Leaders of the Future: Nonprofit Partners with the Sharing Community Funds
In 2024, The Community Foundation is highlighting 'Leaders of the Future' - individuals and organizations who inspire us to look towards a brighter future for Greater Washington.
This month, we are highlighting incredible leaders that strengthen and empower our community through our Sharing Community initiatives. The Sharing Community Initiative facilitates connections between donors and nonprofits to build more equitable, just, and thriving communities.
Part of that initiative includes awarding intentional, multi-year grants designed to empower our nonprofit partners and the communities they serve. Below are just a few responses from some of our multi-year nonprofit partners about the critical work they are doing in our communities!
-
Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
DC KinCare Alliance serves all of the neighborhoods in DC, but primarily Wards 5, 7, and 8.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization
Founded in 2017, DC KinCare Alliance is a legal services organization whose mission is to support the legal, financial, and related service needs of relative caregivers (primarily Black women) who step up to raise at-risk DC children in times of crisis when the children’s parents are unable to care for them due to mental health and substance use disorders, incarceration, death, abuse and neglect, and/or deportation.
How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.
The Sharing DC Community Initiative helped DC KinCare Alliance (DCKC) serve 182 relative caregiver clients, raising 240 DC children in 319 legal matters in 2023—surpassing our goals by 21% for relative caregivers served and 42% for legal matters provided. The Initiative also made it possible for DCKC to hire a DC relative caregiver (who is a former client and current member of our Community Board) as our first Paralegal and Client Intake Manager. Finally, the Initiative helped DCKC to commence an adoption pilot (PROJECT ADOPT), to help grandparents and caregivers adopt the children they care for.
For those receiving Sharing Community funding for the first-time, what excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?
As a small and relatively new organization, we were especially excited to receive support from the Sharing DC Community Initiative. It is a testament to the reach of our organization in the broader DC community for the Initiative to identify us as a potential partner and then determine us worthy of multi-year funding.
As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?
I dream of a future where all DC children can live in safe and stable homes free from abuse, neglect, poverty, racism, violence, and fear. I dream of a future where government systems are set up to help families achieve success and where all families, including kinship families, are recognized and treated with dignity and respect.
-
Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
We serve youth citywide, in the District of Columbia.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization
The True Reasons I Grabbed the Gun Evolved from Risks Project prevents the spread of the gun violence disease in Washington, D.C. through the intersectionality of Public Health and Positive Youth Development. We are prevention - the absence and proactive state of the gun violence.
How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.
We look forward to joining the Sharing Community Initiative and the safe space it will provide to grow and strategically connect to like-hearted organizations for the economic mobility and health equity of our youth and families that we serve. We also look forward to educating the community on our Public Health approach as gun violence prevention can be used as a catalyst for to shape proactive policy, practice, and structures to eliminate many, if not all, of our deepest disparities.
For those receiving Sharing Community funding for the first-time, what excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?
In terms of funding, The T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project has operated inadequately since being founded. It is hard for people to believe our financial struggles because of our widespread impact yet, up until receiving Sharing Community funding, we have only been able to secure funding for events or programs. We are most excited to receive our FIRST multiyear investment in providing flexible general operating support for our organization!
As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?
We envision a world free from the disease of gun violence! This vision with the support of Sharing Community equates to the social change I know is possible. With my experiencing an epidemic of youth violence and gun violence, many programs and initiatives are reactionary and lack efforts and funding structures that address root causes and chronic disparities. I aim to trail blaze a sense of value and funding structure for primary prevention programming and policy that will prevent future gun violence.
-
Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Primarily, Wards 7 & 8 in Washington DC, Prince George’s County, along the Blue Line Corridor, and East Montgomery County.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization
At GateBridge, we're on a mission to transform low-wealth communities by fostering a culture of cooperative ownership to build wealth and create sustainable neighborhoods where everyone has an opportunity to thrive. GateBridge serves as an accelerator of community wealth building ventures, raising patient capital and providing a range of technical supports for cooperative initiatives that feature ownership and control by workers, consumers, producers, and residents of local communities.
How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.
