The Resilience Fund Announces New Grants Targeting the Climate of Hate and Intolerance in the Greater Washington Region

The Resilience Fund, a component fund of the Greater Washington Community Foundation, today announced $135,000 in new grants to organizations working to address the recent increase in hate, intolerance and incivility in the Greater Washington region. With this new round of grants, the Resilience Fund is supporting several local grassroots organizations working to build community cohesion through powerful conversations and neighbor-to-neighbor engagement. This round also invests in national organizations offering local anti-bullying/anti-bigotry interventions and techniques for teaching young people how to identify “fake news.” 

  • $50,000 grant to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to expand the number of schools in the region benefitting from the No Place for Hate program, which provides an organizing framework for combating bias, bullying, and bigotry, leading to long-term solutions for creating and maintaining a positive school climate.

  • $25,000 grant to the News Literacy Project to expand the reach of its checkology® virtual classroom – an online platform for teaching middle and high school students how to sort fact from falsehood in the digital age – and to co-sponsor a NewsLitCamp that places educators in a local newsroom for training and workshops with journalists.

  • $20,000 grant to IMPACT Silver Spring to strengthen social cohesion and bridge racial and socio-economic divides in diverse communities by hosting a series of events and community conversations to raise individual awareness and understanding of the connection between historical and structural racism and today’s challenges.

  • $15,000 grant to Progressive Maryland to expand staffing capacity to train and mobilize a newly-expanded volunteer base of Maryland residents who are ready to build community cohesion by acting to ensure fair elections, increase the minimum wage, and improve access to healthcare.

  • $15,000 grant to Many Languages, One Voice (MLOV) to support monthly "Community Center Sundays" as part of the DC Immigrant Organizing Center, providing cultural celebration, healing, and information and education sessions for community members.

  • $10,000 grant to the Prince George’s County Social Innovation Fund to support its Seat at the Table program, an effort to strengthen community and a path to progress by creating space to discuss issues that matter most to Prince George’s County residents.

The Resilience Fund was created in early 2017 as a collaborative partnership of the Greater Washington Community Foundation, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, and other foundation and individual contributors. It seeks to address the critical needs of nonprofits responding to changes in federal policy and budget priorities, as well as the climate of intolerance and hate, both of which are disproportionately impacting people of color, and immigrant and refugee communities.

Over the summer, the Resilience Fund awarded its first grants — three grants totaling $110,000 — to community organizations working throughout the region to support residents and families affected by changes in international travel, immigration, and deportation policies. The grants supported the region’s networks of immigrant-serving organizations to expand their collaborative work to ensure that community members understand their legal and civil rights, take precautions to stabilize their families in the event they are detained, and receive legal representation.

In early September, following the President’s decision to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the Fund announced a $25,000 emergency response grant to Ayuda. The grant helped Ayuda address the urgent and immediate need for emergency clinics to prepare and file DACA renewal applications in DC, Northern Virginia, and Maryland before the October 5 filing deadline. Ayuda also provided legal services and consultations to advise DACA recipients regarding possible avenues of relief that may be available to them.

“A recent study from the Greater Washington Community Foundation and Urban Institute found that although our region is diverse and generally more accepting of people from different backgrounds, discrimination remains a very real concern for many residents,” said Tonia Wellons, VP of Community Investment for The Community Foundation. “The Resilience Fund is responding to community needs to ensure our neighborhoods remain resilient, thriving, and more equitable and inclusive places to live despite the implications of policy shifts and ‘anti-other’ sentiments that impact us locally. We invite those who are concerned about what is happening in our communities to stand with us against hate and intolerance by contributing to this Fund today.”

The current round of grants reflects the Resilience Fund’s interest in supporting broader efforts across the region to address the climate of hate and intolerance, and the uptick in violent incidents linked to race, religion, national origin, and other differences. Grantee organizations were identified through an open call for ideas conducted by the Fund’s Steering Committee to identify community-based solutions that work to limit intolerance and build community cohesion.

The Fund has raised more than $500,000 to date, and has expanded its goal to reach $1 million by March 2018. More information is available online at www.thecommunityfoundation.org/resiliencefund


The Resilience Fund Steering Committee

Greater Washington Community Foundation
Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation
Harman Family Foundation
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation
June Linowitz
Elaine Reuben
Rob and Sheri Rosenfeld
Mauri Ziff and Jeff Hamond

The Resilience Fund Announces New Grants and Commitments

Ayuda to receive $25k emergency grant for community clinics;
Cafritz pledges $20k matching grant

The Resilience Fund, a collaborative partnership among the Greater Washington Community Foundation, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, and other foundation and individual contributors, today announced an emergency rapid response grant of $25,000 to Ayuda. The grant will support Ayuda to address the urgent and immediate need for emergency clinics to prepare and file Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) renewal applications in DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland before the October 5 filing deadline. Ayuda will also provide legal services and consultations to advise DACA recipients regarding possible avenues of relief that may be available to them.

The Resilience Fund launched in February to respond to the critical needs of nonprofits working to support our region’s most vulnerable communities. The Fund is focused on addressing federal policy and budget changes that are disproportionately impacting people of color, immigrant and refugee communities. The DC metropolitan area is home to 1.3 million foreign-born residents, including an estimated 400,000 unauthorized immigrants — many of whom are long-term residents with deep community ties, including spouses and children who are U.S. citizens.

