More than 40 Arlington nonprofits have received a total of over $500,000 in emergency response support from the Arlington Community Foundation COVID-19 Prompt Response Fund, with more funds being disbursed daily. [see list of awardees, attached]
“The front-line organizations are really in urgent need of funds as they scramble to help our neighbors in crisis,” said Arlington Community Foundation CEO and President Jennifer Owens. “Thanks to the many generous people in our community, we are providing support on a daily basis. But the needs are immense and there is no end in sight.”
Since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in Arlington, a team of Community Foundation staff, board members, and representatives from both the County and other local funders have met daily to assess grant requests from nonprofit organizations on the front lines with clients, patients, and residents impacted by the health crisis and its economic fallout. This includes organizations focused on emergency food needs, health needs for the uninsured or underinsured, and support for hourly workers displaced from their wage-earning positions.
The Arlington Community Foundation’s response efforts were bolstered by a grant from Amazon, $350,000 of which was specifically targeted for use in Arlington.. The Washington Forrest Foundation has also partnered in the Community Foundation’s prompt-response effort, including supporting 25 percent of the first $300,000 in awarded grants. The Philip K. Graham Fund and many of the Foundation’s donor-advised fundholders have also supported the fund, which has secured more than $750,000 to date to fund emergency needs.
“We encourage people to directly support their favorite nonprofits if they know where the money is needed most and have those relationships,” said Owens. “But for businesses and individuals who are looking for a way to provide crucial help to an array of vetted Arlington nonprofits helping with right-now needs, our Prompt Response Fund is an effective way to do that.”
To learn more about the Community Foundation’s Prompt Response Fund, including how to make a gift, please visit www.arlcf.org.
Arlington Community Foundation
COVID-19 Prompt Response Grantees through 4/6/20
AHC Inc — $20,000
AHC develops affordable housing and helps communities thrive in the Northern Virginia, Washington DC, and Baltimore region. The grant will cover Arlington residents’ emergency needs such as groceries, diapers and other supplies with maximum flexibility.
ALS Association DC/MD/VA Chapter — $5,000
The DC/MD/VA Chapter of the ALS Association serves the needs of those living with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and their families throughout Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The grant will support technology purchases for online support to Arlington clients who are highly susceptible to COVID-19 because of advanced respiratory issues.
APAH — $20,000
APAH is a nonprofit focused on increasing the number of committed affordable apartments in the DC Metro area for our low-income neighbors. The grant will provide its Arlington residents with financial assistance for rent, food, and other emergency purchases.
Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) — $5,000, $20,000
AFAC’s mission is to feed our neighbors in need by providing dignified access to nutritious supplemental groceries. Initial first-day emergency grant, and second grant to purchase groceries that will help meet increased COVID-related demand.
Arlington Free Clinic — $5,000
The Arlington Free Clinic ensures the medically underserved have access to affordable quality health care. This first-day quick response grant provided flexible support to the Clinic for its initial response to the crisis.
Arlington Neighborhood Village — $5,000
Arlington Neighborhood Village is dedicated to helping older Arlington residents continue living in their own homes. The grant will provide emergency supplies including food, medicine, and cleaning supplies for low-income seniors.
Arlington Thrive — $20,000
Arlington Thrive provides same-day, emergency financial assistance for Arlington residents facing a hardship. The grant will support increased needs for rent and food assistance.
A-SPAN — $20,000
A-SPAN strives to end homelessness in Arlington through housing and ongoing case management. The grant will support additional food purchases for increased meal demand, and emergency nursing and medical supplies, including protective gear, thermometers, and hospital grade cleaning supplies.
Bonder and Amanda Johnson Community Development Corporation — $10,000
Bonder and Amanda Johnson Community Development Corporation addresses needs in the Green Valley (formerly Nauck) community through education, healthy living, financial empowerment and community involvement. The grant will support neighborhood residents with emergency assistance for rent, food and supply purchases as well as to provide emergency medical transportation services.
