Redefining Citizenship

Amid the Jan. 6 hearings, in light of the Supreme Court’s highly consequential decisions, and as the country reaches a record-low level of extreme national pride, there have been increasing calls to reexamine the true meaning of patriotism and being American. In last month’s Vox issue of the Highlight, Sean Collins reflected that Juneteenth, which falls exactly half a month before Independence Day, “is a holiday commemorating America as it is” while “July Fourth celebrates the country America pretends to be.”

On the heels of Independence Day, we invite you to consider what the truth of the American promise has meant for the myriad communities who live on this land and the possibilities of interdependence we can discover and realize — the threads of coexistence that many among us and before us have already weaved into their understanding of “citizenship,” as well as our intertwined ideas of rights and responsibilities that we want to practice now and into the future.

“(Patriots) combine a loving devotion to America with a demand for justice,” Robert Reich affirmed in the Guardian. As we define and redefine citizenship in America, we are guided by the love and justice fueling the work of our nonprofit partners who have been steadily moving our national narrative from one rooted in fear to one rooted in abundance.

By sharing their words and impact, the Catalogue hopes to articulate their work within the larger context of who we choose to include in our visions for this country and how we want to do so. We welcome your thoughts, experiences, and stories in this ongoing project.

From Othering to Love and Abundance

“Language that defines immigrants as “others” frequently dominates public discourse around immigration and immigrants,” Tara Magner and Marisa Gerstein Pineau wrote in the Stanford Social Innovation Review in 2018. “In fact, framing immigrants as “others” has infiltrated the US national dialogue and seeped into the country’s collective consciousness, so much so that even progressive politicians often use it without realizing its toxic effects.”

From phrases like bringing immigrants “out of the shadows” to framing some immigrants as more “worthy” of support than others, much of the widespread narrative around who exists within the definition of “American” excludes immigrant communities. The consequence of such rhetoric is, as Define American elaborates in a recent report, “the systematic and sustained dehumanization of immigrants and people of color.” When it is no longer surprising or shocking that anti-immigration rhetoric is used by white nationalists to “promote isolationism” and then justified “as a form of self-defense,” we see how critical it is to deeply challenge the notion and weaponization of “foreign-ness” against immigrants and non-white people.

It is this rhetoric that local nonprofits like One Journey are committed to shifting — from the fear-based message of “refugees and immigrants (as) a cost or even a threat to our society” to a narrative that “(connects) people through the shared languages of humanity.” Vanda Berninger and Wendy Chan founded One Journey to celebrate the “vast contributions of immigrant communities,” economically, culturally, and beyond. Through their flagship festival, educational events, coalition and community building, and joyous emphasis on our common languages of music, dance, art, storytelling, technology, food, and more, they are harnessing the power of narrative change to build a more welcoming world.

This past June, The New York Times reflected on ten years of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) by inviting Dreamers to share what makes them American. In the article’s introduction, Isvett Verde wrote that “Lost in the conversation around who should and shouldn’t have the right to stay in the United States is the toll living with perpetual uncertainty exacts on a life — and the ripple effects it has on families.” This echoes what Ayuda and their immigration legal program team has experienced: “Whenever there is a window for immigrants to obtain stable status, it is never certain how long that window will remain open.”

It isn’t just that Dreamers and immigrants make vital contributions to our communities. As Esder Chong shares in The New York Times, “What we all really want is a guarantee that we can stay in the country and live a good life, one that includes access to health care, education, employment opportunities and a driver’s license, and the ability to travel to see our family abroad.” These are opportunities that have historically been precarious or inaccessible for Black and Indigenous communities in America, and other communities of color, and that we collectively continue to fight for. Not only is a better world possible when it is better for us all, but a better world is also made possible by the plurality of our experiences. It is through cultural, linguistic, and experiential diversity and visibility that we thrive.

And it is with solidarity that we materialize this world in ours. In the words of our nonprofit partners:

“To build the truly liberatory economic and political system that working class Washingtonians deserve,” Yannik Omictin, former Economic Justice Program Coordinator at Many Languages One Voice, wrote in a blog article, “we will need a strong coalition of Black native Washingtonians and Black and brown immigrants of all backgrounds — in addition to white accomplices.” Through “Know Your Rights” workshops and trainings, direct cash assistance for immigrant families, cultivating youth leadership, organizing an immigrant-led worker base for economic justice, and more, Many Languages One Voice builds power and mobilizes the community to prompt greater systemic change.

