Black-Led from the Inside, Out

Service Never Sleeps Whitney Parnell, Founder & CEO and Samson Girma, COO

This year, The Community Foundation is highlighting ‘Leaders of the Future’ – individuals and organizations who inspire us to look towards a brighter future for the Greater Washington region.

In honor and celebration of Black History Month, we are lifting up the incredible contributions of Black leaders – specifically those who are leaders in the movement for economic justice and community empowerment. We are excited to feature Whitney Parnell and Samson Girma, co-founders of Service Never Sleeps (SNS), who engaged in important research on Black leadership supported by The Community Foundation which will be released this summer.

Service Never Sleeps is a Black-Led racial justice organization working toward a world where equal rights, justice, and opportunity are available to all. We empower justice-minded individuals and institutions with the tools and posture to be effective allies, and to create equity within their spheres of influence.

We believe that we all have the responsibility to pursue justice in the areas where we hold privilege. We provide trainings that equip participants to be enduring allies in this “forever work”— understanding that there is no arrival point.

Since 2015, SNS has built a reputation as a go-to organizational teacher in allyship, providing training to over 10,000 people.

In 2020, we navigated the trials of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter uprising together as two Black leaders, during a time when the external demand for SNS’ work multiplied tenfold. It led us to a decisive point where we declared that we are proudly and unapologetically a Black-led organization. We now intentionally name and identify as “Black-Led” -- making it clear that our work is rooted in that identity.

What does it mean to be ‘Black-led’?

The “racial reckoning” that began in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd brought an onslaught of public individual and institutional declarations of commitment to racial justice work at large, and specifically to supporting Black-Led organizations. Funding for Black-Led organizations significantly increased during that period, and there seemed to be more opportunities than ever for financial support of our work.

However, when SNS began to apply for funding, we received feedback that we were ineligible for funding because our work did not directly support Black people. We were also told that our organizational leadership did not meet the identity requirements.

We felt (and still feel) that this feedback was not only inaccurate – it also seemed misguided in fully defining what it means to be “Black Led”. 

Our experience is that the value of being Black-Led is not just in the representation numbers of our staff and board, but goes far deeper into the implications about culture, priorities, and values that extend from the inside, out.

So, over the past two years, we have been leading our own internal research project: What Does it Mean to be Black-Led?

The project engaged over one hundred Black leaders, and dug past the traditional qualifiers of leadership demographics to help identify:

• How lived experience positions Black leaders for equitable leadership that benefits everyone;

• The internal/external challenges faced by Black leaders; and

• What actions and resources promote the success of Black-Led organizations.

The participants’ insights are powerful and educational. We were deeply moved by the validation of our own experiences as Black leaders -- including the systemic challenges that Whitney faces as a Black woman leader. As an organization, we processed how to apply these learnings into culture and policies as we grew our team.

The Black-Led Report

The more we learned about the values of Black-Led organizations and how to center those values, the clearer it became that this information needed to expand beyond our small team, so that as many people as possible could learn and grow from this synthesis of invaluable wisdom. We are excited to use our findings to develop new SNS trainings and resources – starting with a report to be launched this upcoming summer.

As we prepare for the new Black-Led Project content and programming launch, we continue to be grateful for the experiences that led us here. Our research has shown us that Black leadership is very-much a journey, one that is reflected in the paths that we have been on as Black people, and that SNS has been on as an organization. All of it has informed the season that we are in.

We are excited to invite others into this shared journey of growth and liberation with us when we publicly release our long-awaited report this summer. Stay tuned!

birdSEED Foundation: Planting Seeds of Hope for Black First-Time Homeowners

birdSEED recipient Tiffany (Coco) Brown, at her new home in Prince George’s County.

For years, Tiffany (Coco) Brown had dreamed of accomplishing something that no one else in her family had ever done before – purchasing a house that she could call home.

“I wanted someplace where my family could gather and be together,” Coco shared. “Someplace safe that we could call ‘ours’.”

Like many Black families in the Greater Washington region, as a child Coco’s parents could only afford to rent their home in Washington, DC. As economic conditions in the housing market turned, Coco remembers moving several times over the course of her childhood, leaving behind friends and childhood memories as the family sought out a new place to live.

“Growing up, I knew I wanted to live in my own house,” Coco shared. “I just wasn’t sure where to start.”

In 2021, Coco decided to pursue her dream of becoming a homeowner. But while navigating the world of real estate can be complicated for just about anybody, studies show that it has been historically – even deliberately – complex for people of color.

According to a recent study by the National Association of Realtors, only 44% of Black Americans are homeowners – compared to 73% of White Americans. The disparity, which is built on a foundation of decades of redlining and discriminatory lending practices, represents the largest racial homeownership gap in the past decade.

“There’s not very many things out there for people who look like me,” she added. “When it comes to buying a house, we don’t have the resources or the information to get the help we need.”

Over the course of her housing search, Coco went through four different realtors, mountains of paperwork, and dozens of house tours. She also enrolled in several programs designed to help first-time homebuyers – which she soon discovered involved even more paperwork and strict eligibility requirements.

“Pack your patience,” she recalled of her experience. “It’s a lot.”

That was when she heard about the Housing Justice & Down Payment Assistance Program at the birdSEED Foundation – a non-profit organization born from a collaboration between Flock DC – which provided the initial funding to seed the program - and the Greater Washington Community Foundation. The program provides grants of $5,000 - $15,000 to Black & Brown first-time homebuyers with no strings attached.

“This is our work to do – helping those who have been historically disadvantaged to purchase homes,” shared lisa wise, CEO of Flock DC and founder of birdSEED.

birdSEED is boldly branded as a ‘housing justice’ initiative – a starting point for reparations from an industry that has played a major role in the creation of the racial wealth gap.

“Homeownership is one of the most effective ways that Americans build intergenerational wealth,” Darius Graham, Managing Director of Community Investment at The Community Foundation stated. “And even though equal access to housing is a civil right enshrined in our nation’s laws, systemic racism within housing institutions have kept communities of color from accessing it for far too long.”­

“[birdSEED] isn’t about philanthropy,” wise added. “It’s about wealth creation; it’s about transferring and building wealth – and creating a model for the rest of the business community that we hope others will follow.”

birdSEED was designed to take away as many barriers for Black and Brown homebuyers to receive support, as possible. The application process is kept intentionally simple and is open year-round, with grants awarded twice a year by a panel of volunteer advisory board members. Once awarded, grant recipients have 120 days to close on a home and release the funds, which are managed by The Community Foundation.

“We are laser focused on making no strings attached down payment grants,” Leslie Case, Executive Director of birdSEED added. “If we can focus more on the giving and less on the accountability, we believe we can give more and have a bigger impact.”

Since its launch in September 2020, birdSEED has awarded 41 provisional grants to help Black and Brown first-time homebuyers – including Coco -- get one step closer to their dream of home ownership.

“birdSEED was a lifesaver,” Coco said. “Without them, I don’t think I would have gone to closing.”

Coco submitted her birdSEED application in September 2022—and within a month was awarded a $10,000 provisional grant. Five months later, Coco closed on her dream home in Hillcrest Heights in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

“The fact that [the homebuying search] is over, is such a stress reliever,” Coco shared, as she approaches her one-year anniversary of homeownership. “To be able to spend holidays, birthdays, and game nights in my own space with the ones I love is a wonderful experience.”

While wise, Case, and The Community Foundation celebrate the success of birdSEED, we also acknowledge how much work remains to be done to close the racial homeownership gap. Of the 41 provisional grants awarded to Black and Brown first-time homebuyers through birdSEED, some of them have still been unable to close on a house – a humbling testament to the many challenges that first-time homebuyers of color must overcome on the road to homeownership.

Despite the challenges, wise and Coco say that birdSEED provides a beacon of hope that they hope will continue to spread to more members of the Greater Washington community.  

“A lot of people ask what they can do – especially when confronted with big issues like the racial wealth gap,” wise said. “You can start with this –a down payment towards building a more equitable community. It may seem like a small step – but it’s a huge step in the right direction.”