Bridges to Independence — $10,000
Bridges to Independence offers a continuum of shelter and support for homeless individuals and families, helping them attain financial security and moving forward into self-sufficiency. The grant will provide families in the shelter and rapid rehousing program with groceries, cleaning and personal supplies as well as food for its pantry, application fees for apartments, and holding fees to landlords.
Capital Caring Health — $20,000
Capital Caring’s Halquist Center in Arlington provides hospice, palliative care, and counseling to patients and their families. The grant will help Capital Caring expand support to care at home, hospice, and advanced illness programs by deploying telehealth remote patient monitors in homes.
The Church at Clarendon — $10,000
This Baptist church in Clarendon is housed in a multi-use building with eight stories of apartments, 60 percent of which are designated as affordable housing for low-income tenants. The grant will help provide food, rent and mortgage assistance to low-income residents during the crisis.
Computer Core — $5,000
Computer CORE provides basic computer skills instruction to low-income unemployed and underemployed adults. The grant will provide direct cash assistance to 16 Arlington residents who were enrolled in the program when classes were paused.
Culpepper Gardens — $10,000
Culpepper Gardens is an affordable senior living community with two independent senior living facilities comprised of 267 apartments. The grant will cover food and transportation needs of assisted-living residents as well as additional personal protective and technology equipment.
Doorways for Women and Families — $20,000
Doorways creates pathways out of homelessness, domestic violence, and sexual assault leading to safe, stable, and empowered lives in Arlington. The grant will support crisis-driven increases in housing assistance and basic client needs, including food, cleaning supplies, baby formula, diapers, and clothes for growing children.
Dream Project — $10,000
The Dream Project serves promising young immigrant students through mentoring, scholarships, community-building, and advocacy. The grant will provide emergency financial assistance, including rent, utilities, and groceries for Dream Project students from low-income families.
Edu-Futuro — $20,000
Edu-Futuro empowers immigrant and underserved youth and families through mentorship, education, leadership development and parent engagement. The grant will support rent and food relief to Latino and immigrant families in Arlington.
Ethiopian Community Development Council — $20,000
ECDC serves the African immigrant and refugee community through a broad spectrum of local and national programs. The grant will provide rental assistance to Arlington clients in need of immediate help.
The Fenwick Foundation — $5,000
The Fenwick Foundation is focused on improving the quality of life and health of older adults,
veterans and active military, individuals with special needs and caregivers. The grant will support financial assistance to the very low income and vulnerable assisted living and independent living residents in Arlington.
Friends of Guest House — $10,000
Friends of Guest House helps women successfully reenter the community from incarceration. The grant will provide food and financial assistance, including rent, utilities, and other emergency purchases to clients, as well as cleaning supplies and protective gear for staff and residents.
Fruitful Planet — $10,000
Fruitful Planet is dedicated to bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to all people. The grant will provide fresh fruit and vegetables to various Arlington partners serving the community during the crisis.
Hope for the Warriors — $10,000
Hope for the Warriors is a nonprofit veteran service organization that provides assistance to combat wounded service members and their families. The grant will assist approximately 20 financially vulnerable veterans and their families with rent/mortgage, utility, car payments, and gift cards for food.
HOPE Multiplied — $10,000
Hope Multiplied serves at-risk children, their families, and the homeless in the Metro DC region. The grant will provide high quality, nutritious food to children in Arlington’s Green Valley neighborhood in partnership with Drew Elementary.
La Cocina VA — $20,000
La Cocina VA is a bilingual culinary training program for low-income individuals in the Washington DC Metro Area. The grant will support rent, medical needs, and food for approximately 26 Arlington graduates working in restaurants and hotels, many of whom have been laid off.
Legal Aid Justice Center — $10,000
The Legal Aid Justice Center partners with communities and clients to achieve justice by dismantling systems that create and perpetuate poverty. The grant will provide food assistance and necessary supplies to immigrants and other clients struggling through the crisis.
Meals on Wheels of Northern VA — $5,000
Meals on Wheels of Northern Virginia offers home-delivered food service to Arlington County residents who are homebound or unable to procure or prepare meals for themselves. The grant will support a shift to weekly delivery of flash frozen and shelf stable meals to increases in Arlington residents seeking meal assistance.
