The Resilience Fund Releases Call for Proposals

The Resilience Fund is interested in identifying community-based solutions which respond to federal policy shifts impacting our region. Interested organizations located in or serving the Greater Washington region may submit a letter of inquiry for a rapid response grant to address current or emerging issues affecting our neighbors and communities. We will entertain inquiries linked to immigration, justice reform and civil rights roll-backs, and efforts that expand access to citizenship and democracy including voter registration and participation efforts (GOTV).

Grants may support special projects, programs, or include general operating support. Grant awards may range from $10,000-$50,000. Contact Melen Hagos with questions at [email protected].

New proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed by the Resilience Fund Steering Committee in 2019.  

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. The Fund's main objective is to provide funding in response to both urgent and systemic issues facing our community ̶ in the near-term and long-term ̶ and to be nimble in responding to new issues as they emerge. Since the Fund’s inception, we’ve granted out $380,000 to 12 organizations supporting residents and families affected by the new Administration’s changes to international travel, immigration, and deportation policies as well as building community cohesion and combating anti-other sentiment.

Resilience Fund Announces Grants to Support Family Reunification and Immigrants’ Rights

Releases Call for Proposals to Identify Community-Based Solutions Addressing Policy Shifts Affecting the Region

 

The Resilience Fund has announced $80,000 in emergency grants to two local organizations working to assist with reuniting immigrant families separated at the border and to protect the civil rights of immigrant children detained in Maryland and Virginia. 

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. The Fund's main objective is to provide funding in response to both urgent and systemic issues facing our community ̶ in the near-term and long-term ̶ and to be nimble in responding to new issues as they emerge.

Since the Fund’s inception, it has raised and leveraged more than $1 million and made rapid response grants to 10 organizations working in the areas of immigrants’ rights, grassroots community engagement, anti-bullying and anti-bigotry. Last fall, the Fund initially focused on changes to international travel, immigration, and deportation policies affecting residents and families in the Greater Washington region. Its first round of grants supported four immigrant-serving organizations working to ensure community members understand their legal and civil rights, take precautions to stabilize their families in the event they are detained, and receive legal representation. Soon after, the Fund responded to increases in incidents of hate, intolerance and incivility in the Greater Washington region by focusing its second round of grantmaking on building community cohesion and combating anti-other sentiment. The Fund made grants to four local organizations focused on grassroots community engagement and to two national organizations to expand educational programs in local schools that teach news literacy as well as tolerance, respect and inclusion.

Grant Awards

The Resilience Fund’s latest grants will support:

  • CAIR Coalition will receive a $50,000 grant for its Detained Children’s Program which provides Know Your Rights presentations, individual legal screenings, and pro bono representation to unaccompanied minor children. This program has screened over 40 children separated from their families at the border and detained in facilities in Maryland and Virginia while they wait to be reunified with their parents. CAIR is working to find and interview separated parents and assist them with obtaining support services to fill out the required paperwork to sponsor their children. Grant funds will allow CAIR to expand its staff capacity to match families with local service providers to ensure each child has pro bono representation in Immigration Court. Currently, CAIR Coalition is the only nonprofit legal services organization assisting separated children and adults in detention facilities in Maryland and Virginia.

  • The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs will receive a $30,000 grant to expand staff capacity to respond to the urgent civil rights needs of the immigrant community, including a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of unaccompanied immigrant children detained at a juvenile center in Virginia. The suit alleges systemic discrimination by staff, use of excessive force, inappropriate use of restraint and/or seclusion and routine denial of necessary mental health care. The children range in age from 10 years old to 17 and are all refugees fleeing from violence in Central America. Grant funds will help to engage professional interpreters for clients who have limited English or do not speak English at all, help to locate children who have been released to a family member or sponsor to collect and preserve their testimony about the facility, and to support staff time for this case

Call for Proposals

The Resilience Fund is interested in identifying additional community-based solutions that will respond to current or emerging issues impacting our neighbors or communities. Interested organizations located in or serving the Greater Washington region may submit a letter of inquiry for a rapid response grant. We will entertain inquiries linked to immigration, other policy roll-backs that disproportionately impact various communities in our region, and efforts that expand access to citizenship and democracy. The Fund is also interested in work happening regionally that may have been impacted by the humanitarian crisis at the US border with Mexico, particularly work that centers around legal support for detained parents or children who have been separated and are now being held in the Greater Washington region. Inquiries related to other emerging issues are welcomed.

