In October 2024, The Community Foundation’s Health Equity Fund announced $10 million in multiyear funding to support 40 important projects that foster economic mobility in Washington, DC.

The investment included organizations who are receiving funding from the Health Equity Fund for the first time, as well as a number of returning organizations who received funding through the inaugural Health Equity Fund grant round in September 2022. Returning partners were asked to share what they have learned and how our ongoing partnership supports the work they are doing in the community.

The Community Foundation is excited to support the work and mission of our nonprofit partners, as together we seek to build a more equitable and inclusive region.

New Nonprofit Partners

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Ward 7
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
To renew and inspire collective consciousness in community development through intentional engagement that builds sustainable power in Black communities
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
Receiving funding from the Health Equity Fund is exciting because it will enable us to implement initiatives that directly address economic disparities in our communities. With this funding, we aim to develop targeted programs that promote cooperative businesses, improve cooperative business education, and foster community engagement, ultimately leading to better economic outcomes for underserved populations. We are committed to creating a sustainable impact that empowers individuals and enhances overall community economic well-being.
What excites you about the future for your community?
I am excited about the future of our community because of the strong sense of collaboration and resilience that is emerging among residents. As more people come together to advocate for positive change and address local challenges, we are seeing innovative solutions and programs take shape. With increased access to resources, education, and opportunities for engagement, I believe we can build a healthier, more equitable community where everyone has the chance to thrive and contribute to collective growth.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Columbia Heights, Adams-Morgan, Ward 1
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Our mission is to enhance the ability of families of color to define and pursue success while building community by connecting them with coaching, services and one another. Together, we amplify the experiences of DC area families and address systemic barriers to success.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
With this funding we hope to see 50% of our program families reach their self-defined financial and housing goals. We hope to see families who are striving to improve gain access to education opportunities that enable career advancement, home ownership, and overall economic mobility. We want to see families increase their social capital and be empowered to understand the systemic barriers impacting day to day success.
What excites you about the future for your community?
I am excited about the agency and autonomy of our community. As they go through our coaching, workshops, and family centered events their voices are the key component driving the organization forward to reach new goals.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Sinai Assisted Housing Foundation, Inc. provides transitional housing and critical services to families experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity in Washington, DC.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Our mission is to enable families to move from homelessness to independence by providing safe and affordable housing, comprehensive social services and financial support.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
With support from the Health Equity Fund, we are excited to strengthen our focus on economic mobility by expanding our efforts in supporting families experiencing homelessness in accessing deeply affordable housing. We will also eradicate financial predation within our community through clinical financial navigation and increasing access to legal representation.
What excites you about the future for your community?
We are excited to create space to openly discuss and address financial need without judgement, we look to a future that is free from the cycle of economic immobility and increasing wealth becomes a norm.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
SJP serves clients throughout DC. The majority of our clients reside in Ward 8 (30%), followed by Ward 7 (16%), and clients experiencing homelessness (13%). We also currently represent or have represented clients living in Wards 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
SJP uses special education law to ensure that older, court-involved students with disabilities can access a quality education. SJP's special education attorneys work with their clients to protect and enforce special education rights. Through our individual representation and systemic advocacy programs, we aim to spark a system-wide overhaul, changing the educational landscape for older, court-involved students with special education needs who are involved in DC's juvenile and criminal legal systems.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
SJP is thrilled to receive this funding from the Health Equity Fund! We will use this funding to support hiring SJP’s first social worker, which will enable SJP to provide more holistic services. The social worker will work closely with our clients in the community to access stable health and mental healthcare to allow our clients to work on their overall wellbeing.
What excites you about the future for your community?
SJP’s target population, all of whom are students of color with disabilities, experience the compounded health and economic effects of lack of access to education and incarceration. As a result, this population of young people is grossly adversely affected by economic and health disparities. But increasing education and reducing incarceration, the goals of our work, both have positive effects on economic mobility and health outcomes. We are excited to see how adding a social worker to our team will further these goals and lead to better outcomes for the young people in our client community.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Ward 8
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Building Futures' mission is to empower individuals to embrace their authentic selves through inclusive and supportive yoga practices. It focuses on promoting physical and emotional well-being while fostering personal growth and resilience. The goal is to inspire a lifestyle rooted in self-care, mindfulness, and positive connections within the community.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
We're excited about the funding for the youth printing coop as it will equip young people with vital skills in design and entrepreneurship. Participants will receive stipends for their hard work, empowering them and fostering a sense of ownership. This initiative will create a supportive community where they can collaborate, learn, and grow together, positively impacting their futures and our community as a whole.
What excites you about the future for your community?
We are excited about the future of our community as we embrace the principles of the solidarity economy, which prioritizes collaboration and support over competition. By involving our kids in this movement and incorporating healing practices, we’re empowering them to create a work environment that values community welfare instead of capitalist ideals, fostering creativity and innovation. This holistic approach not only cultivates a sense of belonging and emotional wellness but also enables future generations to pursue meaningful work that contributes positively to society, free from the constraints of traditional capitalism.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
We serve folks at the intersection of multiply oppressed identities including but not limited to: Black, Queer, Trans, Gender Non Conforming, Femme, Single /Primary parent, Immigrant or of immigrant dissent, Indigenous, Disabled, Neurodivergent.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
RUMA Collective promotes the health and financial wellbeing of undeserved creatives through access to healthcare, financial tools, operations support and leadership development. We serve those that exist at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
We are excited to algin with a funder who understands the complexity of health equity! We hope to use this funding to pioneer innovative programming for creatives and entrepreneurs of all kinds, that gets to the core of what it means to build a fully sustainable life.
What excites you about the future for your community?
RUMA see's a future where access to resources for diverse communities includes psychological and culturally competent care.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Ayuda serves low-income immigrants in the DC Metropolitan area.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Ayuda provides legal, social, and language services to help low-income immigrants in our neighborhoods access justice and transform their lives. For over 50 years, we have served more than 150,000 low-income immigrants throughout Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. Ayuda’s expert and dedicated professionals help immigrants from anywhere in the world navigate the immigration and justice systems and access the social safety net. This comprehensive and welcoming approach breaks down barriers, helps those in need, and makes our communities stronger!
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
With the Health Equity Fund, Ayuda will work with professional associations to award scholarships to interpreters who are low income, BIPOC and Deaf, and live in DC, covering costs associated with interpreter trainings, certification exams, and professional membership fees, attend conferences, and purchase equipment and software (laptop computers and accessories) needed for remote interpreting. Ayuda believes that increased access to professional training, certifications, and resources will catalyze economic mobility and improve health outcomes for low-income BIPOC and Deaf individuals. By reducing the financial barriers to entering the interpreting profession, Ayuda aims to create pathways out of poverty and precarity and toward economic self-sufficiency.
What excites you about the future for your community?
As this population achieves greater economic mobility, the ripple effect disrupts the cycle of poverty in their communities, ultimately promoting racial and health equity. Scholarship recipients who graduate from trainings or receive a passing score on their certification exams will gain skills, become ideal candidates for Ayuda’s specialized trainings and trainings from other organizations, receive offers to accept paid assignments from Ayuda’s interpreter banks as independent contractors, and be open to work for other interpreter agencies via the connections they make through the associations they join.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