Recently, the Virginia General Assembly passed an amendment that would take the $5 million designated to help make higher education more affordable for undocumented and DACA students over the next two years and direct it to students at two of the state’s historically Black universities. “Funding for higher education should be a priority for all students who are in need,” the Dream Project declared in a statement they issued on this decision. “Rather than prioritizing funding for both underserved student groups, the decision pits the needs of one against another… Redirecting these funds creates a false narrative, implying that legislators had no option but to choose between immigrant students and Black students.”

What could it look like to operate from a mindset of abundance, not scarcity? We’ve learned how quickly grassroots operations like the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network and our nonprofit partner CARECEN, among others, can mobilize the community to care for each other, as they have done and continue to do for migrants being bused from Texas and Arizona to DC these last three months. And it is through their power-building that we can invest in long-term solutions and truly move our city and country collectively beyond “othering” to loving.

What Rights, Whose Rights?

“When someone’s locked away for a long time, when they come back, they don’t have an identity,” Paula Thompson, Executive Director of Voices for a Second Chance, told Lauren Zehyoue on the Unbossed, Unbothered, and Unfiltered podcast last year. “And so, we’re helping people get their birth certificates so that they can get their identification, we help people with clothing, food, shelter, and getting them connected.”

Because most incarcerated DC residents are placed in federal custody and housed anywhere as close as Maryland or as far as California, re-entry for returning citizens — many of whom grew up in under-resourced communities — is particularly challenging. This is in addition to the central narrative we hold of expecting returning citizens to “(pay) their debt to society.” As noted on A Chance to Thrive’s website, “for many, they never stop paying — their history of incarceration prevents them from renting a home, getting a job, making friends, and living without stigma or harassment due to their record.”

In our last article examining safety, we explored the devastating impact a heavily punitive criminal legal system has on BIPOC communities. Dismantling structural racism through decarceration needs to be accompanied by adequate support for people’s re-entry into the community. Again, we return to the question of who is considered “American” and what rights we all want to be afforded as participants in this country — if we operate from a place of valuing interdependence, love, justice, and plurality, how could we recreate our systems to actually love and support formerly incarcerated individuals so that we ensure their health and happiness?

Here, we want to echo the words of another nonprofit partner, Open City Advocates, who supports youth sentenced in the juvenile system both during and after incarceration:

“Treat the young people in our juvenile justice system like you would your own. Believe in them. Care for them. Invest in them.” (Emphases ours)

“I get the idea (that) people coming home from prison can be scary, but none of us are scary,” Margaret, one of the three panelists featured in A Chance to Thrive’s event on the barriers facing returning citizens, shared during the conversation. “I want to be the best person I can to bring value to my neighborhood (and) to protect the children from not doing the things I did growing up.”

Citizenship as an Ongoing Practice

“Deeply listen to kids, their ideas, their concerns,” Amy Neugebauer, Founder of youth philanthropic organization The Giving Square, told Karen Leggett in the Washington Post, “because they will make us think and make us better people.”

Nationally and locally, our democracy currently faces a significant host of challenges, from declining faith in public institutions to the spread of misinformation to increasing polarization. “And yet,” Vernee Green, CEO of Mikva Challenge, asked, “which among them might not be helped by engaging the active and thoughtful civic participation of a wide array of our nation’s youth?”

What could America look like if we define citizenship as an ongoing practice, and if we commit to giving everyone full opportunities to participate in civic and political life? As it stands, “scholars have expressed growing concern about the ways in which our democracy fails tests of political equality,” Molly Andolina and Hilary Conklin wrote in a Mikva Challenge white paper. Alongside other growing gaps, “those with the greatest resources (participate) at rates much greater than those who have less access to key resources of “skills, money, and time”” — a disparity that both further marginalizes already under-resourced communities and, frankly, impoverishes our visions for what this country could be.

