A SENSE OF BELONGING
F I S C A L
Y E A R
2 0 1 9
R E P O R T
A PLACE WHERE ALL BELONG This report – covering our most recent fiscal year ending in June 2019 – describes the Arlington Community Foundation’s efforts to improve the quality of life for all Arlingtonians, regardless of zip code, using the power of philanthropy and our role as community convener and catalyst.
WE ARE THANKFUL FOR THE GENEROSITY OF THE
WHO CONTRIBUTED MORE THAN
450+
$11M
DONORS
TO ADDRESS COMMUNITY NEEDS BOTH NOW AND IN THE FUTURE
ALLOWING US TO AWARD:
WE ENDED OUR FISCAL YEAR WITH MORE THAN
$2M+
165
IN DONOR-ADVISED GRANTS, UNRESTRICTED GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS TO
FUNDS AND TOTAL ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT OF
140
181
$28M
NONPROFITS
ARLINGTON STUDENTS
WITH CONTINUED GROWTH AND IMPACT TO COME!
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Dear Friends: A community’s strength is built on the network of people who call it home. In Arlington, we are fortunate to live among neighbors who are generous, empathetic, and committed to the quality of life for all who live in our 26 square miles. Creating a sense of belonging is both critical to our personal happiness and necessary for our personal and community prosperity. This year, we celebrate the vibrancy of our community and the interconnected work we are doing to ensure that all of our neighbors have the chance to be a part of its success.
• The Partnership for Children, Youth, and Families’ 2019 Community Report indicates that education outcomes in our schools vary significantly by race, ethnicity, and income level.
Arlington is in the midst of rapid change and growth, which makes holding on to a sense of belonging more difficult, more urgent, and more worthwhile. We honor the community’s efforts over the past few years to shine a light on the disparities that exist from one neighborhood to the next within our compact community. Social and economic mobility are dependent on income, food security, housing stability, health care access, childcare, and education. It is our job to work together to ensure that our community’s rising tide lifts us all.
This report highlights our efforts to improve access to opportunity for low-income Arlingtonians. To truly belong, everyone needs supportive social networks and economic opportunity. Our Bridges Out of Poverty work with the Arlington Department of Human Services and community nonprofits aims to create a safety net system that allows all Arlingtonians to thrive and reach their potential, regardless of their zip code. And our Shared Prosperity Initiative brings together businesses, government, and nonprofits in new ways to keep our low-income neighbors from being forced out of our County as affordability pressures mount.
We are also committed to elevating and weaving together the work being done in our community to bring attention to our disparities and implement solutions. • The powerful Getting Ahead: The Uneven Opportunity Landscape report by the Northern Virginia Health Foundation shows us that there is a decade of difference in life expectancy depending on where you live in Arlington. People of color represent a disproportionate share of residents in these neighborhoods and face increasing barriers to staying in Arlington and getting ahead. • The Arlington Child Care Initiative’s work highlights the tremendous disparities across County zip codes when it comes to childcare accessibility and early childhood outcomes.
• In the face of these disparities, the Destination 2027 community initiative challenges us to use data to question decisions about how resources are allocated: Who benefits from these allocations and policies? Who is burdened? Who is missing? • The Community Progress Network has created a place for County decision makers to hear the voices of often unheard low-income residents through family-style dinners and dialogue.
Arlington County’s adopted vision is “a diverse and inclusive world-class urban community…where people unite to form a…sustainable community in which each person is important.” Through our funds, our community initiatives, and our grants and scholarships, Arlington Community Foundation is committed to supporting a sense of belonging that aligns with this vision. We invite you to join us in this fight for the future of Arlington that will make us all proud to call this our home. With gratitude,
Jennifer Owens President & CEO 3
200 Bridges community team
CREATING A PLACE WHERE EVERYONE CAN THRIVE Arlington Community Foundation has a bird’s-eye view of the nonprofit landscape in Arlington. This broad perspective makes us uniquely positioned to support individuals and businesses seeking practical ways to have a positive impact on our community’s challenges. AVRIL USSERY SISK, BOARD VICE-CHAIR FY19
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Arlington’s high national rankings for its schools and livability grab headlines while the stories of the tens of thousands of people living in or near poverty often go untold. The most recent American Community Survey (2017) indicates that 28,000 people in Arlington make under $36,000 for a household of four. This is just 30 percent of the annual median income for our community, where living expenses for such a household average three times that amount. Lack of economic mobility among Arlington’s lowest income households compromises their well-being and drives them out of our increasingly less affordable county. Arlington Community Foundation recognizes its responsibility to identify the greatest needs in our community and to direct its resources in that direction. The affordability crisis and rapid displacement of our diverse residents are the greatest threats to our community’s long-term health and viability. The Foundation is focused on leading two multi-year efforts aimed at addressing this urgent challenge: Bridges Out of Poverty and Shared Prosperity.
