Give a Child a Chance
ASIAN AMERICAN LEAD (www.aalead.org) equips low-income and underserved Asian Pacific-American youths with the tools and opportunities to define themselves and their futures. AALEAD currently supports 400 youths with educational empowerment, identity development and leadership opportunities through after-school, summer and mentoring programs.
Headquartered: Montgomery County, Washington, D.C., and Fairfax, Virginia.
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers a weekend event for 50 youths.
• $1,000 allows one youth to participate in AALEAD programming for one year.
• $10,000 helps 10 youths to participate in AALEAD programming for one year.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Teach a workshop in dance, cooking, résumé-writing or another topic.
• Weekly/monthly: Volunteer at an after-school program.
THE COURT APPOINTED SPECIAL ADVOCATES PROGRAM OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY (www.casamontgomery.org)
supports abused or neglected children by providing them with trained advocates who ensure that their best interests are represented in the legal and social service system. Through CASA’s recruitment and training, advocates work with more than 300 children annually.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers recruiting and training for four child-advocate volunteers.
• $1,000 provides ongoing support and supervision for volunteers to serve three children for one year.
• $10,000 covers the matching of seven children with a trained volunteer for one year.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Donate new or gently used toys for young children in foster care, or give household items to support older youths transitioning out of foster care.
• Weekly: Become an advocate after extensive screening and training.
CRITTENTON SERVICS OF GREATER WASHINGTON (www.crittentonservices.org) helps teen girls make positive choices and believe in their ability to succeed—even in the face of significant challenges. Its school-based programs work with 400 middle school and high school girls, teaching them about healthy relationships, reproductive health, college and careers, and equipping them with life skills needed to succeed.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 takes a first generation student on a college tour to envision her potential.
• $1,000 sends 10 girls to a career fair.
• $10,000 enables Crittenton to serve 10 to 15 pregnant and parenting teens.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Volunteer at Crittenton’s annual anniversary celebration.
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THE GEORGE B. THOMAS SR. LEARNING ACADEMY'S SATURDAY SCHOOL (www.saturdayschool.org) supports more than 3,000 students and their families in Montgomery County public schools. With 12 centers in areas with high poverty, the Saturday School works to ensure that the most academically at-risk students can access grade-appropriate, low-cost academic tutoring and mentoring services. The group also offers parent workshops in English and Spanish.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 underwrites one Saturday School student for one semester.
• $1,000 covers tutors who assist high school students at risk of not graduating on time, or elementary/middle school students who could benefit from additional academic support.
• $10,000 provides tutors for students with limited English proficiency.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Share experiences in your professional life with students.
• Weekly: Volunteer in a classroom, working with a certified teacher.
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GIRLS ON THE RUN, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND (www.girlsontherunofmoco.org) provides an interactive after-school running program for more than 130 schools throughout Montgomery County. A fun, experience-based curriculum integrates running into a program that seeks to inspire girls to be healthy and confident. The program culminates with the girls completing a celebratory 5K running event that builds confidence through accomplishment.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides curriculum for 20 teams.
• $1,000 provides new running shoes for 25 girls who would not be able to participate without them.
• $10,000 covers program scholarships for 125 girls.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Weekly: Serve as a volunteer coach twice a week during the 10-week sessions in the spring or fall.
• One day: Support the celebratory 5K Fun Run.
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HORIZONS GREATER WASHINGTON (www.horizonsgreaterwashington.org) provides academic, cultural and recreational programs designed to empower students to realize their full potential. Through year-round, summer and Saturday programs, Horizons seeks to prevent learning loss for the 330-plus kids it serves. Activities are geared to help kids strengthen problem-solving skills, foster awareness of community responsibility, instill respect for themselves and others, and encourage a lifelong interest in learning.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C.
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides a classroom with supplies and healthy snacks.
• $1,000 covers all classroom supplies for one summer program.
• $10,000 hires two additional teachers.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Weekly: Volunteer at the Saturday program to assist teachers.
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IDENTITY INC. (www.identity-youth.org) provides educational opportunities, social service support and positive role models for about 4,000 Latino youths annually in order to facilitate their successful transition to postsecondary education and the workforce. Identity serves Latino youths and their families with school-based and summer programs, gang prevention and intervention, youth leadership, health promotion, mental health services, job readiness workshops, GED instruction, rehabilitation services for youth offenders and other family-based initiatives.
Headquartered: Gaithersburg
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers materials and other costs for a youth in the 12-week job readiness program.
• $1,000 covers 20 hours of mental health counseling for youths who have experienced trauma.
• $10,000 provides hands-on science and math enrichment for 20 students in summer programs.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Weekly: Offer an internship at your company.
• Occasional: Conduct mock job interviews and offer coaching.
Jennifer Delcid with Maurice Hirsh, her Identity youth development counselor. Photo by Mike Olliver.
SPOTLIGHT: IDENTITY INC
Alexis Cabrera, a seventh-grader at Neelsville Middle School in Germantown, says that when his dad broke his collarbone this summer and was unable to work, the nonprofit Identity Inc. helped his family pay rent and get food stamps. “We didn’t get kicked out of our home because Identity helped us,” Cabrera says.
Providing case management services to families is just one facet of Identity, a Gaithersburg-based organization that aids Latino youths in Montgomery County. Identity operates year-round school-based programs at seven middle and high schools; two Youth Opportunity Centers, which provide services such as GED classes and tattoo removal; and three Wellness Centers, which offer school-based mental health counseling and other health services. Identity’s 68 employees and 42 volunteers assist more than 4,000 Latino youths and their families every year. “We are in the business of forging positive relationships,” Executive Director Diego Uriburu says.
Jennifer Delcid, a seventh-grader at Montgomery Village Middle School, has experienced those positive relationships during both the summer and after-school programs, where staff helped her with homework and talked with her and the other kids about bullying. “They will encourage you, they will help you feel better if you are a little bit down,” she says. “If you have something to talk about, you are allowed to go to them to talk about it.”
The organization is always looking for ways to improve, and in June 2014 it surveyed 1,000 students, including current high school students, graduates and those who had dropped out. Based on students’ answers about why they had stayed in school or dropped out, Identity made some changes to its services, such as extending the after-school program so students wouldn’t return to empty homes, and teaching parents how to access children’s grades online.
Identity also advocates for the more than 170,000 Latinos in Montgomery County on a public policy level. “You do not see Latinos at the head or at middle management, so lots of people are making decisions for [the Latino] community without really understanding it,” Uriburu says. Identity hopes its advocacy helps to close the achievement gap and provide more opportunities for workforce development.
In the summertime, Delcid and Cabrera were both looking forward to attending Identity’s after-school programs again this school year. “Whatever you need, they will actually help you,” Delcid says.
LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD (www.levelingtheplayingfield.org) collects used/excess sports equipment to give underprivileged children the opportunity to play sports. LPF has donated more than $800,000 worth of sports equipment to more than 75 programs, enabling those organizations to save money that can be reallocated to scholarships and/or lower registration fees.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: D.C./Baltimore region
What a donation buys:
• $250 gives a youth sports team the equipment needed to participate in a league.
• $1,000 equips a program/league with enough equipment for every child.
• $10,000 gives one school the equipment needed for every child to participate in recreational activities.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One time: Help at the warehouse by organizing equipment deliveries for partner organizations.
• One time or ongoing: Organize your own equipment drive for gently used sports gear.
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PROJECT CHANGE (www.projectchange-md.org) promotes positive youth development through leadership experiences, community service opportunities, performing arts and social activities. Its Team of Stars (TOS) program provides summer camp and after-school programs for middle school youths from low-income households. The TOS camp uses musical theater as a medium to improve communication and life skills.
Headquartered: Olney
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers 50 hot lunches for TOS campers.
• $1,000 supports one week at the Project Change Student Leadership Institute for five youths.
• $10,000 sends five youths to the TOS camp for five weeks.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Weekly: High school students can help with information technology and social media.
• Summer: Facilitate dialogue circles at the TOS camp.
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Help a Student go to College
COLLEGETRACKS (www.collegetracks.org) helps Montgomery County public school students navigate the college application and financial aid process and to enroll, persist and graduate from college or technical school. The 1,000 students served annually are often low-income and/or the first in their families to apply to college.
Headquartered: Bethesda
Serves: Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Wheaton and Watkins Mill high schools
What a donation buys:
• $250 enables five recent high school graduates to attend college success skills workshops.
• $1,000 provides one year of college admissions advising for a high school senior.
• $10,000 provides college success coaching for 10 college scholars.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Weekly: Become a trained volunteer to help students during lunchtime and after school with all aspects of the college admissions and financial aid process.
FUTURE LINK (www.futurelinkmd.org) empowers disadvantaged young adults through career exploration programs, workforce development, academic advising, scholarships, paid internships and mentors. Its program emphasizes entrance into and persistence in postsecondary education, teaches youths good workplace, self-advocacy and personal decision-making skills, and helps youths identify and carve out a plan for a meaningful and realistic career pathway that will enable them to become self-sufficient.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides public transportation for 10 students to attend the Future Link college-level seminar.
• $1,000 provides a scholarship for a student at Montgomery College.
• $10,000 funds the Future Link semester-long, career development college-level seminar for 10 students.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Provide informational interviews in your career field to help students understand your career path.
• Short-term: Offer a shared-cost internship or job-shadowing opportunity.
Carlos Perdomo was matched with his mentor, real estate developer Leigh Henry, through Future Link. Photo by Mike Olliver.
SPOTLIGHT: FUTURE LINK
The summer before Carlos Perdomo entered the 11th grade at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, he watched his father get murdered on the first day of a vacation in El Salvador. Perdomo, now 30, says his family, including his mom and a younger brother, were traveling from the airport to their hometown in the Central American country when three men rammed their truck, robbed them and shot his father to death on the side of the road. “By some miracle, me and the rest of my family didn’t die that day,” he says.
At the time, Perdomo felt he needed to financially support his mother and younger siblings. But after graduating high school, he struggled. He dropped out of Montgomery College and did construction and landscaping work. He started drinking and had two DUI convictions by age 25. Then he was caught driving with a suspended license, and a judge ordered him to serve two weeks in jail.
Perdomo says jail made him realize he needed to make a change. He learned from a friend about Future Link, a Rockville-based nonprofit that helps local at-risk youths connect with mentors and finish their education through a rigorous career development seminar. The nonprofit focuses resources on young adults who have been convicted of crimes, experienced homelessness or addiction, or are managing early parenthood. Potential students are referred by local agencies and chosen based on a number of at-risk factors. The program enrolls about 90 students each year into its free career seminar and supports about 80 of its alumni with job networking.
Future Link helped Perdomo find scholarships that allowed him to return to Montgomery College and matched him with a mentor, local real estate developer Leigh Henry. The nonprofit also helped him find a year-round job as a counselor with the Montgomery County Department of Recreation, teaching kayaking and landscaping to local kids. At Montgomery College, he received an associate degree in electrical wiring in 2014, and he secured an apprenticeship job as an electrician earlier this year at a Future Link job fair. He’s now working on a building under construction on Rockville Pike and living with his girlfriend in Woodbridge, Virginia, and continues to help support his mother.
“If my dad could see me now, I know he’d be proud,” Perdomo says.
GENERATION HOPE (www.supportgenerationhope.org) provides scholarships and mentoring support to empower teen mothers and fathers to complete college. To date, more than 86 students have enrolled in the program, which is provided by the only local organization that focuses solely on college completion for teen parents.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C.
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides 10 scholars with gas cards to help them attend class for one week.
• $1,000 provides one academic skills training course for 37 scholars and their sponsors.
• $10,000 provides a four-year sponsorship for one scholar attending a local university.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Serve as a child care volunteer at a scholar training.
