Meyer awards $3,015,000 to 26 organizations in May

As many in our region cautiously welcome back the simple things we missed before social distancing – hugging family we haven’t seen in months or walking mask-free in the park with friends – the joys of returning to pre-pandemic life are not equally felt. COVID-19 cases and deaths in our region are on the decline, but as public health officials warn of a new variant, one thing is certain: we cannot take our vigilant eyes off an equitable recovery. Given the many ways the pandemic disproportionately and devastatingly harmed and continues to harm Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities, recovery must center their needs and demands to create a post-pandemic region where all can thrive.

To bring about a just and equitable COVID-19 recovery, the focus of Meyer’s grantmaking in 2021, the Foundation awarded $3,015,000 to 26 organizations in May 2021.

In keeping with our commitment to build the power of people and communities most directly affected by racial injustice, we made some of our largest grants to community organizing and base-building groups, including Tenants and Workers United, New Virginia Majority Education Fund, Many Languages One Voice, and Justice for Muslims Collective. These organizations are working to build the enduring power of Black, Latinx, Asian American and Pacific Islander, immigrant, and communities of color historically excluded from economic opportunity – communities disproportionately harmed by COVID-19 – by developing local leaders, identifying issues of concern to those communities, and creating campaigns to address those concerns and influence key decisionmakers.

Advocacy organizations are tackling issues made more pressing by the pandemic, including protecting renters as eviction moratoriums are lifted and housing courts re-open, litigating to ensure that students incarcerated in the DC jail have access to special education and services to which they are entitled, pushing local and state lawmakers to enact budgets and use federal American Rescue Plan funding in ways that will foster an equitable recovery, and elevating the voice and power of child care workers in Prince George’s County (the vast majority of whom are women of color) in debates about their wages, working conditions, and COVID-19 relief.

One organization imagines a post-COVID community with equitable access to digital technologies and is leading a pilot project to expand Wi-Fi and computer access in four DC wards. Another builds on its blog and communications platform to highlight issues of housing and transportation equity in the region and aims to change the narrative in the process.

Although these grantee partners are of different sizes, from different parts of the region, and use different tactics, they share one overarching North Star: changing the systems that failed so many of our communities during the pandemic. Their visions for a COVID-19 recovery that is rooted in equity and justice and that invests in the power and potential of BIPOC communities and leaders, nurtures hope that we can create a region where all can thrive.

Organization	Purpose	Grant Amount	Geography
Advocates for Children and Youth	to support general operations	40,000	MD
Association of American Colleges and Universities	to support Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers over two years	150,000	MD
Central American Resource Center	to support general operations	75,000	DC
Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis	to support general operations over two years ($160,000) and work to decriminalize poverty ($75,000)	235,000	VA
Community Bridges	to support general operations	30,000	MD
Community Family Life Services	to support the equitable digital access project over three years	225,000	DC
DC Fiscal Policy Institute	to support general operations over two years	200,000	DC
Enterprise Community Partners	to support general operations in the Greater Washington region	90,000	Regional
First Generation College Bound	to support general operations over two years	150,000	MD
Greater Greater Washington Education Project	to support the Greater Greater Washington Education Project's work towards housing and transportation equity in the Greater Washington region over two years	150,000	Regional
Justice for Muslims Collective	to support general operations of the Justice for Muslims Collective in the Greater Washington region over three years	240,000	Regional
Legal Counsel for the Elderly	to support general operations	40,000	DC
Many Languages One Voice	to support general operations over three years	300,000	DC
Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations	to support general operations ($50,000) and Maryland Latinos Unidos ($30,000)	80,000	MD
Maryland Hunger Solutions	to support general operations of Maryland Hunger Solutions	25,000	MD
Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families	to support Charting Equity Efforts for Impact over two years	50,000	MD
Montgomery County Renters Alliance	to support general operations	75,000	MD
Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance	to support general operations	30,000	VA
Prince George's Child Resource Center	to support general operations over two years	100,000	MD
Prince George's Leadership Action Network	to support general operations	80,000	MD
School Justice Project	to support general operations	75,000	DC
Serve Your City	to support general operations	50,000	DC
Shaw Community Center	to support general operations	20,000	DC
Tenants and Workers United	to support general operations over three years	210,000	VA
Virginia New Majority Education Fund	to support general operations ($180,0000) over three years and civic engagement on redistricting ($40,000)	220,000	VA
Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs	to support general operations	75,000	DC