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Mayor Bowser Announces $1.5 Million in Grant Awards to Non-Profit, Community Organizations Working to Prevent Violence

Friday, July 21, 2017

(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Bowser announced 33 awardees of the City Innovation Fund’s Safer, Stronger DC Community Opportunity Grant Competition. The grants, which total $1.5 million, are part of Mayor Bowser’s Safer, Stronger DC initiative.

“We know that public safety and violence prevention are not just policing issues,” said Mayor Bowser. “As my Administration works with the community to build a safer, stronger DC, these grants will provide financial resources to outstanding organizations that are improving the lives of individuals and families in neighborhoods throughout our city.”

The 33 organizations were selected through an independent grant management process managed by The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. Selected organizations serve children, youth, and families in the following selected priority Police Service Areas (PSA): 506, 507, 602, 603, 604, 702, 704, 705, and 706. These PSAs encompass the Langston/Carver, Lincoln Heights, Benning Terrace, Woodland Terrace, and Congress Park neighborhoods. The grant period is for one year.

The grants will support the work of organizations whose missions and programs provide targeted interventions and strategies that:

  • reduce incidents of violent crime;
  • improve the health, well-being, and quality of life of residents in the priority communities;
  • increase community and civic participation; and
  • engage residents in meaningful and productive activities.

“During this round, we focused our efforts on general operating grants that can help build and enhance the internal capacity and operations of community organizations doing critical work in our neighborhoods,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services HyeSook Chung. “The organizations selected will focus on families and individuals in neighborhoods disproportionally affected by inequities related to the social determinants of health, including access to educational, economic, and job opportunities, access to health care services, family and youth supports, job training, and public safety.”

In all, 104 organizations applied for funding this round – the most ever for a Safer, Stronger DC Community Opportunity Grant Competition. This year, in order to increase access to the grants, the Bowser Administration offered interested organizations technical assistance with the grant process through a partnership with Project 500. Project 500 is a business development program to help diverse businesses and nonprofits scale in terms of revenue, staff, and investment retained. Forty organizations participated in the technical assistance.

“We are honored to be a recipient of the Safer, Stronger DC Community Opportunity Grant,” said Natalia Marlow-Otero, Executive Director of Survivors and Advocates for Empowerment - DC SAFE, which is a nonprofit that ensures the safety and self-determination of survivors of domestic violence. “Support from the City Fund will enable us to contribute to improved public safety in the District by providing crisis intervention services for survivors of intimate partner violence with special attention given to residents in Police Service Areas that have a recurring exposure to violent crime.”

The following organizations are being awarded grants:

Access Inc.
Apple Tree Early Learning Public Charter School
Bread for the City
City Kids in the Wilderness Project
City Year DC
Citydance Ensemble, Inc.
Collaborative Solutions for Communities
DC Creative Writing Workshop
DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative, Inc.
DC Youth Orchestra Program
Do the Write Thing Foundation of DC
East of the River Clergy Police Community Partnership
Excel Automotive Institute
Exodus Treatment Center
FAIR Girls
Homes for Hope Inc.
Innercity Collaborative Community Development Corporation
Institute for African Man Development Inc.
Jah Kente International, Inc.
Kid Power
Live It Learn It
Men Can Stop Rape
Nomis Youth Network
One Common Unity
Open City Advocates
Recreation Wish List Committee of Washington, DC
Survivors and Advocates for Empowerment – SAFE Inc.
Teens Run DC
University Legal Services
Washington Tennis & Education Foundation
Y.O.U.R. Community Center
Young Women’s Project
Youth Entrepreneur Institute

“Mayor Bowser’s Safer, Stronger DC Opportunity Grant initiative continues to make purposeful and meaningful investments in creating healthy and thriving neighborhoods for all District residents, particularly in our most vulnerable communities,” said Bruce McNamer, President and CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation. “We applaud the District’s leadership in providing critical assistance to community-based organizations in the form of general operating grants and capacity-building support. The Community Foundation is proud to partner with District leadership to administer the City Fund and advance our shared goal of improving the quality of life throughout the region.”

The disbursement of grant payments is contingent on organizations successfully satisfying all District of Columbia business and tax requirements. In Fall 2017, during the next round of grants, an additional $1.4 million will be awarded. Technical assistance will be provided to organizations interested in applying and those that did not get funded this round.

Information on the final grantmaking round is forthcoming. E-mail Manon P. Matchett at [email protected] for more information.