• Ongoing: Become a volunteer tutor.
MONTGOMERY COLLEGE FOUNDATION – ACHIEVING COLLEGIATE EXCELLENCE AND SUCCESS (ACES) (www.montgomerycollege.edu/aces) is a collaboration among Montgomery County Public Schools, Montgomery College and The Universities at Shady Grove that aims to increase college enrollment and completion in Montgomery County for students underrepresented in higher education. The program provides targeted academic coaching, interventions and support for students while they are enrolled in the three institutions. ACES currently serves about 1,200 students in 10 MCPS high schools and about 475 students at Montgomery College.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers a college tour for 10 students.
• $1,000 provides three staff training sessions.
• $10,000 covers scholarships for 10 students.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One time: Talk to a group of high school or college students about your career path.
THE POSSE FOUNDATION (www.possefoundation.org) identifies students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential and places them in multicultural teams (“posses”) of 10 students, which act as support systems on campus. Scholars receive four-year, full-tuition merit scholarships from Posse’s college and university partners, and graduate at a rate of 90 percent. Each year, Posse supports 60 scholars in pre-collegiate training, 240 scholars on campus and more than 250 alumni.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C.
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 sponsors two financial aid information sessions for selected Posse scholars and their families.
• $1,000 sponsors training sessions for 12 college mentors, who work with scholars during their first two years on campus.
• $10,000 sponsors a year of Posse’s comprehensive programming for two scholars.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Ongoing: Serve as a writing or résumé coach for high school seniors.
• Ongoing: Become a career coach for a Posse scholar or alumni.
Help Someone Find A Job
CASA (www.wearecasa.org) works to improve the quality of life in immigrant communities. For its 80,000-plus members, CASA provides job placement, vocational training, instruction in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), citizenship assistance, and other critical legal, social and health services, while leading grassroots community organizing efforts.
Headquartered: Langley Park
Serves: Maryland, Northern Virginia
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides a scholarship for an immigrant worker to receive job training.
• $1,000 provides scholarships that enable seven low-income immigrants to take 12 weeks of English instruction.
• $10,000 purchases vital equipment for CASA’s job training program.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Weekly: Serve as a mentor to immigrants studying for the U.S. citizenship exam.
• Monthly: Assist immigrant youths applying for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
EMPOWERED WOMEN INTERNATIONAL (www.ewint.org) provides entrepreneurship and workforce training, mentoring, access to markets and capital, and highly individualized support services for immigrant, refugee and American-born women who face economic and personal challenges. Each year, EWI’s programs provide more than 300 women with the skills to launch, manage and sustain their own businesses.
Headquartered: Alexandria, Virginia
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides four weeks of financial education for 15 students.
• $1,000 provides scholarships for the three-month Entrepreneur Training for Success program, which helps women launch their own micro-businesses.
• $10,000 provides four women with full scholarships for the Grow My Business program, which includes business development, marketing strategy, financial education, expert speakers and business coaching.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Direct a workshop on marketing, business management, finance, public speaking or leadership.
• Weekly: Mentor a woman in business development.
IMPACT SILVER SPRING (www.impactsilverspring.org) brings people together across lines of race, class and culture to create thriving multicultural communities. Its Opportunity Circles support small groups of residents working together to form new businesses and improve their neighborhood conditions, and help the individuals achieve personal development goals related to health, education and economic stability. IMPACT also convenes larger Network Night gatherings that enable participants to form connections with each other and a broader network of people and organizations. IMPACT also offers sports and enrichment activities to low-income and immigrant youths in Long Branch and Wheaton.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 pays for soccer jerseys for one team with IMPACT’s Wheaton Soccer League.
• $1,000 pays for two Network Nights, where diverse residents come together to socialize and share information.
• $10,000 pays to support micro-entrepreneurs with startup costs.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Weekly: Volunteer as a coach for elementary school and middle school soccer or basketball teams.
• Intermittent: Use social media, photography and creative writing to communicate stories of everyday people in IMPACT’s network.
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LATIN AMERICAN YOUTH CENTER / MARYLAND MULTICULTURAL YOUTH CENTERS (www.layc-dc.org/index.php/md-programs) reaches 4,500 at-risk youths in the region, including 600 underserved Montgomery County youths, particularly youths who have dropped out of school. Programs include job readiness training, paid internships, work experience, GED instruction, academic enrichment, college preparation, case management, counseling, mentoring, leadership development and life skills. With its support, 165 county teens obtained paid summer internships in 2015.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C.
Serves: Washington, D.C., and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides public transportation fare cards for three young people to attend a year’s worth of counseling sessions.
• $1,000 enables 20 youths to take the GED exam.
• $10,000 pays for computer training for youths from low-income families.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Become a motivational guest speaker to the youth program, discussing careers, financial literacy and parenting skills.
• Weekly: Tutor a high school or GED student once or twice a week on academic subjects.
LATINO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CENTER (www.ledcmetro.org) equips Latinos and other D.C.-area residents with the skills and tools to achieve financial independence and become leaders in their communities. Its small-business services include technical assistance and micro-loans for aspiring and existing low- to moderate-income entrepreneurs. Its housing services prepare aspiring homebuyers for owning a home and prevent families from going into foreclosure.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C., and Wheaton
Serves: Washington, D.C., and Maryland
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers pulling credit reports for 10 clients to help improve their credit standing.
• $1,000 covers a homeownership workshop for low- to moderate-income first-time homebuyers.
• $10,000 helps capitalize an aspiring low- to moderate-income entrepreneur.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Volunteer at an LEDC event to educate clients about personal and business financial management, the startup process, sound business management practices and the first-time purchase of a home.
PER SCHOLAS (www.perscholas.org/nationalcapitalregion) helps low-income and unemployed adults gain the skills and connections needed to break into the information technology field. Through its tuition-free IT Support job training courses, Per Scholas equips 80 individuals with certifications each year and connects them to in-demand IT jobs.
Headquartered: New York, N.Y., and Silver Spring
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 pays for the professional IT certification that makes a student a certified technician.
• $1,000 develops the career skills for graduates to impress future employers.
• $10,000 covers eight weeks of IT-Ready training for two students, helping them launch IT careers in the region.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Ongoing: Speak to the class on industry-specific and/or career development topics.
• One day: Edit résumés or participate in mock interviews.
After graduating from a Per Scholas program, Kombo Inko-Tariah landed a job with Ntech Solutions. Photo by Mike Olliver.
SPOTLIGHT: PER SCHOLAS
Kombo Inko-Tariah, a Nigerian immigrant living in Laurel, Maryland, was struggling to make ends meet as a freelance photographer, when he saw an online advertisement for Per Scholas. The national nonprofit has a Silver Spring branch that provides tuition-free IT and career coaching to about 80 unemployed or low-income adults per year.
Inko-Tariah, who was supporting a family of four and decided to apply. Less than a month after graduating in May 2014, Inko-Tariah was hired by Ntech Solutions. Since then, he has been promoted twice and is now a systems support administrator. “I love watching people set a goal for themselves and actually complete it,” Per Scholas Managing Director Bridgette Gray says.
Gray opened the National Capital Region branch of Per Scholas in January 2014 and has seen seven classes complete the eight-week program. Mondays through Thursdays, they focus on IT skills, Fridays on career development. Two instructors on staff teach the classes. In the eighth week, the students take tests to receive their CompTIA A+ certification. The majority of IT jobs require certification; Per Scholas covers the $2,000 cost of preparation and certification.
The program culminates with graduation and an on-site hiring fair. Graduates are frequently hired as help desk technicians, quality assurance specialists and clinical desktop specialists. On average, Per Scholas students’ annual salaries leap from under $7,000 to $39,000 after the training. Once the alums have been in a job for 90 days, the organization offers two additional certifications at no cost.
“For people that have been wanting to break into IT but don’t know how, or don’t have the funds or don’t have the support, they get that with Per Scholas,” says alumna Bunmi Ajagbe of Germantown, who now works as an IT auditor at Kearney & Company in Baltimore.
At an alumni happy hour in July, Gray asked former students to raise their hands if they would be willing to invest 1 percent of their salary back into Per Scholas. All the hands in the room shot up. “The least we could do is give back to Per Scholas so they can continue to provide opportunities for other students as well,” Ajagbe says.
Support Those With Special Needs
RED WIGGLER COMMUNITY FARM (www.redwiggler.org) employs adults with developmental disabilities as growers on its certified organic farm. Annually, more than 800 people, with and without mental disabilities, participate in inclusive education and service learning activities in the outdoor classroom. Growers and volunteers harvest more than 34,000 pounds of organic produce a year, 30 percent of which is distributed to low-income individuals in Montgomery County.
Headquartered: Germantown
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides one delivery of fresh vegetables to 10 group homes for adults with disabilities.
• $1,000 provides new ergonomic hand tools for growers and volunteers.
• $10,000 supports winter greenhouse programming for 50 youths with developmental disabilities.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day or weekly: On-farm education and learning opportunities are available for youths and adults with and without developmental disabilities through community and school-group visits as well as by individuals.
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SUNFLOWER BAKERY (www.sunflowerbakery.org) prepares young adults with developmental/cognitive disabilities for employment through skilled on-the-job training. Its individualized 12-month program includes on-site professional instruction, skills training and a paid off-site internship for 16 to 20 individuals annually, and a summer job exposure program for 25 to 30 teens. The organization recently launched Cafe Sunflower, where employees work in an integrated environment to gain experience in customer service, business operations, marketing and sales while selling Sunflower’s sweets and beverages.
Headquartered: Gaithersburg and North Bethesda
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers student materials for one pastry arts student.
• $1,000 provides bakery supplies for one pastry arts student, including ingredients, disposables and small equipment.
• $10,000 covers the program fee for two pastry arts students.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Hold a bake sale using Sunflower Bakery products to benefit the group.
• Weekly: Provide mentoring and guidance as a scheduled member of the cafe team.
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Improve Someone’s Health
ASPIRE COUNSELING (www.we-aspire.org) provides mental health counseling for children, adolescents, adults and seniors. Programs include an integrated behavioral health care program with Mobile Medical Care, treatment for perinatal depression through the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies program, and the Positive Aging Project specifically geared for seniors.
Headquartered: Gaithersburg
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 buys therapeutic toys to aid in the counseling of young children.
• $1,000 provides 12 sessions of home-based mental health counseling for an uninsured new mother with postpartum depression.
• $10,000 provides a year of mental health counseling for 40 uninsured children and adults.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day or weekly: Help with technology, fundraising or translation of materials into Spanish.
MERCY HEALTH CLINIC (www.mercyhealthclinic.org) is a community-based health clinic that provides free medical care, health education and medication for uninsured, low-income adults. The clinic’s medical services are provided primarily by volunteer physicians and other health professionals, and include primary health care and specialty clinics, behavioral health, health education programs and an on-site pharmacy.
Headquartered: Gaithersburg
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers a mammogram and follow-up support for one patient.
• $1,000 provides essential nutrition education and support for 40 patients, including those managing diabetes and hypertension.
• $10,000 provides medication and consultation for 100 patients for five months.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Daily, weekly or monthly: Doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses and medical assistants can provide health care services, including visiting with patients.
MOBILE MEDICAL CARE (www.mobilemedicalcare.org) provides primary and preventive care for nearly 5,000 low-income, uninsured and underinsured Montgomery County residents. MobileMed has seven primary care clinics in areas with the greatest need or outreach capacity, including three locations that offer walk-in appointments for patients who have unpredictable work schedules. In fixed site and mobile van locations, staff and volunteer clinicians deliver culturally sensitive care, integrated behavioral health services and wraparound support. Through partnerships with area hospitals and community organizations, MobileMed arranges free or low-cost diagnostic laboratory, radiology and cardiac testing, as well as specialty care and medications.