Imagine, instead, the vibrance of an actively engaged citizenry, where students ask questions of our political candidates as in Mikva Challenge’s youth-led mayoral candidates forum; where their visual storytelling talent is nurtured by organizations like Critical Exposure so that they have a platform to speak for themselves and take ownership over their narratives; where their advocacy solutions are given room and weight in spaces like the Washington Urban Debate League‘s programs; and, most importantly, where our empowerment of Black and Brown youth can reverberate and expand to include every American we don’t want to leave behind.

Finally, we take inspiration from the words of Lulit Shewan, a youth activist and board member of the Youth Activism Project, which holds as its core belief that “there is no minimum age for leadership.” In Shewan’s note to the youth, titled “Resistance is the Theme of Our Generation,” she shared:

“Investing in our communities — education reform, social work, mental health resources, safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth, etc. — will be the improvement in our quality of life that will furthermore reduce crime and incarceration… Revolution requires resistance and resistance can’t occur if you’re unable to see the impact of actuating on a small scale. Your voice matters.”

A practice of love can feel small, but we have seen that it leads to the largest ripple effects in our society. As you redefine citizenship with us, the nonprofit partners we highlight here, and the many other local nonprofits we support, we hope you will engage in the long-term, scalable work of love and justice so that we can collaboratively materialize and celebrate a good life for all Americans.

What does safety mean to us?

“Mass shootings happen in the U.S. with depressing regularity,” Saeed Ahmed wrote in an NPR article that counted at least 246 mass shootings since 2022 began — a tally that comes from the Gun Violence Archive, where you can view every incident plotted on an interactive map. This country ended 2021 with 692 mass shootings and 2020 with 610. Visually, this looks like the cover of The New York Times’ Sunday review section last month, the design a repetition of the line, “Authorities said the gunman was able to obtain the weapon legally.”

This June, March For Our Lives marched in Washington, DC and asked, “What will it take to create safe communities?” In their policy agenda, they state that “Violence is a complex and layered issue, but it is undeniable that the root causes of much of the violence in the United States lie in poverty, marginalization, exclusion, and glorification of guns in our culture.”

White supremacist violence occurs in instances of acute violence like the mass shootings that happened in a grocery store in East Buffalo in May. And it occurs as chronic violence in intentional, systemic disinvestment in communities of color, particularly in Black communities. As Rebekah Williams, Co-Founder of Food for the Spirit and the Buffalo Food Equity Network, said, “There is not just one solution to the issues of racism and food apartheid in Buffalo. There needs to be policies created to address issues of historic disinvestment and racism in the food system.”

These words echo what Zachari Curtis, Operations Director at Dreaming Out Loud, told the Catalogue in April. As a local, Black-led farm and food hub, they “(work) with a population that’s severely generationally under-capitalized and facing economic attacks.” It is about equity, but it isn’t only about equity. In institutional spaces, exclusion and barriers to access tend to happen in the fine print of “eligibility or non-eligibility.” Getting to the root causes of violence also necessitates interrogating our understanding of what violence looks like, and acknowledging that historic and ongoing disinvestment in working-class communities of color is violence in the fine print.

Though the pandemic has accelerated our reckoning with an ongoing history of state, carceral, economic, and systemic violence, and their very public relationships with interpersonal violence, we need to keep asking ourselves, “How do we want to live with each other?” In May, we spoke with Tenants and Workers United about their current campaign for affordable housing in the primarily Latino and low-income community of Arlandria. As Elsa Riveros, their Community Organizer, explained, in addition to the threat of mass displacement, it’s also about how our living conditions affect our self-esteem and how fighting disinvestment requires us to find our own value in our voices and stories.

What does it mean to describe everything — from mass shootings to food apartheid to medical debt to encampment clearings to the criminalization of abortion to unsafe conditions inside the D.C. Jail to over 1 million COVID-related deaths — as “American phenomena”? What are the realities we believe we have control over? Here, we offer the words of Avodah‘s New Orleans Program Director, Shosh Madick, who spoke out against the death penalty at an interfaith press conference in April.

“It seems very human to believe violence can result in liberation, though we (have) yet to see that actually function. I understand the inclination to confuse Justice and control. It (is) a tempting offer in our very human world, but I know true justice is possible. A justice that is sweet, connective, that acknowledges we might be individual worlds but we are bound to each other. Our job collectively, Jewish or not, is to look around and question: What systems have we set up and is it time to leave?”

