2023 Fall Grants Portfolio

Community Grant

A grant intended for a wide range of uses, including paying for utilities, fundraising, board and leadership development, salaries, meeting expenses, materials, or supporting a specific project/program.

Angel Rose Artist Collective

ARAC is a grassroots, Native American Transgender-led artist initiative, providing employment, artistic, and healing opportunities to critically and historically marginalized Transgender BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities. ARAC collaborates with local arts and advocacy grassroots organizations to find mutual goals to reach for together. Some projects include: a virtual Nawat language school, food & personal care item distributions for Trans Women on Trans Day of Remembrance, ancestral cuisine classes, and theater productions centering Transgender, Native/Indigenous, and immigrant experiences. In the past, ARAC has collaborated with: the National Association of Indigenous Salvadorans (ANIS), Black & Indigenous Transgender Safehaus, Plantita Power, Trans-Latinx OMV, No Justice No Pride They/Them Collective, T.E.L.A.S. Colectivo Teatral, among others.

East Silver Spring Elementary School PTA

The vision of the ESS PTA is to make every child's potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and the community to advocate for all children. Given the challenges our students face, the PTA emphasizes accessibility in our programs and operations, including trilingual meetings and announcements (English, Amharic, and Spanish) and dedicating the highest portion of funds to student scholarships in PTA-organized after-school STEAM enrichment clubs (Panda Clubs). Panda Clubs (named after the ESS mascot) are held in 7–8 week sessions, three times per year, offering up to 10 different club options in partnership with local vendors and organizations (e.g., Big Learning, Round House Theatre, CREATE Arts, Kaizen Karate, Code Advantage, WHISPERshout). The clubs bring fun learning experiences tailored to resonate with the many cultures in our community.

Friends of Sligo Creek

Friends of Sligo Creek (FOSC) is a nonprofit community organization dedicated to protecting, improving, and appreciating the ecological health of Sligo Creek Park and its surrounding watershed. Since 2002, FOSC has collaborated on many projects with local neighborhood and environmental groups to improve the health of Sligo Creek and its occupants, including removing litter and invasive plants with Montgomery County Parks, and reducing stormwater runoff by encouraging native plantings and environmentally friendly lawn practices with the Department of Environmental Protection and various neighborhoods. FOSC has a multi-year partnerships with Nature Forward to provide low-cost native plants to underserved communities; with Anacostia Riverkeeper to monitor water quality; and with the Izaak Walton League to monitor excessive winter salt in the creek

Friends of the Takoma Park Maryland Library, Inc.

The Friends of the Takoma Park Maryland Library (FTPML) is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization that supports the local library. Established in 1994, FTPML funds library activities that encourage reading and learning and that involve the community in library projects.

Rolling Terrace Elementary School PTA

Rolling Terrace PTA is a nonprofit organization that supports Rolling Terrace Elementary School (RTES) in ensuring that each student is able to achieve their educational potential in a diverse community where every child, caregiver, and staff member feels included. Rolling Terrace PTA’s programming promotes the welfare of every student by hosting community building events and financially supporting RTES programs that provide social, academic, and educational benefits to students and staff. Rolling Terrace PTA’s programming can be divided into the following categories: student education support, advocacy, teacher and classroom support, community support, and health and wellness.

Takoma Art Library

The mission of the Takoma Art Library is to provide free art supplies, reclaimed material and artistic inspiration to community members. The art library promotes creative reuse and recycling by diverting valuable materials from the waste stream and redirecting them to artists, educators and the general public.

The Civic Circle

The Civic Circle uses music and the arts in assembly shows and after­school workshops to empower students in Title I Community Schools to understand and participate in democracy. A leading aspect of our mission is to close the well-documented equity gap in civic knowledge and engagement that has dampened voting and political agency among students in less-affluent communities.

Solidarity Grant

A grant intended to demonstrate the Foundation’s commitment to larger nonprofit organizations whose work aligns with our mission in greater Takoma, and is generally used to support an organization’s overarching mission.

Young Playwrights’ Theater

Everyone deserves high-quality theater education that centers their voices. Young Playwrights’ Theater provides inspiration, tools, and opportunities for young and emerging artists to develop and share their stories. Since 1995 Young Playwrights’ Theater has provided young people across Washington, D.C. and beyond with performing arts programming that builds their confidence and showcases their self-expression.