The organizations listed below are part of the 2022 Guide to Giving. Return to the guide’s homepage by clicking here.
CareerCatchers (careercatchers.org) provides personalized employment and job-skills counseling to the area’s most vulnerable residents. CareerCatchers serves between 700 and 800 county residents a year. Of clients seen intensively, 70% find new/better jobs within six months (the annual value of new jobs in 2021 was $8.5 million) and 85% participate in training and receive post-job placement support.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
- $500 prepares a client for work with a resume, Individual Employment Plan, training, job applications, networking and interview skills.
- $1,000 covers ongoing services for a client, from intake to starting a new job.
Volunteer Opportunities:
- Ongoing: Grant writing; present at workshop(s); teach computer skills; or tutor ESOL, GED, etc.
- SSL
- Internships
Cornerstone Montgomery, Inc. (cornerstonemontgomery.org) serves nearly 3,000 adults and transition-aged youths living with severe mental health and co-occurring substance use disorders in Montgomery County. Cornerstone Montgomery’s programs help people find and keep housing, train for new jobs and lead independent lives.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
- $500 funds lunches for one month for 30 Foundations (day program) $1,000 funds art supplies for 20 Studio In-Sight client artists.
Volunteer Opportunities:
- Volunteer for an in-person day program.
Latino Economic Development Center (ledcmetro.org) equips Latinos and other underserved Greater D.C. residents with the skills and tools to achieve financial independence and become leaders in their communities. The organization’s small-business services include technical assistance and microloans for aspiring and existing low- to moderate-income entrepreneurs. Its housing services prepare families for responsible homeownership.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C.
Serves: Maryland, D.C., Virginia and Puerto Rico
What a donation buys:
- $250 helps establish tenant associations to preserve affordable housing.
- $1,000 helps a low-income family or senior in crisis remain in their home.
Volunteer Opportunities:
- One day: Offer expertise related to personal and business financial management.
- Weekly: Help with survey administration.
- Internships
Literacy Council of Montgomery County (LCMC) (lcmcmd.org) provides one-on-one basic literacy and English as a second language (ESL) tutoring and classes. More than 130,000 residents of Montgomery County are “limited English proficient,” making tasks like completing a job application or writing a note to their child’s teacher nearly impossible. Over the past 54 years, LCMC has helped make those tasks easier for more than 20,000 adult learners. LCMC provides cost-effective instruction to foreign-born and native-born students who have limited flexibility in their schedules, may not be comfortable in large classes, or may simply need to learn at their own pace. It also offers conversation classes and workplace literacy courses. Over 30 classes at six sites will reach nearly 1,700 adults next year.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
- $100 provides online books for five students.
Volunteer Opportunities:
- Ongoing: Be a tutor for the GED program.
- Ongoing: Serve as an ESL teacher assistant.
Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy (MCAEL) (mcael.org) is a coalition of over 60 organizations that provide adult English language classes for speakers of other languages (ESOL). These classes are critical to helping immigrant neighbors learn English so that they can help their children in school, access medical care and find jobs. MCAEL supports and trains over 1,000 instructors who teach over 11,000 adults annually.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
- $250 covers a Chromebook for English language learners to take an online class.
- $1,000 covers two Community Learning Groups for new learners to get started.
Volunteer Opportunities:
- One day: Help with a special event (MCAEL is seeking multilingual volunteers).
- Ongoing: Participate in online training to tutor or teach a class.
- SSL
- Internships
Red Wiggler Community Farm (redwiggler.org) is a certified organic farm where people with and without developmental disabilities come together to work, learn and grow healthy food. The farm distributes half of harvests to various partner organizations serving neighbors in need, while the other half is sold through the Community Supported Agriculture program. In this way, growers with developmental disabilities have a chance to help others while earning a paycheck.
Headquartered: Germantown
Serves: Montgomery County
What a donation buys:
- $250 provides five deliveries of fresh vegetables to area group homes for adults with disabilities.
- $1,000 provides ergonomic hand tools for growers and volunteers.
Volunteer Opportunities:
- One day or weekly: Participate in on-farm education and volunteer opportunities.
- SSL
- Internships
Per Scholas (perscholas.org/nationalcapitalregion) advances economic equity through tech career training and connecting skilled talent to leading businesses. Per Scholas in the National Capital Region equips 300 individuals annually with industry-recognized certifications and connects them to in-demand tech jobs, providing support along the way. Per Scholas also aims to supply technology toolkits to Per Scholas applicants who don’t have the technology they need to participate virtually.
Headquartered: Silver Spring
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
- $500 equips three IT support or cyber security learners with lab supplies.
- $1,000 covers the cost of SEC+ certification for four alumni.
Volunteer Opportunities:
- Ongoing: Speak to the class on industry-specific and/or career development topics.
- One day: Edit resumes or participate in mock interviews.
- Internships
Sunflower Bakery (sunflowerbakery.org) enables pathways to employment for young adults with learning differences through workforce development training in Pastry Arts and Hospitality. As a nonprofit social enterprise, Sunflower’s training model incorporates students into all aspects of a working bakery providing experiential learning on the hard skills of food trades coupled with the soft skills of employment readiness.
Headquartered: Rockville
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
- $540 supports course materials for a hospitality class.
- $1,800 buys kitchen essentials toolkits for six Pastry Arts students.
Volunteer Opportunities:
- Ongoing: Guide workshops for interview prep, financial literacy and other topics.
- Ongoing: Support students in the bake shop and café; help with packing orders during the holidays and other areas of need.
Urban Alliance (theurbanalliance.org) connects high school students, primarily in communities of color, to equitable, inclusive paid work experiences, mentorships and job skills training. Since 1996, Urban Alliance has connected more than 6,000 young people to paid internships and 23,000 more with workforce training and professional development.
Headquartered: Washington, D.C.
Serves: Metro region
What a donation buys:
- $50 covers an intern’s wages for a day of part-time work after school.
- $500 provides interns with an incentive payment to complete pre-work training.
Volunteer Opportunities:
- One day: Help interns edit LinkedIn profiles, resumes, or essays for college applications and scholarships; or facilitate or provide feedback on mock interviews.
- Ongoing: Mentor/supervise interns during the senior year of high school.
- SSL
- Internships
