On Tuesday, October 11, the Greater Washington Community Foundation hosted its 2022 Annual Meeting at The National Press Club and via livestream. The event capped off a record-breaking year of growth and community impact for The Community Foundation and its donors and partners – which recently surpassed $1.5 billion in grantmaking (with approximately $93 million given in FY22, alone).
“It is an exciting time to be a part of The Community Foundation,” President & CEO Tonia Wellons shared. “We are so glad to have you as a member of our philanthropic family during this important milestone in our history.”
Tonia kicked off the meeting by outlining some of The Community Foundation’s and our donors biggest achievements over the past year – including the incubation of the Children’s Opportunity Alliance, the creation of a Faith & Philanthropy forum, and the launch of the historic $95 million Health Equity Fund.
She also reiterated The Community Foundation’s commitment to closing our region’s racial wealth gap – with a particular focus on community wealth-building within Black and Brown neighborhoods.
“For nearly 50 years, our fundholders have responded to the everyday needs of people in our region,” Tonia stated. “We invite you to envision a region where the families we support during times of crisis are able to manage their daily emergencies with more agency – because their basic needs are met.”
“Our history has shown that we must move beyond simply addressing the symptoms of generational poverty,” Tonia concluded. “We must double down on investments in people in communities who are struggling to most and set up conditions for them and their families to flourish.”
Tonia outlined several projects that The Community Foundation has supported to promote economic mobility including guaranteed income projects such as Let’s Go DMV! and Arlington’s Guarantee – part of a growing movement of more than 100 Guaranteed Income pilots happening across the country.
She also discussed our intent to invest in and launch Children’s Savings Accounts pilots in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties – another growing economic mobility initiative that was lauded by our expert panel as having the potential to close the racial wealth gap. Researchers with the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that children’s savings accounts could close the racial wealth gap in a community by as much as 28 percent.
The program then transitioned to a panel discussion with two nationally recognized experts on economic mobility - Nisha Patel, co-author of the study Restoring the American Dream, and Gary Cunningham, President & CEO of Prosperity Now.
The panel touched a wide range of topics, including entrepreneurship, the need for more investment in social safety nets, shifting policies and practices to advance economic mobility, and the need to center these policies on lived-in experiences.
“Here’s the thing about poverty,” Nisha shared, quoting a fellow expert, John Powell. “It’s not just about a lack of money; it’s also about a lack of power.”
“What you do is important; but how you go about it is perhaps even more important. Your programs need to promote a sense of agency, a sense of belonging, and a sense of community.”
Gary concurred, sharing a number of studies about the impact of trust amongst Black-owned businesses and the positive impact of entrepreneurship among women of color. He also emphasized the importance of continuing to push the momentum of economic mobility work.
“The work that we do is a continuation of the Civil Rights movement in this country,” Gary shared “Towards the end of [Dr. King’s] life, he spent most of his energies fighting for economic justice in this country.
“The work that each of you are doing to make this country a better place through your investments in the community matter. We need to take it to the next level so that everyone – no matter what their race, no matter what their color -- can actually thrive in this country of plenty.”
Click here for a complete recording of our annual meeting! You can click here to see more photos of the event!