Welcome to almost-fall, Greater Washington! And here is what’s coming up at your local nonprofits this weekend …
Accokeek Foundation (National Colonial Farm, 3400 Bryan Point Road, Accokeek, MD)
On Saturday at noon, join in the monthly kitchen table conversation about the epicurean delights of colonial Marylanders; learn how our tastes and the food itself have changed over 300 years. More information right here!
Potomac Riverkeeper (Georgetown Waterfront Park, K st & Wisconsin Avenue NW)
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act at the Georgetown Waterfront Park on Saturday morning and afternoon; all are invited to participate in a morning paddle out on the Potomac, followed by a series of clean water advocate speakers.
See the full schedule here.
Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment (4200 S. Four Mile Run Drive, Arlington, VA)
Collect and tally trash for this annual event held in conjunction with the International Coastal Cleanup and Clean Virginia Waterways Day on Saturday at 1:00 PM at Barcroft Park. Groups and families are welcome; call 703-228-6406 to register today.
District of Columbia Arts Center (2438 18th Street NW, Washington, DC)
This weekend and next, Matthew Vaky (veteran of Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theatre) creates a hilarious and startling examination of US policy towards enemy combatants; call 202 462-7834 for reservations and learn more right here.
Also: Very best wishes to THEARC on their AfterDark@THEARC gala this Saturday!
Looking ahead to next week, be sure to check out Successful Women Entrepreneurs in Washington at The Women’s Center on Monday at 6:00 PM and Financial Literacy New Volunteer Orientation is coming up on Tuesday at 7:00 PM at Our Daily Bread in Fairfax.
By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator
Last week, Venture Philanthropy Partners published Capital Kids: Shared Responsibility, Shared Future, the first comprehensive study of the state of children and youth in the National Capital Region. Capital Kids reveals starling statistics and information regarding the state of the region’s children and youth, which Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP) CEO Carol Thompson Cole describes as “in crisis.”
Top-line findings from the report show that child poverty continues to plague the District and National Capital Region (NCR), with some of the highest child poverty rates in the country. The report identified three other key trends and factors that influence the disparity among life situations of children within the NCR, in addition to the poverty factor: the opportunity divide, the achievement gap, and the immigration impact. The entire report is available for download online at http://capitalkidsreport.org/, and the accompanying website includes additional information on many areas explored in the study.
Some key facts from Capital Kids:
- 30.4% of children in the District live in poverty
- Between 2005 and 2012, the rate of childhood poverty in Alexandria increased four times, while the rate doubled in Montgomery County
- 41% of children in the NCR have at least one immigrant parent
- Almost 43,000 youth in the NCR are not enrolled in school, including 14,000 youth between the ages of 16-19 who are neither enrolled in school nor employed in the labor force
- 41.5% of third graders in the District scored proficient in reading, a key indicator of future academic achievement.
“Walkable urban” places enjoy economic success, but face social equity challenges (Greater Greater Washington): “After decades of disinvestment and suburban flight, the Washington region’s urban neighborhoods are now driving the local economy, says a study from George Washington University professor Christopher Leinberger [...] Leinberger measured social equity performance based on housing and transportation costs, unemployment levels, racial diversity, and transit accessibility.” He then found that many “WalkUP” communities that were economically successful, such as Georgetown, “often failed to create or sustain a diverse population.” More research from Leinberger is available here.
Washington DC area is becoming a region of renters (Washington Post: Local): “Notwithstanding steady recovery in the region?s homeownership market, much of the recent population growth and a sizeable portion of the residential construction activity in the Washington area have been associated with growth in the renter population.” In 2010, the DC home ownership rate had fallen 3.5 percentage points since 2006. “The surge in renters includes many in the typical renter demographic — young, single, childless, urban. However, the idea of a “typical” renter is now more varied.” You also can learn more about Catalogue’s DC-based housing nonprofits right here.
Philanthropy on the rise in Asia (TODAY): “Philanthropic giving has been on the rise in Asia over the past few years, according to Speakers at the inaugural Philanthropy in Asia Summit in Singapore, and the trend is even more noticeable in China and India.” Over 2006 to 2010, giving in India and China “has doubled as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product [...] charity contributions in China amounted US$11 billion (S$13.5 billion) in 2010, or 0.1 per cent of the country’s GDP.” On a related note, what do you think about measuring charitable donations as a percentage of GDP? What does it reveal and what information does it leave out?
