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VPP Invests $1.4M in Metro TeenAIDS and Urban Alliance to Serve 3,000 Youth The youthCONNECT open competition ended this month and VPP announced an investment of $1.4 million over two years in Metro TeenAIDS and Urban Alliance. These two organizations—selected after a six month process—will use the investments to serve 3,000 young people over two years with exceptional health education and workforce development programming. MetroTeenAIDS and Urban Alliance will join the four other nonprofits selected by VPP in the summer of 2010 in youthCONNECT. VPP Investor Speaker Series Features New DC Mayor Vincent Gray Last month, Mayor Vincent Gray spoke to the VPP Investor community and special guests. Through a conversation with VPP investor Kristin Ehrgood, President of the Flamboyan Foundation, the Mayor discussed his thoughts on the state of the city, and how he plans to put his “One City” vision into action. The event, which was held at the Flamboyan Foundation, drew over 50 guests, which included the Deputy Mayor for Education, De’Shawn Wright, DC State Superintendent Hosanna Mahaley, and the Director of the Department of Employment Services, Rochelle Webb. Mayor Gray discussed the revival of the deputy mayor system, which he says is important to holistically meet the needs of DC residents. He said that people “do not function as agencies,” and challenges cut across all jurisdictions. The deputy mayors will coordinate across agencies to help solve the multi-faceted problems of DC, he said. |
 MARCH 2011
What a Year! This time last year, the staff at VPP was furiously working to complete our application to the Social Innovation Fund (SIF). Looking back, it is clear that all of that hard work paid off. In July, we were honored to be included as an inaugural member of the signature program from the Obama administration. The award has since opened many doors for VPP. Most recently, I participated in the keynote panel at the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference about the Social Innovation Fund with its director, Paul Carttar. Most importantly, this month we announced the final two network partners for our SIF initiative, youthCONNECT. Metro TeenAIDS and Urban Alliance are organizations which bring deep community leadership and a wealth of experience and energy to the table. As our network officially launches and we begin the hard work of pulling together to directly affect the lives of 20,000 low-income youth in our region, I think back on how we got here. Last year marked VPP’s ten-year anniversary and we began to reflect internally about what our next ten years or more would look like. Although we felt our model of philanthropy works and our first investments were successful, we also concluded that in order to achieve the bold changes necessary to dramatically improve the lives of the most vulnerable children and youth in our region, we needed to add to our approach. The challenges in our community are too big and complex to be met by a single funder, a single nonprofit, or a single sector. |
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VPP Invests $1.4M in Metro TeenAIDS and Urban Alliance to Serve 3,000 Youth
“This is an incredible opportunity for Urban Alliance because it aligns directly with our strategic goals over the next five years: to greatly increase the number of youth we serve and to ‘prove’ our outcomes in a more meaningful way,” said Veronica Nolan, Executive Director of Urban Alliance. “The desire Metro TeenAIDS and Urban Alliance were selected to join youthCONNECT because of their outstanding results for low-income youth, their ability to demonstrate evidence of effectiveness, the strength of their evaluation plans, and the complementary services they bring to the other nonprofits in the network. Metro TeenAIDS has promoted responsible decision-making among DC youth through education, outreach, and advocacy for over 20 years. With a two-year investment of $635,000, Metro TeenAIDS will contribute to youthCONNECT by providing sex and health education to over 2,250 students at DC public charter schools, and training in effective health education to over 200 public charter school staff. Urban Alliance prepares high school students for the world of work by placing them into paid internships during the school year and the summer. They have been working in DC high schools for 15 years and have expanded rapidly, including into Baltimore. With a two-year investment of $719,000, Urban Alliance will contribute to youthCONNECT by expanding its internship program by over 40% and almost doubling its alumni services outreach, from 140 to 275 annually. “Metro Teen “I am very honored that VPP has selected to invest in Metro TeenAIDS and the youth of the Washington DC metro area,” said Adam Tenner, Executive Director of Metro TeenAIDS. “We are also enthusiastic to partner with other VPP grantees to develop comprehensive programs, systems, and measurements to support youth as they transition to a healthy and productive adulthood. From our experience founding and staffing community coalitions, we know how important and how powerful collaborative action can be in our region, particularly on behalf of youth.” For more information, please visit: http://www.vppartners.org/portfolio/youthconnect VPP Investor Speaker Series Features New DC Mayor Vincent Gray
