Contact: Tara Nadel FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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1 Contact: Tara Nadel FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Community Foundation for Northern Virginia Awards one of the Largest Grants Pools in the Region Supporting Critical Community Needs 2016 Community Investment Grant Cycle Awards Over $380,000 to 36 Local Nonprofits Oakton, VA (February 18, 2016) The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia announced the winners of its 2016 Community Investment Grants today. The largest and most competitive discretionary grant cycle managed by the Community Foundation and one of the largest pools of funds supporting broad-based giving in the Northern Virginia region, the grants support organizations which provide support in critical areas of need throughout Northern Virginia. These grants will further the organizations abilities to improve the health, education, and general wellbeing of neighbors, communities, and the entire region. The total sum of grants made is $380,418. The Community Foundation convened volunteer committees that consisted of area experts, donors, and Foundation board members to review the 119 applications submitted to the organization. Applications were accepted in the following areas of need: Child and Youth Development and Education; Health, Mental Health and Aging; and Poverty Relief. Despite the region s wealth, this Community Investment grants process always emphasizes the deep and profound need we see in Northern Virginia, said Community Foundation Board Member, Ken Huntsman, 2016 Community Investment Fund Grants Committee Chair. We are fortunate to engage passionate and knowledgeable volunteers to help us review the applications. This year s grantees are all doing critical work with the neediest in our community. Grant winners are as follows, and photos are available at Child, Youth Development & Education Arlington Food Assistance Center, $10,000 Serving Arlington County Funding will support cooking, nutrition, gardening and budgeting classes for youth through the Healthy Kids Cooking Club at after-school programs in low-income residential community centers. Bridges to Independence, $10,000 Serving Arlington County and City of Alexandria Funding will equip shelter youth with the social, emotional, and academic skills needed to successfully transition from homelessness to permanent housing. Child and Family Network Centers, $10,000 Serving Alexandria

2 Funding will provide free, high-quality bilingual preschool education in order to prepare at-risk, low-income, 3 to 4 year old children for kindergarten success while improving family stability and health outcomes. Community Lodgings, $10,000 Serving Alexandria Funding will support academic and behavioral needs of low-income and homeless youth enrolled in three afterschool and summer education programs that provide individualized tutoring, enrichment, mentoring and parental support. +Creative Cauldron, $2,500 Funding will support the Technical Theater Training Project, addressing Creative Cauldron's need to have a qualified pool of lighting design technicians available for its growing theatrical performance program while also serving a critical community need to provide enriching, out of school educational opportunities for at-risk Homestretch youth. Edu-Futuro (Educacion Para Nuestro Futuro), $10,000 Funding will support the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP), a leadership development program that supports at-risk immigrant youth in the pursuit of a higher education. The grant will allow ELP to ensure more youth realize their college goals and become engaged community members. +Fairfax Choral Society, $5,000 Funding will help provide top quality music education to children ages 0-10 in Northern Virginia, particularly those in need, through the development of the independent musician as well as communication, leadership, and creativity of young people. Falls Church-McLean Children s Center, $10,000 Funding will help provide speech therapy and occupational therapy to children ages 2-5, primarily from lowincome, immigrant families, to help them overcome developmental delays. *The House, Inc., $10,000 Funding will support 350 disadvantaged youth at the Student Leadership Center s out-of-school time youth development programs. INMED Partnerships for Children, $10,000 Funding will deliver a new academically-focused after-school program for 75 low-income elementary school children in Sterling whose families would otherwise be unable to access or afford quality after-school care. *Keep Prince William Beautiful, $10,000 Funding will help Keep Prince William Beautiful launch the Youth Leadership Program. Health, Mental Health and Aging CASA, $10,000 Funding will provide a court appointed special advocate to every child who is abused, neglected or abandoned in Prince William County, Manassas City and Manassas Park, so the child may be protected, receive needed services to overcome the trauma and impact of abuse and have a safe and permanent home.

3 Insight Memory Care Center, $10,000 Funding will provide daily care, support and education for individuals with dementia and their family caregivers. Linden Resources, $7,800 Funding will provide life enrichment and community integration activities for Northern Virginia adult residents with disabilities through a day support program. The program will focus on daily living and job skills education and community integration activities and recreation. Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice (LAWS), $10,000 Funding will support the Loudon Child Advocacy Center to provide child abuse victims and their non-offending family members with the vital supportive services needed to prevent their existing trauma from negatively impacting the rest of their lives. Loudoun Volunteer Caregivers, $10,000 Funding will provide transportation, financial education and management, and supportive services to the elderly, disabled and chronically ill in Loudoun County so that they can remain living independently. NAMI Northern Virginia, $10,000 Funding will help identify, train and mentor twenty new Peer Leaders to serve as presenters and facilitators for three key programs: In Our Own Voice, Peer-to-Peer and Connection. These leaders will impart benefits to an additional 1,000 individuals affected by mental health conditions. *PAH, Inc., $8,000 Funding will support PAH s capacity to support the deaf and hard of hearing communities through individual advocacy, hearing aid screenings, community education, and agency staff training. *Project Mend A House, $10,000 Funding will support a 15% expansion of safe housing services and increase their ability to meet the aging-inplace needs of extremely-low to low income senior clients, veterans and people with disabilities. Virginia Hospital Center Foundation, $10,000 Funding will support the Virginia Hospital Center Lifeline Assistance Fund to help low-income seniors pay for and maintain the Philips Lifeline Medical Alert system in their homes, ensuring access to this life-saving service for as long as needed and enabling seniors to age in place safely and independently. The Women s Center, $10,000 Funding will provide individual and/or group mental health counseling to clients/residents of communitybased shelters and non-profit programs serving low-income, vulnerable people in Northern Virginia, increasing their well being and stability. Poverty Relief Alexandria Seaport Foundation, $10,000 Serving Alexandria