One evidence of that hope came from Coco, who when asked what advice she had for fellow aspiring homeowners, simply stated the following:

“If I can do it, you can do it”

The Community Foundation is proud to award the birdSEED Foundation with a $100,000 grant to support homeownership for residents of Prince George’s County and Montgomery County. The investment is part of our Together, We Prosper campaign investment strategy to close the racial wealth gap in the Greater Washington region. For more information, visit our website or contact [email protected]

In Pursuit of Economic Justice Recap: How Children’s Trust Accounts Provide Hope for the Future

On April 19, The Community Foundation hosted a panel of national leaders for a discussion about how investments in Children’s Trust Accounts create a brighter future for communities. The event was part of the “In Pursuit of Economic Justice” Webinar Series –designed to bring together experts to explore innovative approaches to closing the racial wealth gap.

“We want young people to be able start their lives with the flexibility to pursue their dreams in any direction that they want to go,” shared The Community Foundation's Anna Hargrave. “By expanding the possibilities for an entire group of children, we can help forward our vision of closing the racial wealth gap across the Greater Washington region.”

“When you think about poverty, you often focus on income,” Dr. William Elliott a leading researcher and professor at the University of Michigan shared. “But income is dealing with the symptoms of poverty instead of the root cause of poverty. Poor people don't just have a lack of income; what they have is a lack of opportunity.”

“Children’s Trust Accounts are not just about money; it's about making sure that future generations are in a position to access the resources they need to be successful.”

Child Wealth Building Programs (such as a “Child Savings Accounts”, “Baby Bonds” or “Children’s Trust Accounts”) are growing increasingly popular in the philanthropic and public sectors. A private or public funder provides seed money to open a savings account for kindergarteners, which accrues value until the student graduates high school and can be used for different purposes.

In the case of Child Savings Accounts, funding is often restricted towards post-secondary education or  training through a 529 state college savings plan. A Children’s Trust Account allows funding to go towards a wider range of wealth building opportunities, including trade school, homeownership, or entrepreneurship. The Community Foundation intends to launch a Children’s Trust Account pilot program at two elementary schools in Prince George’s County and Montgomery County sometime in the next year.

Dr. Elliott is the founding director of the Center of Assets, Education, and Inclusion, and recently authored a comprehensive report “Unleashing the Power of Children’s Savings Accounts (CSAs): Doorway to Multiple Streams of Assets”. The report outlines some of the biggest outcomes from child wealth building programs, including what Dr. Elliott calls “tangible hope.”

A mother participating in NYC Kids Rise's Child Wealth Building Program shares the impact the program has had on her son's learning.

“When you give a kid an asset, you're allowing them to begin to purchase some part of their future self,” Dr. Elliott explained. “It's a very valuable thing. It's concrete. It's not just ‘I hope one day they go to college.’ You’re giving them real, tangible assets so they can plan for their future in a way that they’ve never been able to do before."

“All of a sudden, college is possible; not just in a wishful thinking kind of way, but in a tangible, near-future, kind of way.”

“It's not just about having an asset accumulate and be able to gain on that early investment,” Leila Bozorg, Chief of Strategy and Policy at NYC Kids Rise added. “It's about the narratives that a kid is hearing from an early age and those expectations of success and support to meet those expectations.”

NYC Kids Rise started out in 2017 as a pilot program in New York City’s School District 30 (about 3,500 kindergartners). Six years later, the program has expanded city-wide – thanks to a partnership with New York City Public Schools – making it the largest such program in the country. Champions of the project included Maryland Governor Wes Moore, then CEO of Robin Hood, which invested more than $1 million towards the initiative.

Governor Wes Moore (then CEO of Robin Hood) talks about the importance of Child Wealth Building Programs.

While the financial partnership with New York City Public Schools has been a huge benefit to NYC Kids Rise, Leila says that it’s the existing infrastructure provided by the school system that has opened new windows of opportunity for students.

“What we've tried to do is not just build a vehicle for asset accumulation; we’ve engaged the entire ecosystem that impacts the long-term success of a child,” Bozorg explained. “We know that each part of that ecosystem can impact a child's economic opportunities in the future.”

NYC Kids Rise works with the school system to develop financial education curriculums for the classroom that can be personalized to each child – allowing them to develop financial literacy skills in real-time. They also provide workshops and resources for parents so they can create their own savings account – building the foundation of a culture of saving for the entire family that Dr. Elliott says is important to strengthen and encourage.

“Because of these programs, families are starting to have active conversations about their kids’ futures, well in advance – they’re catching a glimpse of a financial future that they didn’t have the capacity or resources to see before. Over time, they begin to develop and adopt long-term habits for financial success.”

Community Leader Claudia Coger talks about their community investment in the NYC Kids Rise community scholarship program.

When asked about secrets to success, Bozorg added that community involvement is key. Early on, NYC Kids Rise set up community scholarships – allowing anchor institutions and community groups to make direct contributions to child wealth building programs rather than contributing through more traditional scholarship programs. Dr. Elliott noted that this format allows funders to have a greater impact on students, since their investment multiplies the impact of the child’s savings account.

“Any investment can make a difference in a child’s life,” Bozorg said. “But we’ve found that the real growth happens when communities and community partners take the lead in committing to a generation’s future.”

When asked about lessons learned from such a program, Bozorg had just one word to say: “Patience.”

“These are long-term, legacy-changing programs that can have major impacts on institutions and on people's lives. That change isn't going to happen overnight.”

“We're trying to change minds and cultures around saving,” Dr. Elliott added. “It's one thing to have this platform and provide this resource; it's another to help them access it and see the value in it.”

That being said, both were highly optimistic about the prospects for The Community Foundation to launch a Children’s Trust Account pilot program.

“I think your program will be a good marker,” Dr. Elliott remarked. “Not only for the Greater Washington Region, but for the whole country to better understand what happens when we make larger investments in our children’s future over time.”

Click here to view a recording “In Pursuit of Economic Justice: A Primer on Children’s Trust Accounts. For additional information on Children’s Trust Accounts and other economic mobility initiatives, visit www.thecommunityfoundation.org/strategic-plan.

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!

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.

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. 

Helping Nonprofits Navigate the Guaranteed Income Movement

Last month, the Greater Washington Community Foundation’s Health Equity Fund hosted its first Lunch & Learn Event with nonprofit partners from its inaugural $9.2 million grant round, and other organizations interested in launching and sustaining guaranteed income pilots. The event was hosted at the offices of Capital Area Asset Builders (CAAB) and featured a virtual panel of national experts who shared insights about executing successful and sustainable pilots.

“The Health Equity Fund team believes in the inextricable link between health and wealth,” Dr. Marla M. Dean, Senior Director of the Health Equity Fund explained. “That is why we are using an economic mobility frame to address the social determinants of health – in alignment with The Community Foundation’s broader vision to closing the racial health and wealth gap.”

“We believe that guaranteed income pilots are one of the best ways to achieve that.”

Launched in 2017, the Guaranteed Income Movement was designed to provide unrestricted cash transfers to help individuals and families improve their economic stability. Deemed a “quiet revolution in social policymaking”, the Guaranteed Income Movement has quickly taken center-stage in the economic mobility arena. As of September 2022, there were 100 such pilots announced across the United States – including several in the Greater Washington region.

That figure has increased since October, when several Health Equity Fund partners from the inaugural grant round announced they were using their funding to launch their own Guaranteed Income Pilots (also known as Cash Transfer Programs).

“We are delighted to watch the incredible work you all are doing in DC,” Natalie Foster, President and Co-Founder of the Economic Security Project shared with the group. “You all are pioneers in how we think about the social contract in America – one that centers dignity and humanity and freedom and agency for people.”

As part of the event, nonprofit partners had a chance to share their questions with the virtual panel – which included some of the founding funders and organizers of the movement. Questions ranged from how to build the right narrative to how to ensure the financial sustainability of the work.

