Following up with our Community Action Award Winners

By Benton Murphy, outgoing Senior Advisor for Impact

Earlier this year, the Community Foundation issued $100,000 in small grant awards to community partners across the region through our Community Action Awards. The Awards were provided to a cohort of 50 activists, artists, and advocates leading neighborhood-based projects that would spark change in their communities. 

The Community Action Awards are part of our three-part VoicesDMV series, a powerful community engagement initiative launched in 2017 to explore our region’s most pressing challenges and opportunities. In 2020, VoicesDMV tapped into Community Insights through a regional survey and convened hundreds of residents from across the region to discuss ways to make our communities stronger through On The Table conversations.

While many of our Awardees are still working to finalize their programs, we are thrilled to share some highlights of some excellent programs that have taken place over the past year.

American University and EL Haynes Public Charter School received an award to support their Action Research for Community Change project. The project, sparked by a conversation that took place as a part of our On the Table day of dialogue in 2020, was an innovative and impactful partnership that paired AU college students and high schoolers at EL Haynes Public Charter School in conversations on race and equity. Students at both institutions participated in virtual classrooms together, co-learning and co-designing a community action research project. AU students developed a curriculum and guide for community action research. EL Haynes students conducted a bilingual survey of the student body with more than half of student responding. Based on student responses, the action researchers made a series of recommendations that yielded commitments from school leadership to hire a new social worker, offer two new elective courses focused on centering Black lives, and a commitment to using student surveys to inform future teacher professional development. What’s more—AU students developed a workbook on action research that the students can use in future years to continue to lift up student voices for change!

The Brem Foundation received an award to provide funding for its Wheels for Women program which helps connect women to breast care appointments. The District of Columbia has the highest death rate for breast cancer in the United States, and despite being diagnosed at the same rate, Black women have a 40% higher death rate from breast cancer than white women. Brem used funds to support 76 one-way rides for women to get to their breast care appointments, the majority of recipients were Black women. Brem also was able to use funds to expand from 8 to 9 community partners for rides, which will be useful for the many recipients who live very far from their health care provider.

IMPACT Silver Spring used its award to support its Sewing Academy for Latina Women. The Academy was the brainchild of IMPACT’s Women’s Empowerment Collective, composed mostly of parents of IMPACT’s youth programming or who became interested through direct outreach at local schools. The award funded the purchase of sewing machines and supplies, as well as compensation for experienced seamstresses who served as instructors in the program. Twenty women registered for the Academy over a six-month period. The women of the Academy both built their sewing skills as well as strong bonds and a new support network. Participants were also supported to participate in civic actions, including providing testimony at Montgomery County Council hearings on the importance of affordable vocational education. When the Academy students gathered with their family, friends, and IMPACT staff for their graduation in July they held a fashion show to showcase the students’ work, with one participant noting: “I made three dresses. I never thought I could do this. I’m making my dreams come true.”

This has been an especially meaningful program for me to take on as I wrap up a 17-year stint here at The Community Foundation to move on to other opportunities. Having led our inaugural Community Action Awards program, it is so wonderful to see how impactful these small-dollar grant awards can be. It is instructive for us as funders and individual donors that even a small gift can be meaningful for those who are striving to make the world a better place for everyone. I am hopeful that you will find our next crop of Awardees as inspiring as I have found this one!

View the Impact of Several Projects

Got You Covered Diaper Bag Project

Live It Learn It for Drew Elementary School

DC KinCare Alliance Relative Caregiver Community Board Outreach and Education Project

Zoom Pals, an intergenerational pilot project in a partnership between American University and Hyattsville Aging and Place

Mamas Together Mutual Aid Community Survey Project

Mamas Together Mutual Aid Community Survey Project

Baños de Bosque and Defensores de la Cuenca "forest bathing"

AALEAD Overcoming Gentrification in Chinatown

Book Club for Kids podcast

Young, Black and Giving Back Institute'sYoung, Black & Working from Home Community

Investing in Nonprofit Capacity to Leverage Federal Funds to End Homelessness

The Partnership to End Homelessness is excited to announce a $250,000 investment from The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation to double our support for this important project. Together, we are working to leverage ongoing federal funding to support our nonprofit partners providing Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH).

In April 2022, DC is expected to launch a new Medicaid Benefit that could result in an additional $20+ million in annual federal resources for PSH services in DC.

The new benefit will allow nonprofit providers to bill Medicaid for PSH services. The additional federal funding that will be leveraged through this investment will result in higher reimbursement rates for nonprofit providers, meaning the ability to improve retention of talented, experienced staff and build internal capacity to meet new quality and outcome metrics.

PSH is a proven model for ending chronic homelessness and an effective tool that works by pairing housing with wrap-around support services. PSH services are voluntary, flexible, and individualized to help people achieve their personal goals, such as stabilizing and improving their physical and mental health, gaining employment, reconnecting with family, and participating in the community. These supports help people experiencing chronic homelessness obtain affordable housing and remain permanently housed. 

To learn more about Permanent Support Housing, check out our blog post featuring former Leadership Council member, Waldon Adams.

Image courtesy of Open Arms Housing, one of our PSH provider partners

In DC there are currently around 4,000 clients in the PSH program. Across the city, nonprofits provide supports for clients in the PSH program including housing navigation, housing stability and the basics of landlord-tenant relationships, connection to employment and training, navigation through public systems, and connection to community resources. Services can also provide clients with tools to cope with mental health, addiction, trauma, physical health problems, and other issues they might be experiencing that jeopardize housing stability.

Opportunity for Impact

In order to make this transition to billing Medicaid, nonprofits will need to adopt new practices, quality control checks, and new or updated internal systems related to human resources, accounting, and compliance functions.

Through the Partnership to End Homelessness, The Community Foundation is uniquely positioned to leverage and align private sector resources to support PSH providers to increase capacity and begin billing Medicaid. This could include technical assistance and coaching from consultants with expertise and experience with Medicaid billing and enrollment, or one-time technology investments to set-up necessary systems and tracking to bill Medicaid.

Advancing Racial Equity Goals

Ensuring all PSH providers, big and small, are able to make the transition to Medicaid billing is an important part of our goal to increase racial equity in the homeless service system. Smaller organizations, many led by Black and Brown leaders, are often the organizations that don’t have additional support and resources to increase capacity. By investing across the system and ensuring all providers have access to capacity building resources, it is our goal to ensure that all organizations will have the support they need to make the transition to Medicaid billing and benefit from federal funding and higher reimbursement rates for services. 

Advancing Public-Private Solutions to End Homelessness in DC

The Partnership to End Homelessness was created to leverage private philanthropy, in alignment with Homeward DC, the city’s Plan to End Homelessness, to create sustained investment in the homeless services system.

The Partnership is working with partners at the DC Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) to coordinate these funds and support PSH providers and the system as a whole to make the necessary investments to access ongoing federal funds.

How Can You Help?

Join the Partnership to End Homelessness and The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation in our efforts to leverage federal funding and increase the capacity of our nonprofit providers. We are bringing together private funders in order to bridge the gap between opportunity and impact. Contributing to this project can make a significant impact in ensuring support and stability for our neighbors in Permanent Supportive Housing.

For more information, please contact Jennifer Olney, Community Investment Officer, Partnership to End Homelessness, at [email protected].

Changing Perceptions About Homelessness in DC

By Jennifer Olney, Community Investment Officer, Partnership to End Homelessness

This week, communities across the country marked Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week, an annual program designed to bring people together to share information and stories that help draw attention to the persistence of hunger and homelessness in our community. Through our Partnership to End Homelessness, one of our goals is help to our partners and community members better understand who experiences homelessness and why, and what we can do about it.

Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions about homelessness and housing instability.

It is no secret that DC has a severe shortage of affordable housing. As local housing costs continue to outpace people’s incomes, nearly 1 in 5 residents reported they could only make it by for less than one month if they lost their current sources of income. A person working a minimum wage job would have to work two full-time jobs in order to cover rent on a one-bedroom apartment in DC. Without stable housing it is hard to focus on your health, get an education, maintain employment, or take care of other basic needs.

It’s important to remember that homelessness is not a choice or an individual failure. Homelessness is the result of systems that are failing our neighbors and as a result, failing our community. Due to systemic racism and decades of discrimination in housing, employment, and access to healthcare, Black and Brown residents are much more likely to struggle with housing instability and to experience homelessness. Although Black residents make up less than half of DC’s overall population, they make up 87% of people experiencing homelessness in DC. As we talk about racial and social justice, we must also talk about housing justice.

It’s important to remember that people who lose their housing and experience homelessness and housing instability are our neighbors.

People like Shelley, a mother and veteran, who could not make enough income to afford housing for her and her daughter. Or Janet, who lost her apartment after she was laid off when her employer shut its doors.

In DC, nearly 1 in 100 residents are without housing on any given night. They’re our neighbors including working adults, people suffering from chronic health conditions, families, college students, senior citizens, LGBTQ+ youth, and veterans. With the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis, many households who were already struggling, lost their jobs or childcare and quickly fell behind on rent. According to a recent analysis by DCFPI, renters in DC still owe over $70 million in back rent.

We know that in order to reach our goal of preventing and ending homelessness, it will take all of us working together and doing our part. Over the past year, we have been working closely with our nonprofit and government partners to ensure that no one loses their housing during the pandemic. We’ve also been inspired by innovative partners like Empower DC and Horning Brothers who are going above and beyond to connect tenants with available resources to help them remain stably housed.

Join us in our work to ensure everyone has safe and stable housing that they can afford.

In 2019, we launched The Partnership to End Homelessness, a public-private partnership aimed at uniting DC government and the private sector around strategies to ensure homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring. We believe that ending homelessness in DC starts with creating more supportive and deeply affordable housing and strengthening our system so people have the supports they need to obtain and maintain stable housing.

With support from our donors and investors, the Partnership has helped to leverage and align over $12 million in funding to build and preserve affordable housing, provide critical support to nonprofits working on the front lines with people experiencing homelessness, and to support advocacy efforts that secured funding for housing for an additional 3,500 households in this year’s city budget.

We are making progress, but there is more to do. During Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, the Partnership is ramping up its efforts to end homelessness in DC and I hope you will join us. To learn more about our work, and how you can get involved, we invite you to explore our website or our most recent Impact Report, and consider supporting our work with an a donation to our grantmaking program.

Quarterly Update to the Community

Dear Community Foundation Fundholders,

I hope you and your family are enjoying the beautiful fall weather!

 Thanks to the continued generosity and care of our community of givers, we collectively awarded more than $21 million in grants last quarter to nonprofits working to strengthen our region and beyond.

In August, we were proud to release our 2020-2021 Annual Report and share how we mobilized $40 million in community support to help our neighbors facing hardship due to the COVID-19 crisis. Thanks to the incredible donors, nonprofit partners, and community leaders who stepped up to help us meet this challenge. In case you missed our 2021 Annual Meeting or the release of our Annual Report, you can find the recording and resources here.

Last quarter, our community impact work included:

• A new partnership between our Food for Montgomery initiative and Feed the Fridge to provide meals for families in need at Mary’s Center.

• Our Partnership to End Homelessness participated in the White House Eviction Prevention Summit and invested in Housing Counseling Services to help more tenants apply for and access rental assistance.

• Historic investments to address the infrastructure needs of 17 Black-led organizations, enabled through a generous $1 million gift from Facebook. 

• Additional investments from Arts Forward Fund totaling nearly $1.7 million to help 89 arts and culture organizations recover from the impact of the pandemic.

• Welcoming new funds like America Remembers Fund, which supports the “In America: Remember” art exhibition that blanketed the National Mall with 660,000+ white flags, each honoring a person lost to COVID-19.

We were proud to welcome new and diverse leaders to our Board of Trustees, Advisory Boards, and staff.

• Sarah Moore Johnson, founding partner at Birchstone Moore, was elected to serve as a Trustee.

• Anna Behnam, Christopher J. Martin, and Ana Morales joined our Montgomery County Advisory Board, and Glenda Wilson joined the Prince George’s County Advisory Board. 

• Darcelle Wilson joined our staff as the new Senior Director for Prince George’s County.

This month, we are excited to release our new 10-year strategic vision with a sharpened focus on closing the racial wealth gap in our region's underinvested neighborhoods where racialized disparities are the greatest. As we begin this journey, our intent is to engage you and our entire community in conversation to inform our learning journey and align our understanding about the root causes and the most effective solutions for closing the racial wealth gap.

With the end of year approaching, our staff can assist with carrying out your philanthropic goals for 2021. Please be mindful of our December 17 deadline for your year-end grantmaking activities to ensure your nonprofit partners receive their funds by December 31.

Thank you for your continued partnership in serving our community’s needs today, and in building a better tomorrow for the Greater Washington region. 

Sincerely,
Tonia Wellons
President and CEO

Recap from our 2021 Annual Meeting!

Sponsored By

Thank you for joining us at the intersection as part of our 2021 Annual Meeting! It was an incredibly powerful and inspiring conversation -- from Michelle Singletary sharing her reflections and personal experiences with misperceptions about race and inequality, to the stories of impact from our community, to the exciting preview of our new strategic vision. Together, we will chart a path toward a just, equitable, and thriving region where everyone prospers and thrives. 

In lieu of providing lunch for the meeting, we invited participants to help us select a hunger relief nonprofit to receive a special grant. Thanks to a generous challenge match by several Community Foundation Trustees -- Dr. Charlene Dukes (who instigated the challenge), David and Peggy Shiffrin, and Sarah Moore Johnson -- we are able to award grants of $2,500 each to Bread for the City, Capital Area Food Bank, Manna Food Center, and United Communities Against Poverty. What an incredibly inspiring act of generosity!

In case you missed the discussion, or would like to revisit the conversation, you can now watch a recording of the event. You can also learn more about your investment options as a fundholder on our website.

And finally, we hope you will join us on Friday, October 29 at 9:00 a.m. for our next quarterly book group discussion of Michelle Singletary's 10-part series for the Washington Post. Click here to register to join us for this continuing conversation.

We appreciate that you have entrusted us as your charitable giving partner. Thank you for sharing your passion for philanthropy and service with us.

If you have any questions, you can reach us at 202-955-5890 or email [email protected].

We remain committed to working with you to strengthen and support our region now and for the future.

Sincerely,
Tonia Wellons
President and CEO
Greater Washington Community Foundation

Community Foundation Statement on DC’s CARE Pilot Program

At the Greater Washington Community Foundation, we know that housing ends homelessness and we believe that everyone deserves a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home. We work closely with the DC government through our Partnership to End Homelessness and we share the goal of ensuring that homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring. We support the city’s efforts to expedite housing placement for people  experiencing homelessness and are encouraged by the number of residents living in encampments who are being offered housing through the city’s new “CARE pilot program.”