Last month, Mayor Vincent Gray spoke to the VPP Investor community and special guests. Through a conversation with VPP investor Kristin Ehrgood, President of the Flamboyan Foundation, the Mayor discussed his thoughts on the state of the city, and how he plans to put his “One City” vision into action. The event, which was held at the Flamboyan Foundation, drew over 50 guests, which included the Deputy Mayor for Education, De’Shawn Wright, DC State Superintendent Hosanna Mahaley, and the Director of the Department of Employment Services, Rochelle Webb. Mayor Gray discussed the revival of the deputy mayor system, which he says is important to holistically meet the needs of DC residents. He said that people “do not function as agencies,” and challenges cut across all jurisdictions. The deputy mayors will coordinate across agencies to help solve the multi-faceted problems of DC, he said. Mayor Gray also focused extensively on one of his signature initiatives: early childhood education. He said that children begin to disengage from school around the third grade, and it is important to catch them before this happens. Mayor Gray said he wants to push the beginning of a child’s education to around three years old to ensure that each child can meet his or her full potential. In an open question and answer session that followed Mayor Gray’s dialogue with Ehrgood, the audience questioned him about the costs of special education, job creation for the city, and the need to focus on older youth who are becoming disconnected from society.
Thompson Cole in Keynote Panel at Harvard Social Enterprise Conference
VPP President and CEO Carol Thompson Cole joined other social change leaders from around the world at the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference the first weekend in March. She delivered the Saturday keynote address at the conference, along with Paul Carttar, Director of the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), before an audience of approximately 700. CNN Analyst David Gergen moderated the dialogue. Topics included SIF’s potential to create sustainable change across the country, as well as the challenges with implementing the innovative model. Carttar gave an overview of the SIF and Cole shared her perspective on the initiative, and why VPP decided to apply to be a member of its inaugural portfolio. She noted that VPP sees its role as a risk-mitigator between its subgrantees and the federal government, as many of its partners in the SIF-supported initiative youthCONNECT have not received federal funding or dealt with the federal government before. Both she and Carttar said that the SIF was about more than money for innovative programs, and actually advances a new model for public and private partnerships. You can read more about the conversation between Thompson Cole and Carttar on the BostInnovation blog, and more about the conference here and here.
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Fight for Children Launches Initiative to Prepare all DC Children for Kindergarten Last month, Fight for Children announced its new initiative, Ready to Learn, which lays out a five-year plan to ensure that all DC children are prepared to learn once they enter kindergarten. Fight for Children, which was started by VPP Investor Joseph Robert, estimates that only about half of DC children are enrolled in high-quality preschool education programs. Ready to Learn will increase the number of available options to parents, as well as educate them on the benefits of high-quality early childhood education programs. Fight for Children has already made two grants through Ready to Learn: the AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation and Children’s National Medical Center. They have also partnered with several other organizations, including t DC Public Schools and the DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative. To learn more, visit the initiative’s website. |
The youthCONNECT open competition ended this month and VPP announced an investment of $1.4 million over two years in 
of DC youth to gain workforce skills and experience is evident in the number of applications we receive- this past year, we received 400 applications, but only had 140 slots available. As you can imagine, it is incredibly hard to turn away youth who are so motivated and if given the opportunity, excel. Our partnership with VPP through the youthCONNECT initiative could not have come at a better time. We're so appreciative and humbled by this opportunity so that we can collectively work towards providing more vulnerable youth a pathway to meaningful employment.”
AIDS and Urban Alliance are an important addition to the youthCONNECT network,” said Marc Schindler, VPP Partner and leader of the youthCONNECT initiative. “They both bring critical components to the network, deep experience in collaborative efforts, the respect of the community and fellow network partners, and will complement the work being done by the other youthCONNECT nonprofits—College Summit-NCR, KIPP DC, the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC), and Year Up-NCR.”