DC KinCare Alliance supports DC-area relative caregivers (predominantly Black women) who step up to raise children in their extended families when the children’s parents cannot. Approximately 22,000 Black and Brown DC children live in kinship care arrangements, about 20% of all DC children of color. The majority live at or near the poverty level. Our work is guided by the needs of our kinship family constituents who live in all DC wards, but primarily Wards 5, 7, and 8.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
DC KinCare Alliance supports relative caregivers who raise DC’s most vulnerable and at-risk children in times of crisis when their parents are unable to care for them for reasons including death, incarceration, substance use or mental health disorders, child abuse, or deportation. We empower relatives to care for these children by providing legal representation, education, support groups, and advocacy.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
DC KinCare Alliance is excited to launch an innovative Community Organizing program that will elevate and amplify the voices of the historically marginalized community of DC’s kinship caregivers. Through this project, we will work alongside these constituents to reshape policy, social services, and programs that disproportionately limit their opportunities for economic mobility, health resources, and wealth-building.
What excites you about the future for your community?
By shifting advocacy and community organizing control so that our work is being led by those most affected by health and wealth disparities, we are excited to engage in truly antiracist work. This style of disruptive and innovative work is most effective for building horizontal communities, engaging multiple spheres of influence, and harnessing existing formal and informal networks. We look forward to empowering our community to have their voices heard and have a continuous say in the policies that affect them.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
At Social Justice School, we proudly serve scholar-activists from 5th to 8th grade across all eight wards of Washington, D.C. As an open-enrollment school, we welcome students from a wide range of backgrounds, reflecting diversity in race, socioeconomic status, and home languages. Our mission is to create an inclusive and empowering learning environment for all of our scholar-activists, wherever they call home in the city.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Our mission is to catalyze an integrated community of middle-school learners to be scholar-activists who are designers of a more just world. In order to design a more just world, our students require an education that embraces and lives out a set of core beliefs about what it means to be human. At Social Justice School, we believe that love, learning, and liberation are at the heart of this mission. Our Guaranteed Together pilot embodies these values by seeking to disrupt intergenerational poverty through direct cash payments, providing families with the financial stability they need to thrive. This program goes hand in hand with our educational approach, which is rooted in love—recognizing the dignity and worth of every individual, learning—fostering intellectual growth and critical thinking, and liberation—equipping our scholar-activists to challenge systemic inequities and create lasting change. Together, we are building a future where education and economic justice intersect to create a more equitable society for all.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
We are excited to use this funding to create a transformative education model that integrates academic growth, student and family empowerment, and economic mobility. By embedding social justice principles and providing direct cash assistance, we aim to demonstrate that this approach not only boosts academic achievement but also promotes long-term economic mobility for our families.
What excites you about the future for your community?
What excites me most about the future for our community is the transformative potential of the Guaranteed, Together pilot at Social Justice School. This project allows us to fundamentally shift the educational model by acknowledging poverty as the root cause of the opportunity gap that has long plagued our system. I’m excited to build a model that links economic mobility with a liberatory education, empowering our families to not only survive but thrive. Most importantly, I’m inspired by the vision of families and children having the financial security to meet their basic needs, giving them the freedom to dream and design a more just world. This is the kind of systemic change that can uplift entire generations.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
birdSEED gives no-strings attached downpayment assistance grants to BIPOC first time homebuyers from the Washington DC area.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
birdSEED helps close the racial wealth gap by supporting historically disadvantaged communities achieve home ownership. We do this by giving down payment assistance grants.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
With funding from the Health Equity Fund we will give no-strings attached grants to BIPOC residents of Washington DC who purchase a home in Washington DC. This funding will reduce displacement of DC residents to the surrounding areas and allow recipients to establish a home of their own in the District.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
DC Public Education Fund supports DC Public Schools in its implementation of its boldest and most innovative ideas. DCPEF's work supports students in every ward of DC, and is excited to pilot its Earn & Learn program at DCPS's Opportunity Academies with the support of the Greater Washington Community Foundation.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
In service of DC Public Schools (DCPS), DC Public Education Fund (DCPEF) fills a critical need in the community providing access to private funding to incubate innovative solutions to long-standing district needs. Since 2007, it has partnered with over 61 organizations to raise over $185 million to provide funding for key DCPS initiatives and catalyze positive change for over 50,000 students in DC, driving development in a number of areas, including: whole-child/anti-racist educational practices, a district-wide Reading Clinic, and a first-of-its-kind college persistence program for DCPS graduates. Ultimately, these initiatives are in service of ensuring DC’s young people are succeeding academically, feel loved, challenged, and prepared at school, and are set up for a lifetime of success.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
We’re thrilled to receive this funding as it will fuel the launch of our Earn & Learn program at DCPS's Opportunity Academies. This support allows us to provide traditionally underserved students with direct financial resources while they work toward their high school diploma and career certifications. The funding is pivotal in helping students overcome barriers to education and employment, and it will set them on a path toward greater economic security and health equity.
What excites you about the future for your community?
We’re excited for the ripple effect this program will have on the community. By equipping students with industry-recognized credentials and supporting them with direct-to-student payments, we expect to see increased economic mobility and stability for these students and their families. This is about more than just jobs—it's about transforming lives, improving health outcomes, and empowering the next generation to thrive in high-quality careers, which will strengthen our entire city.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
DC Appleseed serves everyone who lives or works in the District of Columbia.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
For thirty years and through litigation, teamwork, and advocacy, DC Appleseed has made the District of Columbia a better place to live and work. Independent and non-partisan, DC Appleseed works to expand democracy, promote economic mobility, and advance racial equity. Our collaboration with pro bono attorneys, volunteer professionals, and engaged community members is the backbone of our work, allowing us to leverage a small staff to tackle complex and diverse projects that improve the District.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
DC Appleseed and its partners in the Long Term Care Coalition hope to address a growing crisis: the number of direct care workers in DC is decreasing and, at the same time, the need for services is rising. We aim to improve the quality of jobs in this sector by raising wages, improving benefits, and increasing training opportunities, which will, in turn, increase access to quality care for all consumers.
What excites you about the future for your community?
Discussions around healthcare increasingly focus on equity and eliminating disparities. Naming the problem is a strong first step to bringing the right stakeholders to the tables and addressing these inequities to ensure all members of our community thrive.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Speakout primarily serves the LGBTQIA+ community in Washington, DC, and Prince George's County, offering a range of services aimed at fostering inclusivity, visibility, and support. Our organization focuses on creating safe spaces for the community through a variety of initiatives. We host community events like the annual I AM Awards, which celebrates contributions from LGBTQIA+ individuals, along with workshops, and social gatherings that bring people together. Our cultural competency training helps local businesses and organizations better understand LGBTQ+ issues, ensuring their environments are inclusive and welcoming. In collaboration with local healthcare providers, Speakout offers health and wellness initiatives, including access to gender-affirming care, mental health support, and health screenings. We’re committed to advocating for LGBTQIA+ rights, especially for trans and non-binary individuals, ensuring they receive the resources and recognition they deserve. Speakout also emphasizes youth engagement, partnering with schools and community centers to create safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ youth. These programs focus on education, empowerment, and personal development, giving young people the support they need to thrive. By serving both Washington, DC, and Prince George's County, Speakout bridges communities, ensuring that LGBTQIA+ individuals have the resources, support, and recognition they deserve, all while advocating for a more inclusive future.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Speakout's mission is to support and empower the LGBTQIA+ community in Washington, DC, and Prince George's County through advocacy, education, and inclusive community-building. We focus on creating safe spaces, improving access to healthcare and mental health services, and providing visibility and support for LGBTQIA+ individuals, with a special emphasis on youth and marginalized identities.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
