Statement on Proposed FY2024 DC Budget

As a foundation committed to ending homelessness and increasing deeply affordable housing - and to leveraging private sector investment for these purposes - we are deeply troubled that the proposed FY2024 DC budget represents a major step backwards in our collective effort to address homelessness and housing instability, after years of laudable progress. By cutting programs that prevent homelessness and by failing to expand housing opportunities for people experiencing homelessness, the proposed budget would likely lead to a major increase in evictions, a growing number of residents living in unsafe or unhealthy conditions, an increase in homelessness, and wider racial and economic inequity in DC.

Despite some signs of economic progress, the reality for most DC residents with low incomes, nearly all of whom are Black or Brown, is much starker. Rents are rising sharply, even in rent-controlled units, while high food prices are increasing hunger and food insecurity. The phase out of federal pandemic aid has led to cuts in SNAP benefits and a risk that many will lose Medicaid coverage. It is no wonder that nearly 40,000 DC renter households pay more than half their income for housing or that emergency rental assistance funds (ERAP) ran out less than half-way into the year. People are having to make difficult choices between paying for rent, food, or prescriptions.

This is no time to cut programs vital to ending homelessness and increasing housing stability. Yet, the proposed FY 2024 budget would cut ERAP by more than 80 percent and cut the Project Reconnect homelessness prevention program in half. It would provide no funds to expand permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness, stopping progress that has been made every year since 2014.

We urge the DC Council to reverse deep budget cuts in critical housing and homelessness programs, and to use the budget to make continued momentum toward ensuring everyone in DC has housing they can afford.

Fill Out A Survey To Be a Part of Our Celebration of Philanthropy!

We are seeking to highlight current and former community partners, nonprofit partners, donors, board members and friends as part of a special 50th Anniversary Exhibit.

Responses will be showcased at our Celebration of Philanthropy Event on May 3, 2023 at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Please take a moment to fill out this short, 3-question survey!

Performers Announced for 50th Anniversary Celebration of Philanthropy on May 3!

We’re excited to share the line-up of incredible performers for the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Philanthropy at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture on May 3, 2023. To get your tickets to the Celebration, please visit www.thecommunityfoundation.org/celebration.

After School Dance Fund/Baila4Life

The ASDF initiative aims to create a consistent, safe, equitable and inclusive space for students, free of bullying, where they can participate in a positive group activity with peers. Participants learn the steps and the cultural background of Latin dancing and showcase their skills through choreographed performances at the culmination of the program. Through this process, students discover the importance of working hard towards a goal as well as living a healthy lifestyle. Latin dance has become a vehicle for increased cultural awareness and school pride, while also promoting exercise and having fun. ASDF believes that these learned qualities help each student become a more confident person, leading to better academic performance in school, and paving the way to opportunities in higher education and beyond.

Christylez Bacon 

Christylez Bacon is a GRAMMY® Nominated Progressive Hip-Hop artist and multi-instrumentalist from Southeast, Washington, DC. As a performer, Christylez multi-tasks between various instruments such as the West African djembe drum, acoustic guitar, and the human beat-box (oral percussion), all while continuing the oral tradition of storytelling through his lyrics.

With a mission towards cultural acceptance and unification through music, Christylez is constantly pushing the envelope – from performances at the National Cathedral, to becoming the first Hip-Hop artist to be featured at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, composing and orchestrating an entire concert for a 12-piece orchestra commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Smithsonian Institute, or recording a Folk/Hip-Hop children’s album. He is the recipient of multiple honors awarded by the Washington Area Music Association including 2013 Artist of the Year, and the Montgomery County Executive Award for Excellence in the Arts, and has even been honored as a 2012 “Library Superhero” by Friends of the Library, Montgomery County.

DJ Face

DJ Face is a member of the True School Corporation, an organization of DJ’s founded and run by Grammy Award winning producer and DJ, 9th Wonder. Currently, Face is the tour DJ for Grammy nominated Jamla/Roc Nation artist, Rapsody, as well as Grammy nominated R&B/Soul singer Raheem DeVaughn. Face has performed in major venues nationally and internationally in places such as New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Germany, Aruba and more. Some of DJ Face’s current list of clients include: Nordstrom, Saks, and Macy’s.

DJ Face can be heard over the DC/MD/VA airwaves spinning on Majic 102.3/92.7FM on the midday mix with Vic Jagger, as well as every Saturday night from 7-10 p.m. with host, Ric Chill.

Eastern Senior High School Blue and White Marching Machine

Known for its competitive spirit, superior sound, and visually appealing performances, The Blue and White Marching Machine is one of the most celebrated marching bands in the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area; consistently ranked among the best in the Mid-Atlantic United States.  For almost four decades the Marching Machine has consistently thrilled hundreds of thousands of spectators in person and millions on television.  The Marching Machine is master of a diverse and varied repertoire ranging from traditional patriotic standards to Billboard’s Hot 100.

MetroStage

MetroStage presents a season of contemporary plays and musicals, chosen for their social, political, literary, and entertainment value. The collaborative work of professional Equity actors, directors, and designers results in productions representing the highest artistic standards. MetroStage presents original, challenging, innovative work and is recognized for its role in the development of new plays and musicals for the American stage. The theatre is committed to maintaining a diverse, equitable, anti-racist, fully inclusive environment on stage and off, with its work reflecting and embracing the diversity of the Washington DC/Northern Virginia population. The intimacy of the theatre and its multicultural productions offer both the audience and the artists a unique, powerful theatre experience. Currently MetroStage is building a new theatre and during this interim phase it is serving its patrons by presenting readings and a monthly cabaret series covering a broad range of musical genres.

Levine Music

Levine Music is a welcoming community with diverse and comprehensive offerings in music instruction tailored to create the richest and most fulfilling experiences for our students and families, as well as events and performances to inspire music lovers of all ages. Levine’s core values – excellence and opportunity – infuse everything we do. The preeminent center for music education in the Greater Washington region, Levine is committed to offering instruction of the highest quality and performance opportunities to anyone regardless of age, ability, or financial means. Founded in 1976 in memory of prominent Washington attorney and amateur adult music student Selma M. Levine, today, Levine provides music instruction to more than 3,500 students weekly at six physical campuses throughout Greater Washington, as well as a permanent virtual campus. Levine’s distinguished faculty offer a broad and well-rounded curriculum that provides a strong musical foundation for students of different ages, abilities, and interests. Hundreds of students receive substantial scholarship assistance; many hundreds more receive free instruction through community partnership programs.

SOLE Defined

SOLE Defined is the Washington Metro area’s leading arts organization specializing in percussive dance – using the body as an instrument to create musical expression, specifically, Tap Dance, Body Percussion, and Sand Dance. Ryan K. Johnson, Executive Artistic Director, and Quynn Johnson, Director of Arts Education (no relation), merge their expertise in education, performance, social justice, and community outreach to advance respect for African Diasporic percussive dance practices and to raise admiration for the genre as a vital part of concert dance and academia. These award-winning colleagues use a synthesis of sonic and kinesthetic movement methodologies, embodied storytelling, integrated media, and historical data to serve actively disinvested communities while combating systemic racism and advancing equality in the dance continuum. SOLE Defined performances center on social-political issues advancing the devolvement of bridges toward Belonging and cultivating a more equitable landscape for generations of BIPOC practitioners. SOLE Defined’s programs include local, regional, national, and international engagements and services. SD continues establishing its visibility by cultivating programming for the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Queens Theatre, Lincoln Center, and The International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD). 