However, we share the concerns of our partners at The Way Home Campaign and join them in calling on the DC government to revisit the pilot program. We strongly oppose the creation of “no tent zones” and any criminalization of homelessness or poverty. In alignment with CDC guidance, we urge the city to suspend all encampment clearing while residents wait for housing placement. We know that clearings destroy communities, criminalize homelessness, and push people into different encampments or other hard to locate places, making it difficult to connect them with services, and potentially spreading the Delta variant of COVID-19. 

Addressing homelessness is a matter of racial equity and social justice. We cannot continue to punish individuals for the failures of systems and must instead apply this urgency and attention to connecting residents with housing using a person-centered approach that honors human dignity. 

Arts Forward Fund Announces $1.7 Million in Grants to 89 Local Arts Groups Impacted by COVID-19

Arts Forward Fund, a partnership between the Greater Washington Community Foundation, The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, and 10 other foundations and individual donors, is proud to announce new grants totaling nearly $1.7 million to 89 arts and culture organizations in the DC region.

These grants will help organizations address the challenges of reopening and recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 60 percent of grants and grant funding will go to organizations that are led by Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) and predominantly BIPOC-serving. Based on feedback from a community advisory committee and last year’s applicants, these grants will support general operations rather than specific projects. Grant recipients include six theaters, nine dance schools and dance companies, five film and music festivals and more than 20 youth-serving organizations across DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

In response to a call for applications released in early July 2021, Arts Forward Fund received 131 applications totaling nearly $2.7 million. Thanks to a generous gift of $1 million from billionaire Mackenzie Scott and her husband Dan Jewett, Arts Forward Fund was able to support more than two-thirds of 2021 applicants and award more than 60% of total funds requested.

“Our region’s arts and culture organizations will take years to recover from the impact of this pandemic,” says Calvin Cafritz, President and CEO of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, which made a lead grant of $500,000 to establish Arts Forward Fund in 2020 and contributed an additional $400,000 in 2021. “As the region’s leading funder of arts and culture organizations, The Cafritz Foundation is honored to join so many of our funding colleagues in this remarkable collective effort to help our local cultural organizations reopen and thrive.”

“Through some of the darkest days of this crisis, many of our region’s arts and cultural organizations found innovative ways to inspire, uplift, and support our community. As we continue to recover from this crisis and adjust to a new normal, it is important to acknowledge that arts groups were disproportionately impacted and that recovery will take time and require sustained investment,” says Tonia Wellons, President and CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation. “We are proud to be part of this equity-focused funder collaborative investing in the stability of our region’s arts sector to contribute to the vitality of our region.”

Following is a list of Arts Forward Fund grant recipients. All grants support general operations.

1st Stage Theater

826DC

Actor's Center

Adventure Theatre

American Poetry Museum

American Youth Philharmonic

Anacostia Playhouse

Arlington Arts Center

Art Enables

Art of Noize

Art Works Now

Artivate

Arts Fairfax

Arts on the Block

ArtStream

Asian Pacific American Film

Atlas Performing Arts Center

Black Artists Of DC

BlackRock Center for the Arts

Capital Fringe

CapitalBop

Capitol Hill Arts Workshop

Capitol Hill Jazz Foundation

GB Youth Media

Church of the Epiphany

Ciesla Foundation

CityDance Viva School of Dance

Coalition For African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA)

Critical Exposure

D.C. Creative Writing Workshop

Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company

Dance Institute of Washington

Dancemakers

Dance Place

DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative

DC Independent Film Festival

DC Jazz Festival

DC Palestinian Film & Arts Festival

DC Youth Orchestra Program

Docs in Progress

East of the River Boys & Girls Steel Band

Educarte

Encore Stage & Studio

Foundation for the Advancement of Music and Education

Friends Of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

Gala Hispanic Theatre

Girls Rock DC

Greater Reston Arts Center

Heritage Signature Chorale

IN Series

Inlight Magazine

Joe's Movement Emporium

Kalanidhi Dance

Life Pieces to Masterpieces

Live It Learn It

McLean Project for the Arts

Music for Life

New Orchestra of Washington

Northeast Performing Arts Group

One Common Unity

Oyé Palaver Hut

Pan American Symphony Orchestra

PEN Faulkner

Prince George's Arts and Humanities Council

Princess Mhoon Dance Institute

Project Create

Pyramid Atlantic

Ragbaby Exchange

Sandy Spring Museum

Shout Mouse Press

Sitar Arts Center

Smith Center for Healing and the Arts

Sole Defined

Split This Rock

Step Afrika!

The Essential Theatre

The MusicianShip

Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts

Transformer

UrbanArias

Washington Area Lawyers For the Arts

Washington Bach Consort

Washington Chorus

Washington DC International Film Festival

Washington Project For the Arts

Words Beats And Life

Young Artists of America

Young Playwrights Theater

Zora Neale Hurston Richard Wright Foundation

About Arts Forward Fund

Launched in July 2020 with lead grants from The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, the Harman Family Foundation, the Weissberg Foundation, and and more than a dozen other funders, Arts Forward Fund is an equity-focused funder collaborative housed at and administered by the Greater Washington Community Foundation. Additional supporters in 2021 include Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Diane & Norman Bernstein Foundation, Lois and Richard England Family Foundation, Linowitz Family Fund, Nancy Peery Marriott Foundation, Robin B. Martin Family Foundation, Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation, and other individual contributors.

Historic Investments and New Opportunities to End Homelessness

In July 2021, the city released Homeward DC 2.0, the city’s updated comprehensive plan to end homelessness. The plan outlines lessons learned over the last five years, current needs, and strategies to help us achieve the vision that homelessness in DC will be rare, brief, and nonrecurring and that we will eliminate racial inequities in the homeless services system and create systemic fair treatment for all people.

In order to achieve this vision, the plan outlines roles for key stakeholders including the Partnership to End Homelessness. While federal and local government resources are instrumental in this work, there is also an essential role for private philanthropy including individuals, foundations, and corporations. The Partnership to End Homelessness was created to leverage private philanthropy and align with public resources and strategies to create more nimble, strategic, and sustained investments in the homeless services system.

We are excited that both our federal and local government partners have made substantial and unprecedented investments in this work. However, even with these investments there are gaps that public funding cannot fill. In order to take advantage of these historic public sector investments, we must align the private sector to ensure that we leverage these resources for the future. We have an opportunity this year to make huge strides in our efforts to end homelessness. Join us in ensuring that we take advantage of this moment in time and don’t let this opportunity pass. Contact Jennifer Olney or Silvana Straw to find out how you can get involved today.

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Celebrating Historic Investments in Ending Homelessness

This year, DC passed a budget with historic investments in housing justice. We are celebrating with our nonprofit advocacy partners who were instrumental in fighting for these investments that will end homelessness for 3,500 households including 2,370 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. In order to quickly turn these investments into housing for our neighbors, we are working with our public and private sector partners to ensure our homeless response system is able to respond to this growth and move people into housing and out of homelessness as quickly as possible.

For more information about this year’s budget and where some of our advocacy partners are focusing next, read our partner Washington Legal Clinic’s budget recap.

