Community Foundation's Sharing Community Funds Announce $910,000 in Funding for Regional Nonprofits
The Greater Washington Community Foundation is excited to announce $910,000 in grants awarded through its Sharing Community Funds this past cycle.
The Sharing Community Funds bring together donors who share our passion for building more equitable, just, and thriving communities. With expert facilitation by Community Foundation staff, donors join together to learn first-hand about the challenges facing our community. Thanks to the generosity of this growing community of givers, together we discover and invest in visionary nonprofits working on the frontlines of our region’s most pressing needs.
In alignment with our Strategic Vision, the Sharing Community Funds focused on the three intervention areas of the racial wealth gap — Basic Needs, Economic Mobility, and Community Wealth Building.
This year, The Community Foundation also celebrated the launch of a new Sharing Community initiative in Northern Virginia! Click here to Learn more!
See Below for a complete list of our nonprofit partners for 2024, sorted by category.
2024 Sharing Community Fund
Nonprofit Partners- Basic Needs
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•DC Jobs with Justice engages in systems change advocacy campaigns to meet basic needs like housing stability, minimum wages, cash assistance, and health access.
•Wendt Center for Loss and Healing provides access to high quality mental healthcare services for low-income and marginalized children, adults, and families.
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•The UpCounty Hub (2024 Multi-Year) was founded with the philosophy of providing low-income individuals and families with food and other essential social services without barriers, allowing them to maintain their privacy and dignity. Since its founding in 2020, the UpCounty Hub has grown every year, currently feeding approximately 1,100 families a week via drive-thru distributions, home deliveries, and its choice-pantry walk-in services. More recently, its services expanded to include social services, connecting residents to vital resources such as SNAP.
•AfriThrive empowers African immigrants to grow and share healthy, culturally appropriate produce with residents facing food insecurity. Its training programs help families achieve self-reliance and economic stability.
•Care for Your Health provides culturally sensitive in-home health care to elders. Patients are served by trained staff from their own community in touch with their circumstances and needs.
•Community Bridges, Inc empowers girls in elementary, middle, and high schools to discover their unique identity, voice, and potential through leadership development, college and career readiness, and family support and mentoring.
•Community Farmshare strives to create a local sustainable food system. It supports small scale farmers by purchasing fresh produce for low-income children and residents struggling with diet-related chronic diseases.
•Crittenton Services of Greater Washington helps teenage girls achieve academic success, make healthy choices, and chart their own bright futures. Its virtual and school-based programs teach teenage girls to value their education, build healthy relationships, speak up for their own needs, and explore paths toward college and careers.
•Horizons Greater Washington supports students from low-income families for nine years, from kindergarten through eighth grade. The organization works to foster a joyful environment full of academic, artistic, and athletic activities that inspire young minds and build a love of learning.
•Housing Unlimited provides affordable, independent housing for adults in mental health recovery in Montgomery County. The organization promotes independence and recovery by providing a stable and comfortable home, allowing tenants to focus on becoming valued and integrated members of the community.
•Kingdom Global Community Development Corporation operates the East County Hub which distributes food, diapers, and COVID-19 support. The organization also has other public-private partnerships that address food security, health and wellness, education, employment, and housing.
•Manna Food Center works to eliminate hunger through food distribution, healthy eating education, and advocacy. Its extensive network includes supported more than 50,000 participants over the past year, distributing 4.6 million pounds of food.
•Mary's Center provides health care, education, and social services to build healthier and stronger communities. In response to COVID-19, Mary’s Center worked to prevent the spread of the virus by offering testing and vaccinations to community members through the Greater Washington region.
•National Alliance on Mental Illness of Montgomery County (NAMI MC) provides comprehensive support, education, advocacy, and public awareness to promote recovery so that individuals and families affected by mental illness can build better lives.
•Rainbow Community Development Corporation provides food security relief paired with other safety net services including PPE distribution, eviction and utility cutoff prevention, temporary short-term shelter, and job search and resume assistance.
•Rainbow Place Shelter provides emergency overnight shelter to women during the hypothermia season and assists them as they transition to a better quality of life. Additionally, the organization is working to open a new year-round, LGBTQ-inclusive shelter to provide a safe haven for youth and young adults.
•Red Wiggler Community Farm provides comprehensive on-farm training and education programs for adults with developmental disabilities. Half of its organic produce is donated to low-income households throughout Montgomery County.
•Stepping Stones Shelter leverages partnerships to provide food and integrated essential services to low-income community members. Since inception, it has provided emergency shelter to over 1,035 Montgomery County families.
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Joyful Hands is deeply rooted in the conviction that education, literacy, and access to community resources are foundational pillars of thriving societies. They provide access to essential school supplies and nutritious food for community members.
Culmore Clinic advances health by bringing community together to provide primary care, health education and disease prevention services at no cost to uninsured neighbors in Fairfax County.
Loving Hands Touch Ministry addresses immediate community needs while empowering individuals and families to achieve self-sufficiency, ensuring access to necessities like food, shelter, healthcare, and education.
The Growth and Healing HUB grows and nurtures the mental health and well-being of children, youth, young adults, and families. They provide services to anyone residing in the state of Virginia and strive to help all feel safe & supported and receive the help they deserve.
New Hope Housing provides case management, permanent housing and shelter to support the needs of homeless individuals in Northern Virginia.
Arm & Arm, Inc provides peer-to-peer mentoring and trauma recovery services to communities across Northern Virginia.
2024 Sharing Community Fund
Nonprofit Partners - Economic Mobility
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•Byte Back creates opportunities for upward economic mobility by providing computer foundations, certification training and wraparound support to help marginalized adults develop essential digital skills.