To grapple with the complex intersections of violence,we need to move from a narrative of individualism to a narrative of collective responsibility. What does safety truly mean to us? How do we create spaces for joy? How can we grieve?

“Whether we have the “right” words or not, we do not have the luxury of saying nothing,” Samantha Wetzel, Executive Director of Common Good City Farm, wrote in a letter about the Buffalo shooting. In this spirit, we invite you to share your visions and definitions of safety, just as we share the words and work of our nonprofit partners who are actively reshaping our region. Together, we must drive toward a more nuanced understanding of the boundaries we establish between ourselves and others, the support system we need to build with each other, and the ways in which we can flourish if we feel safe.

Community-Rooted Public Safety

“We saw a lot of changes happen as a result of necessity during the pandemic that illustrated that we don’t need to be as punitive as we have been,” Patrice Sulton, Executive Director of the DC Justice Lab, told the Catalogue during a panel for our Give Local Gala in May. “We’ve seen changes to the number of people that we incarcerate without seeing a corresponding rise in crime, and so we know that we have people who are being subjected to arrest and incarceration who don’t need to be there.”

Understanding the root causes of violence is imperative to addressing it — we must embrace complexity and nuance in our fight for real safety. “The impact of gun violence on the lives of BIPOC communities is devastating, but so too is the over-reliance on a heavily punitive criminal legal system to address violence.” This statement comes from a Racial Equity Framework for Gun Violence Prevention report that the DC Justice Lab helped to produce, alongside March For Our Lives and other organizations. It also notes that, nationwide, the firearm homicide victimization rate is 11 times higher for Black people than for white people.

“When people dismiss abolitionists for not caring about victims or safety, they tend to forget that we are those victims, those survivors of violence,” Derecka Purnell wrote inThe Atlantic. Meaningful solutions come from the community. In DC, 94% of people sentenced for felonies, and more than 90% of people incarcerated in our local jails, are Black. In our narratives of criminalization and victimization, who are we focusing on? “If we are committed to eliminating this harm long-term,” Purnell proposed, “then society must offer quality housing, food, day care, transit, employment, debt cancellation, and free college so that people will not be stuck in unhealthy relationships because they need food, money, health insurance, or a place to live.”

In November 2020, then-Executive Director of Amara Legal Center, Llamilet Gutierrez, spoke about their work providing free legal representation and support to individuals impacted by sex trafficking or involved in sex work at our Community Changemakers panel about power-based violence. Gutierrez shared that their clients were “no longer able to access resources from their jobs and now (were) in a position where they need legal representation.”

““Safety” means more than the absence of harm.” This is the bedrock for a new, shared legislative agenda for community safety in DC, led by the DC Justice Lab, National Reentry Network For Returning Citizens, and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, among others. The safety we collectively want to explore can be, as Mariame Kaba and Eva Nagao define, “the ability to bring, be, and move through the world as your full self.“

Away From the “I” and Towards the “We”

Talking about community is a lot easier than building it. A culture of individualism has been ubiquitous in the United States for some time, but it is this shift in mindset that we must make to answer our question of how we want to live with each other. Here, we take inspiration from the harm reduction work of organizations like HIPS, who wrote in a statement:

“Harm reduction was originally developed as a public health approach to drug use in the 1980′s. The approach was primarily created by drug users, as well as HIV/AIDS activists and social service workers. Harm reduction was particularly important at the time because of the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS and the criminalization of drug users that prevented so many from accessing clean injection equipment and quality healthcare. Harm reduction incorporates a spectrum of strategies, from safer use to managed use to abstinence to meeting drug users “where they are,” addressing conditions of use along with the use itself. This approach centers agency, dignity, and wellbeing of drug users. As a public health theory, it acknowledges drug use as a fact and seeks to minimize risks and dangers associated with said use.” (Emphases ours)

Drug use, as well as other isolating circumstances like debt and illness, exist alongside, and intertwine with, the structural oppressions that disproportionately impact people of color. That these circumstances are socially isolating should be a point of interrogation to begin with. The non-judgmental philosophy that HIPS uses — as do other Catalogue nonprofit partners — shifts the responsibility of care from the individual to the collective. If we are to implement long-term and effective solutions, then we need to cultivate healing, justice, accountability, and safety on the level of ecosystems.