Headquartered: Bethesda
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides life-changing patient education for 25 individuals with chronic conditions.
• $1,000 supports two half-day women’s clinic sessions to serve 40 economically disadvantaged women.
• $10,000 supports medical visits for 200 vulnerable patients.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Weekly or monthly: Serve as a volunteer in a clinic or at headquarters.
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THE TEEN AND YOUNG ADULT HEALTH CONNECTION PROGRAM OF CCI HEALTHY & WELLNESS SERVICES (CCI-TAYA) (www.cciweb.org/family.html) is a reproductive health care program that works to prevent unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among teens and young adults from age 12 to 35. It provides low-cost, high-quality, bilingual care through annual gynecological exams, birth control services, and STI testing, treatment and counseling. Last year, CCI-TAYA served more than 3,000 patients with clinical services on-site, and more than 5,000 people in the community through health fairs, community meetings and youth and parent workshops.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides one interactive workshop on reproductive health for 25 teens and young adults.
• $1,000 provides one year of birth control for 10 young women.
• $10,000 provides 65 annual comprehensive gynecological visits.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Host a community forum for adults to learn how to talk with their kids about reproductive health.
• Ongoing: Medical providers can donate services for uninsured patients.
Put a Roof Over Someone’s Head
HOUSING UNLIMITED(www.housingunlimited.org) empowers people in mental health recovery to live on their own and learn the skills they need to be successful and confident. Housing Unlimited provides 175 individuals with affordable homes at 62 fully furnished properties, along with weekly staff visits to check in with tenants and ensure that the homes are well-maintained.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides pots, pans, plates and tools for a newly purchased home.
• $1,000 covers living room decorations and furnishings for a new townhome.
• $10,000 supports the annual salary for an AmeriCorps full-time intern to help serve 175 residents.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help landscape or mulch a yard.
• Weekly: Provide administrative help at the Housing Unlimited office.
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THE MONTGOMERY HOUSING PARTNERSHIP (www.mhpartners.org) is the largest private, nonprofit developer of affordable rental housing in the county, with nearly 1,500 affordable homes in Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Wheaton and other transit-oriented communities. For more than 25 years, MHP has acquired, rehabilitated, built and managed quality affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families and provided Community Life Programs for its residents.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides 16 new backpacks for the annual Back to School Backpack Drive.
• $1,000 helps pay for two field trips for 72 children to the National Zoo.
• $10,000 covers the stipend for one AmeriCorps member to support Community Life Programs.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Join in community fairs, neighborhood cleanups and holiday toy drives.
• Weekly: Read to preschoolers or tutor older children on their homework.
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RAINBOW PLACE (www.rainbowplace.org) is an emergency winter shelter for women, open from Nov. 1 to March 31. Each resident is given a place to stay, a hot dinner, breakfast, a bag lunch, shower and laundry facilities, clothing, toiletries, storage space and bus tokens. A visiting nurse addresses medical needs weekly. Since the goal is to help the women transition out of homelessness, case management is offered and strongly encouraged. Rainbow Place serves about 100 guests annually.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides bus tokens needed by women to travel to medical appointments, job interviews or work sites.
• $1,000 covers a 30-night stay for one woman.
• $10,000 adds an on-site therapist two nights a week.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day or ongoing: Cook and serve meals.
• One day or ongoing: Provide special services for the clients, such as computer training, haircuts or tutoring.
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STEPPING STONES SHELTER (www.steppingstonesshelter.org) offers shelter and support services to about 88 families with children each year. Its programs help families find longer-term housing solutions and create a stable home environment.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides 10 cartons of diapers for homeless families.
• $1,000 provides grocery store gift cards for 20 families as they move out of the shelter and into permanent housing.
• $10,000 buys one-on-one money management counseling and monthly employment workshops for 30 families during one year.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Ongoing: Help with child care.
• Ongoing: Cook and serve dinner for shelter residents.
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Provide Those in Need With a Safety Net
THE ASSOCIATION OF VIETNAMESE AMERICANS (www.avaus.org) provides linguistically and culturally appropriate services to isolated Vietnamese-American seniors, struggling Vietnamese-American parents, and immigrants of all backgrounds who are seeking citizenship. It serves more than 140 children, parents and seniors each year with case management, English language lessons and parenting enrichment services.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Maryland
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides two hours of support and programs for 20 isolated, low-income seniors at a local senior center.
• $1,000 covers 10 translators to help health care providers offer free screenings to 50 uninsured individuals.
• $10,000 supports the salary for one AmeriCorps member to provide 1,700 hours of services to clients.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Provide support at a special event, such as the Tet lunar new year celebration.
• Weekly: Provide assistance to senior citizens needing translation and transportation services.
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BETHESDA CARES (www.bethesdacares.org) is dedicated to easing, ending and preventing homelessness in our community. A housing-focused outreach organization, Bethesda Cares helps people contending with chronic homelessness find paths to permanent housing, while also easing their lives through its drop-in center, daily hot meal program, clothing closet and mental health services. Bethesda Cares also works directly with landlords and utility companies to prevent low-income residents from spiraling into homelessness.
Headquartered: Bethesda
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides hot, nutritious meals for 41 people.
• $1,000 staves off eviction or a utility shutoff for 10 households, buying clients time to weather temporary crises.
• $10,000 sponsors five months of psychiatric support for dozens of chronically homeless individuals battling mental illness or needing emotional support.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Organize a drive for socks, coffee, tea, nonperishable food, seasonal clothing and toiletries.
• Ongoing: Create bagged lunches for clients.
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CAPITAL AREA ASSET BUILDERS (www.caab.org) empowers low- and moderate-income families to take control of their finances, increase their savings and build wealth. Through Individual Development Accounts, CAAB provides $3 for every $1 that each family saves. Once the participant saves $1,000, the money can be used toward postsecondary education, starting or enhancing a small business, or providing a down payment on a first home.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C.
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides class materials for one financial literacy class.
• $1,000 enables 10 families to take the financial literacy class.
• $10,000 enables CAAB to provide one year of financial coaching at a community-based organization.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help facilitate a financial literacy class.
• Weekly: Educate residents about the Earned Income Tax Credit and other benefits during tax season.
COMMUNITY MINISTRIES IN ROCKVILLE (www.cmrocks.org) provides health and human services to the most vulnerable residents of Montgomery County. Its programs include health care for the low-income, uninsured; emergency assistance for families in crisis; permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless men and women; home care services that enable low-income seniors to age in place; and English as a Second Language, literacy and citizenship classes for immigrants. CMR’s programs serve more than 5,000 individuals annually.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 pays for a patient visit and lab work for a low-income, uninsured adult.
• $1,000 helps a working family avoid eviction while coping with an unexpected financial crisis.
• $10,000 provides three low-income seniors with home care services for one year.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Cook a meal for residents of CMR’s housing program.
• Weekly: Volunteer as a caller or friendly visitor for a senior.
CROSSROADS COMMUNITY FOOD NETWORK (www.crossroadscommunityfoodnetwork.org) aims to build the local food system, educate and empower community members—especially low-income and immigrant residents—about healthy food choices, and create universal access to healthy food. Crossroads serves more than 3,000 people annually in the Takoma/Langley Crossroads area. Programs include microenterprise development, healthy eating education and farmers market nutrition incentives at Crossroads Farmers Market.
Location: Takoma Park
Serves: Takoma Park/Langley Park
What a donation buys:
• $250 funds bus service for 25 limited-mobility seniors to receive free transportation to the farmers market for one week.
• $1,000 provides a dollar-for-dollar match for food stamps spent at the farmers market for two families for the entire market season.
• $10,000 pays for a season’s worth of nutritional counseling for 20 low-income women.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Weekly from November-June: Volunteer with local schools and community organizations to give demonstrations on cooking with fresh vegetables.
• Weekly from June-November: Volunteer at the Crossroads Farmers Market to help elderly and disabled customers shop for produce.
HOME CARE PARTNERS (www.homecarepartners.org) provides nonmedical support services to low-income elderly, chronically ill and disabled residents throughout the metro region. Each year, 200 licensed aides provide home care services to more than 1,000 adults, support for family caregivers, and training for individuals interested in working in the home care field. It gives vulnerable, low-income residents the opportunity to remain in their own homes. Home Care Partners’ licensed Training Institute prepares students to become certified home health aides, and offers continuing education in caregiving to aides, professionals, family caregivers and the general public.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C.
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides home care services for one month for two frail elders or persons with disabilities.
• $1,000 supports a scholarship for a student to obtain a home health aide certification.
• $10,000 supports home care services for a year for seven frail elders or persons with disabilities.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Weekly: Volunteer as an intake worker.
• Long-term: Act as the coordinator for marketing, volunteers or development.
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INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE (www.rescue.org/us-program/us-silver-spring) helps people whose lives were shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future. The IRC in Silver Spring makes sure newly arrived refugees receive a furnished home, health care, nutritious and affordable food, English language classes, social services and legal support, and helps refugees achieve economic self-sufficiency through job readiness training, career counseling and ongoing wraparound services. Its Silver Spring resettlement office has empowered 8,000 refugees since 2006, including 4,500 individuals in Montgomery County.
Headquartered: New York, N.Y., and Silver Spring
Serves: Montgomery and Prince George’s counties
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides 10 meals for a newly arrived refugee family.
• $1,000 sponsors 15 classes for adults striving to learn English.
• $10,000 provides training and job search support for 15 adults.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Organize a drive for gently used toys, books, clothes and household items for a newly arrived family.
• Monthly: Become a mentor for refugee families and individuals as they learn English, gain new job skills and learn to navigate
our community.
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SHEPHERD'S TABLE (www.shepherdstable.org) serves more than 2,400 homeless individuals in Montgomery County every year, providing meals, clothing, haircuts, information and referrals, as well as technical assistance by pro bono lawyers, Department of Veterans Affairs staff and tax preparers. It runs an eye clinic to provide vision screenings and prescription eyeglasses for the uninsured, while also providing vouchers for prescriptions, mail service, transportation assistance and telephone access.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides prescription eyeglasses for five low-income, uninsured adults.
• $1,000 provides medical prescription assistance for 40 people.
• $10,000 covers 2,000 meals.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Prep, set up and serve a nutritious meal.
• One day: Assist clients with basic needs in the resource center in the afternoons and evenings.
ST. CAMILLUS FOOD PANTRY (www.gofundme.com/trpqnc) distributes nutritious food to ensure that low-income families get enough to eat. Through emergency food distribution on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, this all-volunteer, bilingual food pantry served more than 10,000 families last year.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides a week’s worth of emergency food for 10 families.
• $1,000 provides two pounds of rice and beans for 250 families.
• $10,000 provides enough food to serve all of the families that visit the food pantry over two days.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day or ongoing: Bag and distribute food during pantry hours, or help unload and shelve food on weekdays.
• Ongoing: Bilingual adults can help with client registration during pantry hours.
THE TREE HOUSE CHILD ASSESSMENT CENTER OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY (www.treehousemd.org) serves child and adolescent victims of sexual/physical abuse and neglect and their non-offending family members. This public-private partnership between the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services and the Primary Care Coalition of Montgomery County provides an array of integrated services, including medical evaluations, mental health assessments and treatment, nurse case management, victim advocacy and forensic interviewing in a safe, child-focused and central location. The center supports nearly 1,000 individuals annually.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides five hours of trauma therapy for a child.
• $1,000 provides a full medical exam and psychological evaluation for a child.
• $10,000 enables the hiring and training of an additional trauma specialist to serve victims of abuse.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Volunteer at the Tree House Tour de Cookie.
• One day: Organize community/school collection of snacks or other supplies needed for children who come to The Tree House.