BRIDGES OUT OF POVERTY The Bridges Out of Poverty initiative was launched in 2016 in partnership with the Arlington Department of Human Services (DHS), 20 Arlington nonprofits, and the Urban Institute. The goal of Bridges Out of Poverty is to make our safety-net system more effective in stabilizing those who cycle in and out of crisis. Our work over the last three years drove home how the realities of poverty clash with the systems designed by and for the middle class. Brain science shows that the toxic stress of chronically living on the edge of crisis limits one’s ability to maintain focus and plan over the long term. A holistic, multigeneration approach to building resources and social capital is needed for these families to gain traction from the day-to-day grip of poverty. In fall 2018, the Foundation, Arlington DHS, and the safety net nonprofits launched a pilot to test the improved systems and practices developed through this initiative with low-income Arlington families facing multifaceted life challenges. We call this pilot 200 Bridges. Families in the pilot build resources in housing, health, mental health, food security, employment, childcare, education, and social capital. Outcome data for the first year of the pilot show significant results in improving the lives of the people in the first 50 households (representing 175 individuals). These families moved from serious vulnerability to stability, with many building capacity toward future social and economic goals.
Our Bridges Out of Poverty journey involves seeing households’ needs up close, their interaction with our community and its safety net, and their successful and unsuccessful efforts toward economic mobility. This trailblazing public/private effort provides us with data-driven “ground truthing” and motivation to do better as a community in sharing our prosperity.
After one year in the Bridges pilot: • the average income of participating households increased from just under $16,000 to $21,000;
Our long-term goal is to help these vulnerable families increase their assets, gain control over their lives, and experience a greater sense of belonging to the community. The 200 Bridges partners continually take what we are learning in the process to improve the system and to address community disparities.
• all household members in 83 percent of the families had access to health care; and
In addition to senior management and staff of the County’s Department of Human Services, the following nonprofits provide substantial, ongoing leadership and staffing to the 200 Bridges pilot: AHC, Inc., APAH, Arlington Free Clinic, Arlington Pediatric Center, A-SPAN, Arlington Public Schools REEP Program and Adult Education, Doorways, Just Neighbors, Legal Aid Justice Center, Neighborhood Health, Offender Aid and Restoration, and Northern Virginia Family Service.
• 90 percent had been in adequate, safe housing for the past 6 months. Significant improvements in employment, social capital, transportation access, food access, technology skills, and childcare access were also achieved.
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Arlington Shared Prosperity Roundtable, April 2019
SHARED PROSPERITY The Foundation’s selection as the local convener of the national Shared Prosperity Partnership was an endorsement of the impact our small community foundation has made through our Bridges Out of Poverty work and our potential to create new paths for economic inclusivity in the face of increased affordability pressures.
Ensuring the well-being of all Arlington’s residents is both a moral imperative and a requirement of a thriving economy. Our lower wage earners and their families – 12 percent of Arlington’s population – are at high risk of being forced out of our community. The same housing, childcare, and employment barriers addressed in our Bridges Out of Poverty work are placing low-wage workers in an untenable situation. Childcare workers, hospital aides, office cleaners, construction and food service employees are a vital part of our economic success and diverse community fabric. Yet, these residents are being priced out of Arlington. In response, the national Shared Prosperity Partnership called on the Arlington Community Foundation to convene key local players to take bold steps to prevent the involuntary displacement of our low-income residents. The Shared Prosperity partners – Kresge Foundation, Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, Urban Institute, and Living Cities – recognized Arlington’s precarious position as it tries to balance inclusivity with tremendous economic growth. This initiative draws on the extensive community knowledge and data about the realities of life in Arlington for low-income residents. Armed with this data and examples from other communities facing displacement presented by research partners at Urban and Brookings, the Foundation hosted a full day roundtable discussion in April 2019 with key stakeholders from the local government, nonprofits, and the business sector. We then took the ideas
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Arlington is at a critical crossroads that requires new systems thinking and cross-sector partnerships to achieve economic inclusion and sustainability.
Who are the Lowest Income Arlingtonians? Arlington County Board Member Christian Dorsey speaks at the Shared Prosperity Roundtable
that came forward at the roundtable through months of intensive further vetting among stakeholders to identify specific, impactful, near-term strategies to address displacement.