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Eviction Prevention: Protecting Low-Income Renters

Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the long-standing housing crisis and inequities in our country, and our right here in our Nation’s Capital. Thousands of tenants in the city are behind on rent and at imminent risk of eviction. It is estimated that 30,000 households are currently at risk of eviction. Both DC and the federal government have eviction moratoriums in place to protect tenants while they apply for available emergency rental assistance and other resources and supports. Unfortunately, those protections are already starting to phase out and evictions will resume.

The Community Foundation, along with the DC Bar Foundation, has been co-convening a group of key stakeholders including nonprofits, the courts, advocates, public officials, and landlords, to prevent immediate evictions and to create systems and policies that are more equitable and that ultimately lead to greater housing stability in DC.

We have also awarded a grant to Housing Counseling Services (HCS) to support a pilot community outreach program in Washington, DC with a priority on Wards 1, 4, 7 and 8. With this support, HCS will assist low-income tenants at risk of eviction in accessing emergency rental assistance and other services to maintain stable housing. HCS will partner with churches, schools, daycare centers, medical offices, and others to meet tenants where they live, learn, pray and play. HCS will also be present in the courts to help tenants apply for rental assistance and avoid evictions.

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Partnership in Action: Preventing Evictions in Ivy City

In our most recent blog post, Leadership Council Co-Chair, David Roodberg from Horning Brothers, talks about an innovative partnership with Empower DC, one of our grantee partners. Together, they are working to support tenants to access rental assistance and maintain stable housing.

“Evictions aren’t good for anyone. STAY DC provides a win-win opportunity for landlords and tenants.”

-- David Roodberg, CEO and President, Horning Brothers

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About the Partnership to End Homelessness

The Partnership to End Homelessness, led by the Greater Washington Community Foundation and the District Government’s Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH), brings together the public and private sectors to ensure homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring in DC. We believe that all DC residents deserve a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.

By joining together, we will increase the supply of deeply affordable housing, help everyone find a home they can afford, and help more people access housing and exit homelessness more quickly.

Get Involved

Every action, whether large or small, can make a difference in ending homelessness. Visit EndHomelessnessDC.org to learn more.

This blog post is from the Partnership to End Homelessness newsletter. Sign up here to receive these quarterly updates.

Partnership in Action: Preventing Evictions in Ivy City

Since the start of the pandemic, housing stability for tenants has been a focus for the Partnership to End Homelessness and for many of our Leadership Council and nonprofit partners. David Roodberg, co-chair of the Leadership Council and CEO and President at Horning Brothers, recently launched an exciting partnership with one of our grantees, EmpowerDC, aimed at making sure that tenants can access critical rental assistance and remain stably housed. We spoke recently with both David and Parisa Norouzi, Executive Director of Empower DC, about their work together.

How did this partnership start?

David: “We recognized early on in the COVID-19 crisis that our tenants would need support. We invested in a new position on our staff – a housing stability specialist – whose role is to help our tenants connect to resources. Recently, that’s included helping tenants with their applications to the STAY DC program for rental assistance. We’ve had a lot of success with this new position, but there are some tenants who are reluctant to work with staff members hired by a landlord. We knew we needed to find another way to reach that group to ensure everyone got the assistance they needed.”

Parisa: “Empower DC has a longstanding commitment to Ivy City –one of DC’s most historic Black neighborhoods. Our goal at Empower is zero evictions in Ivy City. I’ve worked with David in the past on other tenant issues, and I wanted to make sure his tenants were accessing STAY DC. I decided to reach out to him to see what we could do to help.”

David: “Evictions aren’t good for anyone. STAY DC provides a win-win opportunity for landlords and tenants.”

Parisa: “This is a very clear time when landlords and organizers should also have the same goals. It is important to take advantage of those moments when we have more in common than not, and to leverage our collective ability to make something positive happen. It was great to see a landlord who had already invested their own resources in helping tenants, and who was willing to work with us to do more.”

Your partnership to help tenants apply for rental assistance is a collaboration between property management staff, the Horning Brothers’ housing stability specialist, and Empower DC staff and volunteers. What roles do each of you play?

Parisa: “We take the lead on outreach to the tenants. We also offered up our own space – our Ivy City Clubhouse -- close to the property to meet with tenants and work on applications. We set up appointments for tenants in our space, where they could meet one-on-one with the Horning staff person to complete their application”

David: “We had done everything you can think of to let tenants know about STAY DC – letters, emails, phone calls, door-knocking – but having a nonprofit community-based organization involved was key to reaching tenants who were hesitant.”

Parisa: “When you get a notice from a landlord, your first thought won’t be ‘This is to help me,’ so communication from a third party helps. By collaborating with the landlord, who was able to share information about who needed the assistance, we were able to target our follow up to those tenants who were behind on the rent. Management also understands more about the actual application process and could provide a lot of the necessary information for the applications. Their staff also did a training for our volunteers so they could understand how to help people submit applications for non-Horning tenants as well.”

David: “Spending time on education about the program was important. Some of our tenants thought they didn’t qualify for STAY DC, but they did. By investing in communication and education, we were able to help more tenants apply for and receive more assistance.”

What would you say to others who are interested in setting up a similar partnership?

David: “You also want to make it very easy for tenants to access the assistance. STAY DC is working. The money is getting out to people. This is a great opportunity for landlords and tenants to be on the same side.”

Parisa: “I’d say that it is important to approach potential partners first in the spirit of collaboration and with an interest in creating an equal partnership. If others are interested in working together, I hope that these partnerships can extend beyond STAY DC. We have opportunities to continue these relationships to ensure that there is quality housing for everyone in our city.”

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Parisa Norouzi, Executive Director of Empower DC

Parisa Norouzi has over 20 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations and organizing communities.  Parisa co-founded the city-wide community organizing group Empower DC in 2003, an organization which works to build the confident self-advocacy and organized political power of low-moderate income DC residents with a focus on fighting the displacement of residents amid DC’s gentrification boom. 

David Roodberg, CEO and President of Horning Brothers

David Roodberg is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the business including operations, development and strategic planning.

Our 2020 - 2021 Year in Review

Over the past 18 months, we have all been impacted in some way by COVID-19. Although our experiences may be different, our community came together -– as neighbors helping neighbors -– to support each other through this crisis.

Since March 2020, we have mobilized over $40 million in community support to help our neighbors facing hardship. Thanks to the incredible donors, nonprofit partners, and community leaders who stepped up to meet this challenge, our collective response demonstrated the power of what our community can accomplish by coming together. 

Our Annual Report features the impact that The Community Foundation, our donors, and partners have had on this region from April 2020 – March 2021, and beyond.

Read our Annual Report

Learn more

Deepening Our Impact: 8 Highlights from the Past Year

Along with the release of our annual report, we’re celebrating our most impactful stories from the past year--from helping launch the Black Voices for Black Justice DMV Fellowship, continuing our work to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, to advancing housing justice in partnership with Flock DC’s birdSEED Fund. Read on for stories of meaningful collaboration and coordination that helped make a difference in our community. 

Uniting for Change

We believe true change rises from strong alliances. We’re proud to share stories about how our community partnerships have helped make a difference.

Introducing the Black Voices for Black Justice DMV Fellows

Launched last fall (2020) in partnership with the DC-based nonprofit GOODProjects, and with seed funding from Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the Black Voices for Black Justice DMV Fellowship supports activists, organizers, and leaders who are on the front lines of advancing social justice and racial equity. Each Fellow received a $30,000 grant to support their racial justice work in our region, and beyond. Meet these inspiring change-makers, and learn what fuels their fight for justice.