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Support the Arts and Humanities
ADVENTURE THEATRE MTC (www.adventuretheatre-mtc.org) educates and inspires new generations of theater artists and audiences with theatrical experiences. ATMTC reaches more than 75,000 students, families and educators annually with stage adaptations of popular children’s literature and stories celebrating diversity, student productions, classes and performing ensembles. ATMTC serves students at all skill levels, and families from culturally and economically diverse communities.
Headquartered: Glen Echo and Rockville
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $100 covers the materials needed for a prop, such as one of the munchkin puppets in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
• $500 gives tickets to a theatrical production to 60 students from Title I schools.
• $1,000 buys enough lumber to build a theatrical set designed by a local artist.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with special projects, such as painting during Glen Echo Renovation Week.
• Weekly: Volunteer in administrative offices or as a historian.
• Internships
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THE AMERICAN DANCE INSTITUTE (www.americandance.org) presents performances by professional contemporary dance companies and offers residencies to choreographers to make new work. Every year, ADI brings dance performances to more than 4,500 audience members in the D.C. area and supports several hundred national and international artists that push the limits of dance in new ways.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides food and beverages for a meet-the-artists reception following a performance.
• $500 provides a special performance of Ballet ADI for up to 100 local elementary school students.
• $1,500 provides housing for an ADI Incubator artist for one week.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with performances by handing out programs, providing parking assistance, acting as an usher and other tasks.
• Internships
ARTSTREAM (www.art-stream.org) creates artistic opportunities for individuals in communities traditionally underserved by the arts. The nonprofit’s signature programs include social and job skills classes for adults with disabilities; inclusive theater companies for adults with intellectual disabilities; and arts sessions for wounded military personnel and their families and caregivers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Services: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $100 sponsors a participant for three sessions of inclusive social clubs or drama skills classes.
• $1,200 pays for one month of twice-weekly arts sessions for wounded military personnel and their families.
• $3,000 underwrites theater space for one inclusive theater company.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Party along with our participants at a Super Social Saturday inclusive party workshop.
• Long-term: Perform onstage as a mentor in an inclusive theater company.
• Internships
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Natalie Zanin instructs students in her ArtStream comedy class. Photo by Mike Olliver.
SPOTLIGHT: ARTSTREAM
During the last session of a series of four comedy classes offered in July, 10 adults with cognitive disabilities were beaming as they stood in front of their family and friends at the Round House Theatre Education Center in Silver Spring. They each did a stand-up routine and together performed bits from I Love Lucy and The Simpsons and an original scene dreamed up by one student called “Unholy Bagels,” about a restaurant that serves bagels without holes.
The show was just one of ArtStream’s programs that aims to make the arts accessible for everyone—especially those with disabilities or facing challenging life circumstances, such as grief or illness. The Silver Spring-based organization was founded in 2005 by five women artists—Sally Kinka, Patricia Krauss, Emilia O’Connor, Nicolette Stearns and Patricia Woolsey—who met while working at Imagination Stage in Bethesda and discovered a common interest in spreading the arts to communities that don’t usually have access to them.
ArtStream now has seven inclusive theater companies that create original plays, as well as a large selection of classes in drama and social skills, housed in various community centers and theater spaces. Forty staff artists administer these programs, along with 200 volunteers. ArtStream also sponsors arts programs in health care settings, such as Allies in the Arts, which brings artists to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda for bedside art activities with patients. Last year, ArtStream had 3,700 participants in its programs.
Adults with disabilities particularly benefit from arts programming after they reach the point in their lives where there is a “services cliff,” says John Newman, ArtStream’s marketing manager. After they hit 21, adults with disabilities go from being in school with many programs to being adults with new expectations. “Everyone deserves to express themselves through art, and everyone can benefit from expressing themselves through art,” Newman says.
Natalie Zanin, a comedy class instructor, says she has seen how ArtStream programs have drastically improved people’s confidence and empowered them to get jobs or do volunteer work. One actor she met in her first year of directing would not look anyone in the eye when he began taking drama classes. A year later, his confidence had grown so much that he came decked out in a costume to audition as Richard III. The year after that, he played President Orama Barometer in the ensemble’s original play The Wizard of Ooohs and Aaahhs. Since then, the 23-year-old Silver Spring resident has started working at a record store, appeared in a TV commercial and begun volunteering at Holy Cross Hospital.
THE BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (www.bsomusic.org), in residence at the Music Center at Strathmore, offers 37 classical, pops and educational performances in Montgomery County during the 2015-2016 season. Enriching the cultural life of a diverse and rapidly changing community outside the concert hall is a role the BSO at Strathmore embraces, and the organization continues to expand its impact through education and outreach initiatives. The BSO’s educational programming includes BSO on the Go, OrchLab, senior center chamber concerts and the Music Box Series.
Headquartered: North Bethesda
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $350 helps to underwrite a visit by a BSO musician to a local Title I school as part of the OrchLab program.
• $1,500 enables a BSO string quartet to play a BSO on the Go recital at a Montgomery County senior center.
• $5,000 covers the cost for more than 100 Montgomery County students to attend a BSO concert at Strathmore.
Volunteer Opportunities:
• One day: Provide on-site assistance as a musical mentor during a BSO school visit.
• Weekly: Manage check-in for preconcert lectures and other events.
• Internships
BLACKROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS (www.blackrockcenter.org) encourages individuals of all ages, means and backgrounds to explore, experience and celebrate the arts. BlackRock reaches more than 20,000 people each year through arts education classes, performances, free gallery exhibits and other community engagement events. BlackRock also offers educational scholarships, a free summer concert series and outreach classes at community schools.
Headquartered: Germantown
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides a scholarship for one student to take an arts education class for 12 weeks.
• $1,000 helps supply costumes, dance shoes, paint and other education materials.
• $10,000 sponsors BlackRock’s free summer concert series.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Short-term: Help with events such as an annual open house and spring gala.
• Ongoing: Usher at BlackRock’s performances, gallery receptions and other special events.
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CITYDANCE (www.citydance.net) works to establish the nation’s capital as a destination to see, study and create great dance. CityDance OnStage brings highly acclaimed national and international companies to the region’s performance venues and supports emerging choreographers to create and perform original work in the CityDance Studio Theater at Strathmore. CityDance School & Conservatory provides more than 600 students each week with high-level dance training. CityDance’s community programs, including DREAM and ReachDC, are offered at more than 25 community-based sites across the region, providing free performances for more than 5,000 students each year, in-school and after-school programs for 500 students every week, and camps for more than 400 students every summer.
Headquartered: North Bethesda
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $100 provides classroom materials for one after-school program.
• $250 sponsors 10 students to attend a professional dance performance.
• $1,000 provides 120 meals for student field trips.
CLASS ACT ARTS (www.classactsarts.org) engages communities to create interactive arts experiences to enhance learning. Class Acts Arts brings the transformative power of the arts to children via cultural arts performances at their schools, to incarcerated youths in juvenile detention and correctional facilities through skills-based arts workshops, and to others in the D.C. region. The organization works with professional artists from various cultural backgrounds and artistic disciplines.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $440 brings a Latin American heritage performance to a low-income elementary school.
• $1,000 brings a series of African drumming workshops to wounded warriors.
• $10,000 covers a 10-week mural arts residency in which juvenile offenders learn painting techniques and create a mural to donate to the community.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with special events, such as the organization’s tent at Montgomery County Public Schools’ Back-to-School Fair.
• Weekly or Monthly: Volunteer in the administrative office for event planning, graphic design or marketing.
• Internships
DANCE EXCHANGE (www.danceexchange.org) is an intergenerational contemporary dance company that serves a diverse range of ages, cultural backgrounds and physical abilities through interactive performances, community residencies, classes and professional trainings. Founded in 1976 by Liz Lerman, and currently under the artistic direction of Cassie Meador, the internationally renowned Takoma Park dance company believes that everybody can dance.
Headquartered: Takoma Park
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $100 covers 10 community classes for one individual.
• $500 underwrites a year of tuition for one teen exchange participant.
• $20,000 provides one month of artistic and administrative salaries.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with special events and Dance Exchange HOME series events.
• Weekly: Provide administrative assistance, particularly during development campaigns.
• Internships
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY, MONTGOMERY COUNTY (www.folmc.org) works to help county libraries function as community centers that respond directly to the diverse needs of all the populations they serve. FOLMC provides programming and funding for Montgomery County Public Libraries.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 sponsors FOLMC’s Senior Spelling Bee competition, which provides intellectual and social engagement opportunities for older adults.
• $500 funds one Go! Kit, a backpack circulated in libraries that’s filled with interactive games and toys, including an iPad mini, to get kids excited about science and technology.
• $1,000 provides registration for a half-day writing camp for the two middle school student winners of Mosaic, FOLMC’s creative writing contest.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Volunteer at an event, including serving as a judge for a creative writing contest.
• Long-term: Volunteer at one of two used bookstore locations.
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THE GLEN ECHO PARTNERSHIP FOR ARTS AND CULTURE (www.glenechopark.org) provides multidisciplinary resources that gather the community together for cultural, educational, recreational and arts activities in an environment that’s rich with history and natural resources. Programs focus on individual and collaborative arts activities, shared arts experiences (such as concerts and festivals), self-development, mental stimulation and growth, and overall health and fitness through social dance and other programs that encourage physical activity.
Headquartered: Glen Echo
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 assists with art supplies for low-income students in the summer outreach program.
• $1,000 covers fees to hire local artists for free public festivals.
• $10,000 supports installation supplies, printing/promotion and staffing for a full year of exhibitions featuring local artists in the park’s three galleries.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help during a free public festival with set-up, supervising children’s crafts and more.
• Weekly: Assist with planning craft activities and preparing supplies for a free public festival.
• Internships
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IMAGINATION STAGE (www.imaginationstage.org) inspires creativity in children through theater and arts education experiences. Imagination Stage’s programs include arts education classes and performance opportunities, a season of professional theater productions, early childhood programs and in-school efforts to build learning through the arts.
Headquartered: Bethesda
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 supports scholarships for young children and teens to expand their creative capacity.
• $1,000 provides free tickets and pre- and post-theater learning opportunities for 40 third-grade students.
• $10,000 supports inclusion facilitators that will enable students with and without disabilities to participate together in Imagination Stage’s classes and productions.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with special events such as the annual Gala or the annual Children’s Ball.
• Weekly: Serve as an usher or assist in the Just Imagine! shop.
• Internships
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THE JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF GREATER WASHINGTON (www.jccgw.org) inspires and connects people of all ages and backgrounds through educational, recreational, social and cultural opportunities in a welcoming and inclusive environment. The JCCGW’s Arts & Culture division provides a variety of classes, gallery exhibits, film screenings, concerts, programs and performances.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $100 supports an author event at The Lessans Family Annual Book Festival.
• $250 provides scholarships for art enrichment programs and classes for children in need.
• $1,000 underwrites author presentations or film screenings with talk-backs.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with a special cultural arts event, such as annual book and film festivals.
• Weekly or monthly: Volunteer in the art gallery or library.
• Internships
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LEVINE MUSIC (www.levinemusic.org) is a center for music education for anyone with an interest in music, regardless of age, ability or means. The faculty of 160 artists offers a curriculum that provides a strong musical foundation in an environment where students can explore, create and find inspiration through music. Since its founding, Levine Music has been committed to providing scholarship support for those who cannot afford music instruction. This year, more than 650 children will receive free or subsidized music instruction.
Headquartered: North Bethesda
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers one semester of Early Childhood Music instruction at Levine’s Southeast D.C. campus at THEARC.
• $1,000 covers the cost for one child to have 13 individual music therapy sessions.
• $10,000 covers the cost for five high school students to receive a year of musical theater training and to participate in productions as part of Act Two at Levine.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Support Levine events by welcoming, directing and assisting visitors at weekend performances and special functionsduring the week.