“We believe that our families know better than anybody else what they need,” Sarah Stripp, Managing Director of Springboard to Opportunities shared in response to a question about program design. Sarah Stripp was the manager behind The Magnolia Mother’s Trust – one of the first Guaranteed Income Pilots founded in Mississippi in 2018.

“We’ve found that the most successful ideas come from an intentional design process where we’re creating something with individuals, instead of just for them; a process where, we’re proactive in engaging those we serve to figure out what works.”

“How we frame our initiatives – the narrative we use – is really key to helping them become sustainable,” shared Halah Ahmad, a Vice President at Jain Family Institute (JFI) shared. In addition to funding some of the Guaranteed Income Pilots, JFI has also conducted research about public perceptions of cash transfer programs.

“We’ve seen a direct correlation between the way a cash transfer program is framed and the amount of support they receive. Is it framed as a poverty-fighting program? Is it framed as a community empowerment mechanism? The language you use to frame your initiative really matters.”

Nick Salazar of the Fund for Guaranteed Income and Katherine Cagat of Mayors for Guaranteed Income added that it’s important to engage and empower the individuals they serve in creating the narrative, rather than building a narrative around them.

“When you have people speak about their own experiences, rather than being presented, you allow them to tell their story in their own way,” Katherine explained. “This is critical to preserving their dignity and humanity, while at the same time giving them a platform to tear down negative stigmas that our society has about people in their situation.”

Panelists also talked about the importance of being purposeful in identifying and connecting with their target audience.

“Beliefs about poverty and those living in poverty run deep in this country,” Nick added. “We can’t fully wait for everybody to change their mind before we begin.”

“We need be bold and intentional in this work, staying focused and being true to the communities we’ve committed to serve; the people we’re striving to serve.”

“As long as you’re doing that, I don’t think you can go wrong.”

The Community Foundation is committed to promoting economic justice throughout the Greater Washington region through strategies like Guaranteed Income Pilots, Children’s Trust Accounts, and Community Wealth Building. For more information, visit https://www.thecommunityfoundation.org/strategic-plan

Centering Racial Equity and Inclusion at The Community Foundation

By Brittany Owens, Jennifer Olney, and Emily Davis

The Greater Washington Community Foundation has long been committed to centering equity and inclusion in our work to build thriving communities.  As we embark on our new strategic vision with a focus on advancing economic justice, we are building on a rich history of social justice grantmaking and community leadership initiatives as we reaffirm our institutional commitment to racial equity and inclusion.

Racial Equity and Inclusion Within Our Organization

Before The Community Foundation even began developing its new strategic plan – and even before COVID-19 illuminated the racial inequities in the Greater Washington region and across the country – our staff had started on a learning journey during the summer of 2020. Team members gathered over lunch to hear each other’s personal experiences and learn more about systemic and historical racial inequity through pieces like The Case for Reparations, by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

These initial informal conversations led to the formal creation of a Racial Equity and Inclusion (REI) Workgroup composed of staff members from each team in the organization. The REI Workgroup’s ambition is to make sure our staff have the same baseline understanding and can be more immersed in the history of systemic racism that has shaped our society. In early 2021, the REI Workgroup partnered with Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE) to facilitate a months-long multi-day series of trainings for all staff about systemic racism and policies, and later to introduce our staff to assessment tools to help shape our processes, policies, and procedures through an REI lens.

Since those workshops and learning sessions, our internal teams have worked together to ensure we continue to uplift BIPOC voices and experiences through all that we do. We have used what we learned from these trainings to revisit our internal processes and institutional infrastructure to make sure they reflect our values for racial equity in pay, voice, contracting, hiring, governance, and in our grantmaking process. For example, our Operations and Finance teams worked to develop a vendor selection policy that prioritizes BIPOC vendors for various aspects of our work - from consultants to catering, and much more.

Prioritizing Racial Equity and Inclusion Within The Broader Community

We also seek to center racial equity at The Community Foundation by actively engaging people and communities most impacted, particularly as we pursue solutions and investments. This includes more intentionally directing investments towards BIPOC-led nonprofits and BIPOC individuals and communities.

To implement REI in our grantmaking, our internal REI Workgroup and Community Investment Team researched best practices for grantmaking with a REI lens. We decided to ask all applicants to provide data showing the racial/ethnic composition of the organization’s management staff, other staff, and board members. We also want to know whether or not the organization’s management, staff, or board are majority people of color – and if not, what are their plans to increase the number of people of color in leadership positions. In addition, we  are encouraging applicants to share the work they are doing to close the racial wealth gap, so we can understand the scope and scale of efforts happening across the region and where we might play a role.

Finally, during the pandemic we adopted several Trust Based Philanthropy practices to provide our nonprofit partners with much needed flexibility and to ease the administrative burden on them. We’ve decided to make several changes permanent – including simplifying reporting requirements and offering more multi-year grant opportunities – as we continue to move toward adopting a Trust Based Philanthropy model that helps to “advance equity, shift power, and build mutually accountable relationships.”

Our Commitment to Racial Equity and Inclusion Moving Forward

REI is central to our work and our values at The Community Foundation. By sharing our REI Journey, we hope that it will inspire and offer some lessons learned to other organizations as they continue to invest in REI efforts internally and externally. This is a work in progress, but our commitment to this work remains steadfast.

For more information about our commitment to Racial Equity and Inclusion, read our 10-year Strategic Plan!

Book Group Recap: Redefining Racial Wealth with Anne Price

Our quarterly DMV Community Book Group met in August for a deep dive into the insightful article “What We Get Wrong About Closing the Racial Wealth Gap.”

“Nothing tells us about economic well-being more than the racial wealth gap,” Anne Price, the first female President of the Insight Center for Community Economic Development and co-author of the article, shared to a group of thirty friends and partners of The Community Foundation.

“But before we tackle the racial wealth gap, we have to come to terms with just how little we understand it and the conflicting narratives that surround it.”

In the article, Price and her co-authors address ten commonly held myths about the racial wealth gap – conventional ideas including “greater educational attainment, harder work, better financial decisions, and other changes in habits and practices on the part of Blacks.”

The article goes on to explain that “while these steps are not necessarily undesirable, they are wholly inadequate to bridge the racial chasm in wealth.”

Price explained that one of the reasons these ideas often fall short is because they follow a narrow, individualistic approach rather than recognizing the necessity of the need for broader systemic change.

“We have taken a deeply structural problem that is hundreds of years in the making and overlaid it with very small individual solutions, based on flawed and often false narratives.”

Some of those attending the discussion were surprised by some of the narratives that Price addressed – including widely accepted narratives such as the ideas that access to higher education or homeownership can close the racial wealth gap.

“The data clearly shows that wealth creates equalized educational outcomes and opportunities for homeownership – not the other way around,” Price explained.

While tackling higher education and homeownership may help close the gap somewhat, they are not “one-size fits all” solutions. In addition, Price pointed out that both approaches are riddled with systemic obstacles – such as student debt, predatory lending and racial bias-- that policymakers and changemakers alike often overlook.

“When we talk about building Black wealth, too often we get stuck behind these blinders that limit our perspective to just four areas – education, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, & homeownership,” Price explains. “There is so much more to wealth than that.”

Ronnie Galvin, Managing Director of Community Investment for The Community Foundation, echoed Price’s assertion:  “Black people will not be able to build wealth in the same ways that White people have built wealth.  If we are serious about doing this work, we need to be willing to expand our horizons and work with Black communities to identify and adopt more innovative and systemic approaches.”

One of the approaches that Price suggested was to seek to eliminate wealth extraction. She shared several simple, short-term solutions such as advocating for the end of garnishment policies and forgiving criminal legal debt.

“We need to seek for solutions that not only put more money in people’s pockets, but also give them piece of mind,” Price added. “Because wealth is more than just financial outcomes. We need to consider the social, mental, and emotional aspects as well.”

Rather than seeking a programmatic “silver bullet” to close the racial wealth gap, Price suggested taking a step back and re-examining what wealth means. She described wealth as “allowing us to live and retire with greater dignity, freedom and peace of mind” and providing “future generations with the freedom to dream big and become all they truly can be” with a focus on being “healthy, spiritually whole and contributing.”