Book Group Recap: Collective Courage with Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard

Dr. Gordon-Nembhard defines a Cooperative for the DMV Community Book Group

Our quarterly DMV Community Book Group dove into the world of Cooperative Economics with Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor at City University of New York and author of the book Collective Courage: The History of African American Economic Thought and Practice. The discussion was attended by a wide range of community partners including representatives from cooperatives across DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

“Cooperative economics is the origin of our economic system,” Dr. Gordon-Nembhard explained. “It’s a concept has played a vital role in nearly every population in human history – especially amongst African Americans and other people of color.”

Cooperatives have long played a significant role in African American communities within the Greater Washington region – one which Dr. Gordon-Nembhard is intimately familiar with. A long-time DC resident, Dr. Gordon-Nembhard is an active member of Organizing Neighborhood Equity (ONE) DC and is active in campaigns to establish cooperative housing in DC.

Dr. Gordon-Nembhard spent years researching the history and impact of African American economic cooperatives across the region and the country – documenting more than 160 legally incorporated African American-owned cooperatives from mid-1800s to 2013.

“As African Americans, we started using coops for survival – but overtime we were able to position them to control our own communities, both politically and economically.”

Dr. Gordon-Nembhard outlines the four different types of Economic Cooperatives.

Dr. Gordon-Nembhard explained how the Black Cooperative movement helped African American communities overcome challenging times including economic recessions in the 1880s and 1930s, as well as ongoing economic racial discrimination. She pointed out that the Black Cooperative Movement paralleled – and at times overlapped with the Long Civil Rights Movement, involving Civil Rights icons from across the spectrum such as Ella Jo Baker, W.E.B. DuBois, and the Black Panthers.

“Some people think that to close the racial wealth gap, we just need more wealthy people of color, so the wealth gap will close, based on numbers alone,” Dr. Gordon-Nembhard shared. “I’m more interested in ending poverty – creating stable, lasting systems that enable us to all be prosperous.”

“That’s what cooperative economics are about – creating collective enterprises that not only impact individual lives, but that systematically change how we think about getting out of poverty.”

When asked about the future of the cooperative movement, Dr. Gordon-Nembhard pointed to the growing number of cooperatives over the past few years. For example, the DC region has one of the highest concentrations of housing coops in the US (second only to New York).

“Figure out what’s the need that a cooperative could solve and then take time to study out what kind of cooperative could work for your community.”

“Start where the people are,” she said. “Rather than scaling something big from the top down, start small with something people can get behind – a community playground or food coop and build from there.”

“Once you get people working together – maximizing the skills that each individual has and brings to the table – then you can move onto something bigger.”

Click here to watch a full recording of the March 2023 DMV Community Book Group!

A Statement On Solidarity and Justice

Over the course of many months, the Greater Washington Community Foundation, the Jewish Community Foundation by The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, and the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers have been in dialogue about ways in which our region’s Black and Jewish communities can operate with greater alignment, solidarity, and allyship, rebuilding the historic ties of these communities.

As community leaders, we recognize the interest and imperative for strengthening communal relationships generally, and more especially are committed to this pressing opportunity to address antisemitism, anti-Black racism, and bigotry more broadly. We are committed to combatting all forms of hate and extremism in our region. Recognizing the parallel missions and convictions of many of our donors and partners, we believe now is the time to deepen the understanding between our communities and our commitment to action, starting with an interfaith lens.

In February 2023, we co-hosted a small gathering for Black pastors and rabbis to break bread for mutual understanding. Our intention overtime is to expand these conversations to other sectors, faiths, and communities of color. We recognize there is a need to seed and catalyze solidarity through place-based strategies and transformational relationships between Black, Jewish, and other peoples as we engage in grantmaking and work together towards a racially just future. In addition, you can expect a specific body of work that deliberately explores this topic with institutional philanthropy, donors, and nonprofit partners.  

You will hear from us about opportunities for engagement that will deepen our historical relationships to accelerate social action efforts already underway and identify new opportunities for collective action.

Sincerely,

Sara Brenner

Executive Director,
Jewish Community Foundation by The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington

Ruth LaToison Ifill

President & CEO,
Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers

Tonia Wellons

President and CEO,
Greater Washington Community Foundation

New Developing Families Maternal Health Fund Launches Ahead of Black Maternal Health Week

The Greater Washington Community Foundation has partnered with the Developing Families Center (DFC) on the launch of its Developing Families Maternal Health Fund – a $5 million investment supporting life-saving maternal health efforts. The announcement comes ahead of Black Maternal Health Week, a national campaign to raise awareness around maternal health outcomes for women of color.

“The launch of the Developing Families Maternal Health Fund marks an important step in reversing existing disparities and biases, especially for women of color,” says The Community Foundation’s President & CEO Tonia Wellons. “Our collaboration with DFC brings forth the dire need for continued resources that promote positive maternal health outcomes, as the fund will support projects laser-focused on health equity.”

The new fund will invest in community-based organizations within Wards 5, 7 and 8, where women of color continue to experience health disparities and face socioeconomic and structural challenges when it comes to accessing affordable and quality maternal care.

Investments will be made in key focus areas that include systems of care, maternal health education and advocacy efforts, and projects that demonstrate DEI efforts and capacity building. The fund highlights an urgent need in DC, where Black women account for 90% of all-pregnancy related deaths.

“Through our funding efforts, we are able to support the advancement of accessible, quality and equitable maternal health programs, services and initiatives – giving women of color and their families a brighter outlook,” says DFC Executive Director Ruth Pollard.

Founded in 1994 by Dr. Ruth Lubic, a pioneer in the American nurse-midwifery movement, DFC was created to address the devastating decline of maternal and infant health care in District by empowering women of color through primary care, maternal and newborn care, social services, and early childhood development services.

Apply Today For the 2023 LEARN Foundation Scholarship

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

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

The fund is now accepting applications for the 2023 awards, which will be awarded in July 2023. The minimum scholarship amount is $1,000. Applicants must be high school seniors residing in the immediate vicinity of FedExField with a minimum 2.5 cumulative GPA or better. The applications must include a short personal essay, an official transcript, a school letter, and two letters of recommendation.

Completed applications must be submitted by Saturday, May 13, 2023.

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

Scholarships for DC Students Now Available!

Looking for fun activities for your child to do this summer? Activity Scholarships for DC Students are now available through Learn24’s OST Youth Scholarship Program.

Learn24 is the name for the network that supports equitable access to high-quality, Out-of-School-Time (“OST”) programs for the District’s students. The OST Youth Scholarship Program is a new program, managed by the Greater Washington Community Foundation, with the goal of increasing access to OST programs for students with specific needs. Specifically, the program will support students who may be identified as at-risk.

