.org/research/publication/envisioning-new-health-system-rooted-equity

To learn more, be sure to register to join the 2024 Health Equity Summit on Tuesday, April 30th! To learn about the Health Equity Fund, visit our website.

Leaders of the Future: Nonprofit Partners with the Sharing Community Funds

In 2024, The Community Foundation is highlighting 'Leaders of the Future' - individuals and organizations who inspire us to look towards a brighter future for Greater Washington.

This month, we are highlighting incredible leaders that strengthen and empower our community through our Sharing Community initiatives. The Sharing Community Initiative facilitates connections between donors and nonprofits to build more equitable, just, and thriving communities.

Part of that initiative includes awarding intentional, multi-year grants designed to empower our nonprofit partners and the communities they serve. Below are just a few responses from some of our multi-year nonprofit partners about the critical work they are doing in our communities!

• DC Kincare Alliance

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  DC KinCare Alliance serves all of the neighborhoods in DC, but primarily Wards 5, 7, and 8.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  Founded in 2017, DC KinCare Alliance is a legal services organization whose mission is to support the legal, financial, and related service needs of relative caregivers (primarily Black women) who step up to raise at-risk DC children in times of crisis when the children’s parents are unable to care for them due to mental health and substance use disorders, incarceration, death, abuse and neglect, and/or deportation.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  The Sharing DC Community Initiative helped DC KinCare Alliance (DCKC) serve 182 relative caregiver clients, raising 240 DC children in 319 legal matters in 2023—surpassing our goals by 21% for relative caregivers served and 42% for legal matters provided. The Initiative also made it possible for DCKC to hire a DC relative caregiver (who is a former client and current member of our Community Board) as our first Paralegal and Client Intake Manager. Finally, the Initiative helped DCKC to commence an adoption pilot (PROJECT ADOPT), to help grandparents and caregivers adopt the children they care for.

  For those receiving Sharing Community funding for the first-time, what excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  As a small and relatively new organization, we were especially excited to receive support from the Sharing DC Community Initiative. It is a testament to the reach of our organization in the broader DC community for the Initiative to identify us as a potential partner and then determine us worthy of multi-year funding.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  I dream of a future where all DC children can live in safe and stable homes free from abuse, neglect, poverty, racism, violence, and fear. I dream of a future where government systems are set up to help families achieve success and where all families, including kinship families, are recognized and treated with dignity and respect.

• The T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  We serve youth citywide, in the District of Columbia.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  The True Reasons I Grabbed the Gun Evolved from Risks Project prevents the spread of the gun violence disease in Washington, D.C. through the intersectionality of Public Health and Positive Youth Development. We are prevention - the absence and proactive state of the gun violence.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  We look forward to joining the Sharing Community Initiative and the safe space it will provide to grow and strategically connect to like-hearted organizations for the economic mobility and health equity of our youth and families that we serve. We also look forward to educating the community on our Public Health approach as gun violence prevention can be used as a catalyst for to shape proactive policy, practice, and structures to eliminate many, if not all, of our deepest disparities.

  For those receiving Sharing Community funding for the first-time, what excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  In terms of funding, The T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project has operated inadequately since being founded. It is hard for people to believe our financial struggles because of our widespread impact yet, up until receiving Sharing Community funding, we have only been able to secure funding for events or programs. We are most excited to receive our FIRST multiyear investment in providing flexible general operating support for our organization!

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  We envision a world free from the disease of gun violence! This vision with the support of Sharing Community equates to the social change I know is possible. With my experiencing an epidemic of youth violence and gun violence, many programs and initiatives are reactionary and lack efforts and funding structures that address root causes and chronic disparities. I aim to trail blaze a sense of value and funding structure for primary prevention programming and policy that will prevent future gun violence.

• GateBridge Community

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  Primarily, Wards 7 & 8 in Washington DC, Prince George’s County, along the Blue Line Corridor, and East Montgomery County.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  At GateBridge, we're on a mission to transform low-wealth communities by fostering a culture of cooperative ownership to build wealth and create sustainable neighborhoods where everyone has an opportunity to thrive. GateBridge serves as an accelerator of community wealth building ventures, raising patient capital and providing a range of technical supports for cooperative initiatives that feature ownership and control by workers, consumers, producers, and residents of local communities.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  The first community wealth building project supported by the GateBridge Community Accelerator is the launch of five worker and resident owned grocery stores, the first two of which will be in Wards 7 and 8 of the District. Sharing Community funding will 1) bolster the community education and engagement essential to recruiting the consumers needed to sustain the store 2) secure the market feasibility studies needed to determine the best trade areas to locate the stores and 3) retain the legal, accounting, and technical support needed to assure project stability and sustainability

  For those receiving Sharing Community funding for the first-time, what excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  Greater Washington Community Foundation is an established and well respected institution known for its commitment to community wellbeing in the Washington DC area. Community Wealth Building is a long and arduous journey, and success substantially depends on anchor institution partnerships like the Community Foundation. My hope is that the Foundation will increasingly see GateBridge Community as a trusted partner in this important work over the coming years. I see this funding opportunity as the beginning of that journey toward trust and committed partnership.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  A community where race and place no longer predict wealth and wellbeing and where every neighborhood has the physical, social, and civic infrastructure to promote human flourishing. White household median wealth in the DMV is 81 times that of Black household median wealth. GateBridge Community will work to close this racial wealth gap by scaling business enterprises that generate and maintain wealth in divested communities rather extracting it to build the wealth of other communities. Rosie’s Grocery is our first initiative. It will not be our last.

• CareerCatchers

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  In 2023, we worked with 960 clients, the highest number the organization has served in a given year. Currently, almost 70% of our clientele resides in the most underserved Montgomery County zip codes. Additionally, we also serve clients in Prince George’s County and DC Wards 7 & 8.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  Our mission is to provide personalized job-skills counseling, promote participation in work skills and training programs, foster self-esteem, and empower individuals. We aim to help clients transition out of poverty by utilizing counseling, individualized training, community and employer partnerships, helping find alternatives to minimum-wage, dead-end jobs. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of our vision, programs, and mission.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  In 2023, the funding we received from Sharing Montgomery allowed us to expand our basic skills classes in several ways. We have been able to offer more classes to our clients on topics such as social media networking and small business promotion, greatly increasing the opportunities available to our clients. Additionally, we were able to increase the number of partners presenting at our weekly virtual workshops, allowing our clients to learn about new career paths and resources. These feats culminated in CareerCatchers first ever in-person Empowerment event in October of 2023: Family Fun Day. Our Family Fun Day allowed our clients the opportunity to engage with our staff and partners, promote their small businesses, and learn more about food security. We hope to continue expanding our training offerings with the continued support of the GWCF.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  As the needs of our community grow, we intend to grow to meet them. In 2023, we were able to serve over 950 clients, and hope to serve over 1,000 in the years to come. Additionally, we plan to extend our job retention services. We approach our clients with a respect for not only their immediate goals, but also their long term goals of career success and financial sustainability. We have seen great success for clients who have received job retention services for one year, and would like to continue expanding those services to clients for two years post-employment. Finally, engaging our partners and volunteers to continue expanding our training offerings allows our clients to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of professional development. Continuing our outreach to new partners provides our clients with new avenues to pursue their goals.

• IMPACT Silver Spring

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  The Montgomery County residents supported by IMPACT are mostly low-income and BIPOC, with many programs and activities in Spanish- and Amharic-speaking immigrant communities. Many IMPACT offerings, including virtual events, are publicized countywide, and we have participants from all areas of the county, but most of our in-person community work is currently done in the neighborhoods of Long Branch, Wheaton, Glenmont, Fairland, and most recently, Gaithersburg.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  Our mission is to advance racial equity and justice in Montgomery County by working for change at 3 levels: changing hearts and minds at the individual level; building grassroots power and community connections at the neighborhood level; and changing the greater systems, structures, and policies that continue to generate inequitable outcomes for communities of color.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  Sharing Montgomery funding continues to support Impact’s work of promoting economic mobility and wealth building within BIPOC, immigrant, and low-income communities. Most of this work is done via our Community Trade Academy (CTA). The CTA takes a three-pronged approach to economic empowerment by: 1. offering vocational training to adult students (mostly immigrant women) in skills such as piñata or jewelry making; 2. teaching the basic skills of running a small business; and 3. providing markets where students gain real world experience as microentrepreneurs. Most recently, we worked with partners to host outdoor Holiday Markets (December 16 and 23, 2023) and Valentine’s Day Markets (February 10 and 11, 2024). Depending on the day, between 3 and 18 microentrepreneurs participated, selling between $50 and $700 worth of merchandise. We never charge vendor fees for participating in markets because those fees are often cost prohibitive. While we know classroom learning is important, we also know it is not enough. The experience of setting up, running, and breaking down these markets provides budding entrepreneurs with the crucial know-how and confidence that can only be gained experientially. Sharing Montgomery funding has been critical to paying for supplies and technical assistance needed for CTA events like these markets.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  An important element of the Community Trade Academy is that it is neighborhood-based. We launched our pilot academy in the Silver Spring community of Wheaton. We want to launch future academies in Gaithersburg and East County, tailored to the interests and cultures in those neighborhoods. Additionally, classes in the pilot academy were all taught in Spanish. We would like to replicate the model in other communities and offer it to English-speaking immigrants. Additionally, in the near future, we hope to introduce solidarity economy (an economy that prioritizes people and the planet) concepts such as sustainability and worker cooperation as part of our CTA curriculum.

• Montgomery county food council

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  All communities in Montgomery County, MD

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  The mission of the Montgomery County Food Council (MCFC) is to bring together a diverse representation of stakeholders in a public-private partnership to improve the environmental, economic, social and nutritional health of Montgomery County, Maryland through the creation of a robust and sustainable local food system.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  The grant supported MCFC’s food security program in increasing outreach and collaboration among food assistance providers who are serving the County’s food insecure residents. MCFC co-implemented a Farm to Food Bank Program, which provided technical assistance and collaboration between 37 local farms in 2022 and 2023 to support a sustained and resilient local food supply and provide more nutritious and culturally diverse produce to residents who experience hunger. In FY 2023, over 191,212 lbs of fresh, locally grown produce was purchased or donated to over 54 food assistance providers.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  As the only non-profit organization convening all sectors of the food system within Montgomery County, and connecting various initiatives to partners throughout the region, MCFC hopes to build the capacity of our partners implement the County’s Strategic Plan to End Childhood Hunger. In addition, we hope to be more instrumental in transforming our public schools by supporting MCPS to embed wellness plans (or policies) that nurture the development of “food curious” children through the farm to school initiative.

• Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity & Excellence

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  The BBC serves Black, Brown, and low-income communities in Montgomery County, MD.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  The Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence unites these traditionally marginalized communities to demand an education system that serves all students equitably. The BBC takes aim at dismantling systemic barriers that have underserved and limited the success of Black, Brown, and students from low-income families and fights for equitable access to the resources needed to thrive.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  "Having a multiyear grant allows the Coalition to take on issues that require sustained advocacy” explained Byron Johns, co-founder. In 2023, the BBC galvanized the Black and Brown communities around literacy inequity. Nearly 60% of Black and over 70% of Latino fifth-grade students are not reading at grade level. And their parents are often unaware. In November, the BBC brought together over 800 Black, Brown and low-income caregivers to demand that schools "Get Reading Right, Now!". Building on our 2022 advocacy for greater investment in literacy and math, the BBC is now leading the charge for an “early alert system” -- an easy-to-understand communication to parents when their students miss milestones –and for the development of individualized success plans to ensure that these students catch up and keep up. “We need the voices of our entire community to make literacy a priority” said Diego Uriburu, co-founder.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  The BBC envisions a future where Black, Brown, and low-income students who attend Montgomery County Public Schools have equitable access to resources and supports that will ensure the greatest opportunities for success in their educations, careers, and lives.

• CollegeTracks

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  5 MCPS High Schools in Montgomery County, based in Gaithersburg, Wheaton, Silver Spring, Burtonsville, and Bethesda.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  The mission of CollegeTracks is to empower first-generation-to-college students and students from low-income and immigrant households in Montgomery County, Maryland by helping them bridge systemic opportunity gaps with enough support to get to and through postsecondary education and on a career pathway. We envision a future in which every student who graduates from high school in Montgomery County, Maryland has equitable access to their chosen career pathway.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  Sharing Montgomery funding has helped open doors to new partnerships and funding relationships, has helped validate our approach in our community, and has brought us new donors, volunteers, and partners. This has been critical as we have expanded to meet rising demand, and prepared to grow across Montgomery County. For example, CollegeTracks' program enrollment rose by 22% last year, exceeding our pre-pandemic high by 9%, which put a great deal of stress on our program and infrastructure. Thanks to stable, yet flexible funding like Sharing Montgomery, we were able to stregmthen our program and meet our high programmatic goals, even while serving these expanded numbers.

  For those receiving Sharing Community funding for the first-time, what excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  The most exciting part of receiving our first multi-year Sharing Montgomery award has been the realization that the people in our community who are paying the closest attention to work like ours thought of our program as highly effective, and worthy of this investment and recognition. We have worked hard to build a program model that gets results, and the fact that the people who know our work and community best agree is a tremendous boost to our team.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  At CollegeTracks, we dream of a future for Montgomery County where every student truly has the opportunity and support that they need to thrive. We are a highly educated and wealthy County, and we have access to proven solutions to the problems that we face. We just need to decide not to accept the status quo, and make these solutions happen.

• Beloved Community Incubator

  Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?

  Beloved Community Incubator is a regional solidarity economy movement organization and lender. We engage in worker justice campaigns, mostly in Washington, DC, and offer a unique combination of cooperative incubation, lending, technical assistance, and mutual aid to create just and equitable democratic workplaces across our entire region.

  In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization

  Beloved Community Incubator is a solidarity economy movement organization, incubator, lender, and worker self-directed non-profit in Washington, DC. BCI focuses on building a regional solidarity economy that centers people, especially poor and working-class workers and people of color, over profit. We provide incubation for worker-owned cooperatives, as well as back end support for cooperatives through the BCI Network. We offer non-extractive lending to local cooperatives through the DC Solidarity Economy Loan Fund, and organize for worker power and collective control of resources in DC through community organizing, broad-based campaigns, and mutual aid.

  How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.

  We secured the passage of the Street Vendor Advancement Act of 2023 which: decriminalized street vending without a license and removed criminal background checks, reduced fees for obtaining a vending license, created a micro-enterprise home kitchen license, which allows food entrepreneurs across the city to create home based catering businesses , and created a vending zone in Mount Pleasant/Columbia Heights, allowing a higher concentration of vendors per block. In February of this year, we launched the BCI Street Vendor License Fund. This $125,000 fund will cover eligible costs and fees associated with accessing licenses and inspections for almost 100 vendors. Our vision for growing the regional solidarity economy is coming to fruition! The DC Solidarity Economy Loan Fund held its official launch event and has received approval for 3 additional loans – totaling $922,500 dollars. Two of the loans were to a small tech cooperative for equipment and a line of credit. The most significant loan is to Community Purchasing Alliance (CPA). CPA organizes institutions to engage in collective purchasing of contracts. Purchasing programs include janitorial, HVAC, trash removal, security, and solar. Our partnership positions BCI to proposition current vendors to use worker-ownership as a succession plan, incubate cooperatives in the sectors of their current purchasing programs, and connect cooperatives that already exist (in cleaning, food service, and landscaping) to larger contracts.