Price explained that wealth (and wealth building solutions) are far more complex and distinct than most people realize.

“I’m so thankful that we have this space to expand our horizons and our imagination, as a foundation,” President and CEO Tonia Wellons shared. “We do not know everything – we’ve said that from the beginning – which is why we continue to build this ‘coalition of the willing’ – people who are willing to join us on this learning journey.”

“Together we will continue to learn, discover, and refine new ways to think about the work that we get to do in philanthropy, as we center our efforts around closing the racial wealth gap.”

Click here to watch a full recording of the August 2022 DMV Community Book Club. Our next DMV Community Book Club will be in December 2022 when we will discuss ‘Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter’ by Chris Benner & Manuel Pastor.

If you would like to join our discussion, please subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive information on how to register!

Black Voices for Black Justice Fellow Spotlight: Xavier Brown

As the Fall approaches, Black Justice Fellow Xavier Brown has one thing on his mind. Getting back to the land.

“I’m excited to get out there and get my hands dirty,” Brown shares.

Brown is part of a growing movement of Black agriculturalists who are working to reconnect Black people to their roots – literally.

Farming and agriculture is something that is deeply ingrained in the history of the Black community. Many African-Americans today only have to go back a few generations to find a relative who worked the land.

Yet, today Black people make up less than 2% of farm producers – a result stemming both from decades of discriminatory land-ownership policies that denied land ownership to Black Farmers, as well as an effort by some to distance themselves from a lifestyle that holds painful memories of slavery and racial oppression.

But for Brown and his fellow Black Agriculturalists, the future is far brighter than the past.

“I want to help my people reconnect to the land,” Brown says. “When you’re out in nature, together with other agriculturalists, you get this feeling of peace that you can’t find anywhere else. It’s an amazing thing.”

Brown first got into gardening – or gardening got into him (as he likes to say), while living with his parents in DC. After taking a master gardening class at UDC in 2011, Brown developed an interest in Urban Agriculture. He soon joined the newly formed Black Dirt Farm Collective – a collective of Black agriculturalists from across the Mid-Atlantic region. Inspired by this community and his new-found love of farming, Brown founded Soilful City in 2014 to bring farming to DC.

“I enjoy the process of working with the land, nature and the people,” Brown says. “It’s easy to start a garden, but it’s harder to work with the community to sustain that garden. It’s a whole process of organizing people, having discussions, building and connecting with folks to get the garden going. I enjoy that process.”

Brown has partnered with organizations across DC to help promote and strengthen urban agriculture in Black communities. Together with groups like Project E.D.E.N, Hustlaz 2 Harvesters, and Green Scheme, Brown has helped set up neighborhood gardens throughout Wards 7 & 8.

“The purpose of the gardens is to create a healthy green space in the community,” Brown shares. “It may not be able to feed everybody, but what it allows is for each neighborhood to come together and organize based on their needs.”

Last year, Brown was selected as one of The Greater Washington Community Foundation’s Black Voices for Black Justice Fellows – an initiative to invest in local Black leaders in the Greater Washington Region. The grant allowed Brown to invest in a new food cooperative, South Eats – an initiative that is improving access to healthy, affordable prepared meals for families East of the River in Washington DC.

“As we were helping communities set-up gardens, we realized just how many families didn’t have access to healthy meals,” Brown explains. “We recognized an opportunity to fill a need, while also creating a new local-based business.”

But perhaps most impactful was that Brown was able to contribute to the longevity and future legacy of the Black Dirt Farm Collective.

In 2021, together with other members of the Collective, Brown purchased a 24-acre plot in Prince George’s County, MD. For the first time in the organization’s history, the Collective has land that it can call its own – a home, where members can farm, host workshops, and continue to build the Black agriculturalist Community.

“This land will be such an important healing space for the Black community,” Brown says. “By creating this space for Black women, Black males, and Black youth to exist and connect to the land, we can help create a brighter future for everybody.”

Xavier Brown was one of our Black Voices for Black Justice Fellows. Launched in Fall of 2020 in partnership with Bridge Alliance Education Fund and the DC-based GOODProjects, the Black Voices for Black Justice fund supported activists, organizers, and leaders who are on the front lines of advancing social justice and racial equity.

For more information about this initiative, visit https://www.thecommunityfoundation.org/news/introducing-the-black-voices-for-black-justice-dmv-fellows

The Community Foundation Reacts to Rising National Gun Violence

Uvalde, TX School Shooting

On May 24, a gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX killing 19 children and 2 teachers. (Photo: Allison Dinner, AFP)

Buffalo, NY Shooting

On May 14, a man shot and killed 10 Black people in a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, NY. The attack was racially motivated. (Photo: Matt Rourke, AP)

Edmund Burke School Shooting

On April 22, a gunman shot more than 200 bullets at Edmund Burke School in NW DC, injuring a student and three adults. (Photo: Evelyn Hockstein, Reuters)

The Greater Washington Community Foundation is heartbroken and grieves along with the community of Uvalde, Texas after the mass shooting that claimed the lives of 19 children and 2 teachers at Robb Elementary school last week. Our hearts go out to the victims, their families, and the close-knit community of Uvalde.

This heinous shooting – coming not two weeks after an equally disturbing and deadly attack in Buffalo and one month after a sniper opened fire on the Edmund Burke School in DC, reminds us of the urgent need to be vigilant and proactive in our stand against gun violence and its underlying causes including access to firearms, racism, classism, and the nation’s broken healthcare and political systems.

No one should have to grow up in the shadow of gun violence – in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in their places of worship, or in their schools. Freedom from gun violence is a basic human right.  We must recognize there can be no racial or economic justice until we take the proper steps to end this history and culture of violence in our community and in our nation.

To that end, The Community Foundation made a contribution to the Buffalo Together Community Response Fund and will be making a contribution to the San Antonio Area Foundation, which has set up two separate funds to support the victims of this tragedy, their families and the broader Uvalde community. We encourage all those who are interested to read how you can help and consider contributing.

We also encourage you to learn more about local work to prevent gun violence in our community, including two donor funds housed at The Community Foundation that share our vision for safe and vibrant communities. Peace for DC -- dedicated to preventing and reducing gun violence in DC -- and the 2LT Richard W. Collins III Foundation, dedicated to investing in the education and empowerment of youth while working toward a hate-free, more just society for all.

For additional information about local or national advocacy efforts and how you can contribute or get involved, please contact us. 

Building a Coalition of the Willing - Our Path to Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

Based on remarks from Tonia Wellons, President and CEO, at the 2022 Celebration of Philanthropy on May 4.

As a community foundation, our organization sits at the intersection of racialized wealth and racialized poverty.

From this vantage point, we recognize that our region’s seemingly intractable challenges stem from generations of racial and economic apartheid — a phrase that I don’t use lightly, having worked and lived in South Africa during the immediate post-apartheid era.  

This divide — known as the racial wealth gap — manifests itself as segregated housing and neighborhoods, disparities in life expectancy, low wages, unemployment, and high incarceration rates. It presents as over-policing, under-resourced schools, and disinvested neighborhoods.

To be very clear, the systems that should help create opportunities for Black, Latinx, and people of color, instead are fundamentally designed to produce racial and economic disparities. In other words, the problem is not with the people; rather, it is with systems and structures that operate with both implicit and explicit biases — ones that are often reinforced by legislation, policy, and practices. 

All of this points to this overarching fact — one that persists in our society: Race Matters.

By almost every measure — education, income, housing, health, and wealth — our community’s Black and Latinx neighbors are lagging behind their White neighbors. Again, this is not the result of individual failure, but rather systemic design.

Our region isn’t unique in facing this challenge. Yet, what sets us apart are the stark inequities, which have led to some of the nation’s wealthiest zip codes being just a short drive from some of its poorest. 

As home to the nation’s capital — and all the prestige, influence, wealth, and power it provides — we can and must do better.