The first community wealth building project supported by the GateBridge Community Accelerator is the launch of five worker and resident owned grocery stores, the first two of which will be in Wards 7 and 8 of the District. Sharing Community funding will 1) bolster the community education and engagement essential to recruiting the consumers needed to sustain the store 2) secure the market feasibility studies needed to determine the best trade areas to locate the stores and 3) retain the legal, accounting, and technical support needed to assure project stability and sustainability
For those receiving Sharing Community funding for the first-time, what excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?
Greater Washington Community Foundation is an established and well respected institution known for its commitment to community wellbeing in the Washington DC area. Community Wealth Building is a long and arduous journey, and success substantially depends on anchor institution partnerships like the Community Foundation. My hope is that the Foundation will increasingly see GateBridge Community as a trusted partner in this important work over the coming years. I see this funding opportunity as the beginning of that journey toward trust and committed partnership.
As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?
A community where race and place no longer predict wealth and wellbeing and where every neighborhood has the physical, social, and civic infrastructure to promote human flourishing. White household median wealth in the DMV is 81 times that of Black household median wealth. GateBridge Community will work to close this racial wealth gap by scaling business enterprises that generate and maintain wealth in divested communities rather extracting it to build the wealth of other communities. Rosie’s Grocery is our first initiative. It will not be our last.
-
Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
In 2023, we worked with 960 clients, the highest number the organization has served in a given year. Currently, almost 70% of our clientele resides in the most underserved Montgomery County zip codes. Additionally, we also serve clients in Prince George’s County and DC Wards 7 & 8.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization
Our mission is to provide personalized job-skills counseling, promote participation in work skills and training programs, foster self-esteem, and empower individuals. We aim to help clients transition out of poverty by utilizing counseling, individualized training, community and employer partnerships, helping find alternatives to minimum-wage, dead-end jobs. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of our vision, programs, and mission.
How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.
In 2023, the funding we received from Sharing Montgomery allowed us to expand our basic skills classes in several ways. We have been able to offer more classes to our clients on topics such as social media networking and small business promotion, greatly increasing the opportunities available to our clients. Additionally, we were able to increase the number of partners presenting at our weekly virtual workshops, allowing our clients to learn about new career paths and resources. These feats culminated in CareerCatchers first ever in-person Empowerment event in October of 2023: Family Fun Day. Our Family Fun Day allowed our clients the opportunity to engage with our staff and partners, promote their small businesses, and learn more about food security. We hope to continue expanding our training offerings with the continued support of the GWCF.
As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?
As the needs of our community grow, we intend to grow to meet them. In 2023, we were able to serve over 950 clients, and hope to serve over 1,000 in the years to come. Additionally, we plan to extend our job retention services. We approach our clients with a respect for not only their immediate goals, but also their long term goals of career success and financial sustainability. We have seen great success for clients who have received job retention services for one year, and would like to continue expanding those services to clients for two years post-employment. Finally, engaging our partners and volunteers to continue expanding our training offerings allows our clients to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of professional development. Continuing our outreach to new partners provides our clients with new avenues to pursue their goals.
-
Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
The Montgomery County residents supported by IMPACT are mostly low-income and BIPOC, with many programs and activities in Spanish- and Amharic-speaking immigrant communities. Many IMPACT offerings, including virtual events, are publicized countywide, and we have participants from all areas of the county, but most of our in-person community work is currently done in the neighborhoods of Long Branch, Wheaton, Glenmont, Fairland, and most recently, Gaithersburg.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization
Our mission is to advance racial equity and justice in Montgomery County by working for change at 3 levels: changing hearts and minds at the individual level; building grassroots power and community connections at the neighborhood level; and changing the greater systems, structures, and policies that continue to generate inequitable outcomes for communities of color.
How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.
Sharing Montgomery funding continues to support Impact’s work of promoting economic mobility and wealth building within BIPOC, immigrant, and low-income communities. Most of this work is done via our Community Trade Academy (CTA). The CTA takes a three-pronged approach to economic empowerment by: 1. offering vocational training to adult students (mostly immigrant women) in skills such as piñata or jewelry making; 2. teaching the basic skills of running a small business; and 3. providing markets where students gain real world experience as microentrepreneurs. Most recently, we worked with partners to host outdoor Holiday Markets (December 16 and 23, 2023) and Valentine’s Day Markets (February 10 and 11, 2024). Depending on the day, between 3 and 18 microentrepreneurs participated, selling between $50 and $700 worth of merchandise. We never charge vendor fees for participating in markets because those fees are often cost prohibitive. While we know classroom learning is important, we also know it is not enough. The experience of setting up, running, and breaking down these markets provides budding entrepreneurs with the crucial know-how and confidence that can only be gained experientially. Sharing Montgomery funding has been critical to paying for supplies and technical assistance needed for CTA events like these markets.