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BGCGW President and CEO Pandit Wright Receives National Award Thanks to Andrea James, Communications Manager, for this update.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (BGCGW) President & CEO Pandit F. Wright was recognized by the national organization, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), as the recipient of the Southeast Region’s 2010 J. Richard Ullom Rookie of the Year Award for outstanding leadership and significant achievements during her first year of service as Chief Executive Officer. “I am indeed honored,” said Wright. “This award acknowledges all of the work that our staff, boards, donors, and ongoing supporters have done over the past year to truly transform our organization. It is a welcome encouragement as BGCGW continues to prepare today’s youth for tomorrow’s challenges as a leading youth service provider in the National Capital Region.” In addition to the Ullom award, BGCGW received the Arthur L. Williams Award for In-Service Training for its commitment to quality internal professional development. The awards were given during BGCA’s 2011 Southeast Regional Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The Child and Family Network Centers at the Air and Space Museum Thanks to Manager of Development Anna Berke for this update.
On Friday, February 11, CFNC students, parents, and staff enjoyed a field trip to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC through PNC Bank’s Grow Up Great Program. The morning began with a 10 AM private showing of One World, One Sky in the Museum’s planetarium. The 20-minute planetarium show follows Sesame Street's Big Bird and Elmo as they explore the night sky with Hu Hu Zhu, a Muppet from the Chinese co-production of Sesame Street. Together, they take an imaginary trip from Sesame Street to the moon, where they discover how different it is from Earth. The show aims to nurture a child's natural sense of wonder about the night sky. CFNC’s students laughed, clapped, and sang along. One exclaimed: “That was so much fun!” The field trip continued as children made shadow puppets and explored science concepts throughout the Museum. “It was a truly wonderful day for all involved,” noted Director of Education Sharon Shackelford. “Visiting the Air and Space Museum was a unique experience for CFNC’s children and families and we greatly appreciate PNC Bank for the opportunity to expose them to science concepts in such a hands-on and exciting way.” CentroNía Kicks Off 2011 with Awards and Recognitions Thanks to Paola Parra García, Atlas Corps Fellow, for this update.
CentroNía-managed DC Bilingual Public Charter School (DCBPCS) was recently awarded the Gold Award of Distinction by OSSE (Office of the State Superintendent of Education) and USDA (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture). The award recognizes CentroNía and DC Bilingual PCS’ commitment to its nutrition program and its leadership in improving the quality of the food served and encouraging physical activity. DCBPCS is the second school in the District of Columbia to be awarded the “gold” category, the highest recognition in the Healthier US School Challenge, a voluntary initiative established to recognize those schools that have created healthier school environments. CentroNía’s Food and Nutrition Department is proud of the results of months of cooperative work to bring the healthiest and most nutritious food to the children, youth, and families served. CentroNía is also proud to announce the appointment of its founder and CEO, Beatriz “BB” Otero, as the District of Columbia’s new Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. This appointment by Mayor Vincent Gray recognizes BB’s devotion, work, and commitment over the past 25 years to the District of Columbia and its diverse communities. Myrna Peralta, who has consulted in various areas for CentroNía in the past, will serve as Acting President and CEO. Most recently, Myrna has been engaged in laying the foundation for a thought and knowledge institute that will capture, quantify, and share CentroNía’s experience as a leader in the bilingual, multicultural learning arena. Deloitte and College Summit Win 2010 Partnership Award Thanks to Vinette Brown, Director of Development, for this update.
When the College Summit-Deloitte collaboration began in 2006, College Summit worked with 6,000 students nation-wide. Now, just four years later, College Summit reaches 25,000 students around the country. In December, Deloitte and College Summit were named winners of the 2010 Partnership Award by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC). One of four awards given annually during the prestigious Corporate Citizenship Awards, the Partnership Award is among the nation’s highest honors for businesses engaging in corporate responsibility. The award recognizes companies and charitable organizations for working together to address important social issues. You can read more about it and see the video. KIPP DC Partners with Accenture to Provide Hundreds of Books for Students Thanks to Anna Fodor, Communications & Marketing, for this update.