We believe that by changing the prospects for how our Black and Brown neighbors generate, sustain, and share wealth, we will ultimately improve the quality of life for everyone who lives, works, and raises a family in this region.  

So, when people ask us: What will it take to close the racial wealth gap in our region? Well, our response is this…

Our community needs a vision, strong leadership, and a coalition of the willing who will invest the time in understanding what got us here in the first place; and what it will take to get us out.

This coalition recognizes that quick fixes or simple solutions will only get us but so far; and are willing to do the essential work to mobilize resources and build critical partnerships with community and across public and private sectors to shore up basic needs; and invest in strategies that increase economic mobility — like good jobs, homeownership, and entrepreneurship to name a few.

What are some ways that you can get involved right now? Well, I’m glad that you asked:

Invest in The Community Foundation

Start by becoming an investor in The Community Foundation and our vision for this region. We invite you to make a gift and connect to our work so that we can lean in together on a shared vision for a more just local economy. Align your philanthropy with our vision of closing our community’s racial wealth gap, so that our collective impact is experienced, exponentially.

Embark on a Learning Journey with Us

Become a member of the coalition of the willing by deepening your understanding of the racial wealth gap and what it will take to close it.

Embark on a learning journey with us through a new series we are developing on the racial wealth gap in our region. Join our quarterly book group, as together we discuss and grow together, as a community. We’ll also be launching an exciting new podcast series later this year.

Commit to Racial Equity

Finally, we invite you to take a look at your personal and professional approach to racial equity. What are your company’s requirements for entry-level roles, your vendors, and partners? Who are your contractors, your co-workers, and your talent pipeline? Consider if these things reflect the diversity of this region. If they don’t, these are immediate steps you can take to help achieve a more just economy in our region.

By widening the pool of economic development opportunities to a more diverse set of participants, you can begin to take steps towards closing the racial wealth gap.

Next year, we will come together to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Community Foundation. For 50 years, we have blazed a trail for philanthropy, partnership, and community impact. I am excited for what the next 50 years might mean for The Community Foundation and the community that we serve.

As we embark on this exciting journey, I invite all of you to see yourselves in our framework for the future of our region. Together, we will continue to build more equitable, just, and thriving communities where everyone prospers.

A Night of Music, Vision, and Celebration of Philanthropy at The Warner Theatre

Over 200 of Greater Washington Community Foundation supporters, community partners, and friends joined us on May 4 at Warner Theatre for an intimate 2022 Celebration of Philanthropy. The energy in the room and the commitment to this region was truly inspiring!

A huge thank you to the speakers, staff, performers, and everyone who contributed to making this Celebration possible – especially our Community Champions who contributed over $728,000 to support The Community Foundation’s work to advance equity and economic justice by closing our region’s racial wealth gap.

The Celebration was a wonderful opportunity for our community of changemakers to reconnect, enjoy incredible performances from local nonprofit arts organizations, and join an important conversation about economic justice.

During the program, The Community Foundation CEO Tonia Wellons shared a preview of The Community Foundation’s new strategic vision and path to pursue economic justice, with a neighborhood-centered approach. She shared that as The Community Foundation embarks on this journey, it will require a clear vision, strong leadership, and a coalition of the willing that understands the compounding impact of the racial wealth gap. The Community Foundation is ready to step up to that challenge and Tonia invited our community of givers and changemakers to be part of the coalition of the willing, as together we deepen our collective understanding of the racial wealth gap and what it will take to close it.

The program also included a special conversation with two of the country’s leading experts on racial inequality -- Dr. Rashawn Ray, a Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution and Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, and Dr. Thomas Shapiro, award-winning author and Professor of Law and Social Policy at Brandeis University –- to reflect on the causes and consequences of the racial wealth gap, and how can we pursue economic justice for the Greater Washington region. The conversation, which was moderated by Tonia, touched on systemic policies and historical practices that have extracted wealth from Black families and communities –- from redlining, to home loans and appraisals, tax policy, over-policing of Black communities, and beyond –- what this costs all of us, and ways that individuals and organizations can take steps to shift resources, policies, and practices to create a more equitable and just future.

The celebration was also headlined by talented local artists representing nonprofit arts organizations across the region -- including a lively musical performance from the East of the River Steelband, a program that incorporates the history and culture of traditional steelpan music of Trinidad and Tobago with a high-quality arts experience for youth in Wards 7 and 8. The performance, which kicked off the evening, had guests dancing in the aisles to a steelpan rendition of “This is How We Do it” by Montell Jordan.

The program also featured a moving spoken word performance from Fella Morgan-Bey, a writer, spoken word performer, and published author. Presented by BlackRock Center for the Arts, Fella regaled the crowd with an original piece called “Who Done It”.

Following the program, Words, Beats & Life presented a slam poetry performance by Elana Ernst, Kashvi Ramani, and Sarina Patel, three youth poet laureates from DC, Arlington County, and Montgomery County. 

As participants enjoyed cocktails, delicious food from Spilled Milk Catering, they also grooved to a "canvas" of African rhythms from Sahel, a band representing the African diaspora.

Sahel was immediately followed by Gerson Lanza and Friends — a duo composed of Ana Tomioshi and Gerson Lanza, two leading tap dance artists — who led participants on a journey of dance, music, and song. These final two performances were presented by EducArte, Inc, a Prince George’s County-based arts education nonprofit dedicated to fostering diversity and cultural vibrancy in the arts.

Throughout the night, guests participated in a Together, We Prosper polaroid photo wall activation and experienced Life Pieces To Masterpieces’ art gallery displaying its students' artistic masterpieces that tell profound and inspiring stories.

The Community Foundation’s hope is that the Celebration serves not just as a reminder of what our region has already achieved — but also as an exciting preamble to the unlimited potential that we can unlock by working together. As we prepare to celebrate The Community Foundation’s 50th anniversary next year, we are excited about what we can accomplish together for our community over the next 50 years.

Thank you for your continued support of The Community Foundation! Together, we will build more equitable, just, and thriving communities where everyone prospers. 

Quarterly Community Update

Dear Friends of the Community Foundation,

I hope this note finds you doing well and enjoying some nice spring weather.

We are grateful to be your trusted philanthropic partner and proud of what we have accomplished together for our community. Last fiscal year, our community of givers collectively awarded more than $92 million in grants to nonprofits addressing the most pressing needs of this region. This was also a record year of growth for The Community Foundation, as we welcomed 54 new funds and surpassed over $517 million in assets due to your generosity and investment in our new strategic vision and broader community impact.

Last quarter, our ongoing work to support and strengthen this community included:

• Reactivating Equity Hubs in Montgomery County, a proven program to support virtual learning for children and their families that was launched during the pandemic by our Children’s Opportunity Fund, County government, and several partners.

• Launching a new cohort of the Emerging Leaders Impact Fund, a giving circle that involves and inspires young professionals to create positive impact in Prince George’s County through philanthropy.

• Releasing a second round of Housing Justice grants in honor of Waldon Adams from our Partnership to End Homelessness to support seven organizations and coalitions leading systems change efforts to increase the supply of affordable housing in DC.

• Welcoming the historic $95 million Health Equity Fund to our philanthropic family. The purpose of this transformative fund is to improve the health outcomes and health equity of DC residents.

Over the last year, we’ve taken additional steps to align our core business with our vision for a just and equitable region, while also enhancing our investment management services to help meet your objectives. In partnership with SEI, a leading global investment management firm that serves as our Outsourced Chief Investment Officer, we have broadened the asset allocation for endowed funds that were invested in our Combined Investment Fund to expand return potential while managing risk across a variety of market environments. 

With the start of a new fiscal year, we have also adjusted our support fees structure for endowed funds to help more of our donors support this community now and for generations to come. And we recently updated our Investment Policy Statement to outline our approach to exercising socially responsible stewardship in managing financial resources, including a “Do No Harm” policy that prohibits funding to organizations designated as hate groups.

Thanks to your generosity and the inspiring service of our community partners, I am hopeful about what we can accomplish together in the year ahead.