Many of the “behind the scenes” individuals who make our community and local businesses run are likely to be living in poverty conditions while trying to support their families. These are the 9,000 households that are trying to make ends meet on 30 percent or less of our area median income. Many work multiple jobs. They are likely doubled or tripled up in apartments. In all cases, they are just one emergency away from eviction or job loss. These residents are being priced out of Arlington by marketdriven losses in affordable housing and other pressures, including some of the highest childcare expenses in the country. Arlington Community Foundation’s economic mobility work aims to stabilize these families and position all people to contribute to the social and cultural fabric of the community as both residents and employees.
The results are a detailed set of targets and measurement metrics the Foundation is using to guide policy and funding goals for affordable housing, childcare, and workforce development. The Foundation is using the Shared Prosperity spotlight as an opportunity to focus on the untapped potential of Arlington’s robust and powerful business community to engage significantly as partners in our community efforts. Engaging more donors in our economic mobility work over the next three years will remain a top priority for us. 7
2019 scholarship class
HELPING STUDENTS ACHIEVE THEIR DREAMS In the past decade, the Arlington Community Foundation has awarded more than $5 million to Arlington students attending college.
The Arlington Community Foundation is the largest private, non-university provider of scholarships in Arlington. In FY19, we awarded more than $500,000 in scholarships to more than 180 Arlington students. The Foundation administers more than 60 individual named scholarship funds along with a pooled Community Scholarship Fund. This collection of funds helps us meet a variety of student needs while honoring the personal charitable wishes of our donors. These include memorializing loved ones, recognizing a demographic group of students, or promoting study in a particular field. Our STEM Workforce Development Teacher Fellowship provides Arlington Public Schools high school, middle school, and elementary school teachers with opportunities to learn about workplace needs in STEM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math)-related fields and to enhance student learning to match workplace expectations in a selected industry. STEM Fellows participate in a three-week summer fellowship and receive a stipend upon completion. The varied fellowship experiences among the most recent group of STEM fellows included learning from NASA scientists and engineers who are collaborating on a project to send a mission to Mars in 10 years, developing a digital “app� that will potentially connect Arlington youth with relationship and mental health information, and learning how to integrate computer science Standards of Learning into a third-grade curriculum (see sidebar).
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SPIRIT OF COMMUNITY Our 2018 Spirit of Community honoree, Dr. Emma Violand-Sanchez, is a trailblazing Arlingtonian. Dr. Violand-Sanchez came to the U.S. from Bolivia as a 16-year-old without her family. Recognizing the “life-saving” value of education, she dedicated herself to helping low-income students, particularly in the immigrant community, overcome disadvantages in pursuing their education – language barriers, parent disengagement, and financial need. Violand-Sanchez was the first immigrant bilingual teacher in the Arlington Public Schools, started the first bilingual education program, created the first bilingual GED program in Virginia, and organized a Spanish literacy program for parents who could not read or write. She served on the Arlington School Board from 2008-2016. In 2010 she founded the Dream Project to help Arlington immigrant students obtain a college education. The Foundation also recognized the Arlington Free Clinic (AFC) with the Community Impact Award. Created as a small walk-in clinic in 1994, AFC now offers a broad array of medical services to 1,600 low-income uninsured Arlingtonians each year and is one of the County’s most essential and impactful nonprofits.
Dr. Emma Violand-Sanchez
Our Fellowships at Work It should go without saying that third-grade teacher Ginny Hutcheson did her homework before commencing her STEM fellowship from Arlington Community Foundation this past summer. But she was nonetheless surprised at – and delighted with – the range of experiences she had while working with the Virginia Tech Thinkabit Lab, which exposes students to hands-on STEM activities and careers. “I was able to experience the whole trajectory of how STEM is taught and used with students of all different ages, including middle schoolers, high schoolers, undergrads, and even Iraqi professors studying STEM pedagogy,” says Hutcheson. She also developed presentations for the lab’s summer STEM camps and honed her own coding and digital footprinting skills. In her “downtime,” Hutcheson developed a reference document that facilitates the integration of science and social studies with the state’s computer science learning standards. She has already shared this crossover document with her Arlington Public School colleagues.
Ginny Hutcheson works with one of her third- graders at Barrett Elementary
“The fellowship from Arlington Community Foundation enabled me to experience a different side of STEM education while still being able to support myself this summer,” says Hutcheson. The real winners, though, are her third-grade students at K. W. Barrett Elementary School. 9
WAYS TO GIVE Whether you are interested in charitable giving to support our Economic Mobility Initiatives, or across a broad spectrum of charities, supporting Arlington youth, or establishing a fund to honor a loved one, the Foundation can help you establish a charitable fund to support your goals.