Receiving funding from the Health Equity Fund excites us because it will allow us to expand access to critical health services and financial empowerment resources for the LGBTQIA+ community, particularly in underserved areas. With this support, we hope to provide comprehensive gender-affirming care, mental health resources, health screenings, and financial literacy programs, ensuring both health and economic well-being for all. This funding will help us advocate for the holistic well-being and visibility of marginalized groups.
What excites you about the future for your community?
I am excited about the future for our community as we see increasing visibility and acceptance of LGBTQIA+ individuals, which paves the way for meaningful change. Growing support from allies, improved policies, and expanded access to resources create a more inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. I believe that with continued advocacy and collaboration, we can empower our community to achieve greater health, economic stability, and overall well-being.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Mi Casa serves 1,600 residents in the District of Columbia annually. Of the residents we serve, 40% are at or below 30% of Area Median Income (AMI), 35% are between 31-50% AMI, and 25% are between 51-80% AMI. Approximately 45% identify as Latino and other recent immigrants (including immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa) and 50% identify as Black. Despite many of these homes being multi-person, a majority of them are housing-burdened or extremely housing-burdened, meaning they spend more than one-third or one-half of their income on housing.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
For thirty years, Mi Casa has been dedicated to providing quality affordable housing to low- and moderate-income households in the Washington, D.C. area. Mi Casa is a Latino-led affordable housing nonprofit supporting D.C. residents primarily at extremely low-income levels, the majority of whom identify as immigrants, Latino, or Black. Propelled by the belief that housing is a basic human right, Mi Casa works to increase the supply of affordable and supportive housing, to remove the barriers to obtaining affordable housing, and to increase the economic security of households with low incomes.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
Mi Casa works to foster economic mobility among historically marginalized communities and reduce barriers to affordable, supportive housing in the District of Columbia. To achieve these goals, we partner with residents to stave off the rapid gentrification taking place in historically Black, Latino, and immigrant-occupied neighborhoods. Through the support of the Health Equity Fund, Mi Casa will partner with residents to pilot Wealth Creation Funds through Limited Equity Cooperatives (LECs) as a tool for economic mobility and wealth creation.
What excites you about the future for your community?
Mi Casa envisions a world where all individuals and families have access to affordable and sustainable housing. Strong District neighborhoods occur when people are empowered to make decisions about their environment, community, and neighborhood. We believe that in facing the current challenges for affordable housing we will be able to steward a more just and equitable future for the diverse residents of DC’s vibrant neighborhoods.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Our work concentrates on Wards 1 in Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C. We have targeted zip codes 2009 and 20010, where our partner schools are.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
To empower Latina women, particularly mothers, by providing holistic, science-based trainings that enhance their emotional, physical, mental and financial health through business education, brain-based wellbeing, mindfulness, yoga, and community connection.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
We are thrilled about this funding as it will allow us to scale our flagship program, Mompreneurs, which empowers Latina women, especially mothers, through comprehensive, science-based training that enhances their emotional, physical, mental, and financial well-being. With this support, we plan to expand our team, enhance our program offerings, and reach more women in need. Currently, we have 64 women on our waiting list, and while we registered 68 participants in our last cohort, we could only support 26. Our goal is to graduate 50 women within the grant term, demonstrating the significant demand for our program.
In summary, the success of this grant will be marked by expanded programming and strengthened operational capacity, leading to measurable improvements in the health and well-being of women and families. By focusing on economic mobility, wealth building, and health equity through a community-centered approach, Women Palante is dedicated to creating lasting change in the lives of Latina women in the Greater Washington, DC area. Our nonprofit serves as a beacon for female entrepreneurs with a unique holistic approach to business acumen and well-being. With the Greater Washington Community Foundation Health Equity Fund's support, we are committed to closing the gap in access to our Mompreneurs program, ultimately contributing to improved health outcomes and community wealth building.
What excites you about the future for your community?
The future for our community is incredibly promising as we focus on building strong, supportive networks. Entrepreneurship can often feel isolating, which can negatively impact mental health. Our approach not only provides essential resources to address these challenges but also fosters community support that boosts confidence and encourages shared opportunities. Feedback from participants highlights the power of this collective support, where they feel empowered to persevere and thrive together.
We recognize that loneliness and depression often stem from personal challenges, trauma, and financial stress, leaving many Latina women feeling isolated. By creating a safe and nurturing environment, we allow participants to share their experiences and provide mutual support, helping them overcome challenges and grow together.
Through our programs, women form meaningful relationships and a sense of sisterhood, knowing they are not alone. We provide access to resources like low-cost psychotherapy, lending services, and cultural events, helping women fully engage with the community and explore new opportunities. With this grant, we plan to host more community-led events, ensuring we remain connected and can continue to offer resources and support for their businesses and well-being. Together, this robust network empowers women to overcome challenges and thrive.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Our clients typically range from 16-25 years old and are (or were formerly) committed to the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS). “Commitment” to DYRS means that a young person is a ward of the city, oftentimes until age 21, and that their placement in a facility, level of care, and supportive services may change throughout this time without court oversight. There are extreme racial disparities in the youth delinquency system nationwide, with Black and Latino/a children being committed and incarcerated at 4.7 times the rate compared to their white peers. It is even more extreme in the District of Columbia, where 100% of all committed children are children of color, and 93% are Black, while Black youth comprise only 51% of the DC youth population.
The majority of OCA’s clients hail from Wards 7 and 8, where residents experience DC’s highest rates of child poverty, school dropout, unemployment, and gun violence. Our other clients come from neighborhoods in Wards 1, 4, 5, and 6 that are experiencing similar crises. OCA’s clients have had extensive contact with the delinquency system and are often disconnected from school and other community supports; most have also been in DC’s child welfare system, and all are at high risk for entering the DC Jail or being harmed or killed by street violence. In our 19-year history, we have lost six of our young people to gun violence and one to a drug overdose. OCA works tirelessly to help our youth envision and actualize a healthy adulthood instead of accepting death or incarceration by age 25.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Open City Advocates provides youth-centered legal defense and holistic advocacy for young people after sentencing in the DC juvenile justice system and works for systemic improvements to the juvenile justice system, both locally and nationally, to better the lives of marginalized children and youth. OCA’s unique combination of long-term mentoring and comprehensive advocacy tackles our clients’ challenges head on and gives youth the tools they need to succeed.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
Using COVID relief funds over the past three years, we have provided attendance-based scholarship stipends to our clients enrolled in school or workforce development programs, and we are thrilled that Health Equity Fund’s support will enable us to continue providing these scholarship stipends.
These scholarship stipends have been extremely effective in helping our clients exit the revolving door of poverty and the criminal justice system. Contrasted with the high re-arrest rate of 93% for children committed to DYRS, ours is a highly effective program: for our clients who have received a scholarship stipend for more than six months, only 15% have been re-arrested so far, and none have been re-convicted.
What excites you about the future for your community?
Our vision is a legal system that is equitable, fair, and compassionate towards children and youth. Through this project, by providing scholarship stipends and basic needs assistance to young people who are returning from incarceration, OCA will provide the connectivity to services and supports that our clients need to thrive throughout the reentry process. By providing a scholarship stipend if our clients enroll in school or a workforce development program, we are thereby creating a crucial bridge to education and job training. The logic here is simple: providing stipends for education and internship opportunities enables clients who face poverty and racial injustice to make decisions under less severe constraints. All of these critical supports directly assist our clients with reintegration, break the cycle of unemployment, help to avoid homelessness, reduce recidivism and tackle the extreme racial and economic disparities facing our clients and their families.