  For those receiving Sharing Community funding for the first-time, what excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?

  What is most exciting to me is knowing that the Sharing DC Committee really understands and believes in our vision. We realize that our organizing model as a solidarity economy organization is unique. Our power building strategy is through institution building (through cooperatives) and membership, but also includes a programmatic and technical assistance component. Our work with “high touch” cooperatives is essentially base building with poor and working class BIPOC workers in order to build a coop from the ground up. There is more and more research that traditional workforce development and job training programs don't guarantee jobs or increased income. By developing and supporting worker-owned cooperatives, creating market access for local BIPOC-owned cooperatives, and using DC SELF to invest an additional 1 million dollars in local cooperatives over the next 2 years, we are working to close the racial wealth gap. The funding from Sharing DC committee means they believe in our vision too.

  As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?

  Last summer, the local coop ecosystem came together to vision what's possible and shape our work for the future. Their collective vision included affordable care cooperatives (childcare, home health care, elder care), bookkeeping and legal cooperatives, coop grocery stores, and collectively owned spaces for artists and food businesses. BCI is always dreaming about more community control over resources in our community -- think grocery stores, workplaces, land, banks, housing, and more!

Celebrating the Spirit of Philanthropy and Alex Orfinger at the National Building Museum

On March 21, The Community Foundation honored Alex Orfinger with the 2024 Spirit of Philanthropy Award, as part of the Celebration of Philanthropy at the National Building Museum. The event raised more than $500,000 towards building a stronger community in the Greater Washington region.

The evening began with a special reception for members of the host committee and a group of supporters affectionately known as FOA (‘Friends of Alex’) to gather and mingle to share their congratulations with Alex.

Guests heard special remarks from Host Committee Member, Mahan Tavakoli, CEO of Strategic Leadership Ventures. Mahan served with Alex on the Board of Trustees of Leadership Greater Washington – one of many organizations that Alex has leant his time and leadership talents to. He also Chaired the Board of Directors at Jubilee Housing and served as Secretary of the Board of Directors for The Community Foundation.

“We are at a critical stage in our community where we need community leaders to stand up and guide our community into the future,” Alex shared in his remarks.

“We’re all standing together tonight,” Alex spoke to the standing-only crowd at the reception. “We all need to stand together into the future.”

After that, more than 400 guests joined the celebration in the vast hall of the National Building Museum for a special program.

Richard Bynum, Chair of The Community Foundation’s Board of Trustees kicked off the program and introduced Tonia Wellons, President & CEO of The Community Foundation, who delivered some brief remarks.

During her remarks, Tonia shared her optimism for the future and some of the exciting partnerships The Community Foundation has engaged in this past year -- including the launch of Thrive Prince George’s and upcoming release of the VoicesDMV Community Insights Report. She also celebrated the role that individuals like Alex have played in convening business, philanthropic, and nonprofit communities to examine the issues that are impacting the region and creating opportunities for shared responsibility and decisive action.

“At The Community Foundation, we have a unique role to play in bridging differences, fostering hope, and building community. This is what the spirit of philanthropy means to us.”

— Tonia Wellons

Following Tonia’s remarks, Lyles Carr, Senior Vice President of The McCormick Group and member of the Celebration of Philanthropy Host committee presented Alex with the 2024 Spirit of Philanthropy Award.

As the Publisher of the Washington Business Journal, Alex has long demonstrated his belief that what is good for business is also good for the greater community. For more than two decades, Alex has been a champion of collaboration, dedicated to developing relationships that strengthen the connection among business leaders and between the business and philanthropic communities.

Following a special tribute video, Alex sat down with Katherine Bradley, Founder and CEO of CityBridge, for a brief fireside chat, where they discussed aspects of Alex’s legacy and what he believes are the four focus areas for the future of the Greater Washington region.

Following the fireside chat, guests enjoyed an evening of food, fun, and entertainment provided by artists and nonprofit partners from across the region.

Special thank you to the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, The Northeast Performing Arts Group, the Prince George’s Arts & Humanities Council and Youth Poet Laureate Saniya Pearson, the Montgomery College Jazztet, and Batalá Washington for sharing their time and talents with us.

We’d also thank the many friends, community partners, and sponsors, who’s generosity made the event possible – with special recognition to the Smart Family Fund, Capital One, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, National Capital Bank, Brown Advisory, The Cliff & Deborah White Family Foundation, Decker Anstrom & Sherry Hiemstra, Sterling Speirn & Diana Aviv, The Norton Foundation, and the Shoenberg Family Fund.

We’d also like to thank our 2024 Celebration of Philanthropy Host Committee – especially David Bradt, Diane Tipton, and Rachel Kronowitz who served as Host Committee Co-Chairs -- who contributed time, talent, and treasure to make this event a memorable evening for Alex and for our community.

Click here for a complete recording of the 2024 Celebration of Philanthropy Program. For more photos from the 2024 Celebration of Philanthropy, check out our SmugMug Album!

Pursuing Pathways from Poverty to Prosperity in East County

Members of The Community Foundation’s Montgomery County Advisory Board, staff, and donors recently visited with local leaders in Montgomery County’s East-County region to discuss how philanthropy can help communities forge pathways to prosperity.

“Effective philanthropy requires us to step outside and really connect,” Anna Hargrave, Executive Director for The Community Foundation in Montgomery County, shared. “That is why we are excited to be here in East-County to spend time with some of our incredible nonprofit and school leaders.”

The group met in the library of Jackson Road Elementary School, located in the White Oak neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland. Visitors first heard from the Principal, Rosario Velasquez.

“At Jackson Road, we recognize the need to address the whole child – in and out of the classroom,” Principal Velasquez shared. “The only way we can do that is by taking a community-centered approach and wrapping our arms around this community.”

Situated in a highly diverse area, Jackson Road’s student body is predominantly Black (47%) and Latino (39%)– including a sizeable immigrant population. At the same time, more than 75 percent of students qualify for Free and Reduced Priced Meals– a humbling statistic that underlines how poverty often becomes highly concentrated in neighborhoods throughout our region.

Jackson Road’s Community School Liaison, Chris Callisto, explained how federal Title I funding supports additional reading and math focus teachers, reduced class sizes (18:1 student teacher ratio), summer enrichment, and other academic resources.  Coupled with Community School dollars from the State of Maryland, the school also offers health, mental health, and social supports for children and their families, including a food pantry sustained by Capital Area Food Bank and the Manna Food Center.

To gain a deeper understanding of the work outside of the school’s walls, guests then heard from a panel of nonprofit leaders working to help people meet their basic needs, pursue opportunities for economic mobility, and build the assets needed to thrive: Identity, Inc, Career Catchers, IMPACT Silver Spring, and Achieving College Excellence & Success (ACES), a collaboration led by Montgomery College, MCPS, and the Universities at Shady Grove.

As the panelists introduced themselves and their organizations, they illuminated the myriad ways they had to reinvent their work in response to the influx of people seeking help in recent years.  Panelists also reflected—in some cases on their own lived experience—on the challenges which can hinder people from achieving stability, such as rising rent, food insecurity, barriers to mental health support, and hurdles in finding affordable childcare. 

“We must protect those who might otherwise have fallen through the cracks,” Andres Maldonado, Deputy Director at ACES shared. “This is not a one-organization job. It requires us to collaborate – to really think outside the box and our organizations to find the innovative solutions that this community deserves.”