Grants may support special projects, programs, or include general operating support. Grant awards may range from $10,000-$50,000. For more details on proposal submission guidelines, click here. Letters of inquiry may be submitted through our online application system. Contact Melen Hagos with questions at [email protected].

The Resilience Fund: A Year in Review

It has been one year since the Greater Washington Community Foundation and the Meyer Foundation launched the Resilience Fund as a rapid response vehicle to address changes in federal policy and budget priorities and the increasing climate of intolerance, hate, and anti-other, which disproportionately impact people of color, and immigrant and refugee communities. In that time, we have raised more than $630,000 from institutional and individual donors across the region. We are incredibly proud to share that we have also leveraged as much as $450,000 through parallel commitments from donors to organizations funded through the Resilience Fund. That is more than $1 million to support local nonprofits serving the urgent and emerging needs of our region's most vulnerable residents. This is a true testament to the commitment of incredibly generous people in our region who care deeply about their neighbors and communities. 

Reflecting on the past year, we wanted to share some of the important work this Fund has contributed to.

Helping Immigrant Communities

Initially, the Resilience Fund focused last fall on supporting residents and families affected by the new Administration’s changes to international travel, immigration, and deportation policies. The Resilience Fund’s first round of grants supported work to ensure community members understand their legal and civil rights, take precautions to stabilize their families in the event they are detained, and receive legal representation.

  • Know Your Rights education: As ICE changed its enforcement priorities and stepped up detentions, CAIR Coalition responded by delivering 12 presentations across the region educating 326 immigrant youth and adults about their constitutional rights. It also intervened in the bond cases of 18 detained individuals, securing the release of 12 on bond and with three more are awaiting hearings.

  • Legal defense training: Noncriminal arrests of immigrants have increased by nearly 300%. Legal Aid Justice Center is combating ICE abuses by training 64 lawyers to defend immigrants in deportation proceedings by challenging constitutional violations. Without the Resilience Fund’s support, LAJC would not have had the funding to provide this training to nonprofit providers and private attorneys.

  • Legal services: CASA sought to address threats facing immigrants due to increased enforcement and changes to DACA and TPS. It held 46 know your rights workshops attended by 6,740 people, screened 415 people at risk of deportation to identify potential forms of relief, provided DACA application assistance to 320 youth, held bystander trainings for 300 people and mobilized a national day of action.

  • DACA application support: The President’s decision to rescind DACA provided only one month for eligible recipients to renew their status – affecting an estimated 20,000 people in the region. Ayuda received an emergency grant to conduct outreach and organize two free DACA clinics – helping 45 clients prepare renewal applications, receive in-depth legal consultations, and open long-term representation cases. The future of DACA remains uncertain but, with the Resilience Fund’s support, Ayuda continues to assist DACA recipients with legal advice and representation.

Countering Hate and Intolerance 

Recent increases in incidents of hate, intolerance and incivility in the Greater Washington region led the Resilience Fund to refocus its second round of grantmaking on building community cohesion and combating anti-other sentiment. In late December, the Fund made grants to local organizations focused on grassroots community engagement and national organizations combating bullying, bigotry, and fake news through education. While much of the work funded this round is still in process, some early notable achievements include:

  • Anti-bias education: The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has tracked a disturbing trend of increasing bias incidents in schools, where it’s estimated that 1 in 4 students are bullied. With support from the Resilience Fund, ADL doubled the size of its No Place for Hate program to reach more than 25,000 students in 25 K-12 schools throughout the region. The program is helping local schools foster an accepting and safe climate using ADL’s framework to teach respect and inclusion.

  • Digital literacy tools: More educators are seeking tools to teach students how to sort fact from falsehood in the digital age so they can be informed and engaged citizens. A grant from the Resilience Fund enabled the News Literacy Project to expand its program into Arlington County, Virginia, where it will host a NewsLitCamp for teachers in August and make 2,500 subscriptions to its virtual classroom available.

  • Community engagement: Prince George’s County residents care deeply about the well-being of their communities but lack a space to discuss relevant issues. With support from the Resilience Fund, the Prince George’s County Social Innovation Fund partnered with the Transforming Neighborhoods Initiative and will host a town hall style gathering on April 23, for discussions of economic, health, public safety and educational challenges in the County.