Returning Nonprofit Partners

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Our Culinary Job Training program primarily serves residents East of the Anacostia River in Wards 7 and 8, but we have citywide reach with growing demand for our services in Wards 1, 4, 5, and 6.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Founded in 1989 as the nation's first “community kitchen,” DC Central Kitchen uses food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities. Our holistic model provides culinary training and employment opportunities to hundreds of people annually while serving thousands of healthy, locally sourced meals each day, addressing the immediate effects and root causes of hunger in our community.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
DC Central Kitchen is excited to link our proven workforce development model with holistic investments and partnerships that enhance our students’ health, wellbeing, and long-term outlook. Workforce development isn’t just training and credentials—it’s comprehensively identifying talents, reducing barriers, building confidence, and shifting power, and these resources will help us do just that.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
DC Central Kitchen has learned how to better address the depth and complexity of employment barriers that face our neighbors who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, racial inequities, and the criminal justice system. Through innovative and strategic partnerships as well as investments in building and engaging relatable mentors, we are fostering economic mobility along with robust community leadership.
What excites you about the future for your community?
We are excited because the District of Columbia has everything it needs to succeed. Shifting how our community identifies, engages, celebrates, and aligns those remarkable assets will determine our ability to create a more inclusive economy where every Washingtonian has the assets, access, and opportunities they need to thrive.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Yachad works primarily in Wards 4, 5, 7 and 8.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Yachad is a nonprofit housing organization that brings together local communities to make affordable housing safe and healthy, creating equity and wealth for families while preserving and revitalizing neighborhoods. Yachad is a Hebrew word that means "together."
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
This funding is an opportunity to provide support to lower income families seeking to purchase their first home or are new homeowners. In the past, our work has supported homeowners who have lived in their homes for several years or even decades. With this funding, Yachad can ensure that homes are inspected well before purchase, provide home remediation assistance if needed, earlier, and see that families have sufficient home maintenance information to be knowledgeable homeowners.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
Yachad's mantra continues to be "Where you live matters." We have seen this even more so over the past several years as an HEF grantee. Having sufficient resources to be able to efficiently and competently provide critical home repairs to our homeowners has been a game changer in terms of providing strong foundations for a family's continuing success at home and in the community. So many families have shared stories with us about not worrying about their roofs leaking or waking up with an asthma attack because repairs have been made. A family can go about their daily business because their homes are not making them sick. These same families have a chance to build wealth through the home equity that they are achieving by new investments in neighborhoods and in their own homes. Families can remain in their homes building wealth and achieving better health.
What excites you about the future for your community?
We are excited because the importance of stable home ownership is being understood by more people at the city and federal levels. Investing in wealth building through home ownership is a central theme in our upcoming Presidential election. The more resources targeted at supporting successful home ownership for lower income families, the more racial and economic equity can be achieved in the near future.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
ONE DC serves communities of color, the working poor, immigrants, and other oppressed people in all 8 Wards of DC.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
At ONE DC, our mission is to exercise political strength to create and preserve racial and economic equity in Shaw and the District. We seek to create a community in DC that is equitable for all.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
ONE DC is excited because the funding provides much needed support, creates opportunities for long term DC residents and focuses on the population the Health Equity Fund is designed to support and sustains. It is a big relief and encouragement to have such solid funding. This is very exciting and makes the Health Workers Collective viable.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
ONE DC learned that worker cooperatives need a lot of training support and economic support. We impacted over 200 DC residents through workshops, community events, and cooperative education training. Skills development training in leading, managing, and incorporating worker cooperatives is key to the sustainability of these community ventures.
What excites you about the future for your community?
ONE DC continues to recruit more volunteers and members to join our work. We've worked to provide a space within our community where people can strengthen their education on topics that affect them and work alongside one another to enact change. This is something that we've done since our inception and something we will do for as long as ONE DC is operating. ONE DC is excited to continue our work and community outreach in hopes of creating real, impactful change in Washington, DC.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
CCE’s work ultimately impacts all D.C. residents whether they are involved in the criminal justice system, called for jury service, or need access to justice through probate, rent assistance, or many other justice system services and mechanisms. However, we know that throughout D.C.’s legal system, Black people are disproportionately impacted, especially residents of Wards 5, 7 and 8. While Black people make up 41.4% of D.C.’s population, they make up 86% of the people arrested, 87% of the people jailed, and 90% of the people in prison. People incarcerated at the D.C. Jail are overwhelmingly from just a few neighborhoods in Wards 5, 7, and 8, and those neighborhoods have the greatest number of residents who have previously been incarcerated. One in seven adults in the District has a publicly available criminal record and it is estimated that only 30 to 50% of these individuals are able to find and maintain employment.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
The Council for Court Excellence (CCE) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that envisions a justice system in the District that equitably serves its people. CCE identifies and proposes solutions by collaborating with diverse stakeholders to conduct research, advance policy, educate the public, and increase civic engagement.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
We’re excited to receive HEF funding because it will allow CCE’s Second Chance Hiring Alliance to expand upon our efforts to reduce barriers to employment for returning citizens and those with criminal records (collectively, “justice impacted”) in our area. Our overarching goals are to: educate D.C. employers on the importance and benefits of second chance hiring, encourage them to hire justice impacted people, and facilitate effective collaboration between our coalition of D.C.-area employers, government agencies, community-based organizations, workforce development programs, and job readiness programs. With this HEF funding, we will recruit new business members to join the Alliance and commit to second chance hiring; create and disseminate educational resources for employers on the benefits, incentives, and legal protections offered in the District for second chance employers; and create more awareness and “positive peer pressure” on businesses to encourage them to increase their second chance hiring efforts.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
Over the last two years, we’ve seen significant changes in how the District’s leaders and residents think and talk about community safety, prosecutions, and incarceration. Without a doubt, it is important to respect peoples’ concerns about crime and how it has impacted communities. At the same time, we’ve learned that it is important to lead with accurate information and data when addressing policies surrounding the criminal legal system and avoid demonizing people whose involvement in crime is often a product of health and economic inequities and gaps. Numerically, we have, unfortunately, seen an increase in the reliance on incarceration during the past two years in the District, and have not seen a measurable rise in returning citizen employment yet – with only 54% of the “employable” individuals on supervised release having a job in 2023. We have learned, therefore, that there is much work to do and that it is critical to bring together unlikely partnerships, actively myth-bust stereotypes about returning citizens, and to stay the course, even when there are short-term blips in public sentiment around the criminal justice system and justice-involved people. On a program implementation level, we learned that “cold” outreach to businesses was less effective than making contact through/via Alliance members and partners. In developing this proposal, we have reflected that by emphasizing outreach through and with partner organizations like the Greater Washington Black Chamber of Commerce and the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice.
What excites you about the future for your community?
We are excited to support a future where individuals with criminal records in D.C. can have ample opportunities to find a stable, rewarding job and improve their economic well-being. As we begin to see growing employer, policymaker, and public support for “second chances,” we are excited about a future that is more inclusive and where more partners work together to see returning citizens and others with criminal records thrive.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
all 8 wards in DC, the City of Alexandria, VA
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Rebuilding Together DC Alexandria (RTDCA) has been a vital force in community service for nearly 40 years. Our foundation lies in the belief that every individual deserves a safe and healthy home environment. Our focus extends to serving vulnerable populations, including older adults, individuals with disabilities, veterans, and families with children, by providing them with free safety- and health-related home repairs and upgrades. Recognizing that poor housing conditions disproportionately affect these groups, our mission is grounded in the understanding that addressing housing challenges can have a profound impact on one’s health, well-being, and economic stability.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
Our research and experience support the strong connection between health and safety hazards in the home and the health, safety, and well-being of the home’s residents, especially related to asthma and other breathing issues, falls in the home, mental health and stress, and financial stress. Health Equity funds will allow us to improve living conditions, free of charge, for our low-income clients, allowing them to stay in their homes, and spend their limited incomes on food, transportation, medical and wellness needs.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
Based upon interviews with clients during a recent Client Impact Study, short-term post-intervention outcomes showed that 99% of homeowners were satisfied with living in their homes, 92% saved on costs that would have created financial burdens, and 68% had decreased energy bills -- all improving their financial stability and economic mobility. Also, our recent Social Return on Investment study of our services showed that for every $1 invested in home repairs and modifications by RTDCA, there is a projected social return of $4.38. This value is being realized through increased economic security and independence, increased physical health and safety, improved mental health, and increased community connection of the clients we serve
What excites you about the future for your community?
What is most exciting is that these funds will enable us to help long-term residents remain in their homes, preserving their place in the communities they've been part of for decades!