While the four organizations’ missions are quite different, guests were impressed by how they all share a commitment to fostering collaborations anchored in the community -- creating spaces where residents are empowered to not to merely benefit from, but also to participate in and lead efforts to address their community’s needs.

“No one knows better what it is this community needs then the community members themselves,” shared Carolyn Camacho, Program Director at Identity. “The more we can work to empower community members and strengthen our framework of community relationships, the more successful our work will be in the long run.”

Anna Hargrave concluded the program with words of thanks, “to our Board and Sharing Montgomery donors whose generosity enables us to strategically invest in our community.  And to our incredible school and nonprofit partners for the work you do every day!  We are grateful for your inspiring vision, leadership, and steadfast commitment which convert our donations into relief, helping people create greater stability and shared prosperity.” 

This event was part of The Community Foundation’s Sharing Montgomery initiative – connecting philanthropically-minded individuals with visionary nonprofits working on the frontlines of our community’s most pressing needs.

For more information on how to get involved with Sharing Montgomery, contact Anna Hargrave at [email protected]

Leaders of the Future Spotlight: Melody Webb, Mothers Outreach Network - Uplifting the Power of Black Motherhood Through Guaranteed Income

Webb with one of the families participating in the Mother Up pilot program

In honor of International Women’s Day, The Community Foundation is highlighting incredible female leaders in our community that understand, advocate for, and inspire inclusion by promoting a sense of belonging, relevance and empowerment.

This month, we’re pleased to highlight Melody Webb, Executive Director of Mother’s Outreach Network and founder of the DC Guaranteed Income Coalition. The Community Foundation is a proud to partner with Mother’s Outreach Network through our Health Equity Fund and is committed to advancing the work of the DC Guaranteed Income Coalition.

For Melody Webb, Executive Director of the Mother’s Outreach Network, you can’t put a price tag on motherhood.

“In my opinion, being a mother is one of the most important roles a woman can have,” Webb shared. “You’re a role model, you’re a caregiver; but for your children, you’re the most important person in their young lives. You’re their advocate; you’re their superhero. And that makes you invaluable.”

A DC Native with family ties to the Civil Rights Movement, Webb was raised with a strong belief in the value of advocacy. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Webb began working with organizations like the Legal Aid Society, The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, and the DC Court of Appeals – to tackle systemic community issues ranging from youth violence prevention to supporting returning citizens.

“I’ve always seen myself as an aspiring changemaker,” Webb shared. “Rather than work in a big law firm, I wanted to use my legal training to address deep structural, racial, gender and economic issues.”

However, her most impactful work – that of supporting Black Mothers – didn’t begin until 2002, when Webb made the decision to adjust her legal career to become a stay-at-home mom.

Webb with her youngest son, who volunteers with the DC Guaranteed Income Coalition.

The Joys and Barriers of Black Motherhood

For the next four years, Webb embraced the joys and challenges of being a mother to her three children and nurture her growing her family – all the while seeking opportunities to get further involved in local advocacy. She founded an online policy advocacy project, which focused on local and national advocacy issues. The project gained national attention and provided a platform for her to return to the workforce in 2007 – when she joined SEIU as Associate General Counsel and volunteered with the Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign.

“Working on the Obama Campaign and at SEIU was such a great experience,” Webb recalled. “I enjoyed learning the power of organizing and the importance of supporting those who are the bread and butter of our society, but don’t have their basic needs being met.”

People like Black single mothers. While at SEIU, Webb’s attention gravitated towards women who were service employees – especially single mothers and returning citizens – who were working multiple jobs just to stay afloat. She was deeply moved by the many barriers that they faced just to stay in the workforce and provide for their children.

Participants from Mother Up enjoy a family photo shoot activity organized by Mother's Outreach Network

A recent study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that more than 70% of Black single mothers worry about paying their bills on a regular basis. These concerns are compounded by a lack of affordable childcare – forcing mothers to carefully plan their family life around work schedules and the availability of neighbors and relatives.

Inspired by the plight of these women, in 2010, Webb launched the Mother’s Outreach Union (later renamed the Women’s Outreach Network) to support Black mothers in the workforce. The organization initially focused on returning citizens – but eventually expanded to serve all Black mothers by providing know-your-rights trainings and other resources to help Black mothers obtain employment and provide for their families.

However, within a few short months, Webb began to notice another troubling trend – mothers who were losing custody of their children because of poverty.

“If you’re a mom and it takes 2-3 jobs to pay your rent, you’re going to leave your kids unsupervised – which is grounds for a neglect charge,” Webb shared. “If you’re struggling and you’re in an abusive relationship with a partner, you can have your child removed from you for failure to protect your child.”

“These poverty factors alone are not supposed to contribute to a removal, but they absolutely do.”

“Poverty is not neglect”

 Before long, Webb returned to the courtroom – this time representing mothers fighting to keep custody of their children.

Webb and volunteers from Mother's Outreach Network visit with women in the community to discuss their needs.

According to the National Women’s Law Center, 1 in 4 single mothers live in poverty in the District of Columbia – an overwhelming number of which are Black single mothers. In FY 2024, 84% of the children in DC’s foster care system were Black – despite the fact that Black Children only make up 52% of city’s child population.

The trend is one that Webb says is unfortunately not unique to the DMV. Nationwide, sociologists estimate that 53% of Black children will experience a Child Protective Service (CPS) investigation by their 18th Birthday.

“If you look at the instability that happens when you take children away from their families, it is far more violent and damaging than if you work with families to help keep them intact."

Webb pointed out that once parents lose custody of their children, they also lose access to almost all of their welfare benefits including WIC, Housing Assistance, and others – making it even harder for them to get to a position where they can get their children back.

“Eighty to Ninety percent of CPS cases involve neglect,” Webb shared. “We can eliminate the vast majority of these cases when we start addressing poverty.”

“Being in poverty does not mean you’re a bad parent.”

“We shouldn’t become a world where our first response is to pull a child out a family,” she added. “Our priority should be to provide more support and be more inclusive for families who are struggling. We need to do more to create a sense of belonging.”

Harnessing the Power of Guaranteed Income

The DC Guaranteed Income Coalition gathers at the Wilson Building to lobby DC Council Members to support guaranteed income initiatives

As Mother’s Outreach Network fought for mother’s rights in DC, Webb became aware of a national movement making waves in the economic mobility space – the push for guaranteed income.

Designed to help lift people out of poverty, guaranteed income pilots provide unconditional cash assistance to a targeted group of individuals living below the poverty line. Beginning in 2018, the movement gained considerable momentum following the COVID-19 pandemic and has inspired more than 100 programs across the country.

Among the most prominent of these programs is the Magnolia Mother’s Trust – a pilot based out of Jackson, Mississippi providing $1,000 to Black, low-income mothers for 12 months. Since 2018, the program has served more than 230 Black mothers, improving not only their economic outcomes, but also their emotional and physical wellbeing.

Inspired by their success, Webb began leading the charge to bring guaranteed income to the nation’s capital. She organized the DC Guaranteed Income Coalition – a coalition of community, philanthropic, and government partners advocating for cash transfer programs like Guaranteed Income pilots to combat poverty in DC and the Greater Washington region.

Through the Coalition, Webb’s advocacy has had a resounding impact on the Greater Washington region. Since the coalition was founded in 2020, twelve guaranteed income pilots have been organized across DC, Maryland, & Virginia – including several supported by The Community Foundation.

Click here to Read About The Community Foundation’s Guaranteed Income Pilot Initiatives!

Mother Up – A Guaranteed Income Pilot for Single Black Mothers

In 2023, Webb and Mother’s Outreach Network announced the launch of Mother Up – a Guaranteed Income pilot providing $500 a month for 3 years to Black mothers in DC living below the 250% Federal Poverty Level (ie making less than $36,000 a year).