Sincerely,
Tonia Wellons
President and CEO
Greater Washington Community Foundation

Partnership to End Homelessness Awards Housing Justice Grants in Honor of Waldon Adams

The Partnership to End Homelessness (The Partnership) is pleased to announce $350,000 in grants awarded to seven organizations and coalitions leading systems change efforts in DC. Selected nonprofits receive $50,000 in funding to support work to end homelessness and increase the supply of deeply affordable housing.

Systems change is the intentional process of working to make population level change for whole groups of people by disrupting and dismantling the structures of cultural, social, and economic systems that perpetuate inequities. There are many ways to transform and disrupt systems. We know that in order to end homelessness, we must create systems that center people experiencing housing instability and homelessness and that prevent homelessness in the first place. To do that, we focus on efforts developed and led by people most directly impacted by homelessness and housing instability.

Our second round of Housing Justice Grants are made in memory of our Leadership Council member, Waldon Adams, a fierce advocate for ending homelessness who was tragically killed in 2021.

This grant opportunity provides flexible funding to the seven organizations below to support their advocacy, organizing, and other systems change efforts. This funding can be used for local and federal advocacy efforts, community organizing and education, or even infrastructure to increase the capacity of these organizations and coalitions. It can be used for staffing, messaging and communications, research, or meetings and events. We know these grantees share our goal of ending homelessness and increasing the supply of deeply affordable housing and it is important to us that we support them, as the experts in how to make that happen.

SYSTEMS CHANGE Community Partners

• DC Jobs with Justice

• DC Fiscal Policy Institute

• Empower DC

• Fair Budget Coalition

• Miriam's Kitchen

• ONE DC: Organizing Neighborhood Equity

• The Washington Legal Clinic For The Homeless Inc

Last year, the Partnership awarded our first grants to advance housing justice. Together with tenants and people with lived experience, our community partners led efforts to secure:

• historic budget investments resulting in Permanent Supportive Housing for over 2,300 households;

• $50 million for public housing maintenance and repairs;

• protections for neighbors experiencing homelessness during the pandemic;

• investments in rental assistance to ensure housing instability during the pandemic; and

• more just and equitable housing policies.

These grants were made possible thanks to generous partners and donors to the Partnership’s Grantmaking Fund.

Read on to learn more about a few of our partners, their work, and strategic priorities to transform and disrupt systems and advance housing justice. 

WORKING WITH TENANTS TO BRING ABOUT SYSTEMIC CHANGE

Empower DC’s work emphasizes the housing needs of DC’s lowest income residents, those earning 30% of the Area Median Income or below, including people with disabilities, the retired, low wage earners and people coming home from incarceration or experiencing homelessness. Empower DC received $50,000 to engage in community-led planning to expand deeply affordable housing and to preserve existing affordable rental housing, including public housing.  

“While DC has affordable housing laws that other cities envy – like Inclusionary Zoning (IZ), and the Housing Production Trust Fund – in reality, these programs have not stemmed the tide of displacement or addressed the need for low- income housing. DC’s existing policies and practices systemically fail to address the need for housing at this lowest income level, targeting instead incomes at 60 or 80% of the Area Median Income when units are built with public subsidy from the Housing Trust Fund or set aside by developers through IZ.

Empower DC addresses this inequity by organizing with people who need deeply affordable housing, including public housing residents, to push for greater investment in and protections for low-income tenants. Using policy, budget, planning and even legal strategies, Empower DC centers the expertise of low- income Black and Brown DC residents with lived experience of housing instability, elevating their voices as visionaries and champions for their communities. For more information or to get involved in Empower DC’s work, go to www.empowerdc.org.”

-          Parisa Norouzi, Executive Director, Empower DC

WORKING TOGETHER TO SECURE LIFE-SAVING HOUSING INVESTMENTS

Driven by the truth that housing ends homelessness, Miriam’s Kitchen and The Way Home Campaign community worked together to secure historic investments to end chronic homelessness in last year's budget. Now, Miriam’s Kitchen is working hard to ensure that this funding translates into life-saving housing for our neighbors experiencing homelessness. Miriam’s Kitchen received $50,000 to build capacity to push for resources, policies, and implementation that prevents and ends homelessness, and to enhance and expand The Way Home Campaign, a citywide movement to end chronic homelessness.

“Through our leadership of The Way Home Campaign, we continue to convene various stakeholders, including people with lived experience of homelessness, service providers, and advocates, to identify and advocate for policy solutions needed to quickly and effectively implement the over 2,300 new Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) vouchers available this year. Additionally, we, along with local and national partners, have spent much of the past year pushing back against Mayor Bowser’s harmful approach to homeless encampments and ensuring that our neighbors living outside are treated with respect and dignity.  

Mayor Bowser releases her budget proposal on March 16. This is a critical time to ensure that she hears from community members like you! Click here to urge Mayor Bowser to fully fund the recommendations laid out in Homeward DC 2.0, her strategic plan to end homelessness. To read our full budget recommendations and to join the over 7,000 individuals and 110 organizations pushing DC to end chronic homelessness, please visit www.thewayhomedc.org.”

-          Lara Pukatch, Chief Advocacy Officer, Miriam’s Kitchen

Historic Opportunities in the Fight to End Homelessness in DC

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

As the Mayor and City Council are considering the FY2023 budget for DC, we face a historic opportunity to end chronic homelessness in DC. Last year, the DC Budget made significant investments in Permanent Supportive Housing, a proven solution to end housing instability for individuals who have experienced homelessness for an extended period of time and who struggle with complex health challenges such as mental illness, addiction, physical disabilities, or other chronic conditions.

This year, the Partnership to End Homelessness is working with our nonprofit, government, and public sector partners to build on this progress and leverage both federal and local resources available to end homelessness and make even more investments in long-term solutions.

We know that our investments alone will never end homelessness and that public sector resources must be targeted to support our neighbors who are struggling with homelessness and housing instability. That is why we created the Partnership to End Homelessness – to bring together public and private sector around a shared strategy to ensure all our neighbors have a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.

We hope you will consider joining us in this critical work. There are three immediate and exciting opportunities to help advance the work of the Partnership in 2022:

1. Securing Public Sector Investments for housing and ending homelessness
   Last week, we sent a letter to Mayor Bowser asking her to use the revised 2022 budget and 2023 budget to continue to address housing challenges — specifically by expanding Permanent Supportive Housing, as well as Rental Assistance and Eviction Prevention.

   In addition to our own advocacy, we’re making our second round of housing justice grants to support our nonprofit partners leading budget advocacy and other essential systems change efforts. Last year their work secured historic investments, including almost 2,300 new vouchers for Permanent Supportive Housing. You can read more about those grants and how to get involved here.

   If you live or work in DC, we encourage you to get involved! Our elected officials need to hear from you. Tell them that increasing access to affordable housing and ending homelessness are a priority and that our future will be stronger if we do these things. Our partners at The Way Home Campaign have made it easy, click hear to send a letter now .
   

2. Investing in our nonprofits to leverage federal resources to end homelessness
   DC has an opportunity to leverage up to $20+ million in annual federal resources for Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) services in DC. This year, DC will launch a new Medicaid Benefit that will provide higher reimbursement rates for nonprofit providers and new and ongoing federal resources for ending homelessness in DC.

   In order to successfully leverage these resources, nonprofits will need to adopt new practices, quality control checks, and new or updated internal systems related to human resources, accounting, and compliance functions. We are working with our partners to raise critical funds to invest across the system to ensure all nonprofit partners, including smaller Black and Brown-led organizations, are ready to make this transition and leverage these new resources.

   Learn more in our recent blog post or support this work now by contributing to our Grantmaking Fund.

3. Ensuring housing stability through rental assistance and eviction prevention

   One of the key roles that we, as philanthropy, can play is that of convener. In response to the devastating effects of the pandemic and economic crisis, for over a year now, The Partnership has been working with Urban Institute and The DC Bar Foundation to convene key partners – including local government, philanthropy, legal services, landlords, and housing counseling organizations – to prevent evictions and connect tenants to available rental assistance.