DC Cares Program: $5M Undocumented Workers Relief Package

Thousands of immigrants in Greater Washington were excluded from federal stimulus efforts due to their documentation status. Together with our partners at Events DC and the Executive Office of the Mayor, we launched the DC Cares Program in summer 2020, disbursing a total of $5 million in direct cash assistance to excluded workers experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19. In January 2021, we launched Phase II of the program, providing over $8 million in relief funding.

$1 Million Arts Forward Fund

In partnership with the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation and eight other funders, we launched Arts Forward Fund to provide critical support to local arts and culture organizations impacted by COVID-19. In October 2020, we awarded over $1 million in grants to 43 arts organizations. Currently, we’re reviewing a second round of proposals, supported by a generous $1 million gift from MacKenzie Scott.

Investing for Impact 

Learn about some of our most impactful investments this year.

Legacy Fund for Small Business Development

Seeded with a $1 million gift from a generous donor, the Legacy Fund for Small Business Development provides critically needed access to capital for small businesses in Prince George’s County. It’s part of our work in Prince George’s County’s to advance equity and economic mobility by eliminating social and economic disparities in the County. In November, we awarded relief funding to 173 small businesses in Prince George’s County to help minimize business closures and retain 650 jobs.

“Ninety-five percent of all businesses in [Prince George’s County] are small businesses and they contribute nearly half of all jobs in the county. Through the Legacy Fund, we hope to preserve the small business infrastructure, ensure job retention, drive economic development, and enable the transfer of wealth from one generation to the next, leaving a lasting legacy for families and Prince George’s County.” --Tonia Wellons, President and CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation.

Fund for Children, Youth, and Families Awards $1.99 Million

At the end of last year, the Fund for Children, Youth, and Families (FFCYF)awarded nearly $2 million in grants to 49 nonprofits serving disadvantaged children, youth, and families. Local WDVM covered the announcement, highlighting the investment’s focus on closing the achievement gap, supporting children in foster care, and helping families experiencing homelessness.

Jana-Lynn Louis, Community Foundation program officer for FFCYF, said:  “It’s all about supporting where our region needs help the most and trying to fill in those gaps that often fall by the wayside.”

Community Connections

Oftentimes, it's our staff and partners who say it best. These guest posts highlight different voices and perspectives in our community on the issues that matter most.

How to reconstruct an equitable future for our region

How can we reconstruct an equitable future for our region coming out of the COVID-19 crisis? In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, our CEO Tonia Wellons and Ursula Wright explore a new framework to respond to emerging needs, re-engage our community, and reconstruct and shape a new normal for this region.

Flock DC: Down payment Grants for a more just future

BirdSEED Fund, launched in partnership with local real estate firm Flock DC, helps advance housing justice by providing down payment grants for first-time Black and Brown home buyers. In her guest-authored blog, Flock DC founder and CEO Lisa Wise shares her passion for justice and why she believes it’s crucial we work together to reimagine a more equitable future.

Food for Montgomery: A Community-Wide Response to the Rise in Hunger

As our community’s need for food skyrocketed during 2020, our Montgomery County leaders, community stakeholders, and The Community Foundation teamed up to create Food for Montgomery. Anna Hargrave, Executive Director for Montgomery County, shares how this remarkable public-private partnership is helping prevent food insecurity in the County, and ensure no residents go hungry.

Hungry for other Community Foundation impact stories? Check out ‘A Year of Impact: Our Top 10 Stories of 2020,’ published as an annual wrap-up last December. 

Eviction Prevention: Working Across Sectors to Ensure an Equitable Recovery

By Jennifer Olney, Community Investment Officer, Partnership to End Homelessness

Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the long-standing housing crisis and inequities in our country, and even right here in DC. Thousands of tenants in the city are behind on rent and at imminent risk of eviction. Currently, both DC and the federal government have eviction moratoriums in place to protect tenants while they apply for available resources and supports. Unfortunately, those protections are already starting to phase out and evictions in DC are set to resume in October.

The Community Foundation has a long history of supporting housing justice and working to end homelessness in DC. Addressing inequities and supporting our community is at the center of our mission and housing justice is a key component of our work through the Partnership to End Homelessness.

In 2020, the COVID-19 crisis led us to take swift action to address the growing concern for tenants falling behind on rent and at risk of losing their housing in the middle of a global health pandemic.

Even with federal and local eviction moratoriums in place, tenants faced mounting back rent and the severity of the situation continued to threaten the lives and livelihoods of our neighbors. In DC, tens of thousands of households fell behind on rent and we knew that many would be at risk of homelessness if they were evicted.  

In order to prevent a large wave of evictions and increases in homelessness, we convened a group of key partners, including the DC Bar Foundation, for weekly discussions to identify strategic opportunities for private sector investments amid a rapidly changing environment. This group met regularly with our government partners and other nonprofit partners working on the ground to coordinate our learning and response strategies.

From the beginning, our work has focused on creating more equitable outcomes for our Black and Latinx neighbors disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, the economic crisis, and the ongoing housing crisis in the city. Even before the pandemic, 87% of extremely low-income, severely rent-burdened households in DC were headed by a person of color. According to a 2021 report by the Urban Institute, the risk of evictions is greater for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx residents. Almost one in two Hispanic/Latinx renters and more than one in four Black renters were worried about paying next month’s rent.

Through our conversations with partners and by examining new research and data, we identified two key areas for private sector investment that would lead to more equitable access to rental assistance resources.

1. Support outreach to target communities most at risk of eviction. Using the Urban Institute Emergency Rental Assistance Prioritization Tool we identified areas of the city that had high risk of housing instability; high impact from COVID-19; and a high share of Black, Indigenous, and Latinx renters, extremely low-income renter households, households receiving public assistance, and people born outside of the US. 

2. Support trusted partners to answer questions and provide support. Many tenants have questions and need assistance to complete the rental assistance application for government resources. Our partners on the ground are critical to the effort to support tenants and share essential information about emergency rental assistance, legal services, and other available resources.

In response, we invested in Housing Counseling Services (HCS) to help tenants apply for rental assistance by meeting them where they live, learn, pray, and play. At these key locations, HCS is providing outreach and assistance to households behind on rent and most at risk of eviction and homelessness. HCS is also providing support in court to help tenants who face evictions apply for assistance.

We know that our resources are limited and that in order to address the eviction crisis and prevent homelessness, we need everyone working together to create long-term solutions. In June 2021, we were invited to participate in a White House Eviction Prevention Summit as the philanthropic representative from DC. At that summit, we heard Matthew Desmond talk about the devastating impact of evictions and successful diversion efforts across the country. We also heard from leaders in the federal government who were committed to working with communities to help prevent evictions. After meeting with the DC delegation and discussing local opportunities, we agreed to continue convening the group along with our partners at the DC Bar Foundation.

Since the White House Summit, the members of the DC delegation have been meeting weekly to discuss challenges and identify opportunities. This group is comprised of over 65 representatives from nonprofits, tenant advocates, local government agencies, the courts, landlords/housing providers, and philanthropy. Our immediate goal is to prevent evictions by increasing rental assistance to target at risk households and to strengthen legal supports, services, and mediation with the court system.

We have an unprecedented opportunity to support a more equitable recovery and to increase housing stability given the availability of federal resources and this strong partnership with federal government. We have the right people around the table and know that in addition to preventing the immediate eviction crisis, we also have an opportunity to create systems and policies that are more equitable and that ultimately lead to greater housing stability in DC.