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
We provide training, leadership development, and technical assistance (legal, bookkeeping) for worker-owned cooperatives and offer non-extractive lending through the DC Solidarity Economy Loan Fund. We have an explicitly multiracial organizing approach that includes both Black and brown migrant communities alongside Native Black Washingtonians, and we are active in Wards 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Beloved Community Incubator (BCI) 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 help create family sustaining jobs through worker-ownership and create market access for local BIPOC-owned businesses to close the racial wealth gap.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
This funding will help us to intentionally develop and grow the DC-area regional solidarity economy and the power of poor and working class workers of color throughout the region. We will focus on Black and migrant led cooperatives, creating an outreach pipeline and capacity building program and support strategic industries – such as home health care. We will continue to provide technical assistance and financing to preserve dozens of jobs in Washington, DC by facilitating the sale of businesses to current employees, and we will extend the scope of our regional listening to include focus groups with constituents in Wards 1, 5, 7, and 8 as well as EOR residents pushed into PG County. This regional listening will shape a 3-5 year agenda for expanding worker-ownership in the region.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
A main barrier communities of color face in starting and expanding businesses is a lack of access to capital. BCI built a curriculum that accompanies workers to build out their business model, create decision making structures, and understand financial models. We have learned over and over that a significant level of accompaniment and support is needed for groups of workers, especially those with employment, literacy, and tech barriers, to move from idea to operation. Currently in our loan pipeline through the DC Solidarity Economy Loan Fund, we have five groups with potential loans totaling $250,000-$500,000. Every major development leap that BCI has made as an organization began with listening. To shape our work over the next 3-5 years, we decided to begin a participatory action research campaign this summer to 500 conversations to learn what workers dream for their workplaces, as well as identify strategic opportunities. We are continuing this listening campaign with a second phase in the Spring. Already we are hearing paid sick days, workers compensation, and health savings funds are pressing issues for our members. We will continue to explore the direction of a collective economic project for BCI Network members to build together and we will continue to listen for strategic opportunities to catalyze growth and connection within the DC-area regional solidarity economy.
What excites you about the future for your community?
Building a regional network coop by coop and weaving together those inherently “disruptive” businesses is an innovative and creative strategy to provide poor and working class BIPOC community members a powerful alternative to minimum wage labor and unreliable hours under the system of racialized capitalism. Business as usual means extraction from workers and our communities, where worker-ownership builds community wealth, better jobs, and higher wages. Currently we are working with a group of Ethiopian and Eritrean parents with special needs children who want to start an autism homecare business; 51st News the first worker-led newsroom in DC; a Black-owned yoga cooperative; and Rise Up Fitness, a Black-owned cooperative gym. Each of these businesses would be the first cooperative of its kind in our region – a future not possible without the deep accompaniment and training our organization provides.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Wards 7 and Ward 8
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
CYEP promotes equity for underserved people through social skill development and economic mobility. The outcomes of FIT are two-fold, the results of the program include engaged, responsible fathers that can help financially support their families and children, in addition to guidance and support for economic mobility through skill building and corporate connection.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
The funding supports the organizational infrastructure critical to CYEP’s growth and sustainability. The funds will support the CFO position to ensure fiscal accountability, maintain a budgeting process, and oversee the audit process. In addition, the funds will support the Senior Staff Director which will provide supervision, support training for management staff. Investments in our executive team will pay dividends both now and in the future.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
Over the past two years CYEP has learned that collaboration with community networks are key to programmatic success. The community and corporate networks have created a more comprehensive and complete services for the families we serve. In addition, the partnerships are yielding more programmatic funding as partners observe the positive outcomes of services.
What excites you about the future for your community?
The health equity fund is allowing for organizations to be innovative in how they serve the community. Our clients and community members are receiving both social skill development and barriers to economic mobility are being eliminated.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
AsylumWorks serves newcomers regardless of origin, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender expression, and/or English ability in all DC neighborhoods/zip codes. With other grant funding, we also serve clients in Northern Virginia as well as Montgomery County and Prince George's County, Maryland. AsylumWorks serves people fleeing persecution who generally fall into the following categories: 1) Asylum seekers: Individuals seeking protection due to persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group; 2) Refugees and Asylees: Individuals who have been granted permanent legal protection offering a pathway to U.S. citizenship; and 3) Humanitarian Parolees: Individuals who have been granted temporary legal protection. This includes Afghan Allies and Ukrainian nationals.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Our mission is to empower asylum seekers and other people seeking safety in the U.S. AsylumWorks provides critical services to underserved newcomers to reduce health disparities and increase access to justice.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
AsylumWorks sees the Greater Washington Community Foundation, and particularly the Health Equity Fund, as a thought leader and community leader for those serving the District’s most vulnerable populations. During the last year, we have strengthened our understanding of how health equity and justice are dependent on one another and improved how we frame and approach our work as a result. As we narrow our scope on the coming grant to bolster our E&E program specifically, we hope to increase our integration into the community network as we work towards shared objectives for increasing opportunities for economic mobility. We are invigorated to contribute to AIR, HEF, and other grantee outcomes on how to effectively serve our unique and deserving population.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
AsylumWorks has learned a great deal in the last two years, but two lessons stand out. First, AsylumWorks should strengthen relationships with other grantees. Given that our service population is very specific in the BIPOC community, it can be challenging to prioritize building relationships with other organizations when they don’t have an immediately evident service overlap. However, our work with the HEF Evaluator revealed multiple ways to engage with organizations that do not specifically target our clientele but still serve them. Moving forward, we see opportunities to build a stronger network with these organizations to enhance community support for our clients. Thus, community networking is key to one of our objectives in our Round 5 program.
Second is that our service model can and should evolve as the needs of our clients do. Our program structure has changed in several ways since our initial award in 2022. We updated our approach to better serve our clients based on direct feedback. For example, we overhauled our E&E program in 2023 as a result of direct client feedback and thus reported lower service numbers during that time. In order to promote economic mobility, and not just economic stability, E&E staff developed original content specifically tailored to newcomers and English or computer-skill-limited clients, and developed several different service tracks that address the varied needs of newcomers in different stages of the immigration legal process. Now that our new program structure is in place, we have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from clients that they are more able to access opportunities they want and that pay well, rather than just simply securing any job opportunity they can get. We are ready to expand these services, as seen by the new initiatives proposed that will, in part, be funded by this grant.
What excites you about the future for your community?
We feel we’re starting to see a shift in the immigrant-serving community away from just resettlement and more towards community integration, which is very exciting. AsylumWorks has always employed a model of care that recognizes that one kind of service alone is never enough; legal services alone or a survival job alone are not enough to truly empower newcomers to build lives with dignity where they can meet all their needs. To fully understand the needs of our clients, we employ newcomers themselves and involve them in all stages of program development and implementation. In 2023, our fellowship program was recognized by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement as a national best practice, and a similar activity is now a core competency in ORR’s newest national grant.
Since these milestones, we are thrilled to have been tapped to provide trainings to help other organizations adopt the program model. The hope for the fellowship program and our other community-led initiatives is that they would only temporarily be unique to us; our vision is a world where all newcomer-serving organizations, and even those who aren’t specific to newcomers, will move towards program models that are led by the communities they serve. We are so excited to contribute leadership to this shift and continue innovating new ideas that help immigrants and other BIPOC not just survive, but thrive.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Women experiencing homelessness in Wards 7 and 8
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Calvary Women’s Services (Calvary) empowers women experiencing homelessness in Washington, DC, to transform their lives through housing, health, education, and employment programs. Each year, of the women who complete our programs, an average of 70% of women end their homelessness or maintain permanent housing.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
Calvary is excited to receive funding that will support our continued expansion, focused on economic empowerment for women. This will include tripling the size of our rental assistance program and piloting a guaranteed income program for women who are experiencing homelessness as a result of domestic violence.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
With the support of the Health Equity Fund, Calvary prioritized the expansion of our health services that work alongside economic resources like employment access and education support. We were able to serve more than 350 over the past two years, and 75% of women who completed our programs had secured income and/or employment.
What excites you about the future for your community?
We are excited about the way that tools like guaranteed income can support generational changes and empower women to build wealth despite the systemic barriers they are facing.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
MSP serves approximately 500 survivors of domestic violence annually, roughly 40% women and 60% children. MSP primarily serves women and children of color experiencing low-income, with about 85% of our clients identifying as African American and 12% as Latinx. Our clients include many immigrants; we serve clients regardless of immigration status. Approximately 80% of clients live below the poverty line, earning less than $25,000 annually. Most adult clients are women in their early to mid-20s. Safe housing, financial security, and pathways to economic stability are cited as their most pressing needs. We accept clients from all zip codes of DC, though the majority come from Ward 7 (25%) , Ward 8 (36%), and Ward 5 (24%).
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
My Sister’s Place (MSP) shelters, supports and empowers survivors of domestic violence and their children, while providing leadership and education to build a supportive community. As one of DC’s oldest domestic violence shelters, MSP was founded in 1979 and has been serving survivors of domestic violence in DC for 45 years. MSP is unique in offering a full continuum of care to empower survivors in gaining long-term self-sufficiency, serving families from the first days of deciding to flee their abusive homes, to long after they have established their own homes. Our programs include emergency shelter, transitional housing, workforce development, cash assistance, children's programming, and aftercare.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
We are excited to be able to continue a deeply impactful program that directly addresses financial abuse while building economic security for survivors of domestic violence. Lack of affordable safe housing and financial instability are the main reasons survivors of domestic violence return to their abusers, with 98% of domestic violence survivors citing financial abuse, according to the WHO. RISE Trust directly addresses both by supporting our clients in transitional housing with $500/month for two years. We outline impact numbers below, but are most excited to see the direct positive impact on survivors, as reflected in our client’s own words below:

“The RISE Trust program has made me feel the safest and most comfortable I have felt in about 8 years. My experience with this program has helped me or should I say gave me the support I need to be able to take care of myself and my son! With the support I receive I am able to make healthier decisions for a more positive and successful life.

Over a two-year period, MSP hopes to accomplish:
- 30 families reporting improved health and wellbeing as represented by reporting increased access to healthcare, childcare, employment, and an overall reduction in stress.
- 30 families gaining proficiency in personal finances including developing and implementing monthly budgets, improved credit scores, and building savings.
- 30 families improving their economic stability as represented by increased income, increased employment or career readiness, and a path to permanent stable housing.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
In the one-year survey compared to the initial survey of our RISE Trust program, the percentage of clients who reported that they could not access or afford healthcare dropped from 31% to 6%. Similarly, the percentage of clients who said they could not access or afford childcare dropped by 25%. Clients were also twice as likely to report that they had a trusted person to ask for advice on their finances. The majority of funds were used on basic needs (19%), utilities and bills (24%), and transportation (13%).
Qualitative impact has also been measured in case management meetings and notes. Some clients made investments in their transportation in the form of car repairs, paying for tickets, insurance, and even making advance payments and paying off their vehicles. Other clients have been able to make payments towards their credit card debt, or debt with the IRS. Still others have been able to provide extra-curricular activities or thoroughly celebrate momentous occasions for their children, impacting family engagement, moral and mental health. RISE Trust payments have also been beneficial to clients who are students but not currently employed. Lastly, some have saved a portion of their funds in preparation for transitioning out of RISE, when they will have to make their own rental payments. Overall, participants reported an overall sense of relief and reduction in stress.
One of the biggest lessons we learned through the first 18 months of the project was the value of financial education for clients who opted to participate, and the need to make those services as accessible as possible. MSP added a partnership with CFLS to help us expand Financial Literacy education options for clients, in addition to our partnership with CAAB. Moreover, we began to build out an in-house program, and recently hired our own Financial Education Specialist so that we can provide financial literacy in-house and to more clients. The position will partner closely with our current Workforce Development Manager, who launched our Workforce Development program in November 2023. We have seen a drastic increase in client participation around career readiness, employment training, and education goals through having a staff member in-house to follow-up with clients, provide 1:1 case management, and have continuity of care around workforce development. We are optimistic for a similar increase in engagement with an in-house Financial Education Specialist.
What excites you about the future for your community?
We are excited to see Guaranteed Income pilots becoming more common, and for the precedent HEF is setting by continuing to fund programs like RISE Trust. Continued support sends a signal to other funders and the public that these programs are worth investing in. For domestic violence survivors in particular, economic security is essential to escaping abuse, and we are hopeful that with the example set by RISE Trust and other programs, cash assistance programs will become more common as wrap-around services to support survivors.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
BIPOC communities engaged in street economies, trans/NB folks, PWUD, and sex workers in all wards of Washington DC
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
HIPS promotes the health, rights, and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by sexual exchange and/or drug use due to choice, coercion, or circumstance. HIPS provides compassionate harm reduction services, advocacy, and community engagement that is respectful, non-judgmental, and affirms and honors individual power and agency.
We believe that those engaged in sex work, sex trade, and drug use should be able to live healthy, self-determined, and self-sufficient lives free from stigma, violence, criminalization or oppression. We will achieve this through engaging sex workers, drug users and our communities in challenging structural barriers to health, safety, and prosperity.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
Through support from the Health Equity Fund, HIPS will implement and evaluate radical human resources and community practices that support leadership development and equitable employment practices for LGBTQ+ BIPOC individuals with lived experience in street economies. Through our leadership learning collaborative, we will engage with other like minded organizations to build the capacity for a community of practice implementing and evaluating these models. Through this work, we will add support to our own staff (87% BIPOC individuals with lived street economy experience), and with our partner organization staff and other community members for equitable and anti-racist workforce development experiences which support the economic and career mobility of those most impacted by health and racial disparities.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
Our work prior to this project centered around Building Internal and External Equity for People in Street Economies. Part of this work was exploring ideas and concepts we have not had the capacity to bring to fruition. Our main lesson learned is that this work takes time, and we need to be ok with that. The concept of rushing and aiming for perfection is based in white supremacy, the very thing our project wanted to disrupt. This challenge drastically changed our project's timeline, however, it allowed us to be very thoughtful and thorough in getting in depth input and feedback from the target population, BIPOC transgender women. We used that input and feedback alongside our organizational data and staff experiences and developed a community led Trans Wellness Incubator project creating paths for economic mobility for 35 trans women of color and others in street economies.
What excites you about the future for your community?
We are excited for the opportunities for economic mobility, true leadership development, and truly supporting and preparing the next BIPOC generation of leaders. This funding gives HIPS and our community partners the opportunity to carve out space to focus on creating radical models of workforce development, equitable compensation, and anti-racists HR practices that finally disrupt the status quo models that are continuity creating barriers for individual and organizational growth.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Free Minds serves more than 1,500 people who were charged and incarcerated as adults while they were under the age of 18. Our members are from and live in all DC zip codes. Free Minds members have endured systemic racism, over-policed and disinvested DC neighborhoods with inequitable health and education systems, a shortage of affordable and quality housing, and food insecurity.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop uses the transformative power of the literary arts to build community among those directly impacted by the criminal legal system and elevate their stories to spark system change. We foster personal development for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth and adults through the literary arts, workforce development, trauma healing, peacebuilding, and member-led advocacy.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
We are most excited to use funding from the Health Equity Fund to build power and accelerate our work closing the enormous racial wealth gap for those that have been formerly incarcerated. This funding expands our services that include job placements, professional training, health care, credit building, peer support, and referrals for housing, legal support, and career opportunities that increase economic advancement. By supporting our programming that strengthens the leadership and increases the economic mobility of formerly incarcerated individuals, this funding furthers our goal of achieving transformative justice.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
Engaging with community partners in the Health Equity Fund’s network over the past two years, we have seen that the most powerful use of collaboration and community power is coming together to dismantle the systems that deny health equity and economic mobility to BIPOC communities. Hearing how other Health Equity Fund grantees provide direct services simultaneously with advocacy and community organizing has enhanced our work in both areas. By building strong community partnerships, we have been able to connect our members with a broad network of opportunities that have led to strong outcomes: In 2023, 97% of formerly incarcerated Free Minds members were employed or enrolled in an educational program, and 98% did not return to the criminal legal system. Meanwhile, 140 members lead systems change by participating in coalitions and campaigns across DC.
What excites you about the future for your community?
We are most excited to widen our strong network of formerly incarcerated leaders informing and leading advocacy campaigns to disrupt the system of mass incarceration and work towards a society where all can thrive. Free Minds members are the community stakeholders that will achieve our organization’s vision of a DC where BIPOC communities have abundant access to resources for economic advancement, healing, growth, creative expression, love, and connection. Through the advocacy of Free Minds leaders, we are excited to reach a future where mass incarceration no longer exists.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