   We know that our Black and Brown neighbors have faced higher rates of unemployment and eviction during the pandemic With 21,000 DC residents currently unemployed, we cannot stop working to ensure tenants can stay in their homes. We will continue to advocate for additional resources for tenants and to work with our partners to develop new systems that support tenants and their landlords to increase housing stability.

We know that increasing housing stability and ending homelessness will pay off, in stronger families, stronger communities, and a stronger future for this region. Research confirms that housing instability harms a child’s development and an adult’s ability to get and retain employment, and that providing housing stability creates better health and better futures for children, their families, and single adults.

This year presents an opportunity for DC. How will we respond? Ending homelessness will take everyone working together and doing their part. We hope you will join us.

The Partnership to End Homelessness works to ensure homelessness is rare, brief, and nonrecurring in Washington, DC. By joining together, we can increase the supply of deeply affordable housing, bolster our response system to help more people obtain and maintain stable housing, and ultimately end homelessness in DC

Letter to DC Mayor Muriel Bowser from the Partnership to End Homelessness Leadership Council

Dear Mayor Bowser:

We are writing on behalf of the Greater Washington Community Foundation and its Partnership to End Homelessness Leadership Council to thank you for your commitment to addressing homelessness in DC. As you work to finalize your budget proposal for fiscal year 2023, we ask you to take bold action to end homelessness and make substantial investments in housing that is affordable to DC households with extremely low incomes.

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. We are committed to doing our part to end homelessness in DC. However, we know that we cannot do it alone. Public sector investment and commitment, aligned with private sector resources, is the only way to ensure that everyone in our community has the stability that housing provides.

The pandemic has emphasized how critical the role of housing stability is to everyone’s health and security. It has reminded us that far too many DC households are faced daily with housing instability and little or no financial cushion. And it has shown us what we can accomplish as a community when we commit to finding the resources to end homelessness.

As leaders in the business, philanthropic, and nonprofit sectors, we all want to live in a community that has worked to end homelessness, and we know that the District’s future will be stronger if we do. Ending homelessness and ensuring housing security will help children succeed in school, help workers be more present and productive, improve the overall health and well-being of residents, and reduce stresses on DC’s social safety net.

We are deeply appreciative that the budget for the current fiscal year took a major step toward ending homelessness, with funding to help thousands of people to move from homelessness to permanent affordable housing, and that you and the Council devoted a substantial amount of federal pandemic aid to address immediate housing security needs and create more long-term affordable housing opportunities. It is investments like these, sustained year after year, that will bring us to the place we all want: a District of Columbia where everyone has stable, secure, and decent housing that they can afford.

This is why we are asking you to use the revised 2022 budget and the 2023 budget to continue to address pre-pandemic as well as pandemic-driven housing challenges faced by so many, and to make continued progress toward ending homelessness and creating deeply affordable housing. We align with the recommendations of our community advocacy partners in calling on the District to use the Fiscal Year 2023 budget for bold action on our deepest inequities, especially homelessness and affordable housing for extremely-low income and very low income households.

Increased Rental Assistance and Eviction Prevention: The District has done an outstanding job of getting federal emergency rental assistance to those most at risk. Unfortunately, given the major lack of affordable housing, rising rents, inflation and ongoing unemployment, the need is so great that the District is running out of this resource. An estimated 40,000 DC residents remain at risk of eviction. We echo the concerns outlined in the letter submitted by DC Fiscal Policy Institute and 37 other organizations on January 27th, and urge you to invest:

• Necessary resources – estimated to be $200 million in rental assistance and $20 million in utility assistance – through ERAP or other programs. We urge you to do this now, through a supplemental budget for FY2022 or other means to tap the $566 million FY2021 surplus and higher-than-expected revenues this year.

• Substantial funding for rental assistance and emergency rental assistance in the FY2023 budget.

Expansion of Permanent Supportive Housing to end chronic homelessness: Even with the substantial investments in the FY2022 budget, under your new comprehensive plan, Homeward DC 2.0, we know that nearly 500 individuals and 260 families still face chronic homelessness. We urge you to implement your plan’s recommendation and invest:

• $25.9 million in permanent supportive housing for 500 individuals and 260 families

Investments to make homelessness truly rare, brief and non-recurring: The challenge of homelessness is not static, meaning that we cannot house those currently facing homelessness and expect the problem to end. Homelessness is affected by the continued and significant loss of affordable housing and the relentless increase in rents throughout DC– including the increase this year for rent-controlled units. In order to prevent homelessness and the long-term impacts of homelessness on our neighbors and our communities, we urge you to invest:

• $700,000 to prevent homelessness for 400 additional individuals through Project Reconnect

• $6.3 million in well-targeted Rapid ReHousing, including high-quality case management, for single adults

• $27.7 million in Targeted Affordable Housing for 1,040 households

• $24.2 million toward ending youth homelessness

• $1 million in workforce programming for homeless youth

• $558,000 to create a mobile behavioral health team than can meet youth where they are

• $1.8 million to continue the ReEntry Housing Pilot for Returning Citizens

• $1 million to fund B24-0106, the “Fair Tenant Screening Act of 2021,” and B24-0229, the “Human Rights Enhancement Amendment Act of 2021”

• $12.5 million to provide 65 units of transitional housing and 15 affordable housing units to survivors of domestic violence

Outreach and Other Services: While we work to ensure everyone has safe and stable housing, we must:

• Continue to provide PEP-V, non-congregate shelter options for residents experiencing homelessness who are at high risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19

• Fund robust street outreach, focused on housing

• Invest $300,000 in additional capital funds to build two 24-hour, 7-day public restrooms

Preserve Public Housing, Expand Affordable Housing: We urge you to use the FY 2023 budget to make a substantial commitment to deeply affordable housing for households earning 0- 30 percent of the Median Family Income (MFI). Housing that is affordable to households with extremely low-income households is the only real long-term solution to ending homelessness. This includes:

• At least $12.9 million in Local Rent Supplement Program vouchers to ensure that half of the Housing Production Trust Fund units will be affordable to people below 30 percent MFI, as required by law.

• Maintain stable funding for the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF) and strengthen transparency and reporting requirements to ensure the fund is meeting statutory affordability requirements.

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

• $60 million to repair and preserve public housing.

• $20 million to preserve affordable housing though the Housing Preservation Fund.

• $1.3 million to expand and provide tenant vouchers to 60 returning citizens .

In a community where over 85% of individuals experiencing homelessness are Black, addressing homelessness and investing in deeply affordable housing is a matter of racial equity and social justice. Our city and nation’s history of denying access to economic opportunity to Black people and those in other marginalized communities – relegating Black people largely to lower-paying occupations, denying access to federally guaranteed mortgages, allowing restrictive covenants and more – created the conditions we now see, where median Black household income is less than one-third median white household income and median wealth for Black households is less than one-eightieth the average white household wealth. The large majority of Black households are renters and thus subjected to the relentless increase in rents as the District develops, and most do not have the finances needed to move to homeownership, leading to displacement and/or homelessness. We have an obligation to reverse these conditions– especially as the Nation’s Capital.

Opening up opportunities to affordable housing and wealth building will pay off, in stronger families, stronger communities, and a stronger future. Research confirms that housing instability harms a child’s development and an adult’s ability to get and retain employment, and that providing housing stability creates better health and better futures for children, their families, and single adults.

Thank you again for your leadership and commitment to ending homelessness in our city. We urge you to make 2023 the year that DC makes bold and significant investments to end homelessness and to increase the supply of deeply affordable housing.

Sincerely,

Tonia Wellons
President and CEO, Greater Washington Community Foundation
Partnership to End Homelessness, Leadership Council Co-Chair

David Roodberg
CEO and President, Homing Brothers
Partnership to End Homelessness, Leadership Council Co-Chair

The Community Foundation Reflects on Black History Month

During the month of February many organizations make statements intended to honor Black people’s legacies of struggle and triumph in this nation. While these statements are often made as a genuine celebration of and commitment to Black America, at the Greater Washington Community Foundation, we recognize that our words must be matched with action. We know that commitment to an idea — or in this case, to the Black community — is so much more than a monthly theme that begins on February 1 and ends on February 28. 