Examples of programs that the scholarship may support include, but are not limited to, programs designed specifically for students with disabilities, advanced learners, and English Language Learners. Individuals not considered at-risk may also be eligible to receive a scholarship based on need and availability of funding.

Scholarships of up to $10,000 are available for individual students for use in approved OST activities in calendar year 2023, including both current summer activities and those expected to begin with the start of the new school year. The minimum scholarship award is $1,000. Scholarship funds can be used for any OST activities that have a cost association up to the total scholarship amount.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and must be submitted online, using the link provided. No hard copy, email or faxed proposals will be accepted. Applications are reviewed monthly by The Community Foundation and approved by Learn24. Applicants will be notified of funding decisions within 4 weeks of application submission.

For those seeking additional information, click here to read the full RFP.

If you have questions, please contact Benton Murphy at [email protected]

New Partnership with Prince George’s County Faith Community Has Potential to Transform Affordable Housing

This week, Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise) announced the expansion of its Faith-Based Development Initiative into Prince George’s County, where it will partner with faith-based organizations to convert their unused land into affordable homes.

The Greater Washington Community Foundation is proud to support this effort with a $40,000 grant that contributes to $525,000 in total funding from partners including Bank of America and Prince’s George’s County. The funding will help up to seven houses of worship as they develop new housing on their vacant property. The program was announced at a “clarion call” at Refreshing Springs Church of God in Christ, a local church in Riverdale, Maryland.

“The Greater Washington Community Foundation is proud to partner with Enterprise to increase affordable housing solutions in Prince George’s County by investing in the capacity of faith institutions to develop properties on otherwise idle assets,” said Darcelle Wilson, Senior Director for Prince George’s County. “This project perfectly aligns with our new strategic vision to increase economic mobility and close our region’s racial wealth gap. In doing so, we are taking a deliberate approach to engaging the faith community around community development efforts that will ensure Prince George’s County is a place where everyone prospers.”

Faith-based organizations across the country own tens of thousands of acres of vacant or underutilized land. As costs for land and housing remain high, this initiative will enable them to serve their communities in new ways by creating affordable housing. The initiative will provide specialized training, technical assistance, and funding over two years to participating houses of worship as they plan new developments on their land.

The Faith-Based Development Initiative was originally launched by Enterprise in 2006 and has been highly successful in communities across the Mid-Atlantic region. Since it’s inception, the initiative has helped create or preserve more than 1,500 affordable homes, with thousands more currently in the development pipeline.

Grantmaking for Success: Approaching the Evaluation Process with Equity in Mind

On March 20, the Greater Washington Community Foundation’s Health Equity Fund hosted its first IDEA Summit for nonprofit partners from its inaugural $9.2 million grant round. The event brought together nonprofit leaders from across DC at the historic True Reformer Building to discuss what is often the most dreaded part of the grantmaking process – reporting and evaluation.

“Our goal here is to figure out how we can scale up those things that are working,” Tonia Wellons, President and CEO of The Community Foundation shared. “To come together as partners and be laser-focused on what we’re measuring and how we show impact.”

“What we’re doing here is co-designing success,” Dr. Brandy Farrar, a Managing Director for American Institutes for Research (AIR) explained. AIR serves as the evaluation partner for the Health Equity Fund. “Instead of establishing an arbitrary checklist of universal benchmarks, we want to work with each of you to identify what success looks like and how can we measure it.”

Partners were organized into tables based on their focus area and geographic location. Each table was given a set of discussion questions and was encouraged to set aside time to network and share ideas with their tablemates. This networking proved invaluable for many partners, as they were able to make connections with fellow changemakers within their respective spaces.

“Y’all are so inspiring,” one leader shared. “It’s so amazing to be here and see all the connections between the work that we do.”

“We represent such a diverse array of folks here,” another added. “And yet there’s this common thread in coming together in the continuum of care for our community.”

“I’m excited to feel a lot of love in this room – you gotta love on people, because once you start loving on people, you start seeing how the world can change.”

Responses from Group members when asked about organizations that they partner with.

Each group was then asked to ‘co-design success’ by identifying what success looks like – including the actions, beneficiaries, and impact behind each. Groups were encouraged to brainstorm beyond the scope of their individual organizations – allowing them to think creatively and on a macro scale about the impact of their work. The result was a list of solutions that stretched from increasing food bank access for seniors to reforming eligibility for government assistance programs.

The groups also had opportunities to answer questions about an array of topics such as promoting staff wellness, supporting diverse perspectives in the workplace, sharing resources with local government, and common evaluation challenges. All responses were collected by the AIR Evaluation team and will be used to help establish the evaluation benchmarks.

“This event is as much for our partners as it is for us,” Dr. Marla Dean, Senior Director of the Health Equity Fund shared. “Our goal is to use IDEA summits to better inform and orient future funding opportunities.”

“But it’s also about equity,” she continued. “The more we take time to listen to our partners – the ones who are on the ground, doing the work – the better we can understand from each one what success looks like and how we, as a philanthropic partner, can provide support that goes beyond the dollar figures.”

Guaranteed Income: A Strategy to Support Economic Mobility

With over 100 pilots currently operating around the country, guaranteed income programs have proven to be one of the most promising approaches to provide greater economic stability for families.

The Guaranteed Income pilots happening around the country provide direct cash assistance for a limited period of time – with no strings attached. The pilots are designed to give individuals and families increased flexibility and financial freedom to overcome whatever barriers they may face – whether it is meeting basic needs, paying down a debt, moving into permanent housing, furthering their education to secure a better job, or to stop working a second job and instead be home for family time.

The Greater Washington Community Foundation is an early adopter and investor in several guaranteed income pilots throughout our region, including:

• Arlington’s Guarantee (Arlington, VA) launched in September 2021 as a partnership between The Arlington Community Foundation and Arlington County Department of Human Services. This pilot program provides a monthly unconditional cash payment of $500 over 18 months to 200 families. Target outcomes for participants include increased financial well-being, a heightened sense of personal agency, and community belonging. 

• MoCo Boost (Montgomery County, MD) launched as a public-private partnership to provide $800 a month to 300 households for 24 months. This pilot program includes 100 households recently served by the Montgomery County Homeless Continuum of Care and 200 participants with at least one child/dependent who had previously sought assistance from the County during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

• In DC, The Community Foundation joined with several local and regional foundations to launch Let’s Go DMV!, a 5-year guaranteed income pilot providing $1,000 a month to 75 hospitality workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic. Cash payments started in March 2022. All but one participant is a person of color, with about half being immigrants and the other half being primarily from DC or the region.

• We are currently working with partners to design, support, and launch a similar pilot project in Prince George’s County in 2023.

Additionally, with the recognition that health, economic mobility, and wealth are inextricably linked, we have invested in a broad array of guaranteed income pilots and cash transfer projects in DC through our Health Equity Fund.   

We are confident that these pilot programs will demonstrate that guaranteed income programs stimulate economic mobility and help close the racial wealth gap.

As we provide financial support for these guaranteed income programs, we will also be building consensus and public will to make guaranteed income a publicly funded instrument of community stability and prosperity.