  • Training future leaders: Disenfranchised communities have long been left out of conversations about economic improvement and systems change. Progressive Maryland offered 5 trainings to empower 50 members to become agents of change and advocates for social and economic justice. These members have since taken on leadership positions within their local chapters to help strengthen their community’s grassroots capacity to advocate for their needs.

While many similar rapid response funds launched in other parts of the country are winding down, the Resilience Fund is gearing up for its second year. The Steering Committee is in the process of building out its agenda. We invite you to join us in our efforts. For more information contact Tonia Wellons, Vice President - Community Investment at [email protected]

Sincerely,

 
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Bruce McNamer

President and CEO

Greater Washington Community Foundation

Nicky Goren

President and CEO

Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation

Resilience Fund Steering Committee

Greater Washington Community Foundation

Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation

The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation

Harman Family Foundation

June Linowitz

Elaine Reuben

Rob and Sheri Rosenfeld

Mauri Ziff and Jeff Hamond

How the Resilience Fund Reshaped One Couple’s Philanthropy

 
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Rob and Sheri Rosenfeld opened a donor-advised fund at The Community Foundation in December 2007. A native Washingtonian, Rob is a real estate developer and investor who was previously a Managing Partner of JBG Rosenfeld Retail. Sheri is a native of Chicago who has lived in the Washington area for nearly 30 years. She is a psychotherapist and was in private practice. Over the years, the Rosenfelds have donated their time serving on nonprofit boards and contributing to causes near and dear to their family, such as the arts and cancer research. However, they decided to expand their approach to philanthropy when they heard about The Community Foundation’s Resilience Fund. The Fund was created in March 2017 to support the critical needs of nonprofits working on behalf of vulnerable communities affected by changes in federal policies. Rob and Sheri recently spoke about their experience serving on the Fund’s steering committee. 

What drew you to the Resilience Fund? 

When we learned about the Fund, it felt like an “aha” moment. We both had been searching for what one person or what one couple could do to speak to the troubling direction that this new administration was taking. Rather than moaning and groaning about changing policies, we wanted to take action. The Resilience Fund spoke to us.

What inspired you to join the steering committee? 

We took great comfort in knowing that both The Community Foundation and Meyer Foundation were involved in creating the Fund. We recognized the value of the two foundations, along with other foundations and individuals, joining forces to have a greater impact. While we were prepared to make a significant financial contribution, we wanted to do more than just write a check. We saw this as a significant time in our country, in terms of the political and social climate. If we were going to make a material commitment of our time and resources during our lifetime, it felt like this was one of those times.

How do you feel about the committee’s decision to focus on immigration, deportation policies, the rise of intolerance and the adverse impact of the federal budget on our region

Some may see these issues – especially immigration – through a partisan lens. We see them through a humanitarian and economic lens. In fact there are people on both sides of the aisle who see the merits of a robust immigration system. Having friends and colleagues from many different backgrounds, we feel that ALL people deserve the same rights and freedoms, including due process. We feel this in our bones and in our hearts. It’s heartbreaking to watch so much social and economic progress be rolled back. The Resilience Fund is ensuring that our neighborhoods “remain resilient, thriving, and more equitable and inclusive places to live despite policy shifts and ‘anti-other’ sentiments.” 

How does the steering committee make its decisions?  

The committee has conference calls or meetings at least once a month. We ask critical questions about potential grantees: Is the organization strong enough? Will this funding make a difference? Is this an urgent need? There are so many groups doing good work. It’s our job to determine which organizations will have the greatest impact. For instance, in September, we made an emergency rapid response grant of $25,000 to support Ayuda. That is exactly what this fund is intended for. At the time, Ayuda was addressing the urgent need for emergency clinics to prepare and file Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) renewal applications in DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland before the filing deadline. Our rapid response funding also provided legal services and consultations to advise DACA recipients about avenues of relief available to them. 

Would you recommend this Fund to friends? 

Absolutely. For the past year, we’ve been raising money from our friends and colleagues – and we aren’t done yet. Our goal is to raise support from friends toward the Fund’s ultimate goal of $1 million. In every administration there’s going to be a rollback of something. But this time, things are happening so fast and with such a large sweeping hand.  Together, we hope to soften the blow from these shifting policies. 

Learn more about the Resilience Fund's focus areas and recent grants.

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!