The inaugural cohort of five mothers began receiving payments in the Spring of 2023 – with plans to enroll of a total of 50 mothers by the end of 2024 – thanks, in part to a grant from The Community Foundation’s Health Equity Fund.

While the program is still in it’s early stages, Webb shares that the reaction from participants has been extremely positive.

“Moms are reporting that they don’t have to pick between their kids in terms of buying extra clothing,” she shared. “They can pay off bills and debt and can finally afford to spend quality time with their children.”

In addition to providing monthly cash payments, Mother Up also offers additional programming through their Mothers Empowerment group, which provides participants the opportunity to learn about community resources, join fun families activities, and develop a community with other moms. However, Webb emphasized that participation in the group is entirely optional.

“We believe and respect that parents know what their needs are,” Webb explained. “We don’t force or require them to attend anything” – a stark contrast to many welfare initiatives that require participants to attend compulsory programming.

Webb explained that for Mother Up, the approach has paid off – as participants have not only attended events, but also gone out of their way to ask Mother’s Outreach Network for support with additional medical and mental health needs they have. Webb says that even though the organization can’t always meet those needs, the fact that participant’s are willing to be open and vulnerable about them is a positive sign.

“Our relationship with each of the mothers is so important to us,” Webb added. “We work hard to build their trust by valuing and understanding their needs and doing what we can to assist them however we can.”

The Power of a Woman Ready to Rise

Participants from Mothers Up join advocates from the DC Guaranteed Income Coalition in advocating before the DC Council.

Ultimately, Webb explains, the goal of Mother Up is to empower moms to become leaders for their families and communities. The program is working to empower participants to become advocates for their communities by providing them the training and resources to testify before the DC Council and share their lived in experience in other government and community convenings.

“We don’t have enough Black women leaders – especially when it comes to issues like economic justice for moms.”

“Moms are the experts,” Webb explained. “They are the ones who can talk most effectively about what is going on in their lives and dispel the negative and false tropes that often exist around Black motherhood. Their daughters should be the ones to talk about what is going on in their communities and advocate for safer communities.”

“They are the future of our community – and what a bright and beautiful future it can be – if we only take the time to invest in them.”

The Community Foundation is proud to partner with Melody Webb and Mother’s Outreach Network through our Health Equity Fund and the DC Coalition for Guaranteed Income to empower Black mothers and other low-income members of our community. For more information about Mother’s Outreach Network, visit www.mothersoutreachnetwork.org/  

Leaders of the Future: Female Leaders Inspiring Inclusion

In 2024, The Community Foundation is highlighting 'Leaders of the Future' - individuals and organizations who inspire us to look towards a brighter future for Greater Washington.

This month, in honor of International Women’s Day, we are highlighting incredible female leaders in our community that understand, advocate for, and inspire inclusion by promoting a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment.

Our theme for March, ‘Inspire Inclusion’, coincides with the Annual theme of International Women’s Day 2024 and reflects The Community Foundation’s aspirations, as outlined in our most recent 2023 Annual Meeting.

• Audrey Lyon, Executive Director, Yachad DC

  1) What is your relationship to The Community Foundation?

  Yachad is a nonprofit partner with The Community Foudation’s Health Equity Fund

  2) “When we inspire others to understand and value inclusion, we forge a better world” – How does inspiring inclusion impact your community and the work that you do? Please include 1-2 brief examples of how you or your organization promote and inspire inclusion.

  Having a place to call home is the foundation for a good life and, for that matter, a better world. Inclusive communities are places that have achieved economic and racial equity. Owning a decent and safe home helps to ensure long-term well-being and financial security. Yachad’s home remediation work guarantees that lower-income Black and Brown homeowners, many of them female-headed households, have the ability to remain in their homes and their neighborhoods for years to come. We work to see that these families are not displaced as a result of gentrification but can benefit from new investments into their communities. After all, they deserve the same opportunity to strengthen their own and their families’ financial footing that so many other Americans enjoy.

  3) What does it mean to you to be a female leader? Why do you feel it’s important to understand, advocate for, and inspire inclusion – especially for future female leaders?

  As the Executive Director of Yachad, I engage in our work through my lived experience of a working mother with three children who understands the need for a functional home. I understand that if the roof leaks, the toilets don’t flush and I can’t make dinner for my family, I also can’t do my work that helps to pay the bills. We need more female leaders who understand the many roles we must play. That means it is important to include women with varied life experiences to share their concerns and their life stories so they can advocate for truly inclusive policies and ways to be in the world.

  4) In your opinion, what are the best ways to promote a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment?

  As the “Golden Rule” states, if we truly (with my emphasis added) treat others in a manner that we want to be treated, then we are beginning to empower and create a sense of belonging for others. For example, everyone deserves a decent place to live – let’s start with that. If we equitably provide opportunities for everyone to live in good housing in welcoming communities, we provide a sense of relevance and belonging. With that sense of belonging, people feel empowered to take on greater challenges – to make the world a better place.

  5) When you imagine ‘a better world’ inspired by inclusion, what does that look like?

  A better world looks like some of Yachad’s homeowners who are proud of their homes, who are friendly with their neighbors and looking forward to inviting friends and family over for Sunday dinners. And who have a home that can nurture their own personal growth and that of their children.

• Mercedes Lamp, Executive Director, My Sister's Place

  1) What is your relationship to The Community Foundation?

  My Sister’s Place is a nonprofit partner through The Community Foundation’s Health Equity Fund.

  2) “When we inspire others to understand and value inclusion, we forge a better world” – How does inspiring inclusion impact your community and the work that you do? Please include 1-2 brief examples of how you or your organization promote and inspire inclusion.

  We deliver services in a manner that recognizes the structural barriers discourage full inclusion in our community. Our Cash Transfer program and our transitional housing programs allow the clients we serve to have a stable foundation from where they can better address other needs that can lead them to self-sufficiency and full inclusion in our community.

  3) What does it mean to you to be a female leader? Why do you feel it’s important to understand, advocate for, and inspire inclusion – especially for future female leaders?

  There are barriers and advantages to being a female leader. While female leaders need to work harder to be heard, we also are often nurturers and empathetic and have characteristics that allow us to excel in advocating and inspire inclusion. Inclusion often equates with success, financial and otherwise.

  4) In your opinion, what are the best ways to promote a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment?

  The best way to promote belonging, relevance and empowerment is to see others who look like us in the place we want to belong, in places of empowerment and relevance.

  5) When you imagine ‘a better world’ inspired by inclusion, what does that look like?

  Inclusion would mean better representation of a diverse population in all areas, particularly in places of power and wealth.

• LaTara Harris, CEO, Crittenton Services of Greater Washington

  1) What is your relationship to The Community Foundation?

  The Community Foundation has been a wonderful partner to Crittenton Services of Greater Washington, and has funded some of our programs.

  2) ”When we inspire others to understand and value inclusion, we forge a better world” – How does inspiring inclusion impact your community and the work that you do? Please include 1-2 brief examples of how you or your organization promote and inspire inclusion.

  So often, we think “inclusion” means that everyone has a voice. But that’s not enough. We need to not only have a seat at the table while decisions are made, but we also need to hear from one another.

  Years ago, we asked our Crittenton girls what they wanted from their community. The overwhelming answer was that they wanted to be heard. In response, we established our annual Talk With a Teen Girl High Tea to connect girls with community leaders so they could share their stories, concerns, and hopes with others. Over the years our girls have talked about a range of issues, including the problem with being judged by their appearance, the importance of supporting other girls, the need to address mental health challenges, and their frustration when they see the inequitable distribution of resources in our region. At the Tea, our girls literally have a seat at the table and have the opportunity to be heard.