On September 11th, 2012:
I HEAR America singing, the varied carols I hear;
Those of mechanics — each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong;
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work;
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat — the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck;
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench — the hatter singing as he stands;
The wood-cutter’s song — the ploughboy’s, on his way in the morning, or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
The delicious singing of the mother — or of the young wife at work — or of the girl sewing or washing — Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else;
The day what belongs to the day — At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs.
– Leaves of Grass (1900) by Walt Whitman
By Amanda Andere, Executive Director of FACETS
Originally published in the Huffington Post; reposted in full with permission from the author.
Summer’s scorching days keep families throughout the D.C. metro area planning ways to avoid the heat, such as swimming, vacations and evening cookouts. At FACETS, these dog days mean it’s time to plan for the cold.
In fact, we recently held a planning meeting for our Hypothermia Prevention and Response Program, so that we’re ready to help the homeless in our community survive the winter weather. It requires a lot of planning and coordination among partners to help homeless individuals and families weather the cold.
Every year, FACETS offers safe places to sleep and nutritious meals to men and women who are homeless through our Hypothermia Prevention and Response Program. This program is one of five operated across Fairfax and Falls Church in partnership with the Fairfax County government and approximately 40 faith communities.
The purpose of the hypothermia prevention program is just that: to prevent weather-induced illness and death. However, it’s now more than that. For the third year in a row, FACETS offered personalized case management services and life improvement seminars to all guests who wanted to participate. Last season, nearly 40 percent of all hypothermia program guests chose to take advantage of these services, resulting in many adults moving off the streets and into permanent housing.
Last year, we did a bundle of features on the Catalogue website — which offers an array of tools for getting to know, and supporting, our nonprofits. So at the start of fall, here are some cool elements of the site to bookmark …
Upcoming Events: any Catalogue nonprofit can list volunteer opportunities, performances, open house, and more right here. Browse or search the list if you’re making weekend plans!
All News: Similarly, our nonprofits can post links to articles or other media in which they’ve been featured, as well as stories that might be of interest to their communities. Check out the August and September news right here.
How to Give: Any time, any day, you can support a nonprofit in the Catalogue network directly through our website. We have a number of ways to give, including donate now/decide later and corporate sponsorship options. Both varied and simple!
By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator
The brick wall of a small alley just off U Street, between 12th and 13th streets in Northwest Washington, looks a little brighter these days. You might recognize that block as the home of a DC institution — Ben’s Chili Bowl — but another, newer DC institution has spent the past few weeks making its mark on that same corner. Catalogue nonprofit Words Beats & Life Inc., a member of the Washington-based partnership Murals DC, worked with renowned local visual artist Aniekan Udofia and Ben’s Chili Bowl to plan for and create a striking new mural, which features the faces of Bill Cosby, President Obama, Donnie Simpson, and Chuck Brown. According to the Washington Post, “the mural is a tremendous example of what happens when government and nonprofit groups work together.” The work of art has so far received a positive reception from the public, despite the push-back that graffiti-based street art has faced in the past.
Murals DC tackles this (mis)conception of street art head on. Their mission is to “help replace illegal graffiti with artistic works, to revitalize sites within the community, and to teach young people the art of aerosol painting”, and in doing so, “positively impact the District’s youth by providing them with the resources they need to engage in this project.” Words Beats & Life Inc. plays an important role in this collaboration, as a nonprofit partner working with several offices of the DC government. WBL Inc focuses more broadly on the role of popular, urban art (including music mixing and break dancing, as well as graffiti art) as a positive force in the lives of youth.
Letting Employees Call the Philanthropy Shots (Forbes): “Corporate volunteerism is on the rise, yet companies still face challenges getting employees engaged [...] While these programs are growing, engagement is not following suit, with some studies showing that volunteer participation is holding steady.” The piece then profiles Freudenberg-NOK, a technology company whose annual volunteer time comes to “more than 55,000 man hours.” In addition to hiring employees who already believe in corporate philanthropy, the “employee-centric quality of allows not just for greater engagement, but also greater community impact.” How does your company encourage and catalyze volunteer projects?
At the age of 12, before I had had one full year of formal schooling, I had a conception of life that no experience would ever erase, a predilection for what was real that no argument could ever gainsay, a sense of the world that was mine and mine alone, a notion as to what life meant that no education could ever alter, a conviction that the meaning of living came only when one was struggling to wring a meaning out of meaningless suffering.
I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.
– Black Boy; American Hunger by Richard Wright, born today in 1908