As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?
An important element of the Community Trade Academy is that it is neighborhood-based. We launched our pilot academy in the Silver Spring community of Wheaton. We want to launch future academies in Gaithersburg and East County, tailored to the interests and cultures in those neighborhoods. Additionally, classes in the pilot academy were all taught in Spanish. We would like to replicate the model in other communities and offer it to English-speaking immigrants. Additionally, in the near future, we hope to introduce solidarity economy (an economy that prioritizes people and the planet) concepts such as sustainability and worker cooperation as part of our CTA curriculum.
-
Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
All communities in Montgomery County, MD
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization
The mission of the Montgomery County Food Council (MCFC) is to bring together a diverse representation of stakeholders in a public-private partnership to improve the environmental, economic, social and nutritional health of Montgomery County, Maryland through the creation of a robust and sustainable local food system.
How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.
The grant supported MCFC’s food security program in increasing outreach and collaboration among food assistance providers who are serving the County’s food insecure residents. MCFC co-implemented a Farm to Food Bank Program, which provided technical assistance and collaboration between 37 local farms in 2022 and 2023 to support a sustained and resilient local food supply and provide more nutritious and culturally diverse produce to residents who experience hunger. In FY 2023, over 191,212 lbs of fresh, locally grown produce was purchased or donated to over 54 food assistance providers.
As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?
As the only non-profit organization convening all sectors of the food system within Montgomery County, and connecting various initiatives to partners throughout the region, MCFC hopes to build the capacity of our partners implement the County’s Strategic Plan to End Childhood Hunger. In addition, we hope to be more instrumental in transforming our public schools by supporting MCPS to embed wellness plans (or policies) that nurture the development of “food curious” children through the farm to school initiative.
-
Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
The BBC serves Black, Brown, and low-income communities in Montgomery County, MD.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization
The Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence unites these traditionally marginalized communities to demand an education system that serves all students equitably. The BBC takes aim at dismantling systemic barriers that have underserved and limited the success of Black, Brown, and students from low-income families and fights for equitable access to the resources needed to thrive.
How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.
"Having a multiyear grant allows the Coalition to take on issues that require sustained advocacy” explained Byron Johns, co-founder. In 2023, the BBC galvanized the Black and Brown communities around literacy inequity. Nearly 60% of Black and over 70% of Latino fifth-grade students are not reading at grade level. And their parents are often unaware. In November, the BBC brought together over 800 Black, Brown and low-income caregivers to demand that schools "Get Reading Right, Now!". Building on our 2022 advocacy for greater investment in literacy and math, the BBC is now leading the charge for an “early alert system” -- an easy-to-understand communication to parents when their students miss milestones –and for the development of individualized success plans to ensure that these students catch up and keep up. “We need the voices of our entire community to make literacy a priority” said Diego Uriburu, co-founder.
As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?
The BBC envisions a future where Black, Brown, and low-income students who attend Montgomery County Public Schools have equitable access to resources and supports that will ensure the greatest opportunities for success in their educations, careers, and lives.
-
Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
5 MCPS High Schools in Montgomery County, based in Gaithersburg, Wheaton, Silver Spring, Burtonsville, and Bethesda.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization
The mission of CollegeTracks is to empower first-generation-to-college students and students from low-income and immigrant households in Montgomery County, Maryland by helping them bridge systemic opportunity gaps with enough support to get to and through postsecondary education and on a career pathway. We envision a future in which every student who graduates from high school in Montgomery County, Maryland has equitable access to their chosen career pathway.
How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.
Sharing Montgomery funding has helped open doors to new partnerships and funding relationships, has helped validate our approach in our community, and has brought us new donors, volunteers, and partners. This has been critical as we have expanded to meet rising demand, and prepared to grow across Montgomery County. For example, CollegeTracks' program enrollment rose by 22% last year, exceeding our pre-pandemic high by 9%, which put a great deal of stress on our program and infrastructure. Thanks to stable, yet flexible funding like Sharing Montgomery, we were able to stregmthen our program and meet our high programmatic goals, even while serving these expanded numbers.