CREATING YOUR OWN CHARITABLE FUND Donor-advised funds can be a good option to support charities in Arlington or beyond, to maximize your tax savings while minimizing paperwork, and get back to the joy that comes from supporting the organizations and causes you care about. SUPPORTING THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE Since our scholarship program began more than 20 years ago, donors and volunteers have helped make it possible for the Foundation to award more than $5 million in scholarship assistance. Generous individuals, families, companies, and organizations fund the scholarships, which range from broadly responsive to the greatest needs of our students, to unique and specific eligibility criteria. Individuals and organizations can contribute in two ways: either by donating to the Community Scholarship Fund or by establishing their own scholarship. You may choose to establish a scholarship to honor a loved one, valued employee or community member.
You are a part of the community — and you can be part of the solution. Let us be your partner.
INTERESTED IN EXPLORING OPTIONS FOR YOUR PERSONAL GIVING?
Contact Jennifer Owens at 703.243.4785 or jowens@arlcf.org
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REMEMBERING YOUR COMMUNITY AND BUILDING ITS FUTURE Incorporating charitable giving into your estate plans can sound complex at first, but supporting your community can be as simple as including a bequest to the Community Foundation in your will. You may leave a percentage share of your estate, specify the dollar amount, or designate the Community Foundation as a contingent beneficiary. Legacy planning can also encompass much more than a simple bequest. With the goals of providing for your loved ones, reducing taxes, and remembering worthy causes, there are a variety of techniques available that have mutual benefit to you, your community, and your favorite charitable organizations, both now and into the future. Our staff can help lead you through the process of creating a custom legacy plan.
IF YOU CAN IMAGINE IT, WE CAN ACCOMPLISH IT If you have a particular issue you want to tackle or a priority you want to accomplish, the Community Foundation can help you achieve the results you want for your community. Sometimes that comes in the form of a nonprofit agency fund – an account held by the Community Foundation for the benefit of a particular organization. More than 20 local nonprofits hold their long-term reserve funds collectively under the umbrella of the Community Foundation. Sometimes it is a field-of-interest fund to support an issue that is near and dear to your heart. We encourage you to talk to us about your vision for Arlington, and discuss ways in which we can support you in achieving your goals.
Creating A Lasting Community Legacy: Carrie Johnson
Carrie in her beloved Volkswagen
Carrie Johnson’s name is synonymous with selflessness in Arlington. It is fitting, then, that she made provisions to support a number of charitable causes through her estate. The fund she established with the Arlington Community Foundation was entirely consistent with the selfless way the longtime Arlington civic activist served her community. “She wasn’t interested in credit,” says neighbor and Foundation board member John Andelin, who helped Carrie design her fund. “Her intention was to do something that mattered to the future of the community she loved.” For years, Carrie served as the keeper of the voter lists on the Arlington County Democratic Committee, and she spent nearly two decades on the County’s Planning Commission. She also displayed a deep concern about preservation of her Ashton Heights neighborhood, and was instrumental in the creation of a style guide to help residents understand and protect the traditional homes and distinctive character of the neighborhood.
Carrie’s strong sense of preservation was reflected in the guiding agreement for her fund, which stated that her gift’s purpose was to provide matching funds for projects that “preserve, protect, interpret or foster community understanding of historic, natural and/or recreational resources in Arlington.” According to Andelin, Carrie’s priority for the fund was to have it sustain modest but meaningful projects that the community also supported, ideally through volunteer efforts. To ensure the fund had longevity, she stipulated that it focus on smaller projects. In these ways, her philosophy was consistent with the Community Foundation’s own spending policy, which emphasizes preserving the purchasing power of gifts over the long-term and balancing the community’s shortand long-term needs for a perpetual stream of grantmaking dollars. Carrie’s legacy gift through the Arlington Community Foundation is a perfect reflection of an individual who cared more about lasting results than credit. Still, her impact in Arlington will be felt for generations through her generous investment in the community she called home. 11
Sustaining Community through Philanthropy At the core of the Arlington Community Foundation’s work is a generous network of donors who give to support a broad spectrum of important initiatives in our community. Since our establishment in 1991, the Community Foundation has awarded more than $16 million in grants and scholarships and created a source of philanthropic capital to address the ongoing needs of our community. In FY19, through the generosity of our donors, we again supported the full spectrum of charitable priorities and purposes in Arlington County, including homelessness prevention, education, arts, youth, and families in need. And we educated and assisted individuals, families, businesses, and organizations interested in investing funds in support of the Arlington community now and in perpetuity.