• Weekly: Provide administrative support to staff and work on special projects.
• Internships
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LUMINA STUDIO THEATRE (www.luminastudio.org) positively affects the lives of area youths through professionally staged productions of classic works by Shakespeare, Dickens and others. Actors receive intense training in diction, character development and stage presentation. Lumina training builds actors’ confidence, study and time management skills, and teamwork. A scholarship fund offers low-income youths an opportunity to participate in a full season or summer-stock production.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Montgomery and Prince George’s counties
What a donation buys:
• $500 provides a scholarship for a youth to participate in one main-season production.
• $2,500 provides free tickets for low-income families to a full season of family-friendly performances.
• $5,000 provides costumes for six scholarship actors for a full season.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with loading production sets into the theater.
• Weekly: Help organize photos from past shows.
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THE MARYLAND YOUTH BALLET (www.marylandyouthballet.org) offers classical ballet training to prepare young dancers for professional careers in the performing arts. MYB alumni dance in professional companies across the country. The JumpStart outreach initiative provides scholarships that enable disadvantaged children to have access to MYB’s training opportunities. Students are selected from MYB’s free after-school ballet classes in local elementary schools on the basis of financial need and potential for success in ballet.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 outfits 10 JumpStart students with their own leotard, tights and ballet shoes.
• $5,000 provides a nine-month scholarship for one advanced dancer, age 12 to 15.
• $10,000 covers the JumpStart “Summer Intensive” week of dance for 20 students.
The Metropolitan Ballet Theatre & Academy (www.mbtdance.org) provides dance instruction and performance opportunities in classical ballet, pointe, jazz, modern and hip-hop for students ages 3 through senior adult. MBT strives to make dance accessible to all through outreach performances and by bringing dance into the community. Reduced tuition and free tickets are available for families in need. Dance buddies are offered for students with special needs. All who audition for The Nutcracker are cast.
Headquartered: Rockville and Gaithersburg
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $19 buys a ticket for a student in need to attend a ballet production.
• $250 covers tuition for one student to attend one week of early ballet summer camp.
• $1,500 pays for a cultural arts assembly at a local elementary school with the Metropolitan Ballet Ensemble.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Take tickets, serve as an usher or sell refreshments and gifts at a public performance.
• Weekly: Be a dance buddy for a student with special needs.
• Internships
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MONTGOMERY COMMUNITY TELEVISION | MONTGOMERY COMMUNITY MEDIA (www.mymcmedia.org) strives to be the voice of Montgomery County that informs, connects, engages and educates communities. MCM focuses on educational training, improving digital literacy, bridging the digital divide, and delivering flexible multimedia learning services. MCM presents and archives community contributions in the humanities, broadcast electronic media, communications, new media and multimedia. MCM also serves the community through economic development, nonprofit partnerships and collaborations, and production services. Community content is made available by MCM on Access.19 (on local cable channel 19), Montgomery Channel (on local cable channel 21) and mymcmedia.org.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $25 provides multimedia supplies for student projects.
• $250 provides a scholarship for one student at a digital video, music, backpack journalism or sports journalism camp.
• $10,000 underwrites a semester of a financial literacy course at a Montgomery County high school.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help during the “Day in the Life of Montgomery County” on April 22.
• Weekly: Become a blogger on mymcmedia.org.
THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (www.montgomeryhistory.org) collects, interprets and promotes the history, heritage and culture of Montgomery County. The society uses its historic resources (historic buildings, educational programs, and artifact and library collections) and fosters partnerships with others to create a shared sense of place in a changing environment.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 sponsors a session at the 10th annual Montgomery County History Conference.
• $1,000 buys archival boxes to store documents and objects in the collection.
• $10,000 conserves a decade of textiles, such as beaded gowns from the 1920s, or the entire military uniform collection.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with special events, including History Day, Heritage Days, the Strathmore Museum Shop Around and the annual History Conference.
• Weekly: Become a docent and give guided tours of the society’s two museums.
• Internships
THE NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC (www.nationalphilharmonic.org) offers music education programs that serve more than 14,000 children from every age and income level. Programs include student concerts, school music curricula, summer camps, youth competition, world-renowned musician mentorships and free tickets to National Philharmonic concerts.
Headquartered: North Bethesda
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $75 covers the cost for a family of four to attend any National Philharmonic concert.
• $250 covers a full scholarship for a student in the Summer Choral or String institutes.
• $500 covers a full scholarship for a student in a Summer String Institute.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with education and special events of the National Philharmonic.
• Weekly: Provide support with data entry administration information.
• Internships
THE OLNEY THEATRE CENTER (www.olneytheatre.org) is an award-winning, nonprofit theater offering an array of professional theatrical productions to more than 100,000 audience members each year. Olney Theatre Center’s touring company, National Players, travels to 25 states and performs Shakespearean and classical plays in repertory for more than 40,000 students and audience members each year. National Players also acts as an educational ambassador, teaching theater-related workshops and classes to students of all ages and backgrounds.
Headquartered: Olney
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $100 covers weekly prop and costume maintenance for an Olney Theatre Center production.
• $875 covers travel expenses for a National Players tour member.
• $23,840 covers one week’s salary for the cast and musicians of a holiday production.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with community outreach events, campus beautification and special projects.
• Weekly: Serve as an usher for a performance.
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THE PUPPET CO. (www.thepuppetco.org) provides more than 400 performances annually, with an emphasis on shows for children and family audiences. The organization is dedicated to its mission of making quality theater available to all sectors of the community. There are also exhibits, workshops and classes to enhance a visit to the Puppet Co. Playhouse and for further exploration of the puppet arts.
Headquartered: Glen Echo
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides special lenses for “eco-green” stage lighting.
• $1,000 provides special effects equipment for shows.
• $10,000 provides seed money for a new production.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with the Puppet Co.’s children’s events on special Glen Echo Park festival days.
• Weekly: Work with staff backstage, including refurbishing puppets, sets and costumes.
• Internships
• SSL
ROUND HOUSE THEATRE (www.roundhousetheatre.org), a professional theater company, produces a six-show season of modern classics, new plays and musicals at its 400-seat Bethesda theater. The 2015/16 season features a world premiere, four regional premieres and a Pulitzer Prize-winning American classic. Round House also provides arts education programs for more than 3,500 participants of all ages at its Silver Spring education center and in schools throughout Montgomery County.
Headquartered: Bethesda and Silver Spring
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $20 pays for an area high school student to attend a Round House production as part of the Play It Forward program.
• $285 pays for a week of full-day summer program tuition for a student in need.
• $1,000 pays for the paint to create scenery for one main stage production.
Volunteer opportunities
• One day or weekly: Volunteer as an usher (and stay after your shift to enjoy the show).
• Internships
• SSL
THE STRATHMORE (www.strathmore.org) provides top-tier music, visual arts and arts education programs for nearly 121,000 visitors per year, more than 43,000 of whom attend events for free.
Headquartered: North Bethesda
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 buys supplies for a spring-break multidisciplinary arts camp for 20 low-income fourth- and fifth-graders.
• $1,000 brings one Montgomery County second-grade class to the Music Center for a classical concert.
• $10,000 pays for the education components of a multiday residency by a world-class chamber music group, including school outreach programs reaching more than 1,000 students.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with special community events such as Imagination Bethesda and Discover Strathmore.
• Weekly, monthly or long-term: Usher Music Center performances.
• Internships
• SSL
VISARTS (www.visartscenter.org) is a nonprofit arts center dedicated to engaging the community in the arts through educational programming, gallery exhibitions and a studio artist program. VisArts provides children, teens and adults with opportunities to express their creativity and enhance their awareness of the arts.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $50 provides free art classes for two veterans from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
• $125 sponsors an economically disadvantaged child in a 10-week after-school art program.
• $1,000 covers the costs of one exhibition in the Gibbs Street Gallery.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Ongoing: Assist in the administrative office.
• Ongoing: Help in the galleries with installing, lighting and taking down exhibitions.
• SSL
WASHINGTON ARTWORKS (www.washingtonartworks.com) is an arts complex in Rockville’s Twinbrook area that provides a collaborative working community for students and practitioners of the visual arts. The organization offers classes, workshops, exhibits and outreach programs to serve the visual arts community and the general public in the region. Twelve outreach programs per year offer art and photography experiences to low-income senior citizens and military veterans. Additionally, WAW is home to the Washington School of Photography, which provides workshops and a professional photography program.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 funds a charitable gallery exhibition.
• $1,000 contributes to photography studio maintenance for students.
• $7,000 covers a full-time scholarship for a military veteran for the professional photography program.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Greet visitors at a gallery show.
• Weekly: Help maintain the photo studio.
THE WASHINGTON CONSERVATORY MUSIC (www.washingtonconservatory.org) provides learning and listening opportunities for all ages—tots though adults. Students learn music through individual lessons, classes and ensembles, with performing artist faculty members teaching classical, jazz, folk, pop, rock and Irish music. WCM presents free public concerts and a free community orchestra.
Headquartered: Bethesda and Glen Echo Park
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $165 provides one piano tuning.
• $1,000 provides five student scholarships for a 10-week session of folk guitar or ukulele classes for teens.
• $8,000 covers rebuilding a grand piano for teaching.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help with free professional concert series and receptions or special events.
• Monthly or long-term: Provide professional expertise as applicable to the WCM organization.
• Internships
• SSL
WASHINGTON REVELS (www.revelsdc.org) is a multigenerational community of more than 300 performers (professional and nonprofessional) and hundreds of volunteers who celebrate traditional music, dance, drama and the spoken word from diverse cultures and eras. In 2014, Revels presented 50-plus programs, including The Christmas Revels, May Revels, after-school workshops, concerts, pub sings, monthly community sings, parades and more, to more than 20,000 adults and children.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $300 offers one child in grades K-6 a full scholarship to attend a 10-session after-school workshop.
• $1,000 provides an hourlong show by a performing ensemble to an organization that could not otherwise afford the fee.
• $10,000 enables a person or organization to be the premium sponsor of the annual May Revels outdoor family festival.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Volunteer at May Revels or The Christmas Revels.
• Monthly or long-term: Provide support for productions and events, marketing, educational programs, event planning or development.
• Internships
• SSL
THE WRITER'S CENTER (www.writer.org) is a thriving literary community that serves more than 5,000 writers and aspiring writers each year, including active duty and retired members of the military and adult ESL students. Programs include writing workshops in all genres for adults—beginner to advanced—as well as readings by local and visiting authors, conferences, performances and art openings.
Headquartered: Bethesda
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers tuition for one active duty member of the military or a military veteran.
• $1,000 enables The Writer’s Center to provide up to four scholarships for writing workshops designed for military veterans and members of their families.
• $10,000 enables The Writer’s Center to make substantial capital improvements to its building, including lighting, restrooms and the front entrance.
• SSL
More Ways to Give…
The 45 organizations below have been recommended by either the Community Foundation in Montgomery County or the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County. If an organization offers Student Service Learning (SSL) hours or internships, we noted that at the end of the listing.
Community Organizations
ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LEGAL RESOURCE CENTER (www.apalrc.org/dp/) is a legal services organization serving low-income Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants in the region who have limited English proficiency. Through individual legal representation, community legal education and advocacy, the APALRC ensures that Asian Americans can access the legal system despite language and financial barriers. In 2013, the APALRC handled more than 750 cases covering a broad spectrum of legal issues.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C.
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers printing and distributing 500 informational brochures to crime victims to inform them of their rights.
• $1,000 covers two weekly intake sessions to make legal services accessible by Asian immigrants.
• $10,000 covers 40 hours of legal services.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Volunteer at a community legal education workshop or legal clinic.