If you are interested in this work, please contact Jennifer Olney at [email protected] or Silvana Straw at [email protected].

Quarterly Community Update

Dear Community Foundation Fundholders,

I hope you and your family are enjoying a safe and happy summer break!

Last quarter, thanks to the continued generosity and care of our community of givers, we collectively awarded nearly $24 million in grants to nonprofits working to strengthen our region and beyond.

At The Community Foundation, we remain focused on supporting our community through the COVID-19 crisis and ensuring an equitable recovery now and for the future. Last quarter, our work leading the region’s coordinated philanthropic response effort included:

• Investing $330,000 through the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund in nonprofits addressing vaccine hesitancy, mental health, food access, and return to school. 

• Announcing a $1 million gift from MacKenzie Scott that will go towards helping arts and culture organizations stabilize, adapt, and thrive through the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Through the Partnership to End Homelessness, recommitting to a $5 million impact investment, alongside donors and other partners, to increase affordable housing in DC.

• Selecting 10 Black Voices for Black Justice Fellows to receive direct financial support for their work to advance social justice and racial equity in our region and beyond.  

• The Children’s Opportunity Fund being recognized by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading as a Bright Spot Community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Making $50,000 in initial investments from the LGBTQ+ Fund using a participatory grantmaking process to address the needs of our LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities.

• Celebrating our community’s champions — including the donors, nonprofit partners, local individuals, and companies — who helped navigate the COVID-19 crisis.

• Adding new leaders to our Board of Trustees bringing expertise in law, cultural policy, LGBTQ+ issues, and digital technology and communications.

As we are wrapping up our strategic planning process and preparing to release our new strategic vision to the community, we are also updating some of our policies and procedures to ensure greater alignment and clear purpose. As a social justice organization with a mission to build equitable and thriving communities for all, we have adopted an anti-hate group policy that is consistent with how our peers are prohibiting funding to organizations designated as hate groups. We have also updated and clarified our policies and procedures for funds that participate in fundraising to better support your efforts to mobilize resources for the causes that matter most to you. 

In the fall, we look forward to sharing with you our new 10-year strategic plan with the goal of increasing our impact on this community now and long into the future. This moment in time demands that we leverage our leadership capacity and ability to mobilize resources to ensure an equitable recovery and a brighter future for our region.

Thank you for your continued partnership in serving our community’s needs today, and in building a better tomorrow for the Greater Washington region. 

Sincerely,
Tonia Wellons
President and CEO

Greater Washington Community Foundation Awards Over $330,000 in COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Grants

Ten Local Nonprofits Receiving Support to Address Vaccine Hesitancy, Mental Health, Food Access, and Reopening Schools

The Greater Washington Community Foundation is proud to announce an additional $337,000 in relief and recovery grants from the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. Since March 2020, The Community Foundation has raised and distributed more than $11 million for coordinated emergency response and recovery efforts. These rapid response grants have helped local nonprofits to expand critical services, ensure continuity of operations, transition to virtual service delivery, and counteract lost revenue due to closures or event cancellations. 

The Community Foundation established the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund to lead a coordinated regional philanthropic response to the pandemic and resulting economic crisis. Together with our peers in philanthropy, this effort focused on addressing urgent needs and reaching adversely affected communities, especially low-income households and communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted by this crisis.

As we continue responding to urgent needs while fostering an equitable recovery, The Community Foundation’s new round of funding will make investments in 10 nonprofits working across four priority areas:

Supporting efforts to overcome vaccine hesitancy and to open vaccination sites in impacted communities:

• Family & Medical Counseling will receive $15,000 to support COVID-19 testing and vaccination targeting residents of DC and Prince George's County, especially those living in Ward 7 and 8 and in the southern areas of Prince George's County.

• La Clinica del Pueblo will receive $15,000 to support COVID-19 testing and vaccination targeting majority Latinx communities in DC and Prince George's County.

• Latin American Youth Center will receive $27,000 to support engagement and outreach efforts to disseminate information on combating spread of COVID-19 and testing and vaccination options to increase the vaccination rate among Black and Latino populations in the region.

• Mary’s Center will receive $50,000 to replicate its mobile vaccine clinics, currently serving disproportionately impacted communities in DC, and expand into Montgomery County and Prince George’s County with a focus on hard-to-reach populations.

Addressing the mental health needs of frontline workers:

• Wendt Center for Loss and Healing will receive $85,000 to provide emotional support sessions (workshops and process groups) for frontline professionals and social services nonprofits whose staff members have been deeply impacted by COVID-19.

Advancing efforts to increase food access:

• DC Hunger Solutions and Maryland Hunger Solutions will receive $40,000 to deliver critical outreach to prospective and eligible SNAP participants, provide technical assistance on school meal programs, offer education and training, and advance advocacy campaigns to increase access to federal nutrition programs.

• The Mid-Atlantic Food Resilience and Access Coalition (MAFRAC) will receive $45,000 to extend its local food mini-grant program to resource BIPOC-led organizations with funds to purchase food through MAFRAC’s extended network of local food producers, including a number of Black-owned farms.

Ensuring an equitable and safe return to school:

• Community Youth Advance will receive $25,000 to recruit, onboard, and train mentors for 25 students to work on a pathway for re-engagement in school, as part of a partnership with PGCPS and the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER) focused on re-engaging at-risk and chronically absent high school students.

• DC Action for Children will receive $35,000 to support building strong partnerships between schools and Out of School Time programs to ensure an equitable and safe return to school and advocate for access to high quality learning opportunities beyond the school day that prepare DC’s youth for success in education, careers, and life.

“Due to the deep pre-existing inequities that have been exacerbated by COVID-19, we know that many communities in our region are still struggling—and will be for some time,” said Benton Murphy, Senior Adviser for Impact at the Greater Washington Community Foundation. “As our region’s crisis response leader, The Community Foundation and our partners will continue to respond to the critical needs of our community as we work towards building an equitable recovery and future for our region.”

The COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund was established on March 12, 2020 with support from nearly 1,500 foundations, corporations, and individuals/families. A list of the major partners and contributors to the Fund can be found here.

More than 1,600 nonprofits applied for a total of $60 million in grants – approximately six times the amount of funds raised to date. The Fund has provided support to 300 nonprofits providing food, shelter, educational supports, legal aid, and other vital services to our neighbors facing hardships due to COVID-19. Over half of all recipient organizations are led by people of color. A list of nonprofit partners can be found here.

Juneteenth: The Gap Between The Promise and the Experience of Freedom

By Ronnie Galvin, Managing Director, Community Investment

Juneteenth, an African-American ‘high-holy day,’ marks the date (June 19, 1865) that enslaved African people in Galveston, Texas, learned of their emancipation from slavery. This was over 2 ½ years after the initial issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, and its actual enactment on January 1, 1863.

You might ask (as I did when I first learned this history), why it took so long for Galveston’s African peoples to learn about their release from chattel slavery? Some have rationalized that Texas being the Union’s outermost slaveholding state is the reason why news of the proclamation arrived so late. Others ascribe to the belief that slaveholders in Galveston purposely withheld news of the Proclamation as a way to maintain their power, and to extend the exploitation of Black bodies. 

The first rationale here is perhaps plausible. The second rationale is most probable and likely.  

In preparation for our next DMV Community Book Group, I’ve been reading and contemplating Heather McGhee’s The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. McGhee uses economics, history, and storytelling to make a point that some may know, yet others fully reject: that the persistence of racism that has undermined Black people’s aspirations and progress also has high costs for us all.

