Three strategies for improving education

The Greater Washington Community Foundation is improving the quality of life in our region through community leadership initiatives.

Our education initiatives are geared to preventing youth from falling off track (which means 2 or more years behind graduation requirements), intervening with at-risk students before they fall off track, reengaging students and accelerating completion of graduation requirements, and targeting drop out populations for re-enrollment toward an educational and career trajectory. 

Our team pursues this work in in three key ways: Defining needs, best practices approaches, and collective impact.

Defining Needs

Our commitment to defining needs helps to inform the creation of multiple education options matched to students’ needs by investing in research and other products that define the needs of “disconnected youth.” 

Best Practice Approaches

Define and invest in best practice approaches to re-connecting disconnected youth to education and training opportunities that lead to a post-secondary credential and ultimately a career. 

Collective Impact

Support communities to work together on a common agenda that will improve the lives of young people by investing in collective impact. 

The role of education in achieving economic security

Along with workforce development and strengthening the safety net, education is one of The Community Foundation’s three strategic investment priorities. Our investments in these three areas work together towards one overarching goal: To achieve economic security for all residents of the greater Washington region.

Disconnected youth represent an enormous potential for our region’s economy. If these young people do not reconnect with school and earn a high school diploma, their earning potential substantially decreases. A high school dropout will earn $40,000 per year at age 59, where an individual at age 24 will earn the same with a bachelor’s degree. To maximize the potential for the prosperity of region’s economy, investing in these young people is a social imperative. 

Our education investments are focused on producing tools to pinpoint problems and opportunities to reconnect disconnected youth, scaling effective practices and programs and alignment among important actors across and in the same sectors, which in turn ultimately ensures that our region provides youth multiple pathways to adult success. 

Housing security and food security: Why does it matter?

The Greater Washington Community Foundation is committed to improving the quality of life in our region by leading on critical community issues.

Stable and affordable housing for people at all income levels is a goal that our region should be able to achieve. Without stable housing, it is difficult for people to obtain economic security, a quality education, good health, and employment. 

In July 2014, The Community Foundation released a study, Housing Security in the Washington Region. This study was the first of its kind to show critical gaps in affordable housing across a range of income levels. It is also the first study to comprehensively examine housing needs and how housing policies and programs are funded by public and philanthropic sectors in multiple jurisdictions. 

The Community Foundation commissioned the study, which includes an Executive Summary, with generous support from The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, and the study was researched and prepared by the Urban Institute and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. We commissioned this study in order to quantify the needs for affordable housing and inform strategic investments by the philanthropic sector, as well as the public and private sectors, because all people in our region deserve the chance to prosper as our region prospers.

Food security matters, too. The Community Foundation is a key partner in the Washington Regional Convergence, a group of funders focused on better understanding the food system in the region in order to increase access to healthy and affordable food for all residents and create an equitable food system.