• Weekly: Provide intake help on the legal help line, disseminate information to crime victims and/or develop outreach materials.
AYUDA (www.ayuda.com) provides immigrants from around the world with multilingual social services and legal counsel on domestic violence, human trafficking and immigration. Ayuda’s Community Legal Interpreter Bank provides attorneys with trained legal interpreters to ensure that they can communicate effectively with clients. In the past year alone, Ayuda assisted more than 2,000 individuals representing more than 100 countries.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C., and Falls Church, Virginia
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides a client with five hours of legal interpretation in their own language.
• $1,000 provides comprehensive legal representation for a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault.
• $10,000 covers comprehensive legal, health and social services to bring a victim of human trafficking from slavery to self-sufficiency.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Weekly: Attorneys, counselors, physicians and therapists can donate professional services to treat and/or represent clients.
A WIDER CIRCLE (www.awidercircle.org) turns empty apartments into fully furnished homes, provides job skills training, and provides long-term, wraparound support for children and adults seeking to rise out of poverty. To date, A Wider Circle has served more than 170,000 individuals in the region.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides beds, dressers and other basic items for five local children and adults.
• $1,000 provides cribs, changing tables and other essential baby items for 30 Well Mother, Well Baby Program participants.
• $5,000 sponsors an entire job skills training program for approximately 20 participants.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help individuals and families select items, organize showrooms or transfer furniture and home goods from the storage area to the showroom.
• Weekly: Serve as a job coach, provide resume-writing support or provide administrative support in the offices.
• On occasion: Go out on the truck, organize showrooms or help with one of A Wider Circle's weekend community building programs in a low-income neighborhood.
• Internships
• SSL
CAREERCATCHERS (www.careercatchers.org) provides one-on-one career counseling and job-skills training and workshops for about 300 unemployed and underemployed adults in the county annually. Its customized approach helps low-income, domestic violence victims, recent immigrants and homeless clients obtain employment that pays a living wage, fosters self-esteem, enhances personal growth and builds social and work skills leading to self-sufficiency.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 enables staff to work with a new client to develop a resume and cover letter, plus provide a skills assessment and job search tips.
• $1,000 covers 12 hours of customized one-on-one counseling.
• $10,000 pays for continuous intensive support for 10-15 clients who need help after their original funding ends.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Help clients complete online job or training applications, conduct mock interviews or lead a workshop.
• Weekly: Be an on-the-job or workplace mentor; provide job skills or computer and typing instruction; tutor clients for the GED test or ESOL classes.
THE CENTER FOR ADOPTION SUPPORT AND EDUCATION (www.adoptionsupport.org) is the national leader in providing adoption-competent mental health services to address the complex issues faced by foster and adopted children and their families. C.A.S.E. offers a comprehensive range of programs and resources designed to strengthen the well-being of children and teens. Its Live, Learn & Lead (3L) Academy program provides a suite of "wraparound" services including mental health counseling, leadership development and life skill coaching to help young adults aging out of the foster care system successfully transition to independence.
Headquartered: Burtonsville
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
- $250 supports the cost for emergency housing for one night.
- $1,000 supports the cost of community-building activities for 25 of the 3L Academy members.
- $10,000 allows the enrollment of two more youths in the 3L Academy program.
Volunteer opportunities:
- Weekly: Provide administrative assistance in organizing community-building activities for 3L Academy members.
- Annually: Work with other volunteers to organize gift card and winter coat drives.
CLANCYWORKS DANCE COMPANY (www.clancyworks.org) provides youths with healthy, fun and creative outlets for self-expression. Its curriculum utilizes dance to teach leadership, collaboration skills, cultural awareness and personal enrichment. Annually, its programs reach more than 5,500 kids from schools with limited access to arts education.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
- $250 provides a master class for up to 50 students.
- $1,000 covers one student’s participation in the 10-week ASPIRE after-school dance program.
- $10,000 covers year-round enrollment for a student.
Volunteer opportunities:
- One day: Volunteer at a special event.
- Weekly: Provide administrative services.
- SSL
COMMUNITY BRIDGES (http://communitybridges-md.org/) empowers girls in elementary, middle and high school from diverse backgrounds to become exceptional students, positive leaders and healthy young women. It enables more than 220 girls at seven public schools to discover their unique identity, voice and potential through an integrated holistic program of leadership development, college and career readiness, academic support and enrichment.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
- $265 enables one girl to participate in the programs for a month.
- $1,597 enables one girl to participate in the programs for half a year.
- $10,000 supports the operation of all three core programs for one week.
Volunteer opportunities:
- One day: Help at annual family and community-wide events, including the Fall Open House (September), Fall Friendraiser (November) and end of year events (May).
- Monthly: Become a mentor for high school girls participating in the program.
- SSL
DWELLING PLACE (http://tdp-inc.org/) provides transitional and permanent housing to about 22 families each year. Programs are designed to give families the time, support and education to move from homelessness to long-term self-sufficiency.
Headquartered: Gaithersburg
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
- $250 provides new backpacks and school supplies for five children.
- $1,000 pays for tuition, books, supplies and the fee for completing a CNA certification.
- $10,000 pays six months of case management support.
Volunteer opportunities:
- Monthly: Provide child care while parents attend two-hour life skills classes.
- Ongoing: Weekly office/receptionist support.
- SSL
FAMILY SERVICES INC. (www.fs-inc.org) provides high-quality prevention and early-intervention services to more than 27,000 low-income children, individuals and families, including emergency assistance, mental health and substance abuse services, early-childhood programs, domestic violence services and community outreach.
Headquartered: Gaithersburg
Serves: Montgomery and Prince George's counties
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides educational toys and books for three families to prepare their children for kindergarten.
• $1,000 provides a month of intensive personal support and a community network for a seriously ill person discharged from the hospital.
• $10,000 provides a year of parenting education and other supports for families living in poverty.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day or weekly: Help with administrative work, assist in a special event and/or project or provide tutoring services for after-school programs.
INTERFAITH WORKS (www.iworksmc.org) assists 20,000 residents each year, helping homeless and low-income neighbors in need lift themselves from poverty. Interfaith Works’ programs change lives for the long term with the help of 5,500 volunteers and 165 congregations each year.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides 10 vulnerable elementary schoolchildren with new backpacks filled with school supplies.
• $1,000 provides job counseling and workforce development skills to the under- and unemployed.
• $10,000 houses a homeless family more than seven months, providing professional case management and supportive services to help them find stability and a path to independence.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One time or ongoing: Families, individuals, corporate or congregational teams, youth and school groups, and disabled adults can donate or sort goods at the clothing center; prepare and serve meals for shelter residents; mentor families with tutoring, job coaching or parenting skills; help clients gain employment; or provide administrative or professional services.
• Internships
• SSL
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF GREATER WASHINGTON (www.myja.org) empowers a generation to be financially capable and tenacious, equipped with tools to manage risk effectively and think outside the box. Since 1965, JA® has impacted almost 800,000 young people through its hands-on financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship programs and will deliver its programs to more than 63,000 Greater Washington youths this year.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C.
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides 35 hours of financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship programming to youths.
• $1,000 provides 138 hours of inspiring mentoring by a real-life role model.
• $10,000 provides 124 students with tools to be financially capable and career ready.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Ongoing: Become a JA Finance Park® volunteer in Prince George’s or Fairfax counties, guiding kids through life scenarios as they put their new budgeting skills to the test.
• One-time: Show a group of students a possible path to their American Dream by hosting a JA Job Shadow™ at your office.
LIBERTY’S PROMISE (www.libertyspromise.org) engages low-income, immigrant youths in civic life through an after-school leadership program that includes community engagement, career and college readiness, and a professional internship component that places teens in government agencies,?? small businesses or nonprofit organizations. Liberty’s Promise serves at least 320 Montgomery County youths annually.
Headquartered: Alexandria, Virginia
Serves: Metro region
- What a donation buys:
- $250 covers meals for 30 youths at six program sessions.
- $1,000 pays for the Metro fares and other costs for 120 youths to tour key Washington, D.C., sites.
- $10,000 supports 12 teens in professional internships during the summer.
Volunteer opportunities:
- One day: Work one-on-one with a student to create a résumé and cover letter and work on other job skills.
- One afternoon: Present at one of our after-school programs on topics such as college and careers, financial literacy, workplace etiquette and community service. Immigrants are invited to tell youths about their experience succeeding in America.?
LITERACY COUNCIL OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY (www.literacycouncilmcmd.org) provides English as a Second Language (ESL) and Basic Literacy instruction to adult learners. It recruits and trains volunteers to tutor about 1,500 adult learners annually and conducts intensive ESL classes for adults in Montgomery County. As a result, adult learners are able to secure and retain jobs, get promotions, qualify for driver’s licenses, help their children with homework, communicate effectively with teachers, and become U.S. citizens.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers the annual cost of one-on-one tutoring for two adult learners.
• $1,000 supplies tutoring books and materials for 15 adult learners annually.
• $10,000 pays the classroom rental fees for 12 10-week ESL class sessions at schools throughout the county.
Volunteer opportunities:
• Weekly: Complete 12 hours of volunteer training and commit to tutoring an adult learner for two hours weekly.
• SSL
MANNA FOOD CENTER (www.mannafood.org) distributes more than 325,000 pounds of food each month in Montgomery County to ensure that low-income families, including young children and senior citizens have enough to eat. Each month, Manna provides food to an average of 3,800 households through the Food for Families Program. Every Friday during the school year, more than 2,450 elementary school students receive a bag of healthy foods to ensure that they return to school Monday morning properly nourished and ready to learn.
Headquartered: Gaithersburg Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
- $250 will rescue nearly 2,000 pounds of food from local grocery stores, helping to fill bellies instead of landfills.
- $1,000 provides 40 families with approximately 70 pounds of food to supplement their monthly food budget.
- $10,000 provides 50 elementary school children in the Smart Sacks program with a bag of food for healthy weekend meals the entire school year.
Volunteer opportunities:
- One day: Help pack boxes of fresh food, sort canned goods and assist clients with their orders through daily food distribution (must be 18 or older).
- One day: Help collect food by participating in or hosting a food drive.
- Internships
- SSL
MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY (www.mhamc.org) promotes mental wellness and supports those with mental illness by sponsoring and implementing education, advocacy and direct services. Nine major programs and a variety of services support the mental health-related needs of more than 10,000 county residents of all ages for free or at a significantly reduced rate. Programs include support for military families, housing and case management for formerly homeless adults, and visits for isolated seniors. All services are provided under the supervision of professional staff with support from approximately 700 volunteers.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 covers the cost for five parents to improve parenting skills through support groups and classes.
• $1,000 allows a family to receive 15 counseling sessions.
• $10,000 provides an acculturation and reunification program for new immigrant and refugee families.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Volunteer as a violence prevention speaker or as a presenter on a mental health topic.
• Weekly: Volunteer as a “friendly visitor” to individuals who are isolated in their homes due to medical conditions.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS (www.mcch.net) works to end homelessness in the county, operating a wide range of permanent and emergency housing options combined with supportive services for 1,400 homeless and formerly homeless children in families and single adults each year. Since 1990, MCCH has played an integral role in the county’s response to homelessness, operating 40 percent of the county’s permanent supportive housing solutions and 60 percent of the county’s emergency shelter beds.
Located: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides one month of after-school care for formerly homeless children in MCCH’s permanent housing programs.
• $1,000 provides one month of psychiatric support for two homeless veterans who are preparing to move into their new homes.
• $10,000 provides three meals a day for a month to 200 homeless men while they connect to services they need to move onto stable housing.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Organize a collection drive for household items, back-to-school supplies or holiday gifts. Provide landscaping at a MCCH program site. Host a Community Walk at your school, congregation, community group, or business to raise awareness about solutions to homelessness.