Neighborhood Health — $5,000
Neighborhood Health improves health and advances health equity in Northern Virginia by providing high quality primary care regardless of ability to pay. The grant will support medical equipment for patients, PPE and cleaning supplies.
New Hope Housing — $5,000
Since 1978, New Hope Housing has been providing a comprehensive array of services to homeless families and single adults in Northern Virginia. The grant will support rent for low-income housed Arlington clients, food and emergency supplies for homeless clients, and security deposits for residents leaving the shelter.
Northern Virginia Family Service — $10,000
Northern Virginia Family Service helps families and individuals in need create stability and self-sufficiency with a wide range of critical services. The grant will provide food, medicine, rent, and other necessities to Arlington individuals and families impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
OAR (Offender Aid and Restoration) — $20,000
OAR works with men and women returning to the community from incarceration and offering alternative sentencing options through community service to youth and adults. The grant will help OAR meet the increased need for assistance with rent, medication, food and transportation that program participants returning to Arlington County after incarceration are experiencing because of the health crisis.
Our Lady Queen of Peace Church — $10,000
Our Lady Queen of Peace is a Catholic church in Arlington that provides support to vulnerable and in-crisis individuals through its outreach mission. The grant will support the church’s food pantry.
PRS Inc.– $10,000
PRS provides mental health, crisis intervention and suicide prevention services in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. The grant will provide personal protective equipment for PRS staff and food, health and financial needs for clients.
Phoenix Houses of the Mid-Atlantic, Inc. — $20,000
Phoenix House Mid-Atlantic is an addiction treatment center serving individuals struggling with substance use disorders. The grant will help cover costs for patients when insurance/personal funds do not completely cover the full course of their prescribed treatment.
Real Food for Kids — $10,000
Real Food for Kids collaborates with school communities to improve the quality of school food, and help families make healthy nutritional choices. The grant will support their partnership with Bayou Bakery to provide meals to needy families.
Shirlington Employment and Education Center — $10,000
SEEC is a day labor center facilitating employment and vocational skills of the worker pool. The grant will provide rental assistance and meals purchased from local Latino restaurants to SEEC’s day laborers.
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church — $10,000
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church serves the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and neighborhoods in the heart of Arlington, as well as the George Mason University Arlington Campus. The grant will augment church’s financial assistance program, which helps Arlington residents to pay rent and utilities.
VHC Pediatrics (Arlington Pediatric Center) — $5,000
Virginia Hospital Center Pediatrics offers comprehensive, affordable, quality healthcare in a culturally sensitive environment to children, birth through 18 years of age, living in Arlington County with family incomes at or below 200% of Federal Poverty Level. This was a first-day grant for initial emergency assistance.
Views at Clarendon — $5,000
The Views at Clarendon, a mixed-use building including 70 affordable housing units, is a collaboration between Arlington County, the First Baptist Church of Clarendon, and the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing. The grant will support rental assistance and emergency support for low-income residents.
YMCA of Metropolitan Washington — $10,000
The Y provides opportunities in wellness, aquatics, youth sports, summer camp, and childcare. The grant will support the purchase of food and basic household needs for families at its Arlington branch.
VOICE (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement) — $10,000
VOICE is a non-partisan coalition of almost 50 faith communities and civic organizations in Northern Virginia working together to build power in middle and low-income communities. The grant will provide cash for groceries, medicine, cleaning products, rent, utilities and transportation to low-income Arlington residents during the COVID crisis.
Volunteers of America Chesapeake Inc — $10,000
Volunteers of America Chesapeake operates Arlington’s Residential Program Center detox and substance abuse recovery program for single homeless adults. The grant will support the purchase of sanitation and cleaning supplies, food, personal protection equipment, over-the-counter medications/medical supplies, and personal hygiene supplies/toiletries for its Arlington residents.
Wesley Housing Development Corporation — $20,000
Wesley Housing provides safe, quality and affordable housing to residents across the Washington DC metropolitan area. The grant will support supplemental food and emergency supply needs for its low-income Arlington residents.