4 Funding will support ASF s Apprentice Program, a 6-8 month paid apprenticeship program that provides job training, workforce development, academic instruction, life skills mentoring and connections to employment for at-risk young adults ages from Northern Virginia and surrounding areas. BEACON for Adult Literacy, $10,000 Serving Manassas/Manassas Park Funding will provide ESOL instruction, education services and introduction to workforce literacy to low-income adult immigrants in Prince William County, primarily Manassas/Manassas Park through BEACONworks. Computer C.O.R.E., $8,904 Funding will help expand Computer C.O.R.E.'s workforce development program to the Loudoun County community, through their partnership with INMED in Sterling, VA, and help outfit and maintain a computer lab for use by the underprivileged youth and adults of that community. Friends of Guest House, Inc., $10,000 Funding will provide operating support in key areas like housing, jobs, health and parenting to maintain their expanded Residential, Aftercare and Outreach Programs, which help nonviolent female ex-offenders in Northern Virginia make the difficult transition from incarceration back into the community. Goodwill of Greater Washington, $10,000 Funding will provide comprehensive sector-specific employment services and workforce training at no cost to 120 low-income residents of Northern Virginia who face complex barriers to employment. The Good Shepherd Alliance, Inc., $10,000 Funding will support the Six Steps to Self-Sufficiency Housing Program, which focuses on teaching essential life skills while providing emergency and transitional housing to provide long term solutions to poverty and homelessness in Loudoun County. Housing Trust Fund of Virginia, Inc. dba HomeAid Northern Virginia., $10,000 Funding will support HomeAid's Shelter Program, to provide housing renovations to benefit Northern Virginia's homeless men, women, and children, delivering an average of 65% savings in construction costs to homeless service providers. La Cocina VA., $10,000 Serving Arlington County Funding will help create sustainable job opportunities for unemployed Hispanics, offering training in culinary arts certified by NOVA Community College and job placement assistance. Students come from chronic unemployment, domestic abuse, and human trafficking to becoming fully employed in less than four months. Lorton Community Action Center, $10,000 Funding will provide emergency housing and/or utility assistance for eligible households in the southeast Fairfax County area to prevent evictions and/or utility disconnection for families in the LCAC Emergency Financial Assistance Program. *Northern Virginia Family Service, $10,000 Funding will support the SERVE Emergency Assistance Program for ongoing staff and related operational costs.

5 *Streetlight Community Outreach Ministries, $10,000 Funding will support the Permanent Supportive Housing Program to provide transportation to doctor/clinic visits, to increase the number of hours available for mental health therapy, and to provide in-home respite care services. Tahirih Justice Center, $10,000 Funding will provide legal and social services to low-income immigrant women and children throughout Northern Virginia who have survived abuse. *Transitional Housing Barn, $10,000 Funding will support services expenses of the Housing First program, including case management, salary, and financial assistance for families. Military Personnel & Their Families Serving Together, Mental Health Association of Montgomery County, $51,644 Funding will continue to support service coordination and navigation assistance for veterans and military personnel and families in Northern Virginia for the third year. Additional Grants Awarded through the Community Investment Fund Process: FACETS, $6,570 This annual grant is made possible by the Huntsman Endowment Fund and supports FACETS operating budget to help parents, their children and individuals who suffer the effects of poverty in Fairfax County. *Denotes grants made at the Community Foundation s recommendation from the Haymarket Donor Advised Fund. +Denotes grants made at the Community Foundation s recommendation from the Hanlon Donor Advised Fund. The Community Foundation accepts donations to support its Community Investment Funds and other discretionary grant cycles. For more information about these programs and initiatives and to make a donation, visit About the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia: The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia helps grow philanthropy to meet the most critical needs of the community. Comprised of giving circles, donor advised funds, community investment funds and scholarship funds, we help connect donors to community, meet community needs with community resources, and strengthen Northern Virginia. During FY2015, the Community Foundation: Awarded $4.2 million in grants to nonprofits, interfaith groups and schools addressing critical community needs

6 Awarded $215,000 in scholarships to graduating high school seniors in our region Reported approximately $36 million in philanthropic funds established by individual and corporate donors. Find more information at ####