In the words of Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS), “Who are you accountable to and how have you built sustained connection in your community in order to achieve liberation?“

Currently, we live in a city where white households are estimated to have, on average, net assets of 81 times more than Black households and 22 times more than Latino households; and where medical debt in predominantly minority neighborhoods is nearly four times as common as in white neighborhoods. Though some might remember the local economy “booming” in pre-pandemic times, even in 2019 that economic growth was not shared. Using Census data, the DC Fiscal Policy Institute reported that “Approximately one in seven District residents, or 90,500 people, earned poverty-level incomes in 2019.” 18.9% of DC’s children — the vast majority of whom are Black — lived in poverty, well above the city’s overall poverty rate.

Theoretically and empirically, higher inequality is associated with higher crime and lower social trust. The narrative cannot be about individual action, reward, and consequence. As Kymone Freeman, cofounder of We Act Radio, told DaQuan Lawrence in The Hilltop, “In our nation’s political capital it seems community members have to make the changes because the wealthy know our circumstances are deteriorating.”

On the eco-system level, CASS works to strengthen community capacity by using the Transformative Justice framework, which holds as its goals, “Safety, healing, and agency for survivors; accountability and transformation for people who harm; community action, healing, and accountability, and transformation of the social conditions that perpetuate violence — systems of oppression and exploitation, domination and state violence.”What could flourish in this vision of DC?

At the Catalogue, we find hope and inspiration on this idea of safety from our nonprofit partners like CASS, who engages men in Rethinking Masculinity and trains residents in community-based solutions to gender-based harassment and assault; like HIPS, who runs a 24-hour crisis hotline and offers peer support groups, safer sex materials, overdose education and reversal, and more; like Tzedek DC, who closes the justice gap for low-income residents by providing legal help with debt-related problems; like the DC Justice Lab, who merges community organizing and empirical research to advance public safety solutions; and like the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, a community built on love and support, who develops and promotes healing practices for adults living with cancer and their caregivers, and who believes that “healing is always possible even when curing is not.”

In their visions for our city, we see community and public safety as a shared responsibility. Safety truly does mean more than an absence of harm. Who are you accountable to? What connections are you building and sustaining in your community? Collectively, let’s keep asking ourselves and each other, “How are we keeping us safe?“

BEACON Celebrates its 30th Anniversary with 30 Student Success Stories and the Introduction of its $30 for 30 Years Monthly Giving Program

BEACON was founded in 1992 by the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia. A secular program inspired by the Benedictine love of learning, BEACON empowers its adult learners to enhance their quality of life through English language and literacy.

Our humble beginning started with Sister Eileen Heaps teaching a handful of adults to read and write using the only space available to her – a small kitchen of the Monastery. The program has grown to serve more than 400 students each year, powered by 100+ volunteers at three class site locations in the Prince William Community.

In celebration of our anniversary, BEACON is taking a trip down memory lane and sharing 30 student stories for 30 years of service. These stories give a glimpse into the lives of the learners served, sharing why the learners enrolled in classes, and the impact our program has had on their lives.

Over the years, adult learners from more than 47 countries have attended tutoring, small group, and classroom instruction in a variety of offerings centered around literacy, language, and citizenship. The 30 student stories series highlights accomplishments such as:

• After taking ESOL and GED classes in 2007, Amelia pursued an Associates degree in architecture at Northern Virginia Community College.
• In 2008, Bruno obtained his GED.
• Claudia voted for the first time in 2008 after becoming a U.S. Citizen.
• Naly worked with a BEACON interview coach in 2020 and got a new job.

Powered by passionate volunteers, BEACON goes beyond skills building. Students complete the program with more confidence, a greater sense of belonging, and hope for a better future.

One student returned 20 years later to tell our staff, “I really appreciate all that the BEACON program did for me and I don’t know where I would be if I hadn’t been able to take the classes. The teacher was wonderful and so encouraging.”

Saeema, who was born in Afghanistan and grew up in Pakistan as a refugee, shared, “BEACON truly is a beacon of hope for people like me. BEACON’s services are very well tailored for the needs of new immigrants, and I appreciate the friendly environment it has created for people like me, particularly women. I can get my education, something that I would not have imagined at my age and as an illiterate woman in my society in my home country.”