  Another way to foster inclusion is to tear down the real and imagined barriers that separate us. My mission in life through my work with girls and women is to ensure that we leave the door open for generations to follow which we've obtained via mentoring, shadowing, and a host of other ways.

  3) What does it mean to you to be a female leader? Why do you feel it’s important to understand, advocate for, and inspire inclusion – especially for future female leaders?

  Being a female leader means that we have the ability and responsibility to set the standard for other aspiring women, while encouraging them to reach their full potential. Rising to the ranks of CEO is no small feat. I found that my journey led to many pathways that I didn’t need to take, yet made me stronger, nonetheless. As a leader, it is my responsibility to share my experiences to help others along the way, and to be an example of a woman of integrity who advocates fiercely for others.

  4) In your opinion, what are the best ways to promote a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment?

  The best way to promote a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment is to celebrate the different things that communities bring to the table. We all have different perspectives, and talents. We all have something to give, and it’s up to leaders to show that we value everyone’s contribution.

  5) When you imagine ‘a better world’ inspired by inclusion, what does that look like?

  As a mother, and an advocate for women and girls, a better world is a world with less worry. Of course, we’ll always worry! But in an ideal world, all mothers—all parents—will worry about the everyday challenges that every child faces as they grow into the young men and women they’re meant to be. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream that “…the whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.” Inclusion is absolutely necessary to keep that dream alive.

• Ashley Sharp, Marlboro Pike Partnership

  1) What is your relationship to The Community Foundation?

  I serve on the Executive Board of the Prince George’s County Emerging Leaders Impact Fund (ELIF)

  2) “When we inspire others to understand and value inclusion, we forge a better world” – How does inspiring inclusion impact your community and the work that you do? Please include 1-2 brief examples of how you or your organization promote and inspire inclusion.

  The very nature of the work that we do at the Marlboro Pike Partnership requires intentional coordination and inclusivity in order to achieve what we believe to be success. Our mission and strategic plan to revitalize the Marlboro Pike corridor requires vision that rooted in data but inspired by community. We are a collective of leaders committed to service at the grassroots level by empowering the community through education, outreach and engagement while simultaneously working with government agencies and private organizations to truly bring about change to the Marlboro Pike corridor. We view success as revitalization with community flavor and buy-in.

  3) What does it mean to you to be a female leader? Why do you feel it’s important to understand, advocate for, and inspire inclusion – especially for future female leaders?

  Through my experience, I’ve learned about many women pioneers throughout our history (some of which I’ve had the pleasure to work with), who often not only break through glass ceilings, but set a standard. As a minority woman in public service, we are often the backbone to a finished product left unseen.

  However, in the current international and political climate, the human race cannot afford to let women continue to blend into the background as hidden figures. Women have been and will continue to be not only innovators, entrepreneurs, scientists, doctors, lawmakers, negotiators and executives, but we are also mothers, sisters, daughters and mentors.

  To future female leaders, I offer two of my favorite quotes. The first is from Bessie Coleman, “Tell them that as soon as I can walk, I’m going to fly.” The second is an old Latin proverb, “They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.”

  4) In your opinion, what are the best ways to promote a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment?

  Creating a space where respectful and open interactions can occur with consideration to small yet meaningful details to reduce barriers and increase understanding without judgement or misinformation.

  5) When you imagine ‘a better world’ inspired by inclusion, what does that look like?

  Every person having consideration for their neighbor and as a result strengthening the interconnectedness and overall safety of “the village”

• Anna Maria Izquierdo-Porrera, MD, PhD, Executive Director, Care for Your Health, Inc.

  1) What is your relationship to The Community Foundation?

  Care for Your Health, Inc is a nonprofit partner with The Community Foundation through the Sharing Montgomery Initiative.

  2) “When we inspire others to understand and value inclusion, we forge a better world” – How does inspiring inclusion impact your community and the work that you do? Please include 1-2 brief examples of how you or your organization promote and inspire inclusion.

  Inspiring others to understand and value inclusion is indeed a powerful catalyst for positive change in the world. When we recognize and respect the diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences that each person brings to the table. When people feel included, they are more likely to contribute their unique talents and perspectives, leading to more effective problem-solving and decision-making processes. We have designed Care for Your Health, inc to allow its staff to thrive and bring the best they have to offer forward. Ultimately, by inspiring others to embrace inclusion, we not only create a more equitable and just society but also pave the way for a better world where diversity is celebrated and everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

  3) What does it mean to you to be a female leader? Why do you feel it’s important to understand, advocate for, and inspire inclusion – especially for future female leaders?

  Being a female leader allows me to leverage my strengths, experiences, and perspectives to inspire and drive positive change within organizations and communities, through my work at Care for Your Health. However, my role as a female leader goes beyond the impact my organization had in the community but it is also a source of inspiration to the women that see themselves reflected in my work.

  My role as a female leader provides a role model for aspiring leaders, particularly for other women and girls and brings a diverse perspective, viewpoints, experiences, and approaches to the leadership role. It also promotes a more fair and equitable world where people can lead if they have the talent to do so, regardless of gender. I hope that my striving for excellence also addresses stereotype regarding female leaders that will ultimately bring down systemic barriers and promote a more just and equitable society for all. Overall, my I envision my role as a female leader beyond the mere gender representation, but as a tool to harness the full potential of talent and diversity to create stronger, more resilient organizations and communities.

  4) In your opinion, what are the best ways to promote a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment?

  Fostering belonging, relevance and empowerment is not a one time project but a way to understand, organizations, the community and the world as a whole. This requires building an environment where people's voices are heard and people are encouraged to express themselves, where people are provided opportunities to engage and thrive, where each individual contribution is acknowledged and appreciated, where everyone can grow and develop their full potential and ultimately where people are happy.

  5) When you imagine ‘a better world’ inspired by inclusion, what does that look like?

  A better world is a world where everyone has access to their human rights. This is a world where everyone can enjoy their inherent rights, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. This is a world where everyone has the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, the right to health, food and a roof over their head and their right to self-determination. We have plenty to do to get there, but this vision of a better world inspires me to get up every morning and put my best foot forward

Budgeting to End Homelessness in DC - A Letter to DC Mayor Bowser

Dear Mayor Bowser:

We are writing on behalf of the Greater Washington Community Foundation and its Partnership to End Homelessness Leadership Council to offer our recommendations on DC’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget. We urge you to prioritize ending chronic homelessness and making substantial investments in affordable housing and housing stability programs for DC households with extremely low-incomes (0-30 MFI).

Homelessness in DC increased about 12% from 2022 to 2023, the first time this has happened since 2016, when DC launched Homeward DC. This alarming news comes at a time when the District’s rate of investment in housing programs is declining. At the same time, rent continues to rise in DC making it harder for many people to afford to live in DC and evictions are also increasing.

As you know, the Partnership to End Homelessness is a collective effort of private sector business leaders, philanthropists, and national and local nonprofits working in alignment with the city’s comprehensive plan to ensure homelessness in DC is rare, brief, and non-recurring. The private sector and philanthropy play an important role in supporting and funding efforts to end homelessness, but the city’s success greatly depends on the leadership of the DC government to adequately fund and implement evidence-based solutions.

We understand that the city has financial challenges and that the District has many funding priorities to balance this year. However, we are deeply concerned that with the end of pandemic assistance programs, many DC residents are struggling economically and having trouble maintaining their housing. We urge you to prioritize the protection and expansion of programs that help residents obtain and maintain stable and affordable housing. Stable and affordable housing creates the conditions for healthy families and thriving communities, and helps DC advance its goals of achieving racial and economic equity for all its residents. We have the solutions to prevent and end homelessness, and under your leadership, the District has shown that it can make progress by putting resources behind these solutions. We urge you to  invest the necessary resources to continue making progress. 