DC Affordable Law Firm serves clients living across all eight of our city's Wards. Across our practice areas, we have the highest volume of clients residing in 20019, 20020, 20001, and 20011, in descending order, with our most significant client impacts in Wards 1, 5, 7, and 8.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
DC Affordable Law Firm delivers accessible justice to modest-income DC residents who do not qualify for traditional sources of free civil legal services and cannot afford standard representation. Our innovative programming expands access to justice by empowering community members with unmet legal needs while also launching the careers of public interest lawyers committed to accessible justice. Through our dignified no-cost and low-cost representation options, DCALF bridges the gap in legal services, changes DC’s legal landscape, and makes accessible justice a reality.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
This significant funding from the Health Equity Fund is transformative for DC Affordable Law Firm and is an investment -- not just in DCALF's unique mission and model -- but in DC's hardworking ALICE households who have long comprised the "forgotten middle" in legal services. With the support of the Health Equity Fund and the free legal services we now render, families can keep and grow resources to help meet other life demands, like child care and student loans, while also pursuing individual objectives in a way that promotes longevity and overall well-being, and achieve legal outcomes that help families build sustainable wealth. Over the next two years, DCALF plans to continue the work of our first two years partnership with the Health Equity Fund, engage in even more authentic community engagement and partnership establishment, and expand and deepen our one-of-a-kind probate and estate administration program to reach more vulnerable DC residents and reduce the legal barriers and burdens they face in trying to retain and sustain their hard-earned assets.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
Over the past two years, we have learned much about the incredible power of partnerships to expand our impact, the immense value of adding more tenured attorneys and staff to our team thanks to the Health Equity Fund, and the incredible freedom and empowerment that comes from serving our modest- and lower-income clients for free. We have come to holistically appreciate the ways in which the free legal services we deliver and the impacts we can achieve not only positively affect our individual clients, but can change the economic stratus and financial trajectory of subsequent generations and, some instances, shape the composition of communities and determine who can afford to remain as residents and homeowners within DC. In recent years, we have experienced growth in all of our areas of practice, ranging from 236% to 770% in terms of clients served and cases handled, a prime marker of our expanded community impact made possible thanks to this partnership with the Health Equity Fund and the financial support of others who followed suit thanks to the GWCF's pioneering approach and significant investment in DCALF and our deserving clients.
Partnership with the Health Equity Fund has enabled us to think big and given us the bandwidth to launch new, transformative programs to fill critical access to justice gaps in our community, thus fostering broader economic justice, dismantling more barriers, and using the legal services to fortify long-term economic resilience and justice for the Black, Latino, and immigrant District residents we primarily serve. Though we have experienced tremendous growth across all practice areas, the most seismic and pronounced impact has been through DCALF's leadership in the city's heirs' property, probate, and estate planning offerings for modest- and lower-income residents, and our efforts to think outside the box and bring services further upstream to combat the loss of intergenerational homes and wealth. In Fall 2023, we started tracking the value of intergenerational homes saved through our heirs’ property legal representation; the value of these homes has exceeded $15,000,000 in the first seven months we have been tracking this data, which is a testament to the economic security and prosperity we are helping families to safeguard and secure. As we look to the future, we are thrilled to spend the next two years continuing our expanded impact and finding new ways to measure the value and broader economic impact our services bring to our clients, their families, and subsequent generations.
What excites you about the future for your community?
The future is bright, and there is limitless potential to keep breaking down barriers so individuals and families can live their fullest lives. The challenges families experience on a daily basis are real, yet the louder we can beat the drum and bring a central focus to the opportunities that exist to do things differently and better, the better off we will all be. Within the very small ecosystem of DC Affordable Law Firm, we have keenly experienced how much can be gained by being unafraid to reinvent systems and try new things -- and we know this spirit of innovation that fuels the approach of our peer Health Equity Fund grantee organizations can make a huge community impact and collective difference as we lean into new possibilities within our spheres of influence.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
DC residents within 400% of federal poverty guidelines
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Drawing from the Jewish teachings of “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” or “Justice, justice you shall pursue,” Tzedek DC’s mission is to safeguard the legal rights and financial health of DC residents with low incomes dealing with the often devastating consequences of abusive debt collection practices and other consumer related issues.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
We are excited to advance economic mobility for DC’s young adults. We will provide financial empowerment training and practice opportunities—including 16 hours of class sessions, $100 in seed capital, and investment account costs for all participants for four years—to strengthen participants’ financial futures. Simultaneously, the project addresses underlying systemic and legal issues that contribute to DC's racial wealth gap by impeding economic mobility in the first place.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
We have learned that 80% of determinants of health are non-clinical. Therefore, by promoting economic health, our work also directly advances the Fund’s ultimate purpose of health equity. One particular highlight is that, thanks to our advocacy efforts, the DC government invested public dollars to fund the cancellation of about $42 million of medical debt for more than 62,000 District of Columbia residents. This investment has made DC the first state-level government to invest in the large-scale purchase and cancellation of medical debt. Over 80 percent of residents benefiting from the cancellation live in zip codes that are majority Black or community members of color.
What excites you about the future for your community?
We look forward to helping residents to live as full economic citizens by keeping money in the household or earning more income—leading, in turn, to better health outcomes as a result of economic stability.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
We serve teen parents pursuing college degrees and their families across the DC region, including all eight wards of DC as well as Northern Virginia and Maryland.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
To ensure all student parents have the opportunities to succeed, experience economic mobility, and build wealth, Generation Hope engages education and policy partners to drive systemic change and provides direct support to teen parents in college as well as their children through holistic, two-generation programming.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
Funding from the Health Equity Fund ensures that we can support 175 Scholars, the largest class of teen parents we have served in our history, wrapping supports including mentorship and mental health support around them and their families as they walk the path to the graduation stage. Through this support, young student parents who experience significant barriers to economic mobility will have the opportunity to achieve their college degrees and obtain family-sustaining careers.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
The last few years have taught us that families on the fringes are the hardest hit in a global crisis and an economic downturn. At the same time, we learned that coming together in big and bold ways that challenge the status quo and shed light on injustices helps parents and their children not just survive but thrive.
Over the last two years, Generation Hope supported 313 teen parents and their families across the DC region. Overall, 84% of Scholars are persisting in their studies and moving forward toward graduation and we celebrated 55 degrees earned over the last two years. Across fourteen years of service, 91% of Generation Hope Scholar Alumni living in the DC region report being employed full time and/or enrolled in a graduate studies program within 6 months of graduating and 92% of Alumni report an income above the federal poverty line 6 months after graduation.
What excites you about the future for your community?
Fewer than 2% of teen mothers earn a college degree before age 30, and more than half of all parenting college students leave school without a degree. Generation Hope is committed to changing these statistics one family and one system at a time. Our Scholars are graduating at a rate on par with all college students regardless of parenting status and going on to obtain family-sustaining careers, build wealth, and make powerful impacts in their fields as well as using their voices and stories to drive policies that accelerate the economic and social mobility of parenting college students and their families nationwide.

Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
District Wide
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization.
Rising for Justice (RFJ) leverages the collective forces of students and experienced advocates to achieve justice for all. RFJ believes that everyone deserves justice – today, tomorrow, and always – while also recognizing that the justice system is overburdened, underfunded, and inaccessible to many.
We believe that together, we can do better.
To prevent injustices today, we represent individuals who are in grave legal jeopardy.
To build a better tomorrow, we teach law students to be life-long advocates for justice.
To ensure justice always, we innovate sustainable solutions to problems of justice and equity.
Since its founding, RFJ has protected the rights of more than 250,000 District of Columbia residents and trained almost 4,000 social justice advocates.
What excites you about receiving this funding from the Health Equity Fund? In 2-3 short sentences, please share what you hope to accomplish with this funding?
Rising for Justice is excited about the Health Equity Fund allowing us to continue to work with D.C. residents to clear their criminal and arrest records. RFJ attorneys and social workers will work side by side to provide holistic support, addressing the legal and social barriers our clients face. By helping residents clear their records, we aim to remove the stigma of a criminal past, opening doors to opportunities that promote financial stability, personal dignity, and healthier lives. This funding will enable us to extend these life-changing services to more individuals, fostering a more just and equitable community.
For Returning Partners - What have you learned over the past two years? Please include any brief insights or impact numbers you may have -- especially those related to economic mobility in the communities you serve.
Over the past two years, we have filed motions to seal over 1,000 arrest and conviction records for D.C. residents. We’ve learned that there remains a tremendous amount of work ahead. Due to D.C.'s restrictive record-sealing laws, any individual over 18 who has been arrested has a publicly accessible record until they take action to file a motion to seal it. Rising for Justice has realized that the most effective way to create lasting impact is by partnering with other organizations, amplifying our collective efforts to increase economic mobility and improve opportunities for D.C. residents. Together, we can achieve greater reach and provide more robust support to those in need.
What excites you about the future for your community?
What excites me about the future for our community is the growing momentum toward equity and justice. I see more collaboration among organizations and a shared commitment to breaking down systemic barriers that have long held our residents back. The increasing focus on providing holistic support—combining legal assistance with social services—offers real hope for empowering individuals to achieve economic stability, better health outcomes, and a brighter future. I’m inspired by the resilience and determination of the people we serve, and I’m optimistic that, together, we can build a more just and equitable community for all.

New Nonprofit Partners

Network for Developing Conscious Communities

The Platform of Hope

Sinai Assisted Housing Foundation, Inc

School Justice Project

Building Futures

RUMA Collective

Ayuda

DC KinCare Alliance

Social Justice Public Charter School

birdseed, inc

DC Public Education Fund

DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice

Speakout, Inc

Mi Casa, Inc

Women Palante

Open City Advocates

Returning Nonprofit Partners

DC Central Kitchen

Yachad

ONE DC

Council for Court Excellence

Rebuilding Together DC Alexandria

Beloved Community Incubator

Fathers in Tech/Capital Youth Empowerment Program

AsylumWorks

Calvary Women's Services

My Sister's Place

HIPS

Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop

DC Affordable Law Firm

Tzedek DC

Generation Hope

Rising For Justice

Greater Washington Community Foundation