WASHINGTON, DC, February 23, 2015 – Today, United Way of the National Capital Area (United Way NCA) announced that it is awarding Community Impact grants totaling $100,000 to 10 nonprofit member organizations serving Prince William County. Each of the grants directly addresses United Way NCA’s focus areas of education, financial stability and health. This year, United Way NCA is awarding over
$1 million in Community Impact grants to member nonprofits serving the National Capital Area thanks to the support of employees participating in 800 workplace giving campaigns at more than 3,000 locations throughout the greater Washington region.
The grantees were honored at a ceremony this morning with Prince William County Public Schools Superintendent Steven L. Walts. Specifically, the Prince William County grantees are: Action in Community Through Service of Prince William (ACTS), The Arc of Greater Prince William/INSIGHT, Inc., CASA Children’s Intervention Services, Inc., City of Manassas Public Schools Education Foundation, Just Neighbors Ministry, Inc., Literacy Volunteers of America-Prince William, Inc., OAR of Fairfax County, Inc., Northern Virginia Family Service, NOVA Scripts Central, Inc., and Transitional Housing BARN, Inc.
Transitional Housing BARN’s grant will allow Prince William families to have safe and reliable transportation to get to and from work and provide access to obtain childcare funds. Many of the families BARN serves can afford rent or childcare but not both. The grant will also provide case management services to help families with budgeting and other goals they wish to achieve. “As families struggle in low-income jobs, it can take a long time to get on secure financial footing,” said Transitional Housing BARN Executive Director Colin Davis. “One sick child often means a week of missed work and wages. The United Way NCA Community Impact grant allows us to help families through these emergency situations so they don’t lose their jobs or their homes and their children are able to have safe, reliable child care. These funds provide a vital piece to helping families achieve self-sufficiency.”
Thanks to their Community Impact grant, ACTS is able to provide relief, foster home and promote self-sufficiency to individuals who are impacted by domestic violence. ACTS’ Turning Points program, the only comprehensive domestic violence intervention program serving Prince William County and Manassas and Manassas Park, offers a domestic violence shelter, counseling and support groups, a behavioral intervention program, court advocacy and more. “It’s not unusual for our staff to be told ‘I do not think I would be alive today’ without your help,” said Dotty Larson, Turning Points program director, ACTS. “For victims of domestic violence and their children, we offer an open door and a way for them to begin rebuilding their lives. This community support truly saves lives.”
Every year, United Way NCA solicits Community Impact funding proposals from its member nonprofit organizations for specific programs and work in United Way NCA’s focus areas of education, financial United Way NCA Awards Community Impact Grants to Prince William Nonprofits in stability and health. The funding decision process includes recommendations from regional volunteer, citizen-led task forces working with United Way NCA’s Regional Councils, as well as area nonprofits, governments, and business leaders, to determine where there are gaps in services and where the funds will do the most good.
“The volunteer members of the Prince William selection committee are people who really know the details about our care-giving agencies and their value to our neighbors in need – and they are also sensitive to the pull and tug between needs and scarce resources,” said United Way NCA Prince William Regional Council Chair Paul Moessner. “Even with this advantage, it’s always a difficult selection process that leaves us wishing there was more money to distribute. I hope Prince William residents recognize that the Community Impact grants process takes their trust seriously and strives to use the community’s resources in the best possible manner.”
All donors to United Way NCA have the option of directing their workplace giving pledge to the Community Impact Fund for any of United Way NCA’s eight regions: Alexandria, Arlington, District of Columbia, Fairfax/Falls Church, Loudoun, Montgomery, Prince George’s and Prince William counties. These funds help United Way NCA solve critical challenges facing these communities that no one person, nonprofit, or company can address alone. Across the National Capital Area this year, United Way NCA is awarding a total of 77 Community Impact grants to 65 nonprofit member organizations.
“United Way NCA’s Community Impact grant process helps us rally and focus the nonprofit community around shared goals and outcomes by combining the power of local giving, local knowledge and collective action to create maximum impact as we address the most pressing needs in each of our eight regions,” said Rosie Allen-Herring, President and CEO, United Way NCA. “Today we honor the generosity of Prince William County employees and employers, the time and care taken by the volunteer selection committee and the Prince William County Regional Council, and the vital work of the grantee organizations.”