From “How a GED Is a Real Advantage…” by Ralph da Costa Nunez, President of the Institute For Children, Poverty & Homelessness, from Saturday’s Huffington Post:
Recent data demonstrate that obtaining a GED has employment and income benefits for all recipients. Nationally, high school dropouts who obtain a GED on average increase their earnings by $115 per week or $3,500 per year.
Happy Friday, Greater Washington! I was not too pleased about “springing ahead” last weekend. But on the other hand, I am liking the extended daylight. So why not celebrate the prolonged light with one (or more) of our non-profits this weekend? Such as …
Prince George’s Child Resource Center (TBA, Largo, MD)
Volunteers needed for the Building for Success Conference on Saturday, 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM! You would check-in and register participants, facilitate workshops for the trainers, and just be a friendly and helpful presence throughout the day. Email jregner@pgcrc.org for more info.
Literacy Council of Northern Virginia (James Lee Community Center, 2855 Annandale Road, Falls Church, VA)
The annual “Reading: A Family Affairs” brings books to life for hundreds of families on Saturday from 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM. Puppeteers, musicians, and storytellers will provide interactive performances that encourage family reading at home — in the most fun way possible. Learn more here AND read our “7 Questions” interview with LCNV’s Executive Director!
Good morning! We are psyched to introduce you to … Scott Schenkelberg, the Executive Director of Miriam’s Kitchen in DC. Every weekday morning for the last 27 years (holidays included), breakfast has been served to chronically homeless men and women: 1,500 when Miriam’s was first featured in the Catalogue in 2003 and over 4,000 in 2009!
1. What was your most interesting recent project, initiative, partnership, or event?
Professionally, it was expanding Miriam’s Kitchen’s programs in 2010 to have evening services — meals and case management. Up until the program started in January 2010, there was no indoor, evening meal program for men and women in downtown DC. Personally, attending the State Dinner for the President of Mexico in May 2010.
2. What else are you up to?
Raising money. Miriam’s Kitchen is almost entirely privately funded. Our 2011 annual budget is nearly $2 million.
Welcome to Wednesday, Greater Washington! What’s new this week?
Venture Philanthropy Partners invests $1.4M in youth programs — the Washington Business Journal reported on Monday that the philanthropic investment organization “will invest a total of $1.4 million over two years in two Washington area youth programs.” And those two youth programs also happen to be … Catalogue non-profits! According to the VPP press release, Metro TeenAIDS and Urban Alliance are now partners “in youthCONNECT, an integrated effort to address the multifaceted challenges facing low-income youth, ages 14-24, in the National Capital Region … a goal of expanding to provide 20,000 at-risk youth over the next five years.” Very exciting!
Welcome to Friday, folks! Some awesome performances and events at Catalogue non-profits are right around the corner:
Northeast Performing Arts Group (at Kelly Miller Middle School Auditorium, 301 49th Street NE)
Friday at 7:30 PM, catch When Will It End: Slavery Then, Slavery Now, a thought-provoking dance musical and high-energy educational expression of Afro American History. An extra-cool fact: the performers range in age from 3 to 25. More information right here!
Many Catalogue cheers for today’s “7 Questions” guest … Patricia M. Donnelly, Executive Director of the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia. Serving an area where 120 different languages are spoken, the LCNV offers adult education in reading, writing, speaking, and understanding English to over 2,300 students a year.
Interested in learning more? Read onwards … and, swing by “Reading: A Family Affair” on Saturday, March 19 from 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM in Falls Church. Kids can meet Clifford the Big Red Dog, watch the Bob Brown Puppets, learn origami, write and illustrate their own stories, and then take home a free book!
1. What was your most interesting recent project, initiative, partnership, or event?
The Literacy Council initiated Reading: A Family Affair just a few years ago. Compared to fundraising dinners with live and silent auctions, this event is family-friendly and free, brings books to life with the help of local artists, and (most importantly) open to the Literacy Council’s clients. The event is designed for them. The fundraising comes from Corporate and small business sponsorships, who are willing and eager to see a community-based, free, literacy event in their neighborhood. And it’s a lot of fun!
Welcome to the first Wednesday in March and your weekly news round-up!
State Arts Agencies — Over at Createquity, Ian David Moss follows up on this post by pointing to two new, online national resources for arts advocates. At the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, you can find a simple (albeit unpleasant) breakdown of “major restructuring or funding elimination proposal” by state. The State Arts Appropriation Network, an affiliate of Americans for the Arts, even provides a click-able US map where you can access past and proposed budget numbers. Moss also makes a great point: check to see if your state representatives are already “in the tank for arts funding” so that you can reach out to friends and networks elsewhere!
As much as we like to maintain an exclusive focus on the business of Washington, DC, there’s no denying that our city is inexorably intertwined in international affairs. So when unthinkable bloodshed breaks out across the world, our purview often widens … Take, for example, the current state of affairs in Libya, which drew a group of protesters to the White House on Saturday. Just one example of the local response to events currently transpiring in Tripoli, DCist contributor Kevin Carroll was able to capture some powerful images during Saturday’s gathering.
While we are most aware of happenings on our street and around our homes, those of us in Greater Washington are often profoundly conscience of and connected to the broader world by virtue of where we live.
Similarly, our focus here at Catalogue is certainly local — yet we also are committed to non-profits who are enacting specific and localized change around the world, in the communities that are most in need. Do check them out. No matter how far away we are, we definitely can still reach out.
Good morning-after-the-hailstorm, Greater Washington! Today on “7 Questions,” we’re psyched to introduce you to … Nancy Kelly, Executive Director of Health Volunteers Overseas since its founding in 1986. Now in 25 developing countries, HVO’s healthcare professionals offer medical education to their counterparts, improving the quality and quantity of healthcare where it’s most needed. Want to learn more? Read on!
1. What was your most interesting recent project, initiative, partnership, or event?
We are working with the American Dental Association on an initiative to rebuild 35 dental practices in Haiti. The goal is to raise $350,000 since we estimate the cost to rebuild is $10,000 per practice. We are working with the ADA and the Haitian Dental Association to develop an application process that will serve as a means of identifying the best prospects for support. Those dentists that receive support must commit to paying back to the community by providing free dental care to those in need but unable to pay. This is a new type of project for HVO, one that will be quite challenging as we move into the implementation phase — but I hope that it will be the start for similar initiatives elsewhere.
Welcome to Wednesday, Greater Washington! Here comes our weekly news round-up …
To Fight Povery, Invest in Girls — In the upcoming issue of TIME, Nancy Gibbs makes a compelling point: “sometimes freedom and opportunity slip in through the back door, when a quieter subversion of the status quo unleashes change that is just as revolutionary. This is the tantalizing idea for activists concerned with poverty, with disease, with the rise of violent extremism: if you want to change the world, invest in girls.” The numbers are also quite noteworthy: “An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10% to 20%. An extra year of secondary school adds 15% to 25% … And the World Food Programme has found that when girls and women earn income, they reinvest 90% of it in their families.” (On a related note: several of our non-profits are already doing just this!) Continue reading