1 FY2020 ANNUAL REPORT MOBILIZING OUR COMMUNITY IN A PANDEMIC. United Way of the National Capital Area fights for the health, education and economic opportunity of every person in our community. United Way of the National Capital Area UnitedWayNCA.org 2 LETTER FROM THE CEO FOR NEARLY 50 YEARS, UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA HAS LAID THE FOUNDATION THAT ENABLES US TO PROVIDE THE NEEDED CAPACITY TO DEAL WITH THE SEVERITY OF WHAT HAS BEEN AN EXTRAORDINARY AND TRAGIC YEAR. UnitedWayNCA.org 3 In a year unlike any other in modern history, there National Capital Area. Despite the challenges is no greater need at the heart of our community due to the pandemic , United Way NCA reached than what we have experienced with the outbreak of neighborhoods and communities that are COVID-19. We may say we are in this together, but we historically hard to count. know that there are pockets within our communities who might not emerge together. As your United Way, I believe mobilizing the community means uniting our mission has always been to ensure that we fight all pillars of our society around an issue. At your for the health, education and economic opportunity United Way, when we mobilize, we’re working of all people in our region, through crises and beyond. with everyone who has a vested interest and can bring expertise, thought leadership and resources For nearly 50 years, United Way of the National Capital to organize around the most pressing issues Area has laid the foundation that enables us to of our moment; empowering communities with provide the needed capacity to deal with the severity basic needs and food during a global pandemic, of what has been an extraordinary and tragic year. rebuilding the fabric and the foundation of our We have seen small businesses, families and loved economic opportunities; and bridging the divides ones devastated by a pandemic. We have joined our in our education systems. Mobilizing is critical neighbors in organizing around social justice and to the work because no one entity can solve any racial equity. We’ve seen unprecedented levels of and every issue. Mobilizing is essential because it hunger, unemployment and deficits in education. The allows others to work to their strengths knowing future of where we go hinges on how we act now to they have the support of their community behind continue to meet the moment head on. them. Mobilizing and bringing others to the table collectively says that we care. If we all care, then Last year started out with an expansion to our regional we can do something about it. network of United Way of the National Capital Area’s Financial Empowerment Centers, adding a fourth Through thousands of layoffs as a result of location to DC. Our Financial Empowerment Centers the pandemic, we helped National Capital Area continued to provide free, critical virtual workshops, residents regain their economic opportunity tax assistance and financial coaching to community through our free virtual workshops and coaching members and small businesses throughout the offered through United Way NCA’s Financial pandemic, helping individuals receive larger tax Empowerment Centers. We launched our funds and navigate funding opportunities through Emergency Assistance Fund, which immediately the PPP program. made critical funding available for basic needs, food and financial assistance. When the pandemic first broke out, your United Way urgently re-activated its Emergency Assistance Fund, As you look deeper into our greater impact we raising $2 million in immediate funding to support helped create for those in need this year, know the distribution of food, basic needs and economic that the work in many ways has just begun. Long assistance. Through partners like Windows Catering, before the pandemic, structural inequities divided we supported small businesses to employ their the communities in health, education, economic workers while providing meals to nearly 9,000 opportunities and other facets of life. As we seek frontline essential workers. Through the Emergency to honor the work of this year, much of where we Assistance Fund, we were able to keep local food go from here is the beginning of rebuilding an banks at capacity and supplied with nutritious equitable society for all. options for families in need, support our Community Schools with basic needs for students in a virtual Rosie Allen-Herring environment and help families blunt the economic pangs of unemployment and financial instability. Your United Way also played an integral role in promoting the regional Census count. In 2018, we launched our #CountDMVIn initiative with President & CEO, the mission of getting a complete and accurate United Way of the National Capital Area count in undercounted communities across the United Way of the National Capital Area 4 HOW UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA FOOD MARKETS ARE FIGHTING HUNGER FOR FAMILIES IN THE DMV Across the