Our FY 2025 budget recommendations align with the recommendations of our community advocacy partners.

Expand Permanent Supportive Housing to end chronic homelessness: We ask you to invest $36.6 million in Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) to end chronic homelessness for 1,260 single adults. We urge you to provide $22.8 million for PSH for 580 families. 

Support Emergency Rental Assistance: Census Bureau Household Pulse data estimates that 31,000 renters with incomes under $50,000 are behind on their rent in January 2024, or one-third of all low-income renters. Rents continue to rise sharply, even in rent-controlled units. The significant need for emergency rental assistance has time and again been demonstrated by the high volume of requests submitted and the fact that funds are repeatedly depleted long before the end of the fiscal year. Demand for emergency rental assistance is so great that the available ERAP application slots each quarter were filled within hours of opening the portal. We urge you to fund DC’s ERAP program at a minimum of $100 million in FY 2025.

Preserve Public Housing, Expand Affordable Housing: We urge you to commit to preserving and creating deeply affordable housing for households earning 0-30 percent of the Median Family Income (MFI). We recommend:

• Maintaining the $60 million annual commitment to repairing public housing.

• $17.3 million for 800 Local Rent Supplement Tenant Vouchers, to assist those on the DC Housing Authority waitlist.

Expand non-congregate shelter for people experiencing homelessness: The District should take steps to transform its shelter system to make them smaller, safer, and trauma informed. Shifting away from large congregate shelters is essential to supporting the dignity of unhoused residents but also to help them. We support the call for two shelters, funded at $13.3 million.

Support street outreach: Given the increase in unsheltered homelessness over the past year, we call on the District to provide $6.4 million for homeless street outreach to fully restore and expand outreach capacity of the Coordinated Street Outreach Network. 

Support medical respite:  We ask you to support 150 medical respite beds, to offer the critical service of caring for the unhoused who need intensive medical support.

Support and Expand Project Reconnect: Project Reconnect is a successful and cost-effective shelter diversion and rapid-exit program for unaccompanied adults experiencing homelessness. By maintaining existing funding for the program at $1.2 million, and adding an additional $545,000, the program can add diversion specialists to reach more people and prevent homelessness at scale.  

Maintain funding for DC Flex: DC Flex gives a yearly stipend of $7,200 to use on rent in the case of an emergency or in a case where a participant is unable to make rent. We urge you to maintain its $1 million funding as we assess this promising approach. 

Maintain 24/7 shelter access: DC expanded access to shelters during the pandemic so that individuals could stay in and/or access the buildings around the clock. We urge you to continue this practice, which will require $8.4 million. 

Create a fund to cover PSH move-in expenses:  The District should create a fund to cover one-time move-in expenses for residents receiving a voucher. Assistance with transportation to find a unit, obtaining necessary documents, and IDs, plus help to purchase household items is critical to ensuring that a voucher can be used quickly.      

Address the critical need for affordable housing: DC will not end chronic homelessness until we address the critical need for affordable housing. We ask that you: 

• Increase the supply of Tenant Based Local Rent Supplement (LRSP) vouchers, including TAH.

• Ensure that the Housing Production Trust Fund meets the target of at least 50 percent of funding dedicated to producing housing for extremely low-income households (0-30% MFI). We urge you to fund an adequate number of LRSP vouchers to meet the important targeting requirement of the Trust Fund to produce deeply affordable housing.

• Ensure all produced affordable housing is accessible.

Housing stability is the foundation of thriving individuals, families and communities. Any long-term vision for a stronger DC must start with ending homelessness and addressing the high rates of housing instability. We must not let the District’s finances this year result in long-term harm to our neighbors with the least resources. Stable and affordable housing is the key to creating healthy communities, which in turn supports school success, reduces crime, and narrows DC’s racial income and wealth gaps.

Thank you again for your leadership and commitment to ending homelessness in our city. We urge you to continue to make progress in FY 2025 towards ending homelessness and increasing the supply of deeply affordable housing for extremely low income households.

Sincerely,

The Partnership to End Homelessness Leadership Council

Tonia Wellons, President & CEO

Greater Washington Community Foundation

Apply Today for the 2024 LEARN Foundation Scholarship

The Landover Educational Athletic Recreational Nonprofit (LEARN) was established in 1996 to support education programs for Prince George's County youth residing in the vicinity of FedEx Field stadium. Since its inception, the LEARN Foundation has awarded close to $1 million in scholarships and grants to Prince George’s County students and community organizations.  Embedded in the foundation’s mission is the belief that the future is now, and that through partnerships and collaboration young people residing in the targeted areas can benefit through post-secondary education opportunities. 

In 2002, the LEARN Foundation became a component fund of the Greater Washington Community Foundation. Since that time, hundreds of students have benefited from scholarship awards toward college and other career preparation opportunities.

The fund is now accepting applications for the 2024 awards, which will be awarded in July 2024. The minimum scholarship amount is $1,000. Applicants must be high school seniors residing in the immediate vicinity of FedExField with a minimum 2.5 cumulative GPA or better. The applications must include a short personal essay, an official transcript, a school letter, and two letters of recommendation.

Completed applications must be submitted by Tuesday, April 30, 2024.

For more information please contact The LEARN Foundation at [email protected].

Black-Led from the Inside, Out

Service Never Sleeps Whitney Parnell, Founder & CEO and Samson Girma, COO

This year, The Community Foundation is highlighting ‘Leaders of the Future’ – individuals and organizations who inspire us to look towards a brighter future for the Greater Washington region.

In honor and celebration of Black History Month, we are lifting up the incredible contributions of Black leaders – specifically those who are leaders in the movement for economic justice and community empowerment. We are excited to feature Whitney Parnell and Samson Girma, co-founders of Service Never Sleeps (SNS), who engaged in important research on Black leadership supported by The Community Foundation which will be released this summer.

Service Never Sleeps is a Black-Led racial justice organization working toward a world where equal rights, justice, and opportunity are available to all. We empower justice-minded individuals and institutions with the tools and posture to be effective allies, and to create equity within their spheres of influence.

We believe that we all have the responsibility to pursue justice in the areas where we hold privilege. We provide trainings that equip participants to be enduring allies in this “forever work”— understanding that there is no arrival point.

Since 2015, SNS has built a reputation as a go-to organizational teacher in allyship, providing training to over 10,000 people.

In 2020, we navigated the trials of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter uprising together as two Black leaders, during a time when the external demand for SNS’ work multiplied tenfold. It led us to a decisive point where we declared that we are proudly and unapologetically a Black-led organization. We now intentionally name and identify as “Black-Led” -- making it clear that our work is rooted in that identity.

What does it mean to be ‘Black-led’?

The “racial reckoning” that began in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd brought an onslaught of public individual and institutional declarations of commitment to racial justice work at large, and specifically to supporting Black-Led organizations. Funding for Black-Led organizations significantly increased during that period, and there seemed to be more opportunities than ever for financial support of our work.

However, when SNS began to apply for funding, we received feedback that we were ineligible for funding because our work did not directly support Black people. We were also told that our organizational leadership did not meet the identity requirements.

We felt (and still feel) that this feedback was not only inaccurate – it also seemed misguided in fully defining what it means to be “Black Led”. 

Our experience is that the value of being Black-Led is not just in the representation numbers of our staff and board, but goes far deeper into the implications about culture, priorities, and values that extend from the inside, out.

So, over the past two years, we have been leading our own internal research project: What Does it Mean to be Black-Led?

