We are delighted to announce that Many Hands members have selected DC KinCare Alliance (DC KinCare) to receive the 2025 $100,000 Impact Grant. New Endeavors by Women (NEW), The Child and Family Network Centers (CFNC), and Urban Ed, Inc. will receive Partner Grants of $75,000 each.
We are grateful to all the organizations that submitted applications this year and to all the members and friends whose gifts of time, talent, and treasure make our grantmaking possible. Together we make a difference!
DC KinCare Alliance (DC KinCare) supports and empowers relative caregivers (usually grandmothers) who raise Washington, DC’s most vulnerable and at-risk children in times of crisis when their parents are unable to care for them. The majority of their clients are Black women who reside in Wards 5, 7, and 8, the wards with the lowest incomes and highest unemployment rates. These wards also house the most affected children, most of whom live at or near the poverty level, have experienced trauma, and are at grave risk for poor physical, emotional, and educational outcomes.
DC KinCare addresses specific needs faced by these low-income, under-resourced communities of color, including the inability to access legal rights, economic security, housing, food, financial opportunities, healthcare, and other supports.
DC KinCare’s clients benefit from their three-pronged approach: 1) their volunteer law firm lawyers represent caregivers in custody, domestic violence, and adoption cases to ensure they have the legal rights to raise the children and keep them safe, including representing caregivers in applying for subsidies and support; 2) they conduct Caregiver Raise Me Up Groups for kinship families, and host informational seminars for Court and service providers about the legal rights and financial benefits available to kinship families; and 3) they advocate for laws and policies that increase the financial support available to kinship families.
DC KinCare has successfully advocated to remove barriers so that caregivers can add children in their care to their housing vouchers (thus eliminating the risk of homelessness); for a new policy expanding the category of caregivers eligible for the childcare subsidy; and for changes that reduce documentation requirements for kinship caregivers to be eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. In the past two years, DC KinCare has implemented the Project Adopt pilot, which is focused on creating pathways to permanent adoption as an alternative to custody proceedings for kinship families.
Since 2017, DC KinCare has served over 1,000 relative caregivers raising over 1,000 Washington, DC children in more than 1,000 legal matters.
New Endeavors by Women (NEW) serves women and children experiencing chronic homelessness in Washington, DC. Homeless women are considered “one of the most vulnerable subpopulations among the homeless.” According to the 2024 Point-in-Time Count, approximately 35% of the single adults experiencing homelessness in Washington, DC are women. Even more alarming, the vast majority of adults in families experiencing homelessness—nearly 80%—are women.
Appreciating the need to address both homelessness as well as its underlying causes, NEW offers a multi-faceted approach by providing safe, stable housing as well as case managers and social services support so that NEW’s residents can take active steps toward taking control of their lives. NEW provides its services for women and children through seven permanent and transitional housing programs. They serve women with various chronic health conditions; provide support with obtaining employment and education and job readiness programming; and provide assistance in the areas of mental health and addiction. In addition, NEW has supported children in their Youth Enrichment Program, which is centered on quality education, life skills training, and mentorship.
NEW has served more than 3,900 women and 530 children with remarkable success: since its founding in 1988, 95% of NEW’s residents have transitioned to permanent housing and 79% of residents able to work have secured jobs or enrolled in training or educational programs.
The Child and Family Network Centers (CFNC) provides free high-quality multilingual early education and comprehensive family services in the City of Alexandria to under-resourced children and their families, in their own neighborhoods, to prepare the preschoolers for future success in kindergarten and beyond.
Since its founding more than 40 years ago by a group of mothers living in public housing, CFNC has grown to an organization that has eight neighborhood-based preschool classrooms across the City of Alexandria, serving approximately 139 under-resourced preschool children and their families each year (350 individuals in all). CFNC is a two-generational program, educating children and partnering with families. Their child educational curriculum is built around speech therapy, literacy, math skills, cognitive development, and physical and social development, with a special focus on addressing the needs of children born into the pandemic who have experienced significant setbacks in speech and language development.
As the only nonprofit in the City of Alexandria that provides multilingual preschool and wraparound services, CFNC has achieved transformative outcomes for children and families including impressively high marks in kindergarten readiness, readiness standards across developmental categories, language readiness, and social-emotional readiness. To date, CFNC has empowered over 4,000 families. CFNC’s families represent 19 countries and speak over nine languages. One hundred percent of families have achieved goals related to parenting skills, home environments, and healthy child development.
Urban Ed, Inc. provides technical, career, business, and educational training and development to low-to-no income women and youth in the DC region, with the goal of transforming lives through technology. Urban Ed is especially focused on empowering women of color in tech, focusing specifically on young mothers of color through its launch of a 3-year plan to boost female enrollments and improve their employment and income earning opportunities in the expanding and lucrative STEM and IT careers.
Starting with just one career pathway and two global certifications, today Urban Ed has evolved to 29 courses and six career pathways covering cybersecurity, IT support, network engineering, cloud computing, software development, digital transformation, and artificial intelligence. Urban Ed has gained the trust and participation of the DC Government and has rallied global support from multinational companies across the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States, connecting over 40 tech and engineering professionals to mentor and assist Urban Ed’s students.
Urban Ed has served over 6,300 students, providing over 985,000 hours of technical, career, business, and educational skills enhancements, including integrated non-technical job readiness, professional development such as financial literacy, and communication skills. Throughout its history, 75% of those served by Urban Ed have been between 14 and 24 years old.