The Fund’s first round of grants were awarded last month to help the region’s networks of community organizations working to support immigrants affected by changes in international travel, immigration, and deportation policies. These grants will help expand collaborative work to ensure that community members understand their legal and civil rights, take precautions to stabilize their families in the event they are detained, and receive legal representation.

At a stakeholders meeting today, the Steering Committee was proud to announce the Fund has surpassed its initial $500,000 fundraising goal. The goal has been extended and the Fund is now on its way to raising $1 million total thanks to the generosity of local foundations and individuals across the region.

One such commitment is a new challenge matching grant from the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, the largest private foundation focused exclusively on the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The Cafritz Foundation has pledged to match every dollar donated to the Resilience Fund, up to $20,000.

“The Community Foundation is proud to partner with the Resilience Fund Steering Committee and other generous donors who want to ensure our community is a vibrant and inclusive place for all residents and families in the region,” said Tonia Wellons, VP of Community Investment for the Greater Washington Community Foundation. “The Resilience Fund’s efforts going forward seek to address the growing climate of intolerance and hate, including the uptick in violent incidents linked to race, religion, national origin, and other differences. We invite those who are concerned about what is happening in our region to stand with us against intolerance by making a contribution to this Fund today.”

“With rapid response grant funding from the Resilience Fund, Ayuda is taking immediate steps to serve the urgent needs of DACA recipients,” said Paula S. Fitzgerald, Executive Director of Ayuda. “We are providing multiple DACA renewal clinics and open walk-in days in September to serve those who are eligible to renew their DACA status within the short window of time. We are also providing consultations to those Dreamers who stand to lose DACA in the near future to evaluate them for other forms of relief and inform them of their rights.”

Members of the Resilience Fund Steering Committee include:
Greater Washington Community Foundation
Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation
Harman Family Foundation
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation
Rob and Sheri Rosenfeld
Mauri Ziff and Jeff Hamond

The Resilience Fund Awards First Grants to Organizations that Support Immigrant Communities

The Resilience Fund, a collaborative partnership among the Greater Washington Community Foundation, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, and other foundation and individual contributors, awarded its first grants last week — three grants totaling $110,000 to community organizations working throughout the region to support immigrant communities. Grants were awarded to:

  • Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition — $30,000 to support community education and legal services, and the organization’s role as convener of the DMV Immigration Alliance

  • Casa de Maryland — $30,000 to support community education, legal services, and policy advocacy

  • Legal Aid Justice Center — $50,000 to support community education and legal services through the members of the Northern Virginia Immigrant Legal Services Providers Coalition

The Resilience Fund was created by The Community Foundation and the Meyer Foundation in early 2017 to address critical needs of nonprofits working to support our region’s vulnerable communities during a period of rapid federal policy change.

The three initial grants reflect the Resilience Fund’s early focus on changes in international travel, immigration, and deportation policies that are affecting residents and families in the Greater Washington region. The DC metropolitan area has 1.3 million foreign-born residents, including an estimated 400,000 unauthorized immigrants — many of whom are long-term residents with deep community ties, including spouses and children who are U.S. citizens.

These grants will help the region’s networks of immigrant-serving organizations expand their collaborative work to ensure that community members understand their legal and civil rights, take precautions to stabilize their families in the event they are detained, and receive legal representation.

Share Your Ideas

As the Fund’s steering committee considers further work in this area, as well as future areas of focus, members welcome input from a wide range of stakeholders about how federal policy shifts are currently affecting our region. The committee has created this form so that representatives of nonprofit organizations, businesses, government, and community residents can provide input on current and future areas of focus. The steering committee will review all comment submitted, and is especially interested in hearing about efforts to fight intolerance and build community cohesion. Please use this form to share your ideas and thoughts with us.

Join us!

The Resilience Fund was launched in early 2017 with an initial goal of $500,000, and has so far raised nearly $400,000 in gifts and commitments from foundations and individual donors — although the breadth of policy changes affecting the region may lead us to increase our goal. Join with us and others who seek to ensure that our region’s communities are resilient and supported in spite of federal policy shifts by contributing to The Resilience Fund. More information is available here.

Supporting communities through the Resilience Fund

The Community Foundation is proud to announce the establishment of the Resilience Fund. Formed in partnership with the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, the Resilience Fund has been established to fund the critical needs of nonprofits working to support our region’s vulnerable communities as a result of changes in federal policy.

Donors may contribute to the Fund and join with others who seek to ensure our region’s communities are resilient and supported in spite of federal policy shifts. Donors may elect to provide both general support and contributions designated for specific jurisdictions. Individuals or organizations that contribute $50,000 or more to the Fund are eligible to serve on a committee that will advise on grant decisions and future Fund priorities.

Initially, the Resilience Fund will accept grant requests by invitation only in response to urgent needs identified by the fund advisors, other contributors, and colleagues in the philanthropic community. The Fund is currently focused on changes in international travel, immigration, and deportation policies that have an impact on residents and families in the Greater Washington region. In the future, we anticipate supporting policy analysis and advocacy around federal budget proposals that would have an adverse impact on our region.

Contact us today to join other donors in the support of this important initiative!