Connecting McGhee’s book to the history of Juneteenth and Lincoln’s Emancipation, I find myself reflecting on the gap between the promise of freedom, and the experience of freedom. She cites countless moments when a nation that proclaims to be “home of the free” actively reneges on the promise of freedom for Black people.

While the national narrative amplifies the idea that America is the greatest democracy the world has ever seen, electoral gerrymandering, police assaults on Black bodies and neighborhoods, and disparity gaps between white and Black people in the areas of income, debt accumulation, access to higher education, health, and wealth suggest otherwise. So much promise pronounced in anthems, speeches, and national myth, is only contradicted by so much pain, disappointment, and the feeling of betrayal that Black people continue to experience in this stolen land.

Even as I pen this piece, the United States Senate has unanimously voted to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. For some this is a cause of celebration. I cannot join them, however. Not while they actively block reparations legislation, fuel voter suppression efforts meant to discount Black voting power, bristle with the rise of critical race theory, and amplify “alternative facts” meant to sanitize America’s racist settler colonialist history. 

Symbolic pronouncements such as this, and the social-moral contradictions it reveals, are too much to ignore and can no longer be tolerated. To paraphrase the great Langston Hughes, this incongruity is yet another indication that the America that professes to be, “has never been America to me.” 

This nation will never reach the pinnacle of its potential as long as Black people continue to suffer this demise. As the country continues to grow in its awareness about the cost and loss that Black people have endured, McGhee gracefully (but poignantly) reminds us that this pain also accrues to the masses of Americans. In other words—we all lose as long as systemic racism prevails. 

It’s been nearly 160 years since the first Juneteenth, and our nation is still very much grappling with the origins of this milestone day. The way forward will require the kind of cross-racial, cross-class coalitions that have inspired the best moments in our democracy’s history. Moments that are once again taking their rise in current-day movements for better wages and income, healthcare for all, the generation and enjoyment of wealth, and repairing the damage we have done to the climate. To be sure, the threats to Black people—and all people—are significant and seemingly insurmountable, but they can be confronted and turned back in the face of the sum of us.

We are all in this together. We’re all we got. That’s more than enough.

Community Foundation Recommits $5 million for Affordable Housing

We know that housing ends homelessness and that to reach our goal, we must increase the supply of deeply affordable housing. The City is making strides, including the Mayor’s historic commitment to the Housing Production Trust Fund and Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP) funding, which better targets funds to serve our lowest-income neighbors. But it will take all of us doing our part to ensure everyone has a home they can afford.

Through the Partnership to End Homelessness, The Community Foundation has partnered with Enterprise Community Loan Fund, Inc. (ECLF) to offer an impact investing option to address the shortage of deeply affordable housing in DC and the surrounding areas. We are extremely excited to share that this year we will be reinvesting in the ECLF Impact Note to continue building and preserving critical affordable housing for our neighbors. Through this partnership, we have invested alongside donors and other partners to create and preserve over 500 units of affordable housing.

Using Your Voice: Contact Your Elected Official

In March, we sent a letter to Mayor Bowser urging her to make bold investments in deeply affordable housing and homeless services with this year’s budget. Since then, the Partnership Leadership Council has been meeting with City Council members to tell them that housing ends homelessness and that this year, we have an unprecedented opportunity to make substantial progress toward our goal.

If you haven’t already, please read our letter to the Mayor and contact your elected officials to tell them that we MUST make substantial investments to ensure everyone has housing they can afford. The Council is working on the budget now, so reach out today!

Not only does housing end homelessness, it leads to better health outcomes, education outcomes, and stronger employment. The Partnership to End Homelessness is bringing private sector leaders to the table to make sure our elected officials understand that our entire community and economy are stronger when everyone has stable, affordable, and decent housing. And that in order to advance equity, we have to make sure that we have housing that people can afford.

Remembering Rhonda Whitaker and Waldon Adams

Last month, our community suffered a shocking loss when Waldon Adams and Rhonda Whitaker, two fierce advocates for ending homelessness, were killed in a hit and run. They were longtime members of the Miriam’s Kitchen and Pathways to Housing DC families, and treasured friends of ours as well.

As a member of our Partnership to End Homelessness Leadership Council, Waldon was instrumental in our work to ensure everyone has housing they can afford. Today, we invite you to join us in honoring their memories.

Celebrating Reginald Black

Congratulations to Reginald Black for being selected as a Black Voices for Black Justice DMV Fellow! Reginald is a leader in the field and a strong advocate for ending homelessness and ensuring everyone has housing they can afford. He is currently the Advocacy Director at People for Fairness Coalition, an organization aiming to empower people to end housing instability in the DC metro area using advocacy, outreach and peer mentoring.

About the Partnership to End Homelessness

The Partnership to End Homelessness, led by the Greater Washington Community Foundation and the District Government’s Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH), brings together the public and private sectors to ensure homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring in DC. We believe that all DC residents deserve a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.

By joining together, we will increase the supply of deeply affordable housing, help everyone find a home they can afford, and help more people access housing and exit homelessness more quickly.

Remembering Rhonda Whitaker and Waldon Adams

Waldon and Rhonda were an inspiration to so many in our community. After overcoming so much, they used their experience to help others secure permanent housing and became fierce advocates for ending homelessness in DC.

As an advocate with Miriam’s Kitchen, Rhonda joined us last year to educate donors and private sector leaders on “The Truth About Chronic Homelessness and the Solution” and how housing can save lives

As a member of our Partnership to End Homelessness Leadership Council, we were honored to work closely with Waldon. You couldn’t be a part of this work in DC without knowing him and feeling his commitment and passion. We are incredibly grateful that he was willing to lend his passion and expertise to the Leadership Council. His personal experience and years working to help others both grounded our strategies and made our work stronger. Whether running marathons, speaking with private sector leaders, or helping someone find housing, he gave 100%.

We will never be able to adequately express our gratitude and appreciation for everything they have done for our community. We know our partners, especially those at Miriam’s Kitchen and Pathways, are grieving and we also know they will continue to fight to end homelessness as Rhonda and Waldon did every day.

Renowned Local Artists To Perform At Celebration Of Community Champions

We are thrilled to announce the cohort of renowned local artists, from four regional arts organizations, who will perform at our virtual Celebration of Community Champions on May 20. 

These performers work with some of Greater Washington’s most impactful nonprofit arts organizations, including Arts on the Block, DC Jazz Festival, Joe’s Movement Emporium, and Synetic Theater, which are supported by the Arts Forward Fund. Arts Forward Fund is a funder collaborative that provided over $1 million in emergency support to help arts and culture organizations struggling due to the pandemic.

Read on to learn more about our featured artists and organizations—and get a sneak-peak of their performances.

Arts on the Block:
Young Artists From Youth Arts Movement

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Since 2003, Arts on the Block (AOB) has helped young people imagine and plan fulfilling lives and careers, join the creative workforce, and contribute to their own communities. AOB’s programs provide creative expression and learning, studio skills, job training, and career path support to young creatives who might not otherwise be introduced to art and design careers. 

For this special performance, several young artists from Youth Arts Movement (YAM), AOB’s STEAM-centered visual arts program, will present and discuss their creative works. The YAM program, conducted in both English and Spanish for students ages 4-13, provides an introductory experience in the elements of visual art. Projects are integrated with science and technology activities, allowing students to explore the creative connection between science and art.