For those receiving Sharing Community funding for the first-time, what excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?
The most exciting part of receiving our first multi-year Sharing Montgomery award has been the realization that the people in our community who are paying the closest attention to work like ours thought of our program as highly effective, and worthy of this investment and recognition. We have worked hard to build a program model that gets results, and the fact that the people who know our work and community best agree is a tremendous boost to our team.
As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?
At CollegeTracks, we dream of a future for Montgomery County where every student truly has the opportunity and support that they need to thrive. We are a highly educated and wealthy County, and we have access to proven solutions to the problems that we face. We just need to decide not to accept the status quo, and make these solutions happen.
-
Which Communities/Neighborhoods do you serve?
Beloved Community Incubator is a regional solidarity economy movement organization and lender. We engage in worker justice campaigns, mostly in Washington, DC, and offer a unique combination of cooperative incubation, lending, technical assistance, and mutual aid to create just and equitable democratic workplaces across our entire region.
In 2-3 sentences, please briefly describe the mission of your organization
Beloved Community Incubator is a solidarity economy movement organization, incubator, lender, and worker self-directed non-profit in Washington, DC. BCI focuses on building a regional solidarity economy that centers people, especially poor and working-class workers and people of color, over profit. We provide incubation for worker-owned cooperatives, as well as back end support for cooperatives through the BCI Network. We offer non-extractive lending to local cooperatives through the DC Solidarity Economy Loan Fund, and organize for worker power and collective control of resources in DC through community organizing, broad-based campaigns, and mutual aid.
How has funding from a Sharing Community Initiative impacted the work you do? Feel free to share any brief examples of projects or outcomes you've seen over the past year.
We secured the passage of the Street Vendor Advancement Act of 2023 which: decriminalized street vending without a license and removed criminal background checks, reduced fees for obtaining a vending license, created a micro-enterprise home kitchen license, which allows food entrepreneurs across the city to create home based catering businesses , and created a vending zone in Mount Pleasant/Columbia Heights, allowing a higher concentration of vendors per block. In February of this year, we launched the BCI Street Vendor License Fund. This $125,000 fund will cover eligible costs and fees associated with accessing licenses and inspections for almost 100 vendors. Our vision for growing the regional solidarity economy is coming to fruition! The DC Solidarity Economy Loan Fund held its official launch event and has received approval for 3 additional loans – totaling $922,500 dollars. Two of the loans were to a small tech cooperative for equipment and a line of credit. The most significant loan is to Community Purchasing Alliance (CPA). CPA organizes institutions to engage in collective purchasing of contracts. Purchasing programs include janitorial, HVAC, trash removal, security, and solar. Our partnership positions BCI to proposition current vendors to use worker-ownership as a succession plan, incubate cooperatives in the sectors of their current purchasing programs, and connect cooperatives that already exist (in cleaning, food service, and landscaping) to larger contracts.
For those receiving Sharing Community funding for the first-time, what excites you the most about receiving support through the Sharing Community initiative?
What is most exciting to me is knowing that the Sharing DC Committee really understands and believes in our vision. We realize that our organizing model as a solidarity economy organization is unique. Our power building strategy is through institution building (through cooperatives) and membership, but also includes a programmatic and technical assistance component. Our work with “high touch” cooperatives is essentially base building with poor and working class BIPOC workers in order to build a coop from the ground up. There is more and more research that traditional workforce development and job training programs don't guarantee jobs or increased income. By developing and supporting worker-owned cooperatives, creating market access for local BIPOC-owned cooperatives, and using DC SELF to invest an additional 1 million dollars in local cooperatives over the next 2 years, we are working to close the racial wealth gap. The funding from Sharing DC committee means they believe in our vision too.
As a nonprofit leader in our community, what are your dreams or aspirations for the future?
Last summer, the local coop ecosystem came together to vision what's possible and shape our work for the future. Their collective vision included affordable care cooperatives (childcare, home health care, elder care), bookkeeping and legal cooperatives, coop grocery stores, and collectively owned spaces for artists and food businesses. BCI is always dreaming about more community control over resources in our community -- think grocery stores, workplaces, land, banks, housing, and more!