Together, We Prosper

Our guaranteed income program investments are part of our multi-year commitment to increase economic mobility to close the racial wealth gap. Contributions raised through our Together, We Prosper Campaign will help accelerate the work to pursue economic justice and shared prosperity for all the people of our region.

We believe that by increasing economic mobility and building community wealth, we can help our entire region to prosper. The Together, We Prosper campaign will help build sustainable funding for community needs today and into the future, while enabling us to put powerful economic strategies to work in the parts of our community experiencing the deepest disparities.

Click Here to Learn More!

Bridging the Health and Wealth Gap Through Guaranteed Income

In September 2022, The Community Foundation announced the inaugural grant round for the Health Equity Fund — a $95 million fund designed to improve health outcomes for DC residents through an economic mobility framework.

A number of those inaugural grantees are currently (or will soon become) part of the growing Guaranteed Income or Cash Transfer movement — a group of initiatives and pilot programs across the country that are using cash payments to provide direct assistance to community members.

As part of our journey to understand the impact that these programs can have in our community, we reached out to some of our partners to understand how providing direct cash assistance helps the communities they serve.

My Sister’s Place

My Sister’s Place (MSP) emergency cash transfer program, RISE Trust, serves 45 families who have experienced domestic violence. Financial abuse goes hand-in-hand with domestic abuse, and is one of the main reasons survivors stay in, and return to, abusive relationships.

MSP is providing $500/month for 24 months to our participants. Equally as important, financial literacy and programs with our partner, Capital Area Asset Builders, will allow our participants to gain financial education, the combination leading to financially empowered and hopeful families.

Just 3 months into the program participants are getting their credit scores for the first time, creating financial goals, and learning about how trauma affects finances. Participants reported being able to drop a part-time job and having more time with their children, paying off credit card bills, feeling a new sense of hope and a reduction in stress. We are excited to see the impact after 24 months.

Mother’s Outreach Network

Mother’s Outreach Network (MON) deploys policy advocacy, legal programs, and community building to address and strengthen the social determinants of health for Black mothers. MON is specifically focused on Black family preservation -- building the economic security of Black mothers involved with Washington, DC’s Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA). These women are some of the city’s most economically marginalized mothers.

In 2019, 4 out of every 5 D.C. cases in foster care stemmed from neglect-based allegations alone. These were cases where parents were charged with harming the “health or welfare” of a child under 18 years of age by failing to accord them “adequate food, clothing, shelter, education or medical care.” 

To combat this, in 2021, MON conceived of a guaranteed income pilot research program to provide monthly unconditional cash payments for three years to DC residents that identify as Black mothers and have current or recent involvement in the child welfare system. Set to launch in three phases starting in early April 2023, MON's program seeks to inform policy around how poverty reduction affects involvement of parents in the child welfare system.

Capital Area Asset Builders

Capital Area Asset Builders (CAAB) started to be involved in the guaranteed income and cash transfer movement in the Fall of 2017. At CAAB we strongly believe that in order to achieve poverty alleviation, financial stability and long-term prosperity community members need access to information, education, empowerment, and money. No one community member can ever be directly serviced out of poverty. Without access to money one’s dreams and aspirations cannot be converted into goals and actions. With access to money, they can be.

Since early 2018, CAAB has been managing DC Flex, the nation’s first eviction- and homelessness-prevention cash transfer program. DC Flex is funded by the DC Department of Human Services (DHS) for the benefit of low-income TANF-receiving families to be able to pay rent on time and thus avoid eviction and homelessness. Since the creation of DC Flex, we have seen the significant impact the program has in enabling a family to stay housed, avoid financial hardships, and be put on a pathway to financial security. DC Flex goes beyond providing cash assistance. Program participants also receive financial wellness services provided by CAAB: bank accounts, budget management, financial wellness workshops, one-on-one confidential financial coaching sessions, information on the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, as well as access to free tax preparation services.

DC Flex was supposed to be a 4-year long pilot program for 125 low-income families in Washington, DC with total annual cash transfers of $900,000. Because of its deep impact, DC Flex has now grown to benefit 669 low-income families and 125 low-income individuals with total annual cash transfers of over $6.5 million. In addition to DC Flex, over the past 4 years CAAB has also partnered with several private sector and non-profit sector partners to manage 7 other guaranteed income and cash transfer initiatives. We celebrate and applaud all entities offering guaranteed income and cash transfer programs.

Budgeting to End Homelessness: A Letter to DC Mayor Bowser

Dear Mayor Bowser:

I am writing on behalf of the Greater Washington Community Foundation and its Partnership to End Homelessness Leadership Council. We are very grateful for your ongoing leadership to reduce homelessness, and we applaud your bold third-term goals to advance economic and racial equity. As you work to develop your Fiscal Year 2024 budget proposal, we ask that your agenda for equity prioritize ending chronic homelessness and making substantial investments in affordable housing for DC households with extremely low incomes (0-30 MFI). In addition, we urge you to take steps to connect DC residents experiencing homelessness with the substantial number of vouchers funded for this purpose in recent years.

As you know, the Partnership to End Homelessness is a collective effort of private sector business leaders, philanthropists, and national and local nonprofits working to ensure homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring. The Partnership provides direct investments to strengthen the homeless services system and increase the supply of deeply affordable and supportive housing in every ward of the city. We know that the private sector and philanthropy play an important role in supporting and funding efforts to end homelessness. However, we also know the city’s success depends on the leadership of the DC government in both adequately funding and skillfully implementing evidence-based solutions.

Our FY 2024 budget recommendations align with the recommendations of our community advocacy partners. The recommendations below reflect several realities: the ongoing economic instability resulting from the pandemic, the need for continued funding to end chronic homelessness, the challenges DC has faced to implement the vouchers funded in recent years, and the enormous need for deeply affordable housing. Our recommendations are as follows:

Expand Permanent Supportive Housing and Targeted Affordable Housing to end chronic homelessness: We recommend:

• $36.6 million in Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) to end chronic homelessness for 1,260 single adults

• $18.9 million for PSH for 480 families and $58.4 million for Targeted Affordable Housing for 1,920 families. These investments would end homelessness for all families who are living in shelters or struggling with the uncertainty and challenges of Rapid Re-Housing.

Support Emergency Rental Assistance for all who need it: One-sixth of DC residents with low incomes are behind on their rent. Meanwhile, rents continue to rise sharply, even in rent controlled units. The pandemic and its ongoing impacts highlight the critical importance of funding emergency rental assistance at much higher levels than before the pandemic. Due to the combination of rising rents, the higher numbers of eviction filings and the higher number of actual evictions, sustained and increased ERAP funding is needed to avert preventable evictions and increases in homelessness and housing instability. We recommend:

• $117 million in FY 202 to fund DC’s ERAP program.

Provide sufficient staffing to put residents into PSH: A shortage of case managers and outreach workers has made it hard for the District to connect residents who are eligible for PSH with housing. This failure contributes to the inability to help residents move from tent encampments to their own home and results in human suffering and widespread frustration.

• We urge you to provide enough funding in the Department of Human Services for the staffing needed to ensure every available unit of PSH is connected with a resident experiencing homelessness.

• We ask you to work closely and urgently with the DC housing Authority to identify and implement collaborative solutions to address long processing times for vouchers.