Grace, who became a newly naturalized U.S. Citizen after taking BEACON citizenship classes in 2018, also shared, “I’m so blessed to have found BEACON… I believe that BEACON has helped so many people, not only with the citizenship interview, but also with learning English and the American culture, so that we can feel like we have a place here in America and can work toward making a better life for our families.”

Another father shared with our staff that he gained the confidence needed to read to his 5-year-old daughter, and he saw her reading improve as a result of their time together.

While BEACON has taken the time to celebrate our impact over the last 30 years, we have also taken measures to ensure the sustainability of the next 30 years. Our board of directors recently completed a 3-year strategic plan, revised mission and vision statements, and the tagline, “BEACON for Adult Literacy” has been changed to “BEACON for English Language and Literacy” to acknowledge the difference between learning a language and learning how to read.

For those interested in supporting BEACON’s next 30 years, there are many ways to get involved. We invite donors to join Sister Eileen’s Legacy Circle by becoming a monthly donor. This year’s goal is to obtain monthly donors at $30 or higher to help BEACON thrive for the next 30 years.

We are also currently recruiting for volunteers for the fall class session, which begins in August, for assignments such as testing/registration support, teaching classes both online and in-person, and special events. To learn more about how you can get involved, visit our website or apply here.

The 30 Years 30 Stories series continues into September, BEACON’s official birthday month. Don’t miss another #30years30stories student story! Stay connected with BEACON on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or sign up for our newsletter here.

Main Street Child Development Center: Educating & Enriching Children to Succeed in School & Beyond

“We’re really proud of the sense of community and family support we have here. We have lots of families whose children are second generation Main Street students. We celebrate our diversity striving to see to the health and development – the cognitive, social-emotional, and physical development – of each child.”

For nearly 50 years, Main Street Child Development Center has been providing high-quality, comprehensive, and affordable early childhood education programs and support services to 150 children every year, predominantly from low-income families. As one of only two programs in Northern Virginia that has received the highest Quality rating from the state of Virginia, Main Street ensures that the preschool and elementary school children they serve are inspired to learn and prepared for success.

One new way they’re empowering children is through their Discovery Room, recently constructed thanks to grants from the PNC Foundation and KMZ Foundation. Despite challenges with shipping delays and renovating their building during the pandemic, Main Street aims to publicly launch the room to families this summer to allow parents and children to explore the space and learn about tools that they can also use at home.

“(It’s important) to see the different materials that kids can have fun and learn with, to understand that this is part of the healthy development of a child,” says Carol Lieske, Executive Director. “I’ve been at Main Street for nearly 10 years and I always wished there was a room we could make available to our students and teachers that is a different environment, (so that) if a child is having big feelings they can have calm lighting, calm music, and sensory equipment that can calm their stimulation. Or, if they need to be stimulated, they can go there to exercise and get their energy out.”

This emphasis on children’s wellbeing has guided every step of Main Street’s approach to developing the room. Working with Skills on the Hill Occupational Therapy, they’ve created a play area that includes equipment for all moods and needs, from a trampoline to rocking chairs to a light cube that strobes different colors. “We wanted to make it fun,” Carol adds. “The occupational therapist helped us figure out… (how to make it) really fun and purposeful for all students’ needs.”

Walking into this room, it’s immediately obvious how much Main Street has invested in fun and play for the children they serve. On one wall, they have a smart board that allows them to project calming images and flowing colors. Against another wall, you can sit in a canoe with weighted vests and feel like it envelopes you. This room is a loving reminder that movement and sensory stimulation are critical for children’s – and, frankly, everyone’s – emotional health.

“Even our teachers say, “Can we go in there and relax and lay down and play and have somebody roll me in the barrel?”” Carol shares, laughing. “It’s a place for kids who have big feelings and who don’t quite know how to cope with them or express them. This (room) can give them the freedom to do that.”

Spaces like these are especially helpful when children, families, and teachers alike have to grapple with painful problems, many of which the pandemic has only served to amplify. As Carol states, “We can’t expect children to learn if they’re fearful or hungry, if they don’t know who’s picking them up, or if they didn’t have a home to sleep in last night.” Main Street works to provide those services and resources to meet their basic needs while also focusing on their social-emotional health and a preparation for a lifetime of learning.

Beyond the Discovery Room, they connect families to other community resources like food pantries and ESL classes, as well as work with two on-site mental health specialists to assist children and their families. And at the core of their programming, Main Street ensures that each classroom has a 6:1 student-teacher ratio to increase children’s learning opportunities and enhance relationships.

“People may or may not realize how big and important these relationships with the families and children are,” Carol highlights. “My energy comes from being with the children and families, and feeling like we’re developing strong, trusting relationships with them so we can work together to help children explore and discover and dream, and go to school confident that they’re going to be successful in a learning environment.”

When you make a donation to Main Street, you help to fund projects such as this Discovery Room, as well as ensure that they can make their programs and services affordable and accessible to all. You can also learn more about their work on their website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Photos taken by Julie Cole

The Arc of Northern Virginia Celebrates 60 Years: Looking Back, Moving Forward

Sixty years ago, parents in Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax County, who believed their children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) had rights like everyone else, came together for a meeting. They felt that their children deserved to be included in the community and to pursue fulfillment and happiness just like everyone else.

At that time, little was known about IDD or its causes. There were virtually no programs or activities to assist in the development and care of people with IDD or to support families. It was common for doctors to tell parents that the best place for their child was in an institution.

But these advocates wanted more. They wanted their loved ones to lead fulfilling lives in the community instead of being shuttered away in dark institutions. Emboldened by their collective desire to raise their children at home, their refusal to accept institutionalization as the only option, and the belief that their collective voices gave their movement strength, The Arc of Northern Virginia was created.

In the six decades since the Northern Virginia Chapter was incorporated by the Commonwealth of Virginia on March 21, 1962, the chapter has created community residential systems and a transportation program, as well as established guardianship and trust programs. The Arc of Northern Virginia also teaches self-advocates how to find their voice and is a fiercely effective advocate organization on the local and state level.

Today, we serve more than 39,000 individuals with IDD – such as autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and rare chromosomal disorders – of all ages and their families in the cities and counties of Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, and Falls Church. We provide education, information, and referrals to help caregivers navigate complex disability systems throughout each stage of their loved one’s life. We’ve created innovative web-based tech tools to help people with IDD live more independently, in addition to providing financial management through a Special Needs Trust program.

We’ve witnessed a lot of change in the world of disability services in the past 60 years. Achievements such as the Americans With Disabilities Act, the closure of institutions, and advancements in technology supports are celebrated. The Arc of Northern Virginia has played a pivotal role, from producing the first sheltered workshop in the region to establishing a pilot day care center that later became the Growth & Development Center under the Arlington County Health Department. Most importantly, we have been critically engaged in changing the public perception of disability.

However, the goal of fully-supported inclusion in the community remains unfulfilled. Public policy too often still neglects the needs of our loved ones with a disability. The promise of fully-funding community supports is far from a reality.

The mission of The Arc of Northern Virginia has been, and will always be, to create opportunities for people with IDD to live inclusive and meaningful lives – in the community of their choosing – for their whole lives. What has not changed in the last six decades are our core values and how they guide us. Every workshop, resource guide, webinar, advocacy campaign, legislator meeting, and decision made is driven by our belief in personhood, community, rights, choice, and human dignity.

Support and champion The Arc of Northern Virginia as they celebrate their 60th anniversary this year! Visit their website and join their mailing list to learn more about their fight for equality and equity for people with IDD. You can also save the date for their 60th Anniversary Gala on Saturday, November 5, 2022 and help fund their critical work!

Rock Recovery: Bodily Trust is a Two-Way Street

Rock Recovery works to bridge gaps in resources for eating disorder treatment and education by removing the barriers of stigma, cost, and accessibility and by connecting people to clinical community and quality care. The Catalogue for Philanthropy recently had a chance to interview Heather Clark, their new Clinical Director, about her work and why it’s so important to make peace with food and our bodies.

Catalogue: What led you to become a counselor and Clinical Director with Rock Recovery?

Heather: My path into the counseling field was very circuitous. I’ve always found psychology fascinating, and I’m very people-oriented, so counseling turned out to be a good fit for me. I’m also over 15 years into recovery from my own eating disorder, so I have always gravitated toward working with clients struggling with food and body issues.

I did my clinical internship at an eating disorder treatment center. I loved working as a part of a team and have been waiting for the right opportunity to get back into a team setting ever since then. When I saw this opportunity at Rock Recovery, I was very excited because it feels like such a good match with my values. I’ve been acquainted with Rock Recovery since I started in private practice six years ago and I have loved their mission to increase access to eating disorders care.

I really appreciate how their therapy groups fill a real gap in outpatient care for disordered eating. I also find Rock’s nationwide faith-based support groups to be such a unique and powerful offering. And, on top of all this, they operate from a weight-inclusive, Health At Every Size® stance, which is a top priority for me. So, it was a perfect fit.

The Health At Every Size® Principles and framework are a continuously evolving alternative to a weight-centered approach and promote health equity, support ending weight discrimination, and improve access to quality healthcare regardless of size.

Catalogue: How would you describe your philosophy and approach to your work?

Heather: My approach is weight-inclusive, trauma-informed, and strengths-based. I understand healing food and body issues to be a rebuilding of trust between the self and the body. It’s a two-way street – the body learns that you are trustworthy to care for it, and you learn that you can trust your body to always give 100% for you, and to manage your energy storage (weight) without your interference. I value Health At Every Size®, body diversity, and food freedom. I also emphasize the acceptance of emotions, self-compassion, assertiveness, and building shame resilience.

Catalogue: What is something you aren’t often asked about your work that you’d like to share?

Heather: Eating disorders are the second most deadly mental health condition, second only to opioid use disorder. This is really serious, and I wish that parents, educators, and policymakers would recognize this, seek out education about prevention, and enact change.

In fact, kids are 242 times more likely to develop an eating disorder than Type 2 diabetes, based on the CDC’s numbers on the incidence of these two conditions. And yet, when we hear people sounding the alarm about the health of our kids, it’s centered around weight suppression (during a time when kids should be gaining weight, not less) and avoiding certain foods.

Catalogue: What is a challenge you’re facing in your work with Rock Recovery and how are you dealing with it?

Heather: I think the evergreen answer to this question among nonprofit organizations is funding, right? Besides that, I think a lot of therapists right now are either maxed out or over-worked, and I think our team is no exception. The need is so great, but there are only so many hours in the day, and we all have families and personal lives of our own to juggle, as well.

Catalogue: What about your work with Rock Recovery excites you or gives you hope?

Heather: I get excited about seeing more and more people gain increasing levels of freedom in their recovery. For so many, lack of access to care is a real barrier to this freedom. Rock Recovery is working to change that.

Rock Recovery never wants finances to be a barrier to accessing the care people need and deserve. We offer all our services – from therapy groups, to individual therapy, to nationwide faith-based support groups – on a sliding scale, which means that we adjust the fee for the service according to the person’s income. This excites me and gives me hope for the mental health field. I hope more organizations will follow a similar model in other niches within mental health care.

Catalogue: What is something about Rock Recovery’s work or impact that you’d like to celebrate?

Heather: Rock Recovery is growing rapidly and we’re expanding our Maryland services to meet the needs of the people we serve. We’re now accepting Maryland residents for individual counseling and in our Breaking Bread meal support and therapy group, which is very exciting.

Catalogue: What is coming next for Rock Recovery?

Heather: We’re very excited to start two new therapy groups in the fall to be able to serve even more adults and adolescents who need our help! We’re launching a lunch break meal support and therapy group for adults, as well as an 8-week therapy group for teens ages 14-18.

We are also hosting a continuing education event on body-positivity in youth, coming up on June 2nd, that is aimed at helping educators, doctors, and others to recalibrate their approach to health and wellness teaching in school settings to prioritize body acceptance and eating disorders prevention.

Catalogue: Finally, how can readers help support and advocate for Rock Recovery’s mission?

Heather: We’d love for readers to support our work by donating one-time or becoming a monthly donor so that more people can access the treatment they need and find freedom from disordered eating.

If you or a loved one are currently struggling or wondering if it might be time to get help, please reach out to see whether we might be a good fit for your needs and schedule an interest call on our website.

I’d (also) encourage everyone to learn more about Health At Every Size® and to promote body diversity every chance they get.