• Weekly or Monthly: Prepare and deliver meals at Home Builders Care Assessment Center men’s emergency shelter.
• SSL
NOURISH NOW (www.nourishnow.org) works to bring widespread food security for those in need throughout Montgomery County. It partners with caterers, distributors, restaurants and other food industry leaders across the region by collecting and redistributing their surplus food. Nourish Now serves more than 800 people weekly, both directly and through various social service agencies.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides three weeks of gasoline for Nourish Now to collect food.
• $1,000 purchases disposable pans and lids to rescue 20,000 pounds of food.
• $10,000 covers 50 percent of the cost for a larger refrigerated vehicle to rescue up to 6,000 pounds of food at one time.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Collect and repackage food for the people Nourish Now serves.
• Occasional: Host a food drive at your business, school or place of worship.
• SSL
PASSION FOR LEARNING (www.passionforlearning.org) helps low-income middle school students develop the skills they need for a 21st century knowledge-based economy and technology rich global society. Through after-school and summer literacy-based digital learning, the youths inquire, create, collaborate, problem solve, communicate and connect with the world. They become savvy and responsible digital content creators and critical thinkers. After-school and summer programs incorporate academic enrichment, information technology exploration and college/career connections.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 pays for a half-day field trip to a technology business site for 15 to 20 students.
• $1,000 pays for two low income middle school students to attend a 60-hour Go2College camp at Montgomery College.
• $10,000 pays for an entire year of the Dig.Lit after-school program at one middle school, benefiting 15 to 20 students with 60 hours of information and communication technology learning.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Information and communications technology professionals can volunteer as guest speakers at any one of eight middle schools.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON (www.plannedparenthood.org/ppmw) provides high-quality, affordable reproductive health care to women, men and teens in the Washington, D.C., area. Its Community Education and Outreach Department trains peer leaders—mostly low-income, uninsured or under-insured minority teens—in reproductive health and STD/HIV prevention strategies. Last year, county peer leaders helped facilitate educational workshops, reach out to peers and organize events that reached more than 8,700 county teens and young adults.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C.
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
• $250 provides 75 rapid-result HIV tests.
• $1,000 provides 138 hours of reproductive health and leadership training for teen peer leaders.
• $10,000 provides breast and cervical cancer screening for 100 women.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Provide general office or health center support; participate in phone banking, rallies or letter-writing campaigns; or work tables at community events.
REBUILDING TOGETHER MONTGOMERY COUNTY (www.rebuildingtogethermc.org) provides home repairs, accessibility modifications and energy efficiency improvements for vulnerable families so that they may remain living safely and independently in their homes. RTMC serves low-income homeowners across Montgomery County, with particular emphasis on seniors, people with disabilities, veterans and low- families with children.
Headquartered: Gaithersburg
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
- $250 provides handrails and grab bars throughout the home of a frail senior, preventing falls, ensuring accessibility and supporting their ability to age in place.
- $1,000 secures a working stove and new hot water heater for a single veteran, boosting healthy eating habits and improving food safety.
- $10,000 replaces a family’s leaking roof, remediates the existing damage caused by mold, and prevents structural hazards that threaten to make their home unlivable.
Volunteer opportunities:
- One-day group or corporate project: Join in a volunteer team to provide hands-on assistance in home repair efforts for a family in need.
- Weekly: Assist in the office or warehouse to help maintain inventory, draft stories for the newsletter and keep records up to date through filing, cataloging and data entry.
- Internships
SERVING TOGETHER: TROOPS & FAMILIES CARE PROJECT (www.servingtogetherproject.org) coordinates and strengthens community-based resources for active-duty military (including those in the National Guard and Reserve), the estimated 50,000 veterans in Montgomery County and their families. The organization strives to improve access to a range of health, mental health and other support services by drawing together knowledge from local nonprofits and government agencies.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
• $250 pays for one community briefing to increase public knowledge about the unique needs of veterans and their families and how to better support them.
• $1,000 can train seven individuals in Mental Health First Aid about the signs and symptoms of mental illness and what to do in a mental health crisis.
• $10,000 pays for Veteran and Family Peer Navigation services—one-on-one case management support—for 20 individuals.
Volunteer opportunities:
• One day: Host a training to increase awareness of the needs and opportunities to help service members, veterans and their families.
ARTS ORGANIZATIONS
AFTER SCHOOL DANCE FUND (www.afterschooldancefund.org) establishes strong after-school Latin dance clubs inside public schools to strengthen the social and emotional development of youths by promoting health, exercise, cultural diversity and unity through Latin dance education. The nonprofit also produces the annual MCPS Latin dance competition every year at the Music Center at Strathmore.
HEADQUARTERED: Silver Spring
SERVES: Montgomery County public high schools
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 purchases costumes for one student couple.
• $1,000 purchases costumes for four student couples.
• $10,000 sponsors an entire year of after-school Latin dance programming at the school of your choice or co-presents the annual Latin Dance Competition at Strathmore.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Volunteer backstage and or in the front of the house the day of the competition.
• Weekly/long-term: Support administrative work, grant-writing, social media and communications.
• SSL
ARTS ON THE BLOCK/ARTPRENEURS (www.artsontheblock.com) is the only organization in the Washington, D.C., area offering youths the opportunity to learn about the intersection of art, design and business by engaging them in real-world art projects. AOB-created artworks transform neighborhoods and young people in their pursuit of creativity, collaboration, community, college and careers.
HEADQUARTERED: Kensington
SERVES: Montgomery County middle and high school students
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 buys supplies for 25 participants to work on a single project.
• $1,000 sponsors one creative young person for a 20-week workshop.
• $10,000 funds a large mosaic art installation in a low-income community created collaboratively by AOB apprentices and community members.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Organize supplies, support administrative staff or talk to participants about creative careers.
• Weekly/long-term: Help maintain database (Salesforce) and website (WordPress); support marketing and fundraising efforts.
• Internships
• SSL
BEL CANTANTI OPERA (www.belcantanti.com) works to develop young opera singers through performance opportunities, and brings those performances to the community at an affordable price. Bel Cantanti Opera was founded in 2003 by Artistic Director Dr. Katerina Souvorova, and it recently completed its 10th year of operations in Montgomery County producing fully staged and costumed classical opera.
HEADQUARTERED: Montgomery County
SERVES: Bethesda, Rockville and Silver Spring
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 pays to rent the theater for an evening of opera.
• $1,000 brings one young professional singer from out of town to sing in a production.
• $10,000 pays the entire cast of a four-performance operatic production.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• Weekly: Office administration, fundraising and grant-writing.
CLANCYWORKS (www.clancyworks.org), founded by Artistic Director Dr. Adrienne Clancy in 2001, helps to enhance the quality of life for people in many communities using the arts as a way to develop mutual understanding and advance positive social action. ClancyWorks’ goals are to increase the public appetite for and understanding of the arts, expand the relevance of dance in people’s lives, and develop improved community cohesion, academic achievement and civic responsibility by nurturing leadership skills and artistic excellence in emerging artists.
HEADQUARTERED: Rockville
SERVES: Metro region
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 sponsors an educator to participate in the Dance Educators Training Institute.
• $1,000 creates a weeklong residency opportunity for a minimum of 100 students.
• $10,000 sponsors and funds a community engagement residency that allows company members to conduct eight to 10 workshops for three distinct community groups culminating in a performance that includes ClancyWorks company repertoire.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Provide administrative staff support.
• Weekly/long-term: Collaborate on long-term administrative, marketing and fundraising projects.
• Internships
• SSL
CORAL CANTIGAS (www.cantigas.org) is the only chorus in the Washington metropolitan area, and most likely in the nation, that seeks to increase awareness and appreciation of the many rich styles of Latino choral music and to unite diverse communities through the transformative power of music and bilingual, cross-cultural choral concerts.
HEADQUARTERED: Rockville
SERVES: Metro region
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 helps cover 10 free mu?sica para todos tickets for economically disadvantaged adults.
• $1,000 helps sponsor guest artists for one concert.
• $10,000 sponsors the purchase of music, copyrights, production design and advertising for an entire concert season.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Provide concert support through the box office, will-call, patron services and ushering.
• Weekly/long-term: Help with office support, data entry, marketing and fundraising projects.
• SSL
DOCS IN PROGRESS (www.docsinprogress.org) is an incubator for aspiring and emerging documentary filmmakers and works to create community through documentary through free public screening programs, affordable video production workshops, and services for adults, youths and nonprofits that want to express themselves and the world around them through video.
HEADQUARTERED: Silver Spring
SERVES: Metro region
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 sponsors a screening where emerging filmmakers can get valuable feedback on their works-in-progress from a real audience.
• $1,000 sponsors a middle school student for a two-week summer video production camp who would not otherwise be able to afford to participate.
• $10,000 supplies a mobile production suite of video cameras and editing systems for youths and adults.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Greet guests or take photos at one of our public programs
• Long-term: Provide internships to college students or recent graduates to gain real-world experience with teaching, video production or arts marketing.
• Internships
FOCUSMUSIC (www.FocusMusic.org) presents nationally touring and emerging folk and acoustic music artists to a growing audience through performance, education and participation in the musical folk arts. For more than 12 years, FocusMusic provides an intimate setting for a listening audience. FocusMusic provides more than 75 percent of its ticket sales to its performers.
HEADQUARTERED: Rockville
SERVES: Montgomery County
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 pays American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers dues for a year, allowing ticket sales for performer compensation.
• $1,000 sponsors concert promotion and marketing.
• $10,000 assures that FocusMusic will continue its work for a decade to come.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Sell performer CDs and support marketing initiatives.
• Weekly/long-term: Provide website management.
• SSL
FORUM THEATRE (www.forum-theatre.com) produces adventurous, relevant and challenging plays from a diversity of voices that inspire discussion and build community—and that are accessible, affordable and entertaining. Forum Theatre aims to be both the home for stories that provoke discussion and the place to host that discussion.
HEADQUARTERED: Silver Spring
SERVES: Metro region
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
- $250 affords seven area residents to attend a Forum4All production.
- $1,000 underwrites one RE)Acts performance and post-show discussion.
- $10,000 underwrites one entire mainstage production.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
- Internships
GANDHI BRIGADE YOUTH MEDIA (www.gandhibrigade.org) is an after-school youth organization that uses video, photography and graphic design to provide opportunities for middle and high school students in low-income communities to create media projects that promote social justice and civic engagement.
HEADQUARTERED: Silver Spring
SERVES: Students living in Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Wheaton and East County
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $100 allows 15 students to attend one class and learn the basics of media production,
• $250 purchases a GoPro video camera for youth documentary filmmaking.
• $500 provides the opportunity to send seven students on a weekend retreat where they will learn how to become better advocates for themselves and their communities.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Visit one of our programs and talk with students about media production and civic engagement.
• Weekly/long-term: Opportunities for media professionals to provide educational support for our programs.
• SSL
GLORYSTAR MUSIC EDUCATION AND CULTURAL FOUNDATION, DBA GLORYSTAR CHILDREN'S CHORUS – GCC (www.glorystar.org) nurtures and provides excellent music education to children and youths in the joy of choral art. With a rich repertoire of Eastern and Western music, GCC increases appreciation and builds bridges within our diverse community. With 135 students (90 percent Asian), GCC annual performances draw a local audience of approximately 2,500.
HEADQUARTERED: Potomac
SERVES: Metro region
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 purchases music and materials for 10 students.
• $1,000 supports concert venue rental for one performance.
• $10,000 sponsors classroom rental for six months.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• Daily: Support the office administrator.
• Weekly: Become a trained volunteer to help students during music classes.
