The Fund for Children, Youth, and Families (FFCYF) at the Greater Washington Community Foundation is pleased to announce $1.99 million in grants to 49 nonprofit organizations serving disadvantaged children, youth, and families across the Greater Washington region. The organizations will receive grants of up to $50,000 for project/program support or general operating support.

These grants support organizations that are:

Helping families experiencing homelessness, and those participating in housing-based service programs
Closing the achievement gap for students from various racial and ethnic backgrounds
Closing the achievement gap between low-income and high-income families by investing in early childhood education, academic achievement for school-aged children, and college preparation and career training
Supporting children in the foster care system by promoting permanency and helping youth leaving the system achieve self-sufficiency

*Watch coverage of our FFCYF grants in this Local WDVM segment*

Take the Wesley Housing Development Corporation, for instance, awarded funding to help low-income households avoid eviction. The grant will help 139 households in DC to maintain their housing. Of these households, nearly 50 residents will participate in one-on-one career coaching to attain unemployment benefits or re-enter the workforce. And, they will receive material assistance, such as grocery store gift cards, hygiene items, and youth “Study & Snack Packs,” at no additional cost.

Or, CollegeTracks, a Montgomery County nonprofit that that helps prepare high school students for higher education. Our grant will help fund their College Access Program, focusing on college admissions and counseling. Of the 784 students who were enrolled in the program in Spring 2020, nearly 630 will enroll in college within a year of their high school graduation.

Our grant to Prince George’s Child Resource Center will provide child development and parent/child learning activities for 95 participants, with the goal of improved language and cognitive abilities. Within one year, we also anticipate participating parents to demonstrate an improved understanding of nurturing parenting techniques.

These are just a couple organizations and projects that we’re proud to support. Below, read on for a full list of our FFCYF grantees and their projects.

Adoption Together
To host informational meetings on foster care and adoption with 250 prospective families
AHC, Inc.
To support the development of literacy and social engagement skills for 112 students in its afterschool program
Aspire Afterschool Learning
To support 80 children in its LearningROCKS! afterschool program
Center for Adoption Support and Education
To provide therapy sessions for 33 children who are moving from the foster care system into permanent, loving families
Central American Resource Center
To provide housing counseling services to help 50 participants maintain stable housing
Children’s Law Center
To provide legal support and other service to help children grow up in permanent, stable, loving families
Collaborative Solutions for Communities
To help 12 families transition to permanent housing
CollegeTracks
To help almost 800 high school seniors enroll in college or vocational programs
Community of Hope
To help 14 families in remain stably housed or transition to another positive housing situation
Cornerstones
To help 25 families move into stable, permanent housing
Court Appointed Special Advocate - Montgomery County, MD
To recruit and train 100 additional CASA volunteers
Court Appointed Special Advocate - Prince George's County, MD
To increase capacity for its Transitioning Youth program
Court Appointed Special Advocates – Fairfax County, VA
To provide the services of a CASA volunteer to 292 children
DC Bilingual Public Charter School
To enroll 34 children in PK-3
DC Volunteer Lawyers Project
To train 38 volunteer lawyers to offer 140 victims legal and/or advocacy assistance
District Alliance for Safe Housing
To assist families through its Cornerstone Program, Empowerment Project and Survivor Resilience Fund
District of Columbia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice
To improve the capacity of the District's 2,300 early childhood educators to identify children at risk for developmental disabilities
Doorways for Women & Families
To provide safe housing, life skills and employment services to 30 households experiencing homelessness
Edgewood Brookland Family Support Collaborative
To help 80 families and individuals obtain or retain stable housing
Family and Youth Initiative
To match four teens with an adoptive family
Friends of the National Arboretum
To provide career awareness workshops to youth from low-income communities
Generation Hope
To offer college readiness workshops, application and enrollment services, and ongoing support throughout college for 170 teen parents
Good Shepherd Housing & Family Services, Inc.
To place 90 vulnerable and homeless participant families in affordable housing
Healthy Babies Project
To help pregnant/parenting youth find stable housing and create educational or job readiness plans
Homeless Children's Playtime Project
To increase the number of advocacy coalition partners and expand support services for children in families experiencing homelessness
Homestretch
To provide debt and financial services and help four homeless adults transition to stable housing

Hope House
To provide college preparation services to high school students and ongoing support to students while in college
Housing Up
To help 686 families obtain and/or maintain stable housing
Identity, Inc.
To help 50 students demonstrate improvement or achieve their grade-level target in key literacy skills
International Rescue Committee
To help 70 refugees increase their incomes through public benefits and securing entry-level jobs
Legal Aid Justice Center
To provide housing-related legal services to more than 300 households
Main Street Child Development Center
To help children achieve or make progress toward school readiness goals
Mental Health Association of Frederick County
To close 15 cases and place foster children in permanent homes
Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless
To help 126 families maintain stable, permanent housing through its Partnership for Permanent Housing (PPH) program
Neighborhood Legal Services Program of The District of Columbia
To provide low-income DC residents and homeless families with legal and housing services
Northern Virginia Family Service
To help 130 households transition from homelessness into temporary housing or from temporary into permanent housing
Prince George's Child Resource Center
To provide child development and parent/child learning activities that improve language and cognitive abilities for 95 participants
Reach Education
To help high school and elementary students develop and grow their literacy skills
Rising for Justice
To help 1,500 tenants and their families avoid eviction
Sasha Bruce Youthwork
To support homeless youth and runaways with housing and family strengthening services
Stop Child Abuse Now of Northern Virginia
To help 75 children served by the CASA program achieve permanency in their family placements
Shelter House
To help 19 families achieve housing, public benefits and income stability through its RISE program
Stepping Stones Shelter
To help 30 families move into stable housing and increase their income
Survivors and Advocates for Empowerment (DC SAFE)
To assist 300 participants in successfully moving to safe transitional or permanent housing
The Arc Prince George's County
To support more than 40 participants with training and employment services through its Project SEARCH and Ready@21 programs
The Barker Adoption Foundation
To provide clients with lifelong services and advocate for ethical, respectful and child-centered adoption practices
The Platform of Hope
To help 60 low-income families develop life goals, increase their resource networks and participate in programs that help achieve their goals
Voices for Virginia's Children
To collect and distribute data-driven information to policy makers and support 1,000 children in the foster care system
Wesley Housing Development Corporation
To help 139 low-income households avoid eviction and maintain housing

About the Fund for Children, Youth And Families

The Fund for Children, Youth and Families (FFCYF) was established to invest in the betterment of underserved children, youth, and families across the greater Washington region - specifically, to invest in organizations achieving significant impact providing services and programming across the following program areas: Stable Homes Stable Families, Foster Care and Adoption, and Academic and Career Success. Through its grantmaking, the fund supports effective organizations working to make the community healthy and stable. Please visit www.fund4cyf.org for more information.

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