•TRIGGER Project (2024 Multi-Year) partners with the DC Department of Employment Services to provide paid summer jobs and advocacy training for youth who have experienced or are at-risk of experiencing gun violence.
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•Identity, Inc. (2024 Multi-Year) empowers youth and their families with the social-emotional, academic, workforce, and life skills they need to succeed in the modern world. It operates at schools, in the community, and on playing fields, working to reach Latino and other historically underserved residents. Like family, Identity celebrates victories and offers extra help when something more is needed. Last year alone, Identity reached more than 45,000 Montgomery County residents.
•Future Link (2024 Multi-Year) seeks to close the opportunity divide for first-generation-to-college, high-potential young adults (ages 18-25) by providing them with the resources, knowledge, skills, and personalized support needed to achieve their education and career goals. Annually, Future Link serves 300 students with transformative services including paid internships, career coaching, mentoring, tutoring, scholarships, and more.
•Crossroads Community Food Network provides training and support for startup food businesses and healthy eating education to local students and shoppers at Crossroads Farmers Market. Its farmers market nutrition incentives allow federal nutrition benefits recipients to double the value of these benefits spent at the market.
•Generation Hope provides cohort and one-on-one mentoring support plus scholarships for low-income teen parents pursuing college degrees. It recently added early childhood programming to equip families with the resources necessary for their children to start kindergarten with a strong academic foundation.
•Housing Initiative Partnership develops innovative affordable housing. In addition, it seeks to revitalizes neighborhoods and equip people to achieve their housing and financial goals through financial coaching and bilingual housing counseling.
•Interfaith Works provides emergency assistance and counseling, vocational services, food distributions, clothing, and shelter for those experiencing homelessness. With volunteers from 165 faith communities, its integrated prevention, stabilization, and empowerment programs support homeless low-income county residents.
•Montgomery College Foundation, co-leads the Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success (ACES) program in partnership with Montgomery County Public Schools and The Universities at Shady Grove. ACES provides individualized academic coaching, scholarship opportunities, and career readiness to underrepresented high school students, for a seamless and supportive pathway to a bachelor’s degree.
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Future Kings uses education, mentoring, training, practical experiences, and mastery of 21st century technology in order to create a pipeline of young men from underserved communities who excel in STEM related careers and positively influence their communities.
Hardemon Dynasty, Inc provides affordable housing for young adults aging out of foster care and offer sufficient support during their transition to independence.
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•Life After Release (LAR) is a women-led organization focused on building a post-conviction movement, identifying challenges and creating solutions for formerly incarcerated federal/state prisoners, bailed-out moms, and mothers of youth offenders and juvenile lifers. The organization work is grounded in a vision of self-determination for directly impacted communities and partners with Howard Law and other legal services to advocate for their legal empowerment.
•Hillside Childrens Foundation provides essential mentoring programs for middle school and high school students. The programs are designed to provide students a path to economic mobility through college preparation and job readiness programs.
•HomeFreeUSA (2024 Multi-Year) is a fast track to homeownership program that helps renters prepare for mortgage approval and homeownership. The program provides one-on-one guidance, housing counseling, and financial planning to help low-income individuals on the path to homeownership.
•Leep to College Foundation helps at-risk youth by providing academic support, financial education and year-round formal and informal learning experiences to students in Prince Geoge’s County public schools. The program works with students starting in the 7th/8th grade and works with them until they graduate high school and beyond.
2024 Sharing Community Fund Nonprofit Partners - Individual & Community Wealth Building
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•Women Palante (2024 Multi-Year) empowers Latina women through a holistic approach to entrepreneurship that supports business creation, mental health, legal and financial orientation.
•Gatebridge Community (2024 Multi-Year) is on a mission to transform low-wealth communities by fostering a culture of cooperative ownership to build wealth and create sustainable neighborhoods. The organization is partnering with the Coalition for Racial Equity (CREDE) and the National Coop Grocery to launch a network of five worker and consumer owned co-op grocery stores in the DMV – including two serving communities in Ward 7 & 8.
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•Capital Area Asset Building Corporation provides financial literacy and matched savings programs, enabling low-income residents to become financially stable and pursue their dreams.
•Habitat for Humanity Metro Maryland provides home preservation and homeownership programs that help low-income families live a more stable, self-reliant life. Its staff, homeowners, and volunteers have completed nearly 850 projects since its inception.
•Montgomery Moving Forward is a collective impact initiative which convenes leaders from government, business, philanthropy, education, and nonprofits to solve complex problems facing the county. As a capacity building partner, Sharing Montgomery’s grant empowers MMF’s nonprofit leaders to advocate around pressing issues that affect their clients, especially around challenges related to economic opportunity and early childhood education.
•Nonprofit Montgomery supports local organizations around government relations, advocacy, strategic communications, financial management, metrics tracking, and cross-sector problem solving. As a capacity building partner, Sharing Montgomery’s support will enable our direct-service grantees to receive the personalized support and connections that will help them deepen their impact.
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•Gatebridge Community is on a mission to transform low-wealth communities by fostering a culture of cooperative ownership to build wealth and create sustainable neighborhoods. The organization is partnering with the Coalition for Racial Equity (CREDE) and the National Coop Grocery to launch a network of five worker and consumer owned co-op grocery stores in the DMV – including one in Prince George’s County.
•Seed Spot (2024 Multi-Year) is on a mission to educate, accelerate, and invest in diverse entrepreneurs who are creating solutions to social problems. The program provides entrepreneurs with mentors and an intensive 10-week impact accelerator designed to help them raise capital to start their business.
•Washington Area Community Investment Fund (WACIF) promotes equity and economic opportunity in underserved neighborhoods in the DMV by providing access to capital products, services ,and capacity-building technical assistance for low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs.