The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, a trusted leader in philanthropy in the region announced today it has awarded $548,450 in grants through its Community Investment Funds (CIF), Environment Fund, and the Ross-Roberts Fund for the Arts to 39 local nonprofit organizations. The Community Foundation conducts several discretionary grant cycles each year that help meet critical needs and seed innovative solutions to complex social problems across the region.
The Community Investment Funds (CIF) are the signature grant cycle managed by the Community Foundation in which funds are invested in organizations serving the Northern Virginia community in the areas of child and youth development, education, health, mental health and aging, military personnel and their families, and poverty relief.
"This grant will help our adult students learn English, critical life skills, and job readiness skills through a virtual learning platform. We are grateful to have the ability to elevate our learning services to help low-income adults with families adapt to the changing needs of the pandemic and thrive through virtual learning," said Deborah Abbott, Executive Director, Literacy Volunteers of America-Prince William, Inc.
“For more than 50 years, Cornerstones has served as one of the region's leading anchor organizations. Thanks to the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia's 2021 Community Investment Fund grant, we can continue to help vulnerable neighbors living in crisis today secure affordable housing, provide healthy food for their families, enroll their children in quality childcare and after-school programming, and obtain living-wage jobs,” said Kerrie Wilson, CEO, Cornerstones.
“We are excited to receive this generous grant from the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia. It will assist Herndon-Reston FISH in fulfilling its mission of providing short-term emergency financial assistance to residents in need in Herndon and Reston,” said Mary C. Saunders, Executive Director, Herndon-Reston FISH.
The Environment Fund, which was launched in 2018 provides financial resources to projects that protect, restore, and improve Northern Virginia’s natural environment. This year’s grantee is the Audubon Naturalist Society, which will use a $26,000 grant to support watershed education and conservation programs along the Route 1 corridor.
“Through this grant, we and our partners are working to ensure that the communities most affected by these changes have the tools they need to have their voices heard and ultimately benefit from a more accessible, greener, and still affordable neighborhood. This program will start with watershed education and tree planting. As the trees grow, so will the relationships, partnerships, and skillsets that empower community advocates and strengthen their voices, “ said Eliza Cava, Director of Conservation, Audubon Naturalist Society.
The Ross-Roberts Fund for the Arts, which was also launched in 2018 with a legacy gift supports arts and culture in Northern Virginia.
“This vital support from the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia enables us to serve more teachers and students in our region through the FSO's innovative, Link Up education program,” said Jonathan Kerr, Executive Director Fairfax Symphony Orchestra. “The grant also supports our work to provide meaningful opportunities for talented minority musicians through our Diversity Fellowship program, helping to increase racial and cultural diversity in the orchestra field.”
The Community Foundation conducts several discretionary grant cycles each year that help meet critical needs and seed innovative solutions to complex social problems across the region. The complete list of 2021 CIF, Environment Fund, and Ross-Roberts for the Arts Fund grant recipients is below.
List of Grantees:
Poverty | $115,988 | 12 Organizations
Action in Community Through Service, $10,000
Serving Prince William County
Funds will cover services delivered to clients and support essential operating costs.
Britepaths, $10,000
Serving Fairfax County
Funding will support the Financial Assistance Program which provides emergency rent, utility, pharmaceutical, and car repair assistance to low and middle-income clients.
Carpenter’s Shelter, $10,000
Serving Alexandria
Funding will provide general support for the Emergency Shelter program which assists clients with case management, facilities, health care, & mental health counseling.
Cornerstones/Reston Interfaith, Inc., $10,000
Serving Fairfax County
Funds will support Homelessness Prevention, Emergency Shelter, and Housing Stability programs. A general operating grant will ensure they can continue to adapt to meet clients' evolving needs during this public health crisis.
Fairfax Diapers, $5,988
Serving Fairfax County
Funding will enable Fairfax Diapers to maintain commitments to provide enough diapers to meet the needs of all the clients they serve.
Friends of Guest House, Inc., $10,000
Serving All of Northern Virginia
This grant will provide general operating support to assist 300 returning female citizens reentering Northern Virginia. Over the next year, funds will help break the cycle of incarceration through the provision of housing supports; enrollment in workforce development programs; and access to critical health, social, and community building services.
Herndon-Reston FISH, Inc., $10,000
Serving Fairfax County
The grant will support residents in short-term financial crises., FISH works closely with social workers from Fairfax County, local hospitals, and other non-profit organizations.
Homestretch Incorporated, $10,000
Serving Fairfax County
Funding will provide financial assistance to families for car repairs, transportation cards such as gas cards, Uber cards, metro cards, and medical needs such as prescriptions and pharmaceutical items. These items are rarely funded through grants and will provide essential support to families as they work on their self-sufficiency and permanent housing.
Mobile Hope, $10,000
Serving Loudoun County
A grant will support the Crisis Care program which provides emergency shelter and case management services to 30 homeless youth under the age of 24.
OAR of Arlington-Falls Church-Alex., $10,000
Serving all of Northern Virginia
Funding will assist justice-involved community members to address basic needs after release from incarceration and family members struggling with poverty while a loved one is incarcerated.
Project Mend-a-House, $10,000
Serving Prince William County
Funding will help meet the increased demand for services and permit the purchase of more materials (water heaters, HVAC units, ramps, grab bars, etc.), and enhance marketing to attract more volunteers.
Second Story, $10,000
Serving Fairfax County
This grant will provide general operating support to continue to provide safe, stable housing for homeless, runaway, thrown away, and abused youth and food and educational support for disadvantaged young people.
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Child & Youth Development | $70,000 | 7 Organizations
Alexandria Tutoring Consortium, $10,000
Serving Alexandria
Funding will support nine weeks of summer virtual tutoring to continue reading achievement gains and prevent summer learning loss for academically at-risk Alexandria public schoolchildren.
All Ages Read Together, $10,000
Serving Loudoun County
The grant will fund two summer classes for children with no preschool experience to have a free summer program focused on cognitive, early literacy, fine motor, and social skills that are critical for success in kindergarten and beyond.
Bridges to Independence, $10,000
Serving Arlington County
This grant will support the Bridges' Youth Development Program's afterschool and summer activities.
Girls on the Run of NOVA, $10,000
Serving All of Northern Virginia
Funding will ensure all elementary and middle school-age girls are afforded the opportunity to participate in this program.
Higher Achievement, $10,000
Serving Alexandria
Grant will support Higher Achievement’s out-of-school time program in Alexandria for middle school students in grades 5 – 8 which will advance academic achievement and social-emotional growth.
National Inventors Hall of Fame, $10,000
Serving Prince William County
To engage 45 or more PWC underserved youth, grades K-6, in Camp Invention – a high-quality STEM enrichment program that builds critical thinking, self-confidence, entrepreneurship, collaboration, and other 21st century skills.
The House, Inc., $10,000
Serving Prince William County
This grant will support The House, Inc.’s out-of-school time program for 300 marginalized youth through leadership development, training, mentoring, and co-curricular elective opportunities.
Education | $60,000 | 6 Organizations
BEACON for Adult Literacy, $10,000
Serving Manassas/Manassas Park
The grant will support general operations (e.g., instructional materials/textbooks, salaries, general expenses) that will help ensure the continuation of classes and services for 300 low-income adult immigrants.
Generation Hope, $10,000
Serving All of Northern Virginia
Funding will support the Scholar Program, which helps teen parents earn college degrees and secure jobs with family-sustaining wages, and Next Generation Academy, which prepares children for success and wellbeing in kindergarten and beyond.
La Cocina, $10,000
Serving All of Northern Virginia
Funding will support the education components of the Culinary Training Program and the Small Business Incubator for low-income youth and adult immigrants and minorities.
Literacy Volunteers of America – Prince William, Inc., $10,000
Serving Prince William County
This grant will help sustain basic services and facilitate the transition of the ESL program to a virtual learning model. It will also facilitate obtaining matching funds provided by other funders to expand their services across the local community.
The Arc of Northern Virginia, $10,000
Serving All of Northern Virginia
The grant will help expand the award-winning Empowering Employment program, which supports individuals with ID/DD becoming as independent as possible in the community, with a focus on employment.
Urban Alliance, $10,000
Serving All of Northern Virginia
Funding will allow UA to continue providing critical career exploration and professional skills training to youth in the region.
Aging | $34,362 | 1 Organization
Rebuilding Together – Arlington/Fairfax/Falls Church, Inc., $34,362
Serving Fairfax County
The grant will fund the Rebuilding Together Express (RT Express) program that was designed to address health and safety hazards in the homes of low-income homeowners, with a specific focus on helping seniors safely age in place.
Mental Health | $60,000 | 2 Organizations
Pathway Homes, $30,000
Serving Fairfax County
The grant will fund general operations to provide permanent supportive housing for individuals with serious mental illness at-risk of or with a history of homelessness.
Nueva Vida, $30,000
Serving Prince William County
Funding will support the design & implementation of the Más Fuertes Juntos (Stronger Together) program; a mental health intervention program to assess the emotional well-being and health-related quality of life for uninsured Latinos in Prince William.
Military Personnel and their Families | $35,000 | 2 Organizations
Easter Seals Greater Washington-Baltimore Region, $17,500
Serving All of Northern Virginia
The grant will support Easterseals DC MD VA Veteran Staffing Network: Securing Fulfilling Careers for Veterans and Military Spouses.
George Mason University Foundation, $17,500
Serving All of Northern Virginia
Funding will expand pro bono legal services to assist more veterans by adding an additional full-time staff attorney to the current team of two staff attorneys. This third position will be based out of American Legion Post 139, which is being rebuilt in partnership with the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing as Virginia’s largest veteran affordable housing project.
Angus Slater Lamond Fund for Children and Youth | $80,650 | 4 Organizations
Communities in Schools of NOVA, $20,162
Serving the City of Alexandria
The grant will help strengthen and make the K-12 service continuum in Alexandria’s West End full-time - empowering up to 3,800 K-12 students and 1,500 families in Alexandria to stay on the path to postsecondary success.
Liberty’s Promise, $20,162
Serving the City of Alexandria
This grant will help at least 60 low-income, immigrant youth in Alexandria learn about American civic life, as well as acquire job skills and college-access training, through interactive, after-school programs of civic engagement.
Northern Virginia Family Service, $20,162
Serving South County – Along the Route 1 Corridor
Funding will support NVFS’s mental health services and trauma-informed psychoeducational groups and workshops to recently immigrated youth and the children of immigrants so they develop positive, healthy peer and family relationships, achieve academically, have the tools and support needed to cope with COVID-19, and succeed in their new communities.
Northern Virginia Mediation Services, $20,162
Serving South County – Along the Route 1 Corridor
Funding will support the Alternative Accountability Program, a restorative justice approach for juveniles, especially young people of color. Funding will be used to build the capacity of the program and expand the types of harms addressed by restorative justice facilitation.
Ross-Roberts Fund for the Arts | $60,000 | 3 Organizations
1st Stage, $20,000
Serving All of Northern Virginia
Funding will be instrumental as 1st Stage builds back following the pandemic closure. The theatre is uniquely positioned to lead the cultural reopening of the Tysons region.
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, $20,000
Serving Fairfax County
This grant will expand FSO’s education programs by increasing participation of elementary schools in our core education program, Link Up, with an emphasis on serving Title 1 schools; and by establishing a diversity fellowship program for higher education music students.
ArtStream, $20,000
Serving All of Northern Virginia
Funding will support classes, workshops, Cabaret, and Inclusive Theater programming for the 2021-2022 season. It will expand ArtStream’s Teaching Artist training programs and providing resources to ensure a safe return to in-person programming.
Environment Fund | $26,000 | 1 Organization
Audubon Naturalist Society, $26,000
Serving Route 1 Corridor Residential Areas
Funding will support Audubon’s Water Keepers of Little Hunting Creek, a family watershed education and conservation program that will reach 80 underserved children and 40 adults from four Route 1 residential areas in collaboration with Nova and Water Conservation, Park Authority, United Communities, and other local partners.
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