The project engaged over one hundred Black leaders, and dug past the traditional qualifiers of leadership demographics to help identify:

• How lived experience positions Black leaders for equitable leadership that benefits everyone;

• The internal/external challenges faced by Black leaders; and

• What actions and resources promote the success of Black-Led organizations.

The participants’ insights are powerful and educational. We were deeply moved by the validation of our own experiences as Black leaders -- including the systemic challenges that Whitney faces as a Black woman leader. As an organization, we processed how to apply these learnings into culture and policies as we grew our team.

The Black-Led Report

The more we learned about the values of Black-Led organizations and how to center those values, the clearer it became that this information needed to expand beyond our small team, so that as many people as possible could learn and grow from this synthesis of invaluable wisdom. We are excited to use our findings to develop new SNS trainings and resources – starting with a report to be launched this upcoming summer.

As we prepare for the new Black-Led Project content and programming launch, we continue to be grateful for the experiences that led us here. Our research has shown us that Black leadership is very-much a journey, one that is reflected in the paths that we have been on as Black people, and that SNS has been on as an organization. All of it has informed the season that we are in.

We are excited to invite others into this shared journey of growth and liberation with us when we publicly release our long-awaited report this summer. Stay tuned!

Leaders of the Future Spotlight: AfriThrive CEO, Dr. Truphena Choti-Empowering Communities of the African Diaspora

AfriThrive Founder & CEO, Dr. Truphena Choti

When Dr. Truphena Choti moved to Montgomery County with her family, she could not have imagined that 20 years later she would be leading an organization feeding 20,000 people a year.

“I had a career in international development, helping communities around the globe – but I felt strongly that my community – here in Maryland -- needed my help, just as much.”

Born in rural Southeastern Kenya to a large family, Dr. Choti was raised by a single mother who inspired her to work hard and pursue her dreams. After marrying her husband, Charles Choti – a future professor of Kenyan History and Politics – the couple moved to the United States to raise their three children and continue their educations and future careers – Prof. Choti’s in academia and Dr. Choti’s in International Education & Development.

“International Development work is very demanding, rewarding work,” Dr. Choti shared. “It can be quite heavy, but it can impact thousands of lives for the better.”

Strengthening Africa – At Home & Abroad

After getting her PhD in International Education Policy at the University of Maryland, Dr. Choti spent more than a decade with organizations like the National Education Association and Nascent Solutions, designing programs to improve the quality of life for millions living in poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa including a school meals program, a community gardening program, and various initiatives to promote women’s education.  

While Dr. Choti worked tirelessly for international communities abroad, she also carved out time for the growing international community in her backyard – particularly the African immigrant community.

The Greater Washington Region is home to more than 260,000 Black and African migrants – the third largest concentration of Black migrants in the country – a community which is growing rapidly. In Maryland, alone, the number of African immigrants has increased more than 42% over the past decade – with large populations coming from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, and Sierra Leone.

While many migrants (like Dr. Choti’s family), are able to adjust to life in a new country, the vast majority face severe economic, social, and cultural barriers.

“Many migrants come to this country with credentials – they were lawyers and teachers in their home country,” Dr. Choti shared. “But because their credentials aren’t recognized in this country, they are unable to enter a job at a level they deserve. They’re forced to work 2-3 low-entry jobs just to make rent – placing undue burden on themselves and their families.

Other migrants come from rural farming communities, similar to where Dr. Choti grew up – but lack the resources and land access to put their skills to work due to economic and educational barriers.

Dr. Choti with her husband Prof. Charles Choti (left)

Dr. Choti became an early advocate for the local African community while serving on the PTA at her children’s school, witnessing firsthand the challenges that migrant parents face. She started her work in a place near and dear to her heart – in the garden.

“I started gardening as a way to reconnect with my roots,” Dr. Choti shared. “My family didn’t like processed or canned food. We missed fresh produce from my home in Kenya -- Okra, Sweet Potatoes, Kale. It was easier to grow it myself, than to try and find it in the store.”

As the garden grew, Dr. Choti sought out opportunities to share the fruits of her labors with her community. She shared with her neighbors and made produce deliveries to newly arrived refugee families. As word spread and interest grew alongside the vegetables, Dr. Choti began researching how she could more sustainably bring culturally appropriate food to her community.

“I felt that this is where my calling is,” Dr. Choti shared. “Responding to the call of my community.”

In 2019, she founded AfriThrive and began broader efforts to support a growing refugee community in nearby Riverdale Park (Prince George’s County) – all this, while still working a fulltime job in International Development. That would soon change, though -- as within a year the region (and the globe) were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Growing Through the Pandemic

Like many communities, the pandemic had severe economic and health impacts for the Black immigrant community – most notably, food insecurity. Dr. Choti says that cultural barriers in the food system presented a particular challenge. She shared one anecdote of a migrant mother who spent a night in the Emergency Room after accidently cutting herself while trying to open a can of ravioli received from a food pantry. The underlying cause was simple but striking -- the woman had never prepared canned food before – she didn’t own a can opener.

An AfriThrive food distribution in Prince George's County

As food insecurity increased, demand for AfriThrive’s services grew exponentially. Dr. Choti and a team of volunteers quickly mobilized to increase access to culturally appropriate foods and fresh produce. They partnered with DC Central Kitchen to organize weekly food distributions at a local church in Aspen Hill. Within months, the distributions expanded to locations in Gaithersburg and Baltimore, with additional partnerships with 4P Foods and Manna Food Center. By 2022, the organization had distributed more than 1 million pounds of food.

At the same time, AfriThrive sought ways to connect more migrants with the resources to grow their own food. They worked with Montgomery Parks through the Community Gardens program to connect and rent garden plots to migrant families to grow cultural vegetables and herbs.

Dr. Choti and members of the AfriThrive team at the Cultural Farm in Poolesville, MD

In 2022, AfriThrive partnered with Montgomery Countryside Alliance’s Landlink program to help connect more migrants with farming opportunities. Through this program, they were able to secure a 2-acre Cultural Farm in Poolesville, MD to grow more culturally appropriate fresh produce – thanks to a grant through The Community Foundation’s Food for Montgomery partnership.

Continued funding through Sharing Montgomery has allowed AfriThrive to continue to expand its operations and productivity. To date, the Farm has produced more than 30,000 pounds of indigenous African vegetables that have been distributed to the community.

“We are so grateful to Sharing Montgomery,” Dr. Choti shared. “Not only for the funding that has allowed us to continue our work, but also for the partnerships that it has allowed us to build within our community.”

Participants in AfriThrive’s Balozi Advocacy Program

Becoming ‘Balozi’

While Dr. Choti loves the work being done in the garden, she also recognizes the need for outside work –particularly in the advocacy space.

“Policy matters,” Dr. Choti exclaimed. “Unless we address the root causes of food insecurity, the cycle of struggle will continue to spin.”

AfriThrive recently launched an initiative called the Balozi Advocacy Program. Taken from the Swahili word for ‘Ambassador’, the Balozi program is a nine-month course designed to train youth and adults to become policy advocates for their communities.

“We give them space to write their own stories of experiences with the system,” Dr. Choti explained. “From settling in the US to dealing with food insecurity. Then we give them a knowledge of how to navigate the system so they can advocate for their needs.”

Dr. Choti says she hopes the program will empower communities of the African Diaspora to access the information and resources they need to thrive.

“If you have a dream, act on it,” Dr. Choti encouraged future Black leaders. “Don’t wait!”

“There’s no better time to get started than right now. Your community needs you!”

The Community Foundation is proud to partner with AfriThrive through our Food for Montgomery and Sharing Montgomery initiatives to empower communities of the African diaspora in our region. For more information about these initiatives, visit our website. For more information about AfriThrive, visit www.afrithrive.org