Preserve Public Housing, Expand Affordable Housing: Housing is the solution to homelessness. We urge you to make a substantial commitment to affordable housing for households earning 0- 30 percent of the Median Family Income (MFI). Expanding deeply affordable housing, paired with targeted funding to end homelessness, will create the long-term housing stability needed to provide security to all DC residents and to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring. We recommend:

• $60 million to repair and preserve public housing.

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

Support safe and affordable housing for targeted populations: The District’s housing investments should take into account the unique needs of certain populations. To that end, we recommend:

• $18.6 million for housing for victims of domestic violence, including building new permanently affordable housing, supporting transitional housing, and providing emergency housing support. Collectively, this will support 166 families.

• $1.3 million to provide tenant vouchers to 60 returning citizens

Create storage options for people experiencing homelessness: One of the traumatizing consequences of experiencing homelessness is the inability to safely secure and maintain one’s belongings. We recommend:

• $1.5 million to create storage options for 600 residents experiencing homelessness.

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

Continue to invest in homelessness prevention: We urge you to expand programs that help prevent homelessness, including Project Reconnect, an effective and low-cost program that enables people to exit homelessness quickly.

Support efforts to end youth homelessness: We recommend:

• $25 million to increase youth homelessness provider contracts to account for inflation and provide providers the opportunity to administer recruitment and retention bonuses to staff. (DHS)

•  $1.7 million to create a traveling mental health unit to meet the mental health needs of unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness. This unit will meet youth where they physically congregate to increase access to mental health support. (DBH)

• $1.1 million to create a targeted workforce development program for unaccompanied youth experience homelessness mirroring the Youth Works model which not only provides workforce supports but wraparound services (DOES)

As the District works to address serious ongoing challenges and the impact of the pandemic, including high levels of housing instability, it is imperative to continue prioritizing actions that will advance racial and economic equity and meet the needs of DC residents with the lowest incomes. Not only is that the right thing to do, but it also is essential to DC’s future. Stable and affordable housing is the key to creating healthy communities, which in turn supports school success, promotes public safety, and narrows DC’s racial income and wealth gaps.

Thank you again for your leadership and commitment to ending homelessness in our city. We urge you to make 2024 the year that DC makes bold and significant investments to end homelessness and to increase the supply of deeply affordable housing for extremely low-income households.

Sincerely,

Tonia Wellons

President and CEO, Greater Washington Community Foundation
Chair, Partnership to End Homelessness Leadership Council

In Pursuit of Economic Justice Recap: National Leaders Discuss Guaranteed Income Movement

Last week, The Community Foundation hosted a panel of national leaders in the guaranteed income movement for a discussion about how philanthropy is working to increase economic mobility by launching and investing in guaranteed income programs. The event was the first of the “In Pursuit of Economic Justice” Webinar Series – designed to bring together experts to explore innovative approaches to closing the racial wealth gap.

“Part of our 10-year strategic vision to close the racial wealth gap is to invest in innovative solutions that can move beyond providing economic stability to promoting economic mobility and eventual prosperity for communities of color,” President & CEO Tonia Wellons shared. “The guaranteed income movement is one of those.”

“Guaranteed income is designed to allow those who are economically disadvantaged to be the arbiters of their own financial lives,” Natalie Foster, President & Founder of the Economic Security Project shared. “It’s based on the premise that as we provide people with regular cash payments – with no strings attached – that they can live with dignity and make the choices they need to prosper.”

Foster has been with the guaranteed income movement since one of the first pilot programs launched in Stockton, CA in 2017. Six years later, the movement has grown to encompass more than 100 pilots across the country – including four in the Greater Washington region: Let’s Go DMV! (DC), MoCo Boost (Montgomery County), Arlington’s Guarantee (Arlington), and ARISE (Alexandria).

The Community Foundation is a proud partner for several of these initiatives and plans to help launch a similar program in Prince George’s County in the coming months.

““The problem is not that these people aren’t working – the problem is that the economy is not working for them.””

— Natalie Foster

Foster explained that one of the biggest challenges facing the growing movement lies in narrative building – specifically in addressing common misconceptions surrounding guaranteed income and the social safety net.

“Many in our society have a very harmful ideology that poverty is an individual failing,” Foster continued. “We know that is not true. For communities of color, we know it is a structural and systemic failure.”

“The problem is not that these people aren’t working – the problem is that the economy is not working for them.”

“For those of us with wealth, there are multitude of public subsidies – like tax deductions – that we can access with ‘no strings attached’,” added Geeta Pradhan, President of the Cambridge Community Foundation. “Yet for our low-income populations, we ask them to explain themselves, fill out forms, jump through hoops, and waste time that they don’t have – just to get the help they need.”

“The time has come for us to put aside these systemic inequities when it comes to our social safety net.”

Pradhan and the Cambridge Community Foundation joined the guaranteed income movement in 2021, when they partnered with Mayor’s for Guaranteed Income to launch Cambridge RISE. The project has been so successful that the Mayor’s Office of Cambridge, Massachusetts announced an additional $22 million in federal funding for the project last year – making it one of the largest programs in the country. The investment highlights what Foster says is an important step towards one of the long-term goals of the movement.

 “The vision of the guaranteed income movement is not simply to launch pilots in certain parts of the country,” Foster explained. “The vision is that philanthropic dollars will serve as the R&D (Research & Development) and power building muscle to influence and enact policy.”

Foster highlighted the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Expanded Income Tax Credit (EITC) as examples of existing policies that could be expanded upon – a measure that the DC Council chose to take this past year to establish a new monthly basic income program.

“I think you have a real opportunity,” Pradhan said, speaking directly to The Community Foundation’s donors. “Your community is already doing an amazing job in the guaranteed income space – and through those initiatives, we continue to learn more and more about how we can make our community stronger. As donors, your generosity is what helps us create change in our communities.”

“It’s not often you get the opportunity to have such a return on your investment,” Foster added. “Not only from a policy standpoint in the long-term – enacting long-awaited systemic change – but also in the short-term – providing tangible support that truly makes a difference for people in your community.”

Click here to view the full recording of In Pursuit of Economic Justice: A Primer on Guaranteed Income Programs. This event is the first of a series of conversations exploring innovative approaches to closing the racial gap.

Listening to the Community: Sharing Montgomery Meets With Leaders in East-County

Members of The Community Foundation’s Montgomery County Advisory Board, staff, and Sharing Montgomery donors recently visited with community partners in Montgomery County’s East-County region – one of the “Priority Neighborhoods” identified by The Community Foundation as part of its new 10-year strategic plan. The event follows a similar visit with Up-County partners that took place last November.

The day began at Manna Food Center’s headquarters in Silver Spring, where the group met with a panel of nonprofit leaders who have been at the forefront of the battle against food insecurity in Montgomery County. A battle that they say has continued, even as COVID cases have declined.

“Let’s not have amnesia about what we experienced during the pandemic,” Jackie DeCarlo, CEO of Manna Food Center shared. “As one our volunteers shared ‘I hope we never go back to normal; the pandemic made me realize that -- for a lot of people -- normal just wasn’t working”.

Despite the challenges, these partners have only continued to innovate. Rev. Kendra Smith, of East County Hub led by Kingdom Fellowship, and Pat Drumming, Executive Director of Rainbow Community Development Center, outlined how they work collaboratively with local businesses, grocery stores, and farmers to rescue thousands of pounds food.  DeCarlo explained how Manna Food Center now partners with local ethnic food markets to establish a voucher system that allows families to obtain culturally appropriate foods to make homecooked meals while also supporting critical local businesses.

“Essentially, we’re working with what already exists to recreate a new food system,” Rev. Kendra Smith of East County Hub of Kingdom Fellowship explained. “One that has the flexibility to respond to our community’s needs.”

The panel expressed gratitude to the donors of Sharing Montgomery and Food for Montgomery for their extraordinary support in recent years. They further highlighted how major investments over the last few years enabled them to secure shared cold storage – increasing their capacity to collect, store, and distribute perishable food items like meat and fresh produce.

“We can’t continue to look at food insecurity in isolation,” Rev. Smith explained. “Many of the families we’re serving are multi-generational. We need to examine all the social determinants of health and start having conversations about how we can work together and collaborate to address the root causes behind the needs that these families have.”

After a quick tour of the Manna Food Center’s choice pantry, the group then moved on to Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, MD, where they met with representatives from local nonprofits working to promote economic mobility and higher education: IMPACT Silver Spring, College Tracks and the Achieving College Excellence & Success (ACES) partnership of Montgomery College, the Universities at Shady Grove, and Montgomery County Public Schools.

Much like the safety-net partners, these nonprofit leaders had to continuously pivot and innovate since the outbreak of COVID.   For IMPACT Silver Spring, that meant finding ways to provide direct cash transfers so families in crisis could meet their needs more efficiently (an effort supported by The Community Foundation’s Neighbors in Need Montgomery Fund).  Meanwhile, CollegeTracks and ACES initially struggled to connect with students virtually while schools were operating remotely but ultimately found their efforts made them even more accessible.

“We were able to engage with their families in ways that we’d never done before,” explained Mecha Inman, CEO of College Tracks. “We were able to directly answer their questions about the college application process and help them become better informed about how to support and advocate for their students.”

Andres Maldonado, Assistant Director of ACES, further shared how ACES expanded their outreach to better serve students and their families – ensuring that students not only had access to academic support, but also important resources like food, employment opportunities, and mental health services. 

In response to how residents are helping their families and neighborhoods recover, Michael Rubin, Interim Director of IMPACT Silver Spring, shared how they are advancing worker collaboratives, empowering people with the resources and capital they need to start new enterprises that will ultimately help them on the pathway out of poverty and keep wealth in our local economy.

“We are not going to safety net ourselves out of the racial wealth gap. We are not going to safety net ourselves out of poverty,” Rubin shared. “We have to do things differently.”

Following the tour, Anna Hargrave, Executive Director for Montgomery County for the Greater Washington Community Foundation, reflected on two key takeaways:

• While the nonprofit partners we heard from have different missions, there is a common practice that has fueled their many accomplishments; they authentically listen to the community, making sure residents’ voices are driving change.

• Knowing the federal pandemic relief dollars are dwindling, we must empower our local nonprofits with flexible support they will need to further meet the urgent needs plus advocate for policy changes that will help our lowest-income neighbors who were hit hardest by the pandemic and are still struggling to recover.

To learn more about upcoming in-person and virtual visits plus other learning opportunities, contact Olivia Hsu at [email protected].

Housing: A Social Determinant of Health

Neighborhood & Built Environment (Housing) is one of the five social determinants of health, as identified by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

In DC, 80 percent of residents’ health outcomes are driven by socioeconomic factors, compared to just 20 percent driven by clinical care. Access to safe, quality, affordable housing – and to the supports necessary to maintain that housing -- constitute one of the most basic and powerful social determinants of health.

Research demonstrates that housing and health are inextricably linked:

• Poor health is a major cause of homelessness. Chronic physical and behavioral health conditions can lead to loss of income and contribute to the loss of stable housing and episodes of homelessness.

• Lack of stable housing makes people sick. People experiencing homelessness are at higher risk for infectious diseases, injuries due to accident or violence, the exacerbation of chronic physical conditions like diabetes, mental illness, or addiction, and death due to exposure. Homelessness has been found to “age” people up to 20 years beyond their chronological age.

• Homelessness makes it harder to heal. Homelessness complicates efforts for health professionals to successfully treat chronic conditions, illnesses, and injuries. Discharging a patient from a hospital to a safe and stable environment is critical for proper wound care, compliance with recommended treatments and medication regimes, and access to healthy foods and a place to rest and recuperate.

The Partnership to End Homelessness knows that housing is healthcare and that housing increases economic mobility. Access to quality, affordable, supportive housing can prevent illnesses and help successfully treat health conditions

The Partnership works to increase health equity and improve health outcomes for DC residents through its investments in the development and preservation of housing that is affordable to households with extremely low incomes, including Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH). PSH is an evidence-based practice that combines permanent affordable housing with comprehensive support services for people who have experienced chronic homelessness.

Through its direct grantmaking and impact investing programs, the Partnership supports the creation of housing for extremely low-income households.

One example of this work is a recent project from Jubilee Housing. The EucKal apartments will create a combined 50 units of housing that will be affordable to very low-income individuals and residents of permanent supportive housing. This project was made possible through a $500,000 recoverable grant from The Community Foundation to support Jubilee Housing’s development of PSH and other housing investments. In addition to the EucKal project, this funding was also leveraged to purchase four buildings in Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights to create 120 new units of housing for residents with low incomes. Jubilee plans to further expand its reach by creating housing to serve families, returning citizens, and individuals exiting homelessness. The organization hopes ultimately to provide housing to approximately 317 individuals annually, across 102 permanent units and 18 single room occupancy units.

Learn more about The Community Foundation’s Impact Investing Programs

Enterprise Community Loan Fund Impact Note

In partnership with Enterprise Community Loan Fund, the Partnership offers an Impact Note - an impact investing option for donors seeking to make a difference in the housing space. To date $14.8 million has been invested through this initiative, which has been leveraged to create and preserve 482 homes affordable to low-income households making less than 50% of the area median income. Projects have also included 96 units with supportive services and 192 units serving senior residents. Check out our 2022 Enterprise Community Loan Fund Impact Report to learn more about our investments and impact.

To learn more about how the Partnership’s investments in ending homelessness improves health outcomes for DC residents, contact Jennifer Olney at [email protected] or Silvana Straw [email protected].

The Next Step in our Journey with the DMV Book Group

Dear Book Group Family,

Thank you for those of you who have been a part of the Greater Washington Community Foundation’s book group over the last year. 

As a group, much of our time and attention has been focused on socializing ourselves about the ways that racism, economics, politics, and policy making have played out in American history and created the disparities we see in our society. We have done so with the expectation that we could all align around a shared understanding about the racial and economic choices, histories, policies, and impacts that perpetuate the disparities we see in our society—the racial wealth gap in particular. 