• SSL
HERALDS OF HOPE THEATER (www.heraldsofhopetheater.com) was established in 2005 to assist minority playwrights to write and produce performances that explore the rich history of African Americans. Through drama, the theater helps its audiences understand the past, implications for the present, and related urban societal issues.
HEADQUARTERED: Silver Spring
SERVES: High schools in Montgomery County's 8th District
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 funds the development of a 30-minute screenplay.
• $1,000 provides a stipend to two high school or college students to video record our productions.
• $10,000 produces 12 live performances free of charge to all students in Montgomery County.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Support the theater's administrator in managing social media outreach, marketing and promotion activities.
• Weekly/long-term: Help on the stage crew, with lighting, sound or production.
• Internships
• SSL
THE HIGHWOOD THEATRE (www.thehighwoodtheatre.org) produces a full season of student and professional productions, classes and studio events in downtown Silver Spring. Highwood’s unique model of student-produced theater and philosophy that “anyone can do theater” also guides theater arts programs at dozens of schools, allowing students to develop creativity and collaborative/leadership skills.
HEADQUARTERED: Silver Spring
SERVES: Montgomery County and Washington, D.C.
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 provides financial aid for one student to participate in a production, a tech class or an improvisation class.
• $1,000 provides funding for a teaching artist to lead an eight-week after-school class at a local school.
• $10,000 provides funding for one fully produced student production.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Help with market research, data entry and other office tasks.
• Weekly/long-term: Be trained to work closely with our marketing or development departments.
• Internships
• SSL
HOPE GARDEN CHILDREN’S BALLET THEATRE (www.hgcbt.org) upholds the traditions and history of classical ballet while venturing into the world of contemporary ballet and movement. The organization hopes to extend its foundation in the community, teaching and spreading the message of beauty, culture, and the deep roots of classical ballet while including exciting adventures into contemporary dance. The group’s young, accomplished dancers seek to educate and inspire audiences throughout Maryland and the D.C. region. Full-length ballets are performed in many venues, and smaller performances take place at charity settings such as hospitals, senior homes, schools and community events.
HEADQUARTERED: Poolesville
SERVES: Metro region
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 purchases three student costumes.
• $1,000 buys two tutus that will last for more than 20 years.
• $10,000 underwrites the cost of costumes, dancers and sets of an entirely new ballet.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Help with advertising of an upcoming show (distributing flyers) or other show preparation, such as sewing costumes or preparing flower bouquets.
• Weekly/long-term: Help with show preparation as well as continued marketing and development of the theater.
• Internships
• SSL
INSCAPE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (www.inscape.org), founded in 2004 by Artistic Director Richard Scerbo, is pushing the boundaries of classical music with riveting performances that reach across genres and generations, and transcend the confines of the traditional classical concert experience. With its flexible roster and unique brand of programming, this critically acclaimed, Grammy-nominated group of high-energy master musicians has quickly established itself as one of the premier performing ensembles in the Washington, D.C., region and beyond.
HEADQUARTERED: Bethesda
SERVES: Metro region and the nation
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 covers the license for one piece included on an innovative Inscape concert.
• $1,000 allows two musicians to perform an engaging and groundbreaking performance of innovative classical music at Bethesda’s Episcopal Church of the Redeemer.
• $10,000 covers the commission of a new work written especially for Inscape.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• Daily: Serve as an usher or help sell merchandise at an Inscape concert.
KID MUSEUM (www.kid-museum.org) offers unique, interactive experiences for elementary and middle school-aged children that integrate hands-on science, technology, engineering, art and math learning with an exploration of world cultures and global citizenship. KID Museum is the first and only makerspace in the D.C. region explicitly designed to reach children and families.
HEADQUARTERED: Bethesda
SERVES: Metro region
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 allows one low-income family of four to attend KID Museum programs free of charge throughout the year.
• $1,000 provides a free field trip for one grade at a Title I school (up to 120 students).
• $10,000 provides access to 35 low-income students for eight two-hour intensive workshops in the Invention Studio Program.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Support outreach events to build interest in STEAM learning through maker experiences.
• Weekly/long-term: Assist in program facilitation, materials prep, social media/marketing and administrative management.
• Internships
•SSL
MONTGOMERY PHILHARMONIC (http://montgomeryphilharmonic.org/) is a community orchestra dedicated to providing opportunities to enjoy, explore and create music. As a teaching orchestra, Montgomery Philharmonic promotes excellence for musicians of various levels to play orchestral music for themselves and for the community. The organization supports and provides youth music education and performance opportunities alongside accomplished adult musicians.
HEADQUARTERED: Gaithersburg
SERVES: Montgomery County emphasizing Upper Montgomery County
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
- $250 assists with the purchase of music and funding for guest musicians.
- $1,000 provides scholarships for aspiring young musicians.
- $10,000 sponsors the Chamber Youth Orchestra program and expands the school concert series.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
- Weekly/long-term: Play with the orchestra.
NEW ORCHESTRA OF WASHINGTON (www.neworchestraofwashington.org) is a chamber orchestra on a mission to enliven the region’s music scene through virtuosic performances that combine a diversity of genres with fresh interpretations of classic works. Through imaginative adaptations, intimate concert settings and electric performances by a small, passionate ensemble, a familiar genre becomes new again. NOW is currently ensemble-in-residence at the JCCGW in Rockville and also performs at First UCC in Washington, D.C.
HEADQUARTERED: Rockville
SERVES: Metro region
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 provides percussion equipment rental and transportation for a performance.
• $1,000 purchases the performance rights and rental fees for a musical program.
• $10,000 sponsors musician wages for a performance by the ensemble.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Serve as a volunteer usher. Greet guests and pass out programs, then find a seat and enjoy the concert. Time commitment is 30 minutes before and after the performance.
NIH PHILHARMONIA (www.nihphil.org), founded by its Music Director Dr. Nancia D’Alimonte, impacts the people it serves by filling an unrivaled niche, both by providing free concerts to the community and by offering a creative outlet for its 80 talented musicians, many of whom work at the National Institutes of Health, one of the area's largest employers. The whole concert experience is why audiences keep returning: the opportunity to learn about music in an educational way, the setting of the unique concert venue, hearing professional-quality orchestra music, learning historical facts about the music and its composers, and the conductor's one-of-a-kind narrative presentation.
HEADQUARTERED: Bethesda
SERVES: Metro region
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 provides assistance with music rental for one work.
• $1,000 sponsors instrument rental for four concerts.
• $10,000 sponsors three full NIH Philharmonia concerts, including music and instrument rental, program printing, concert recording and staff stipend.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• Daily: Usher at a NIH Philharmonia concert.
• Long term: Assist with stage management, concert preparation, venue setup and reset.
PROJECT CHANGE (www.projectchange-md.org) is a youth/adult partnership organization dedicated to promoting positive youth development through leadership experience, quality community service opportunities, the performing arts and safe social activities. Programs include: Team of Stars, You Have the Power!, Student Leadership Institute, Youth Empowered Service and Teen Coffee House.
HEADQUARTERED: Olney
SERVES: Montgomery County
WHAT A DONATION BUYS
• $250 purchases four lavaliere headsets.
• $1,000 sponsors a music/dance or theater teacher.
• $10,000 sends four deserving local youths to the five-week Team of Stars Musical Theater Summer Camp.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• Daily: Help backstage in rehearsals and/or performances; practitioners/mediators of Restorative Practices help facilitate Dialogue Circles; artists of all sorts (music, dance, theater, stagecraft, video and photography) can offer workshops for after-school and summer.
• Weekly: Become a counselor in training (10th grade and up) for the TOS Musical Theater Camp; mentor youths; update website and assist in office administration.
• Internships
• SSL
SANDY SPRING MUSEUM (www.sandyspringmuseum.org) provides the exploration of community history through the visual, literary and performing arts. The museum sits on seven acres and features nine resident artists, ongoing art exhibits, temperature controlled archives, an extensive library and a gift shop. The museum hosts monthly jazz concerts, history happy hours, teen coffeehouses, an annual holiday party and the Strawberry Festival.
HEADQUARTERED: Sandy Spring
SERVES: Olney, Ashton, Sandy Spring and surrounding areas
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
- $250 underwrites a small special event, such as Jazz in the Round, History Happy Hour or Teen Coffeehouse.
- $1,000 supports family activities at larger events such as the Strawberry Festival.
- $10,000 funds critical capital improvement projects and renovations to create studio rental spaces for area artists.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
- One day: Assist with in-house mailing efforts, run the gift shop or set up for special events.
- Weekly/long-term: Become a trained volunteer to assist the executive director or marketing director with marketing/advertising of museum special events and rentals.
- Internships
- SSL
SILVER SPRING TOWN CENTER (www.silverspringtowncenter.com ) produces 90-plus arts and entertainment programs and events year-round at the Silver Spring Civic Building and on Veterans Plaza, as well as throughout Downtown Silver Spring, providing a vibrant, inclusive and engaging community gathering place that enriches the lives of residents of the Greater Silver Spring area, embracing the racial and cultural diversity of the region.
HEADQUARTERED: Silver Spring
SERVES: Silver Spring
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 sponsors one of SSTCi’s festivals or events.
• $1,000: Helps SSTCi present four outdoor performances as part of Twilight Tuesdays or Wednesday Night STARZ on Veterans Plaza.
• $10,000 co-sponsors free arts and entertainment events, including the annual Silver Spring Blues Festival, Harvest Moon Festival and Tribute to America’s Veterans Concert.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Event management at one of our festivals or other events.
• Weekly/long-term: Help with fundraising, grant writing, marketing and promotion.
• Internships
• SSL
SIX DEGREE SINGERS (www.singsix.com) is a vibrant community choir dedicated to community outreach through engaging, high-quality and accessible choral music. Six Degree Singers produces choral concerts, commissions original works, and participates in community events, such as live performances, festivals, and arts outreach and education.
HEADQUARTERED: Silver Spring
SERVES: Montgomery County
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 covers commissioning an original choral piece from an up-and-coming composer or hiring a talented guest musician for an SDS event.
• $1,000 covers rights and reproductions of music for one concert series.
• $10,000 covers one year of Six Degree Singers’ operational and administrative costs.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Join our concert/event staff as an usher, greeter or stage hand.
• Monthly or long-term: Join a planning committee to help organize community events and concerts, secure funding or design music programming and education.
UNEXPECTED STAGE COMPANY (www.unexpectedstage.org) is a non-profit professional theater company, which dedicates itself to exploring the intimacies and intricacies of the human experience. The Helen Hayes Award-nominated organization produces high-quality plays and musicals at affordable prices.
HEADQUARTERED: Gaithersburg and Wheaton
SERVES: Montgomery County
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 sponsors costumes for a full production run.
• $1,000 provides a season's worth of set materials.
• $10,000 sponsors actor wages and set/sound/light/costume design expenses for a full production run.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Usher for a performance.
• Weekly/long-term: Assist with stage management or building sets; or provide ongoing administrative/website/graphic design work.
• SSL
YOUNG ARTISTS OF AMERICA AT STRATHMORE (www.youngartistsamerica.org) offers music, theater, education and performance opportunities to gifted and committed youths throughout the Washington metropolitan area. Students train collaboratively to perform fully orchestrated, classical and musical theater concerts in state-of-the-art venues such as The Music Center at Strathmore.
HEADQUARTERED: North Bethesda
SERVES: Metro region
WHAT A DONATION BUYS:
• $250 pays for one student instrumentalist to rehearse and perform with the YAA orchestra for a full season.
• $1,000 allows one aspiring vocalist to attend our Musical Theatre Intensive Summer Day Camp.
• $10,000 underwrites the cost to bring in a renowned professional guest mentor, such as award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin).
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
• One day: Usher at performances and master classes or staff the ticketing table.
• Weekly/long-term: Help plan special events and fundraisers.
• Internships
• SSL