Last month, KIPP DC partnered with Accenture to collect hundreds of new and used books for KIPP DC students. Accenture’s winter social event brought together local Accenture employees who were asked to bring books to be distributed among KIPP DC’s eight schools. KIPP DC teachers and staff also attended the event and collected books and gifts. Popular titles donated at the event included Diary of a Wimpy Kid, A Wrinkle in Time, and Charlotte’s Web. Nearly 400 books were donated in all. “We’re thrilled to partner with an organization as committed to education as Accenture,” said KIPP DC President and COO Allison Fansler. “Through book drives like these, as well as volunteer days and alumni mentoring, Accenture employees have made a lasting contribution to our students and the DC community. We look forward to a long partnership with Accenture and its dedicated staff.” At the event, Accenture employees also donated funds to KIPP DC’s athletics programs for sporting equipment such as volleyballs and jerseys. As a result, KIPP DC is fully equipped to launch its varsity volleyball program in the fall. LAYC-MMYC Participant Testifies on Behalf of Youth Programs Thanks to Mark Wellborn, Consultant for LAYC, for this update.
When someone testifies, it is rare that the audience claps in response to what is said. But Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) participant Sharon Hernandez's testimony at a recent public budget hearing in Prince George's County was powerful enough to elicit applause. At the hearing, Sharon, an AmeriCorps member at LAYC's Maryland Multicultural Youth Center (MMYC) and a former participant of LAYC's Leaders Like Me program, testified in front of an audience of 150 to 200 people, including a number of county officials, on the need to support youth programs like those offered at LAYC. Of the sixteen people who testified, only Sharon received a round of applause. You can read Sharon’s complete testimony here. Maria Gomez Receives Upstander Award Thanks to Lyda Vanegas, Advocacy and Communications Manager , for this update.
Maria Gomez, president and CEO of Mary’s Center, was recognized as one of 19 Washingtonians who have served as an inspiration to others and made a positive difference in their communities. Gomez was named as one of DC’s “Upstanders,” and her story and photograph will be included in the Upstanders: Profiles of Courage exhibit at the Washington Historical Society, along with the 18 other honorees. An awards ceremony with all the Upstanders was held on February 23rd. “It is encouraging to work with someone like Maria who is always giving us reasons to feel proud of the work that we do every day,” said David Tatro, Mary’s Center Chief Operating Officer. This recognition came just a few months after Maria was named by the Washingtonian Magazine in October 2010 as one of the 45 leaders who have shaped Washington, DC. The exhibit will run until June 17 and the organizers expect to receive more than 10,000 visitors. The SEED Foundation Board Member Leslie Crutchfield Co-Authors New Book on Catalytic Philanthropy Thanks to Laura O'Connor, Director of Communications, for this update.
For her latest book, Crutchfield, along with co-authors John Kania and Mark Kramer, studied national and community-based foundations and corporations (including VPP and the Gates Foundation), families, and individuals to understand why some donors do much more than simply write checks to charities. In addition to their financial resources, these donors bring valuable skills, technological expertise, and sweat equity to practicing a new kind of philanthropy that is providing tangible solutions to the world’s complex, interdependent problems. Do More than Give shares inspirational stories of foundations—from Boston to San Diego and Rio de Janeiro—that are applying innovative practices and principles to create significant change. The book is a blueprint for philanthropists, foundation leaders, trustees, and individual givers who want to make a more significant difference in the world, and a new model of philanthropy that challenges donors to measure the effectiveness of their contribution instead of only the size of their gifts. Crutchfield is a senior advisor at FSG, a social impact strategy firm, and co-authored the critically-acclaimed book, Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, recognized by The Economist on its Best Books of the Year list. Following in its footsteps, Do More than Give, has already received accolades from many thought leaders and philanthropists. The book will be released on March 28, and readers can pre-order select copies. Be on the lookout for book events, which will be held in Washington, DC in April. For more information about the book, its authors, and how to order, please click here. |
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Editor's Note: This is the first month of the newly-redesigned VPPNews. We hope this version is more user-friendly and accessible for all of our readers. We welcome any and all feedback as we continuously improve the newsletter. If you have comments on the new design, please email Jeff Raderstrong, Communications and Assessment Associate, at jraderstrong@vppartners.org |
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| Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP) is a philanthropic investment organization that helps great leaders build strong, high-performing nonprofit institutions. It concentrates money, expertise, and personal contacts to improve the lives of and boost the opportunities for children and youth low-income families in the National Capital Region and cultivates a growing donor community of high net worth families to generate funding and influence in support of these institutions and of social change. | ||||||||||
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