So, instead of a traditional Black History Month statement, we take this opportunity to openly acknowledge and wrestle with our past — and to model, perhaps imperfectly, an appropriate way to honor and venerate Black history past, present, and future.

We begin by acknowledging a hard truth: At various points in our region’s history, the Greater Washington Community Foundation has been part of efforts to advance Black people’s struggle and legacy of overcoming — and at times we have also been an actor in a system designed in many ways to undermine Black lives. While commitments to diversity and racial equity abound across the philanthropic field, the depth and the cost of this harm continues. Until we, as a foundation and a larger philanthropic community resolve to acknowledge and address this, it will be impossible to fully realize our purpose and our potential.

One thing is clear: as a community foundation with the sole purpose to support and strengthen our region, we need to do better. To that end, for the past several years, we have been on an organizational learning journey as we recommit to centering racial equity and inclusion in all aspects of our work — from our internal processes to our infrastructure, programs, and community leadership work. Recently, we completed a strategic planning process which culminated with our Board of Trustees and staff adopting a new 10-year strategic vision to close the racial wealth gap in our community.

As part of that strategic vision, we commit to focusing our leadership, advocacy, and investments on increasing economic mobility and directing more investment towards economically excluded neighborhoods and community organizations that serve them, which in our region are overwhelmingly Black.

This strategic vision for the future of our region was not developed in isolation. Rather it’s the culmination of many years-worth of conversations, studies, initiatives, and investments in and with our region’s BIPOC communities.

More recently, this vision has been shaped through our efforts to balance speed, equity, and impact as we distributed $11 million in community support through the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. Additionally, in 2020-2021, we made historic investments in Black-led social change, from grants to support Black leaders through the Black Voices for Black Justice Fellows to nearly $1 million invested in the sustainability of 17 Black-led organizations, to major investments in direct cash transfer programming.

These are but a few of the next steps in our efforts to support those who are making Black history every day in our region. At The Community Foundation, we recognize that there is still much to learn – and a whole lot more to do – before we can achieve racial equity in our region. Until then, we are proud and committed to stand with our Black neighbors and communities every step of the way. 

Black-led organizations share impact of last year’s sustainability investments

For many nonprofit organizations in our region, the COVID-19 pandemic tested them in ways they had never imagined. Faced with the combined challenges of an uncertain environment, limited availability for volunteerism and an overwhelming demand for services, many organizations and their staff were pushed to the limit.

But perhaps none have been tested so severely as Black-led nonprofits.

Historically, philanthropy has woefully underinvested in Black-led organizations. A report by Echoing Green and The Bridgespan Group found that even in areas where work targeted Black communities, Black-led organizations had 45 percent less revenue and 91 percent less unrestricted net assets than white-led organizations.

With a mission to advance equity and prosperity, the Greater Washington Community Foundation is working to close the racial wealth gap and mindful of our obligation to change how we look at our approach to philanthropy.

So last year when Facebook approached us with a generous gift intended to support BIPOC communities, The Community Foundation was eager to invest it in Black-led nonprofit organizations working in the critical area of Systems Change, serving Greater Washington. Grants were awarded to address immediate infrastructure needs such as leadership development, human resources and technology – areas that are traditionally difficult to fundraise for, yet incredibly vital to the sustainability of an organization – especially during a pandemic.

Recently, we reached out to them to understand the impact this funding had on their organization. Here are quotes from a few of those sustainability grantees:

Mamatoto Village is a DC-based nonprofit devoted to serving Black womxn and providing perinatal support services

"Receiving the Sustainability of Black-led Organizations grant has helped Mamatoto Village bolster our data and social impact initiatives. With this grant funding, our organization was able to purchase the SoPact Impact Cloud–– an innovative resource that is helping our organization accurately describe the social impact of our services.”

“The Greater Washington Community Foundation grant funding was instrumental in bolstering our advocacy and organizing efforts by allowing us to train and pay community members who are interested in advocating for maternal health rights and equity.

The Community Foundation grant funding has helped our organization meet necessary infrastructure needs as we continue to serve womxn, families, and communities in the Greater Washington region."
-Jordan McRae, Grants Manager, Mamatoto Village

“Racial Justice NOW is grateful for the support we've received from the Greater Washington Community Foundation's sustainability fund. This support has helped us with our strategic planning efforts as we work to map out our work and desired impact over the next few years. Without this support, it would've been extremely difficult to move forward with this process. The work we do in Montgomery County is very important because we center Black people unapologetically, that's self-determination!”

– Zakiya Sankara-Jabar, Co-Founder & Director, Racial Justice NOW!

"Facing the challenges of COVID, the Greater Washington Community Foundation grant allowed us to add a social media advisor to our team to help us expand our presence across the community.  With the funds, we established a virtual classroom to 1) support our middle student tutoring program, 2) produce a series of issue-focused public service announcements, and 3) deliver our monthly community forums to address critical issues facing our families. "

-- Jim Paige, Executive Director, Concerned Citizens Network of Alexandria

The Sustainability Grant allowed CCNA to bring on a social media advisor, who helped the organization to expand their community awareness, through social media graphics like this one.

2021 Sustainability of Black Led Organizations Grantees

• African Communities Together

• Bread for the City

• Collective Action for Safe Spaces

• Community Grocery Co-Op

• Concerned Citizens Network of Alexandria

• Critical Exposure

• DC Justice Lab

• Dreaming Out Loud

• Harriet’s Wildest Dreams

• Life After Release

• Mamatoto Village

• Many Languages One Voice

• ONE DC

• Progressive Maryland

• Racial Justice NOW!

• Serve Your City/Ward 6 Mutual Aid

• The National Reentry Network of Returning Citizens

Quarterly Community Update

Dear friends of The Community Foundation,

I hope you and your family had a safe and healthy holiday season and a happy new year!

Thanks to the continued compassion and care of our community of givers during a time of deep uncertainty, 2021 was another record year for generosity in Greater Washington. In 2021, we welcomed more than 51 new funds to our Community Foundation family and our donors collectively invested more than $86 million to support nonprofits responding to critical needs, nurturing an equitable recovery, and working to strengthen our region and beyond.

If you plan to continue or grow your giving in the year ahead, please make sure to follow our updated gift transmission guidelines for a variety of ways to contribute to your fund at The Community Foundation. It is crucial that you follow these instructions – especially including the fund name along with your contribution – to ensure timely processing of your gift. If you have any questions or need assistance with your gift, please contact us at 202-955-5890 or [email protected].

At The Community Foundation, we are grateful to be your trusted philanthropic partner and proud of what we have accomplished together for our community. In 2021, your support enabled us to:

• Develop a new strategic vision to close the racial wealth gap in our region's underinvested neighborhoods.

• Direct investments toward equitable recovery strategies – including feeding families facing personal crisis, closing the opportunity gap, supporting survivors of domestic violence, and building stability for more families.

• Make historic investments in Black-led social change work to build political and economic power to transform systems.

• Lead eviction prevention work in DC, expand educational equity in Montgomery County, and increase economic mobility in Prince George’s County.

• Enhance our investment management services and pursue mission-driven investments that are aligned with our values.

As we embark on our new 10-year strategic vision, we plan to engage our entire community in discussions about how we will work together to co-create a brighter future for our region where people of all races, places, and identities reach their full potential and prosper. From our quarterly book club convenings to our grantmaking and investment strategies, we are committed to fully embodying the values of racial equity and inclusion in all aspects of our work and operations. For example, our new Investment Policy Statement outlines our approach to exercising competent and socially responsible stewardship in managing financial resources in alignment with our vision for a just and equitable region.

Thanks to your generosity and the inspiring service of our community partners, I am hopeful about what we can accomplish together in the year ahead. There will be challenges still to come, but I am confident we can continue to get through them together.

Sincerely,
Tonia Wellons
President and CEO

P.S. In case you missed it, our OCIO recently recorded this video to share an investment outlook and performance update.