sun-glazed hills of the sleepy suburban neighbor- one through William Wirt, students who receive FARM through hood in Deer Ridge, Maryland, dozens of creaking shopping the school can eat three meals a day throughout the week. The cartwheels roll against the sidewalk. A crowd of 150 women, presence of the monthly food market ensures that if benefits men and children gathered outside the Maryland Multicultural and programs fall short, families still have food to eat. Youth Center to pick up their monthly supply of food: a payload containing more than 7,000 lbs. of fresh produce, milk, grain The disparity of those facing hunger in the region is part of the and other nutritious options. For many of the families present broader experience of poverty inhibiting thousands of people at the foodbank—a mesh of immigrants, refugees and low-in- in our community. Thankfully, the existence of public programs come families—the food they receive at the bank may be the for food and United Way NCA’s empowered food markets—fam- only food they eat for a week. For others, it fills in the gaps ilies can put their money toward other essential needs like rent, where other government programs fall short. Regardless, the transportation and health care. But the fight for those living in presence of the foodbank is a stark insight into a wealthy re- poverty does not end there. United Way NCA continues to fill gion’s hidden issue: hunger. the gaps in need for the region expanding the quality of health, education and the economic opportunity of every person in our Food is the epicenter of a stable, functioning community. But community. for students faced with hunger, the daily challenges of getting enough food leads to consequences in other areas of their To learn more about food insecurity in the region, please visit life such as relationships with peers, academic success and unitedwaynca.org/foodinsecuritystats socio- emotional well-being. According the a recent Maryland School Report Card, 89.4% of students at William Wirt Middle School are enrolled in Free and Reduced Price Meals (FARM) through the county. Supplemented with food markets, like the UnitedWayNCA.org 5 EDUCATION: CLOSING THE DISTANCE In the wake of COVID-19, schools across the National Cap- was 62.38%. According to the Virginia Department of Educa- ital Area were faced with an overwhelming hurdle: a widen- tion School Profiles, in Fairfax County 1,095 students dropped ing achievement gap from distanced learning. Many schools out of high school in 2019 and out of that number, 888 of those across the region grappled with how to get students back to students were Latino. In Alexandria, the graduation rate was school and the continued transition to online learning, the issue 83.5% but only 68.5% English-Language Learners graduated. of equity in education resurfaced. This data points to great disparities in educational outcomes that can impact students’ chances for lifelong prosperity. The final months of the 2019-2020 school year exacerbated the challenges of inequities experienced by students from There is no one size fits all solution to inequities in education. low-income families. In many communities across the nation, As we look ahead at closing the gaps in education put in place a transition to online learning presented severe barriers in ac- from the pandemic and those that existed before, we must con- cessibility to education. Limited access to Wi-Fi and laptops tinue to build capacity for schools to ensure that all students left students attempting to obtain their virtual learning on the have the ability and support to succeed. On July 1, 2020, United school’s Wi-Fi from the parking lot. A 2018 report from Micro- Way NCA embarked on our next five-year strategic program- soft found that nearly half of all Americans lacked high-speed matic direction that includes dismantling disparities in educa- Internet. Of that, only 57% of DC residents and 66% of Prince tion through the creation of middle school to high school pipe- George’s County residents had in-home access to high enough lines of support that combines the community school model Internet to stream. Add to that unprecedented unemployment with prevention science. Building a web of support systems in households where access to basic needs was already limit- will not only build resilient youth and ensure that they are on ed and the ability of nonprofits to fill the gaps becomes all the track to succeed through graduation but build stronger, more more important. empowered communities. While school buildings and administrative offices remained closed, United Way of the NCA’s community schools focused on reducing the negative effects of disrupted learning and social time on a young person’s development. Student grab-and-go UNITED WAY OF THE NATIONAL meal distributions continued at community school sites, along with curbside pickup and at-home food and meal deliveries for CAPITAL AREA’S COMMUNITY families.