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FINANCIAL INFORMATION FY2019 SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ending June 30, 2019 TOTAL ASSETS
$18M
$28M
FY 2018
FY 2019
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION Assets Investments and Cash $22,923,794 Receivables $5,001,614 Other $18,099 Total Assets $27,943,507 Liabilities and Net Assets $5,268,931 Funds Held for Other Agencies Grants Payable $50,000 Other $44,280 Net Assets $22,580,296 Total Liabilities and Net Assets $27,943,507 NET ASSET BRIDGE $952,147 -$2,567,713
-$332,103
GRANTS & PROGRAM SUPPORT
OPERATING EXPENSES
$22,580,296 INVESTMENT RETURNS
$12,582,072
CONTRIBUTIONS + OTHER INCOME
$11,945,893
2019 Net Assets
2018 Net Assets STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES Support and Revenue Contributions $11,896,906 Other $48,987 Total Revenues $11,945,893 Grants & Expenses Grants & Program Support $2,567,713 Operating Expenses $332,103 Total Grants & Expenses $2,899,816 Change in Net Assets Net Assets Beginning of Year $12,582,072 Net Investment Income $952,147 Change in Net Assets from Operations $9,046,077 Net Assets End of Year $22,580,296
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TRUSTEES Board of Trustees
Former Trustees
Jeanne Broyhill | Chair, FY19
Nancy A. Albrittain
John Maxwell
Hon. Avril Ussery Sisk | Vice Chair, FY19
R.B. (Randy) Anderson, Jr.
Artemis McDonald
Michael George | Treasurer, FY19
Leslie Ariail
Andrew McGeorge
Hon. Joe Wholey | Secretary, FY19**
Charles Bean
Christine Milliken
John Andelin
Hon. David A. Bell
Hon. William T. Newman, Jr.
Susan T. Anderson
Ellen Bozman
Scott O’Gorman
Irma Becerra*
William H. Brakefield
Charles Radigan
John Benton
David Briggs
Lola C. Reinsch
Tanja Castro*
Stephen P. Caruthers
Peggy Richardson
Daron Coates*
Brad Coyle
Libby Ross
Patricia Connally
Hon. L Karen Darner
Dr. Matthew D. Shank
Vicki Foster
Bill Dolan
John G. Shooshan
Jade Gong
Susan S. Duke
Sidney G. Simmonds
Greg Hamilton**
Pauline Ellison
Diane M. Smith
Kevin Jones
Todd Endo
Nancy Snell
Krysta Jones
Julian Fore
Marion D. Spraggins
Joe McMahon, Jr.
Pam Galloway-Tabb
Anne Stewart
Michael Manning
Leni Gonzalez
Keegan Stroup
Stephen Messinger
Ronald J. Gordon
Michael Timpane
Ambari Pinto
Greg Hamilton
Raul Torres
Margaret Richardson**
Robert Hawthorne
Ernst Volgenau
Carlos Velazquez*
Linda E. Henderson
Hon. Mary Margaret Whipple
Chen Xing*
Claude Hilton
James Whittaker
Michelle Zook**
Fernanda Howard
Hon. Joe Wholey
FY2019 AND FY2020
Jeanne Broyhill
Hon. Avril Ussery Sisk
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Sonia Johnston
Audrey Wyatt
Jonathan C. Kinney, Advisor
Jonathan C. Kinney
Michelle Zook
The Honorable William T. Newman, Jr., Founder & President Emeritus
Donald O. Manning
*Term commenced July 1, 2019 **Board service completed June 30, 2019
Do you know of a former trustee who is not listed here? Contact us at info@ARLCF.org or 703.243.4785 to help us record our history.
STAFF
Jennifer Owens, April Gangemi, Anne Vor der Bruegge, Natalia Muniz, Melissa Jimenez
JENNIFER OWENS President & CEO
NATALIA MUNIZ Program Associate
ANNE VOR DER BRUEGGE Director, Grants and Initiatives
MELISSA JIMENEZ Office Assistant
APRIL GANGEMI Manager of Operations
REPORT CREDITS Editorial Lead DAVID SLATER Design & Layout DESIGN POWERS Photography AHC, INC LLOYD WOLF (pgs. 3, 15) TOM DUNN (pg. 8)
About the Arlington Community Foundation
W O N ’ T
The Arlington Community Foundation was established in 1991 to serve as a permanent community endowment built by the gifts and charitable legacies of individuals, families and businesses for the betterment of Arlington County. As a grantmaker, convener, and sponsor of special initiatives, the Community Foundation strives to strengthen local nonprofits, encourage better understanding of the needs of Arlingtonians, and address the most critical issues of our time to ensure that our community provides opportunity for everyone.
Y O U
J O I N
U S ?
T 703.243.4785 | INFO@ARLCF.ORG | WWW.ARLCF.ORG