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Capitol Hill Community Foundation Meets the Pandemic by Stephanie Deutsch
CAPITOL HILL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION MEETS THE PANDEMIC Local Hard-Hit Organizations Are Receiving CHCF Support
by Stephanie Deutsch
How do you meet twice the need with In spite of this, the Serve Your City/ half the resources? How to you offer Foundation was able to Ward 6 Mutual Aid financial assistance to organizations make its usual spring grants Serve Your City had for facing dramatically changing circum- and, in May, to augment years been providing afterstances without the in-person fund- them with special grants to- school and weekend enraising events that for years have provided money for taling $100,000. This was richment for underserved hundreds of small grants? That is, more or less, the possible because as Cym- young people, activities like situation being faced by the Capitol Hill Communi- rot said, “Every single per- financial literacy classes, ty Foundation and other organizations as the neigh- son who had bought tickets tennis and rowing. Foundborhood copes with the ongoing COVID-19 pan- to the dinner that we had to er Maurice Cook says that demic. In late March Foundation president Nicky cancel left their contribu- Covid has “shined a flash-
Cymrot realized that emerging consensus around the tions and pledges in place.” light” on deeper needs virus meant that 250 people could not safely gath- The special grants went to in the community – the er for the annual Capitol Hill Community Achieve- five organizations Cym- lack of adequate access to ment Awards dinner that has for many years been rot calls “anchors” of the the technology and skills the Foundation’s largest fundraiser. The event was community – CHAMPS needed for virtual schoolcancelled. This fall the popular Literary Feasts that (the Capitol Hill Associ- ing as well as more basic normally raise $40,000 to underwrite grants to local ation of Merchants and needs like food. Building public schools were replaced by a Pumpkin Walk -- Professionals), Hill Center The CHCF Literary Pumpkin Walk was held in place of Literary Feast dinners which usually on his connections in the an invitation to create decorations inspired by books at the Old Naval Hospital, raise $40,000 for school support programming. community, Maurice has and then to vote for a favorite. The result was 40 homes and yards decorated with witches from MacEveryone Home DC (formerly Capitol Hill Group The Walk did not raise any money, but the winner was given a grant of $1,000 to donate to a local school. Photo: CHCF turned Serve Your City into the lead partner in the beth, spiders from Charlotte’s Web, a skeletal Dor- Ministry), Little Lights and newly formed Ward 6 Muothy and Toto from the Wizard of Oz and other Serve your City, all organi- tual Aid. The special grant spooky sights. It was lots of fun, but it didn’t raise zations with which the Foundation has strong, ongo- from the Foundation allowed him to begin to disany money. ing relationships. tribute large amounts of school supplies, food and Everyone Home DC the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. He sees tremen“I was stunned,” says Karen Cunningham, dous, increasing need especially as winter approachExecutive Director of Everyone Home DC of es and tent encampments continue to grow. her reaction to news of the special grant. “It household items, storing them in space provided by said that we trust you in this uncertain time.” Little Lights Because the homeless and housing-inse- The early summer brought not just the cancellation cure population with which her organization of events and uncertainty about the future course of works is especially vulnerable to the virus, ev- the virus, but the crisis that followed the death of ery aspect of what they do had to change with George Floyd in Minneapolis. Little Lights, a longthe pandemic. The day hospitality center at established organization bringing tutoring, mentorShirley’s Place that had been offering a place ing and a host of other services to residents of public to do laundry, to take showers, to use comput- housing on Capitol Hill, had responded to the paners was shut down by the city (though it is now demic by stepping up its partnership with the DC partially reopened). Cunningham had to man- Food Bank, enabling it to bring ready-to-go meals age an increased and changing work load and for distribution at Potomac Gardens and Hopkins
Little Lights tutors have stepped in to help with supervised plan for what she fears may be drastically in- apartments. But Little Lights also saw hugely invirtual learning. Photo: Courtesy Little Lights creased need this winter. creased interest in the “Race Literacy 101” class it 44 H HILLRAG.COM
had been offering to the public for several years. The in-person series of classes scheduled to begin in June with 30 participants had to be cancelled. The virtual version that replaced it has been extremely popular with over a hundred participants in the first ten-week session and the upcoming session sold out with 150 people, some from foreign countries, signed up. The course is a mixture of small group discussions, videos and reading about historical events and current concerns like mass incarceration, and with a focus on the spiritual aspects of racial reconciliation.
Hill Center Goes Virtual Hill Center Executive Director Diana Ingraham says of the emergency grant from the Foundation in the spring that it “saved our bacon.” In mid-March, the city ordered the closing of public places and cancellation of large events which immediately shut off the earned income the Center has relied on to cover operating expenses. But the grant from the Foundation, followed in June by a payment from the federal Payroll Protection Program, allowed Ingraham to keep paying longtime staff members. A combination of other grants from DC and federal programs, and a lot of careful planning, has allowed Hill Center to develop new ways of doing things. Ingraham says that the last in-person art show opening, last February, brought 400 people to the Hill Center. The newest art show is entirely on line as was the very popular annual fall pottery show. And virtual cooking classes have been very successful. 30 people recently learned to make pastry with only the chef actually in Hill Center’s demonstration kitchen. So, while it has been demanding to adjust to the needs created by the pandem-
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Spring Grants Top $220,000
This fall, holding meetings via Zoom, pulling in recommendations from 15 dedicated grants committee members, digging deep into dwindling financial reserves while expressing confidence in the results of its upcoming annual end-of-year fundraising appeal, the Foundation gave away $220,000. This was the second largest batch of seasonal grants ever. The grants went to many of its usual grantees as well as going to some endeavors made timely by the pandemic and a renewed focus on improving racial understanding – hypothermia supplies for Everyone Home DC, on-line performances from the Capitol Hill Chorale, REACH’s program to pay Eastern High School students to tutor elementary school kids on-line, parent discussion groups at local schools facilitated by Kindred, tee chairman Mark Weinheimer, “that there are so many organizations doing interesting, imaginative and produc-
increased support for Little Lights’ rative work in our community.” Board President Nicky Cymrot echoes his thought and says, “Of course, we can only do this because of the extraordinary generosity of people in this community.” She then adds, almost as an aside, the astonishing fact that since its founding thirty years ago, the Capitol Hill Community Foundation has given away $9.5 million, money raised almost entirely from local residents and businesses. “People here,” she says, “tend to be generous and they tend to care about their neighbors.”
As if in confirmation of this confidence, Karen Cunningham reports that with just on-line and word of mouth fundraising, Everyone Home DC met its goal of being able to provide 150 families with grocery store gift cards for Thanksgiving. u