DC Jazz Festival:
Jazz Pianist Allyn Johnson & Friends

DC Jazz Festival (DCJF) presents world-renowned and emerging jazz artists to audiences in Greater Washington, and beyond. Throughout the year, DCJF also advances music education by extending free educational programs to underserved neighborhoods in DC, and to DC public and charter school students. Signature programs include the annual DC JazzFest, slated for September 1-5 this year; the year-round DCJF Music Education Program; the Charles Fishman Embassy Series; and the DCJazzPrix competition. 

Allyn Johnson, jazz pianist

For the Celebration,  DC Jazz Festival will present Allyn Johnson, a DC-born jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and producer. He will be  joined by longtime collaborators Herman Burney on bass, and drummer Carroll V. Dashiell III.

Johnson is known for his trademark sound that gives brilliance, and fortitude, to the art of jazz improvisation. A protege of the late great jazz legend Calvin Jones, a venerable figure in the international jazz community, Johnson makes it his mantra to never rest on his laurels. He hopes to continue Jones' rich legacy of service, musicianship and academic excellence.

Joe’s Movement Emporium:
Sainey Cesay, Poet Laureate of Prince George’s County

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Joe’s Movement Emporium, a cultural arts hub based in Mount Rainier, Maryland, inspires creativity through cultural experiences, arts education, job training, and creative community. Located in the Prince George’s Gateway Arts District, Joe’s serves more than 70,000 visitors annually through arts-based youth programs that bridge the creative divide between under-resourced families, and those with means. Current programs include Club Joe’s Arts Education After School; Artist Partners; CreativeWorks job training in digital and theater technology; and, an active theater in both of its locations.

At the Celebration, Joe’s will present Sainey Cesay, a graduate of Joe’s CreativeWorks program, and the 2021 Youth Poet Laureate of Prince George’s County. Her poem Water deftly comments on race, politics and the environment. 

Synetic Theater:
‘All The World’s A Stage’

Synetic Theater redefines theater by blending innovative techniques and movement, investing in artists’ growth, and creating unforgettable visceral experiences for every audience. Founded by Paata and Irina Tsikurishvili, Georgian artists who moved to the US in the 1990s, the Tsikurishvilis combine traditions of the Caucasus with distinctly American styles to tell classic stories through movement, music, technology and visual arts.

Synetic will present an excerpt from ‘All The World’s a Stage,’ the first Synetic Motion Pictures short film, featuring Scott Brown and Maryam Najafzada. The film tells the story of life from one of Shakespeare's most famous speeches.

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Excited to see these incredible artists in action?

RSVP for our virtual Celebration of Community Champions on May 20. Registration is free (though, donations are appreciated!)

Community Foundation to Honor Community Champions

Hundreds will gather virtually to celebrate the individual and collective efforts to address the most pressing needs of our community

In celebration of what makes the Greater Washington region truly remarkable, the Greater Washington Community Foundation has announced the honorees for its upcoming Celebration of Community Champions on Thursday, May 20, 2021. 

The virtual Celebration will uplift and honor several local Heroes for their exceptional efforts to help our community navigate the pandemic and economic crisis.

CareFirst workers delivering PPE.

• Corporate Hero: CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
  For committing to distributing 1.6 million units of PPE at no-cost to nonprofit health centers and independent providers on the frontlines of the pandemic.

• Community Hero: Feed the Fight
  A community-driven, volunteer effort with a dual mission to support local restaurants and provide meals to healthcare and frontline workers.

Food for Montgomery volunteers distributing food at a food distribution site.

• Collaborative Hero: Food for Montgomery
  A public-private effort to coordinate and expand food distributions, support local farmers and small businesses, and improve food systems to combat food insecurity in Montgomery County.

• Civic Heroes
  For demonstrating outstanding civic leadership and service dedicated to improving the lives of Prince George’s County residents.

  • Dr. Monica Goldson, CEO, Prince George’s County Public Schools

  • Steve Proctor, President and CEO, G.S. Proctor & Associates, Inc.

  • Dr. Alvin Thornton, former chairman, Prince George’s County Board of Education

  • Senator Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr., in memoriam

While 2020 was an incredibly challenging year, the generosity and commitment of our community has been nothing short of incredible. Since the early days of this crisis, our community has stepped up to provide much needed support and resources to help our neighbors facing hardship due to COVID-19. 

The Community Foundation was proud to partner with and serve this community during its time of need. Since March 2020, The Community Foundation has mobilized over $10.5 million in community support to help families put food on the table, keep a roof over their heads, access medical care, find or maintain a job, and fully participate in remote learning.

The Celebration of Community Champions will honor the generosity of our community and help The Community Foundation continue to raise vital support to respond to this ongoing crisis and work toward an equitable recovery for our region.   

“Small actions can add up to make our community a better place,” said Tonia Wellons, President and CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation. “Over the past year, our community has come together to respond to the unprecedented challenges of a global pandemic, economic crisis, and racial reckoning. This virtual Celebration will recognize and honor the people and partners who stepped up to meet these challenges with equally unprecedented generosity, creativity, and compassion.”

 The Celebration will feature special performances from local artists and arts organizations supported by the Arts Forward Fund and representing a range of creative expression including music, theater, visual arts, and dance. The Arts Forward Fund is a funder collaborative at The Community Foundation which provided $1 million in emergency support to help struggling arts organizations, especially nonprofits led by and serving BIPOC communities in our region. 

Celebrating A Year of Leadership

On April 2, 2020—just one day after DC’s official COVID-19 stay-at-home orders were announced—Tonia Wellons was named President and CEO of The Community Foundation. This followed a half-year search during which she served as interim CEO of the organization. 

Today, on Tonia’s one year anniversary, we celebrate her steadfast leadership and vision. Throughout 2020, Tonia remained determined to care for our community with urgency and with care - and the community took notice. 

Through her many media features, awards and accolades this past year, we are so humbled and appreciative of all the positive support she’s received. Below, get to know Tonia better, and learn about some of this year’s top highlights. 

Introducing Tonia: ‘A Steadfast Vision Offering Us Hope’

Read about Tonia’s background and experience, and her vision for The Community Foundation. Hear what it was like starting as CEO during a pandemic and how she is shaping The Community Foundation’s priorities in response to the evolving crisis. 

• ‘Greater Washington Community Foundation Named Permanent CEO,’  Washington Business Journal

• ‘Meet Tonia Wellons, appointed CEO of a regional nonprofit the day after stay-at-home orders were put in place,’ Washington Business Journal 

• ‘Community Foundation Leaders Talk Rapid Response and Evolving Roles During Crisis,’ Inside Philanthropy 

Celebrating Her Leadership: ‘A Collaborator On The Journey Toward Solutions’

Learn about two significant awards Tonia received this year, which honored the incredible community leadership she’s provided amidst the COVID-19 crisis.

• Washington Business Journal’s Nonprofit Leader of the Year Award

• Named one of Washingtonian Magazine’s ‘Heroes of the Crisis’

Thought Leadership in Action

Last summer, Tonia wrote a Washington Post op-ed with Ursual Wright, Managing Director for FSG, where she referred to the pandemic as a ‘trifecta of crisis:’ health, economic, and democratic. Read more about her views on this crisis - and her perspective from being on the frontlines of philanthropy.

• ‘How To Reconstruct An Equitable Future For Our Region,’ Washington Post 

• “From the Frontline: How a Philanthropy Professional Views the COVID-19 Experience,” Washington Life Magazine