To this end, please allow me to offer a draft perspective that we will test, revise, and eventually hold together:

In our book group, we have learned how racism and our prevailing political and economic systems were born and raised together.  We have seen how they are mutually reinforcing structures that have instigated profound harm in the lives of Indigenous and Black peoples, and other people of color. 

While these groups have suffered the most, we all suffer as long as these systems remain unchallenged and unchecked. We believe that the racial and economic justice that so many of us seek will only come by transforming BOTH the hearts, minds and behaviors of individuals AND the interlocking systems that govern our lives and well-being.

Over this next year we will be making an intentional pivot to volumes and published pieces inviting us to imagine compelling and concrete solutions that address the racial and economic issues keeping us all from living our highest collective potential.

We set the tone for this pivot toward solutions at our last book group when we read Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movement Matter. One of the book’s co-authors, Professor Manual Pastor joined us to offer perspectives on the book.  He invited us to reimagine an economic system built on the values and practices of mutuality—in other words an economy that moves away from competition, individualism, and winners and losers, to one that models collaboration, the human desire for community, everyone doing well.   

I’m excited to continue our journey as we discuss Collective Courage: A History of African-American Cooperative Thought and Practice. If you don’t have time to read the entire book, feel free to skim this article that includes in an interview with the author of the book—Jessica Gordon Nembhard – who will be joining us for our book group session on March 31st. You can register here. 

I hope you’ll continue to join us in the work of learning, dreaming, and taking action together.  The change we seek will take all of us.

In Solidarity,

Ronnie Galvin
Senior Fellow & Book Group Facilitator

Meet Our Spirit of Philanthropy Award Honoree – Terri Lee Freeman

The Greater Washington Community Foundation was proud to honor Terri Lee Freeman with the 2023 Spirit of Philanthropy Award at our 50th Anniversary Celebration of Philanthropy .

As the longest-serving and first Black female President and CEO of The Community Foundation (from 1996-2014), Terri was the catalyst for remarkable growth of the organization’s assets and impact in the community. Her visionary leadership was the driving force behind critical initiatives that helped our community through major crises, instigated groundbreaking conversations about race and racism, and mobilized resources to expand equity, access, and opportunity for all residents of the Greater Washington region. This work was unparalleled for its time and paved the way for The Community Foundation’s new strategic vision to build community wealth and close the racial wealth gap.

During her tenure, Terri was recognized by the Washington Business Journal as one of its “Women Who Mean Business” and by Washingtonian Magazine as a “Washingtonian of the Year” and “100 Most Powerful Women of Washington”. Since leaving The Community Foundation, she has pursued her passion for civil rights and social justice as the former President of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, and now as the Executive Director of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture in Baltimore.

Terri Lee Freeman was appointed Executive Director of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture in December 2020. The seventh director of the State’s largest museum devoted to African American history, Freeman is responsible for providing strategic leadership in furthering the museum’s mission as an educational and cultural institution. To that end, she has worked with staff and board to develop a five-year strategic plan that culminates in a planned renovation of The Lewis Museum’s permanent history exhibition, a growth in visitors, membership, funding support and community outreach. Freeman seeks to connect history to current events and expand the museum’s connection to the very rich and vibrant communities which make up the state of Maryland.

Prior to joining The Lewis Museum, Freeman served as President of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee for six years. During her tenure Freeman broadened the Museum’s reputation as the new public square. She oversaw the Museum’s MLK50 commemoration, an international commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and designed and executed signature programming like “Unpacking Racism for Action,” a seven-month-long dialogue program delving into issues of implicit bias and structural racism. 

Before the NCRM, Ms. Freeman served as President of the Greater Washington Community Foundation for 18 years. She distinguished herself for her community building and her ability to grow the Foundation’s reputation as an effective and strategic funder in the metropolitan DC region. 

Her intense passion for the nonprofit sector and community was nurtured while serving as the founding executive director of the Freddie Mac Foundation; at the time, one of the five largest corporate foundations in the metropolitan Washington region.

Ms. Freeman currently serves on the boards of BoardSource, the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, Visit Baltimore, the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, and the University of Dayton, her alma mater.  In 2020, she was identified as an Outstanding Alum by the University of Dayton.  And in December 2020, the Memphis Magazine identified her as Memphian of the Year. A frequently sought-after speaker, Ms. Freeman lives by the saying that what is most important is what people say about you when you aren’t in the room. 

Freeman received her bachelor’s degree in journalism/communication arts from the University of Dayton and her master’s degree in organizational communication management from Howard University. 

Faces of Philanthropy: Meet The Emerging Leaders Executive Committee

A new year, means there’s new faces on the Emerging Leaders Impact Fund (ELIF) Executive Committee!

ELIF is a diverse group of passionate people who are interested in using the power of philanthropy to make a positive difference in Prince George’s County. The ELIF Executive Committee is made up of strong leaders who are dedicated to inspiring future philanthropists and building coalitions for change in their community.

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Tatiana Paige Altson

(Bio Coming Soon)

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Danita Dyer

Danita C. Dyer resides in Upper Marlboro, MD and has been a PG County resident for the past 9 years. She is very passionate about her community. 

Danita has a background in Public and Community Health and began her career as a Research Intern for the Center of Evaluation, Policy, Research and Prevention at John Hopkins while enrolled as a student at Morgan State University.  She furthered her education by obtaining a Masters’ Degree at Trinity University majoring in Science Administration in Organizational Management and Public and Community Health. After graduation, Danita worked alongside the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAD) as a Health Analyst/Program Manager with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation. 

Currently, Danita works at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), where she serves as an Assist Records Liaison Officer (ARLO) between ORA and FDA’s Office of Chief Counsel. As part of that role, Danita serves as the lead POC over the multilayered contract awarded to ORA, ensuring that operations are in compliance with Congressional Mandate.

Danita has also served as the ORA and Baltimore District Office Vice President (VP) for National Treasury Employees Union’s (NTEU) Chapter 282 and services over 5,000 employees. During her over tenure as the elected VP with NTEU’s Chapter 282 she has lobbied on the Hill and fought for employee rights for over 5 years. 

Danita has one daughter (Blair) who is a Freshman at Morgan State University and majors in Entrepreneurship. Danita is also the primary caregiver for her grandparents who were both diagnosed with Dementia over the pandemic.   

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Armaund Hodge

(Photo and Bio Coming Soon)

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Eric Johnston

As someone passionate about political empowerment, and mobilizing people to solve challenging, shared problems, Eric Johnston is currently leaving his mark as the Director of Federal Government Affairs for Marriott International. He leads the global company's federal public policy advocacy efforts, grassroots and grasstops political coordination, and national partnership engagement.

Prior to that, Eric worked with Coca-Cola Consolidated for more than five years. He served as the Director of Government Relations for the Mid-Atlantic region. He was the youngest person and first African American to hold this leadership position in their 117-year history. Before joining the Coca-Cola team, Eric worked seven years as a lobbyist for the multi-client firm, Strategic Solutions Center LLC.

Eric serves his community by contributing to multiple organizations on their Board of Directors. Those organizations include the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business, National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics, Maryland Government Relations Association, 100 Black Men of Greater Washington DC, and New Leaders Council. Through these and other organizations, he has been dedicated to civic engagement and empowering young professionals to engage underserved communities.

Eric graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) with a bachelor’s degree in Finance and holds an M.B.A. from Hampton University. He is also a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and an even prouder husband and father.

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Altmann Pannell

Altmann R. Pannell is a native of Petersburg, Virginia, who earned a B.A. in African American Studies with a focus in Public Policy from the University of Maryland College Park in 2009 and a Masters of Public Administration with a focus in Public Policy from Bowie State University in 2016.

Upon graduation, Altmann worked in the Office of The Honorable Anthony G. Brown, Lieutenant Governor of Maryland and later in the Prince George’s County Council with The Honorable Ingrid M. Turner Esq, and The Honorable Deni Tavares. In March of 2016, Altmann began working in the Non-Profit Sector of the District of Columbia for Food & Friends Inc., as the Manager of Intergovernmental Relations and Public Funding.

In 2019, Altmann left the servicer field and joined the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) as the Director of Government and External Affairs, where he worked tirelessly to bring different perspectives to difficult conversations addressing community policing in America. During his time at IACLEA, he was tasked to lead the COVID-19 Rapid Response Task Force for the nation’s Colleges and Universities at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the early Spring of 2021, Altmann joined Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc., as the Director of Government Relations over the Mid-Atlantic Region, where he currently works.

Altmann is married to his lovely wife Joy, and they reside in Laurel, Maryland, with their Miniature Schnauzer, Vino. Altmann is an active member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Washington D.C., as well as in his Graduate Chapter of Omega Psi Phi, Fraternity, Inc., serving the greater College Park, MD community.

In addition to serving on the Emerging Leaders Impact Fund Executive Committee, Altmann also serves as the Vice-Chair of the Camping Committee for the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America servicing the youth of the District of Columbia.

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Davion Percy

Davion E. Percy launched Percy Public Affairs, LLC in July of 2020. Prior to launching PPA, Davion worked the Government Relations Practice of Alexander & Cleaver, PA. He started out as a Government Relations Consultant, quickly rising to Vice President of the Government Relations Division.  Prior to joining Alexander & Cleaver, Davion served in Prince George’s County Government for 10 years.  He worked five years in the Department of Environmental Resources (now the Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement).

During the last half of the decade he spent with Prince George’s County, Davion served in the office of former County Council Member Karen R. Toles (D-Suitland) as Constituent Services Specialist and Chief of Staff, respectively.  As part of his duties, Davion acted as Council Member Toles’ community representative, liaison to the county’s public safety agencies, and advisor on public safety policy initiatives.  As Chief of Staff, Davion advised Council Member Toles on all policy matters, including zoning issues, and served as her staff liaison to the Health, Education, and Human Services committee, which she chaired.  Additionally, he oversaw the day-to- day functions of the office.

Davion resides in Prince George’s County where he spends his spare time with family and mentoring young men and women through community outreach programs with non-profits.

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Ashley Sharp

Ashley is a Maryland resident and graduate of University of Maryland, College Park. She is CEO of Resurgence Consulting, LLC and President of the Marlboro Pike Partnership, CDC. Her professional career includes Government & Politics working at Local, State and Federal levels of all legislative branches.

Ashley is passionate about community and solving complex social issues for those most in need. In addition to her involvement with ELIF, she’s also a member of Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. and the First Baptist Church of Glenarden.

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D’Andre Wilson

D’Andre Wilson is an educator and leader who is passionate about helping others through the gift of education. Having worked in various capacities, Mr. Wilson currently serves as a higher education business operations leader with the primary purpose of helping students achieve their education and career goals.

During his 15+ years in education, D’Andre Wilson has aimed to lead through a Servant Leadership approach. In addition to seeing his students accomplish their career goals, D’Andre says that his greatest professional accomplishments revolve around helping his fellow Colleagues advance into leadership roles. “Real Leaders Create Other Leaders” is a phrase that guides Mr. Wilson daily.

Mr. Wilson has received several accolades and awards throughout his career, but his greatest accomplishment has been being a husband and father to four beautiful children. Mr. Wilson holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Hampton University, Masters of Education in Higher Education Administration and is currently pursuing an Education Doctorate from Northeastern University.

Leading the Charge to Prevent Evictions and Increase Housing Stability in DC

Living in the Greater Washington region is expensive. Nationally, the Greater Washington region consistently ranks in the Top 10 Cities with the Highest Cost of Living – with high rental costs being a primary factor. However, in recent years the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn have exacerbated the issue – leading to widespread housing instability – especially for low-income Black and Brown residents.  

According to a 2021 report by the Urban Institute, almost one in two Hispanic/Latinx renters and more than one in four Black renters are worried about paying next month’s rent. As rental costs continue to rise, so too are evictions – which could lead to increased homelessness.

Through our Partnership to End Homelessness and its housing justice efforts, The Community Foundation has strived to be at the forefront of this issue.

In the summer of 2021, The Community Foundation was invited to participate in the White House Summit on Eviction Prevention, where we had a chance to meet with and exchange experiences with fellow housing leaders across the country.

Following the Summit, we joined with the DC Bar Foundation to convene what would become the DC Eviction Prevention Co-Leaders Group. Facilitated by The Urban Institute, the group is a coalition of key nonprofit, philanthropic, and government leaders that united to help expedite the distribution of emergency rental assistance, reduce the number of evictions, and increase overall housing stability. The overall goal of the Co-Leaders Group is to establish a cross-sector collaborative approach to prevent eviction and displacement of tenants in DC with low incomes and stabilize their housing for the future. Key leaders included representatives from Housing Counseling Services, Inc.; Bread for the City, DC Superior Court, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Department of Human Services, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, the Office of the Tenant Advocate, and others.

The group’s weekly meetings have increased collaboration and produced tangible results to prevent evictions in DC. For example, the group has been able to ensure the presence of housing counselors in courtrooms during eviction hearings. It created a “last-mile” payment system to ensure tenants are not evicted for small remaining balances left after government assistance has been received. These convenings also led to improved communication with the US Marshals Service, which carries out evictions in DC and procured additional federal rental assistance for those at risk of eviction. In addition, the coalition has increased community outreach and door-to-door canvassing to reach tenants at risk of eviction.

Recently, several members of the Co-Leader group co-authored a report released by The Urban Institute titled, A Collaborative Framework for Eviction Prevention in DC. The report outlines current efforts to prevent evictions and recommends areas for strengthening the system of providers and agencies touching the system. The report recognizes that “the high cost of housing in DC relative to what many people can afford to pay requires a long-term commitment to increase affordable housing and economic opportunities in DC alongside the approach presented in this eviction prevention framework.”

However, despite these efforts, there is still much work to be done. Eviction filings and actual evictions have significantly increased since fall 2022. Clearly, the threat of an eviction crisis has not ended.

The Co-Leaders Group continues to serve as a conduit for leaders to come together on a weekly basis and address our community’s specific challenges. Together we continue the difficult but critical work to prevent evictions and increase housing stability.  

For more information on our efforts or how you can contribute, please contact Silvana Straw at  [email protected] or Jennifer Olney at [email protected].