Black Swan Academy  (BSA) received $1000 in funding through the #JUSTICE4 Giving Circle infinitive.  BSA used these funds to host two #OurLivesMatter townhall events for youth, and funding will support a #BlackLivesBlossom kite-making initiative taking place during Washington, DC, National Cherry Blossom Festival. How Grant Funds Were Disbursed:

• $475.00 – Kite-Making Session for #BlackLivesBlossom Event
• $170.00 – Food (for Classroom Instruction)
• $131.65 -  Food (for #OurLivesMatter Townhall)
• $94.14 - Supplies for Philanthropy Sessions and Clothing Drive
• $79.71 - Transportation Stipends
• $50.00 – Speaker Fee (for #OurLivesMatter Townhall)

BSA’s Measurable Impact:

• 540 Instruction Hours Hosted in 16 Sessions for Youth - BSA mentors taught youth about philanthropy and social justice related issues
• 180 Service-learning hours
• 200 Townhall Attendees - youth and community members attended inaugural #ourlives matter youth townhall
• 189 Townhall Attendees – youth and community members have pre-registered for the #ourlivesmatter youth townhall pt. 2
• 225 Youth Kitemakers – youth will make kites for the #Blacklivesblossom demonstration
• 270lbs or 20 Coats Collected - youth collected coats to benefit men, women and children seeking support from Bread for the City Southeast

 ===} CLICK HERE to view the full grant report.

===} CLICK HERE and HERE to view event photos.

Inaugural #JUSTICE4DC Giving Circle Members: Robert Bland, Adrianne Burke, Matthew Evans,  Saranah Holmes, Christian Howard, Kristina Jacobs, Alencia Johnson, Tara Mancini, Javier Martinez, Dexter Mccoy, Marcus Mitchell, Cadene Russell, Tisa Silver, Joseph Thomas, Daya Washington, Conrad Woody.

Background on #JUSTICE4DC Giving Circle: Capital Cause #JUSTICE4DC Giving Circle(www.justice4fund.org) chose two social justice organizations doing work to end police brutality and fight for social justice.  Those organizations were:  Thursday Network – Greater Washington Urban League and Black Swan Academy. The #JUSTICE4DC Giving Circle chose two finalists for donors to choose between for funding.  Their vote was a tie, and as a result two organizations received $600 in funding.  Dream Defenders and National Black United Front were the resulting grant recipients.

Capital Cause Young Philanthropists selected the nonprofit after hearing their pitch to receive support for $2,000 to help increase literacy at a charter school.  Administrators asked for funding to purchase a computer and literacy software that could be utilized on the computer and other computers by the school’s population who were reading below grade level.

How Grant Funds Were Disbursed:

• $1000– Two Discounted Computers
• $1000 – Two Software Licenses to Reading A-Z Literacy Program
• 144 -  Served Children Age 5 – 12

Paul Lighthouse Charter School Testimonials:

• PLCS Staff - The grant’s impact on Potomac Lighthouse’s mission is
  that it provides us a better chance to close the achievement gap. The grant
  allows us to truly prepare our youngest scholars for college

CLICK HERE to view the full grant report.

How Grant Funds Were Disbursed:

• $1000 – Employee salaries
• $800 – Gardening equipment, food supplies, cookware
• $344 – Office expenses including printing and binding of cookbooks.

Homeless Children’s Playtime Project Testimonials:

• ISH Employee – “This grant has helped to attract new funding. By publicizing our work with students through D3 this summer, we were able to secure a $7,500.00 grant from the Arcus Foundation to run a similar program (Dig&Dine) this fall.”
• ISH Employee - “This grant enabled us to put our mission into action. Our mission is to provide and connect students with educative tools and resources that facilitate and encourage healthy eating and an active lifestyle. We were able to teach cooking, gardening, and fitness skills to 25 students twice a week for 5 weeks and witnessed students increase their knowledge and skills over the course of the program. In addition, we were excited to watch students share the recipes they learned with their families by giving them the recipe book we made together over the summer.”

CLICK HERE for PHOTOS

CLICK HERE to view the full grant report.

How Grant Funds Were Disbursed:

• $1635 – Paid Tuition for 3 Youth to Attend YMCA’s Camp Letts
• $431 – Backpacks, Sleeping Bags and Bugspray were Provided for Each of the Three Youth Attending YMCA’s Camp Letts.

Homeless Children’s Playtime Project Testimonials:

• Child #1 - “We went to the pool and we ate dinner. We ate lots of things! And the best thing was the ice cream for dessert! Then we went to bed, woke up and went to the flag pole.  We came back and had lunch. The best thing was when we went to the pool. There was a swim test!”
• Child #2 - “We had a siesta and fiesta, and we had a disco. It was like a party before we had to leave. And we had camp fires and drama club.”
• HCPP Staff - HCPP certainly received a great deal of visibility in the community as a result of receiving this grant. We were able to present information about Playtime Project at the pitch to an audience of 15 – 20 people. Our fundraising leaders spread the word about the Playtime Project through their fundraising efforts, and we were recognized in front of hundreds of people at Capital Cause’s brunch and award ceremony.   We did leverage this grant from Capital Cause to raise additional funds to send more children to camp this summer. In our weekly newsletters this summer, we informed our readers that we had received this grant to send children to camp, and asked them to help us send more children to camp. We were able to raise funds to send seven more children to camp for a total of eleven children.

CLICK HERE to view the full grant report.

Cause:  Poverty, Health

Project:  Four Young Philanthropists created an action plan that educated 300 DC Ward 7 youth about how to choose healthy food options despite living in a food desert.  For every 70.000 residents in Ward 7, there are two grocery stores.  This means that Ward has officially been classified as a food desert.  This team will work to create a solution to address this.  Join them in their journey to make change.

Impact:  500 DC Ward 7 Residents Gain Access to Healthy Food Options

Young Philanthropists Participating:  Rob Boyd, Jean McLaughlin, Chasity Cooper, Jennifer Spence

UPDATE:   Food Desert’s YP Giving Circle partnered with City Year on May 18, 2013 to facilitate healthy food demos for 165 youth who attended Kelly Miller Middle School in DC’s Ward 7.  Children received strawberry and banana fruit smoothies as a reward for answering questions about how to make healthier choices for their meals.  The Giving Circle returned to Kelly Miller Middle School to continue their outreach efforts and educated approximately 150 youth on how to eat healthy.

 Help Eliminate a Food Desert in DC’s Ward 7 – Complete

Cause:  Education

Project:  Six Young Philanthropists recruited 50 Black men to sign-up for mentoring programs.  A young Black boy has a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison in his life compared to 1 in 17 of his counterparts.  Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Black males who have gone to prison, dropped out of school.  The team will try to improve these statistics by increasing the number of male mentors.

Impact: 50 Young Black Boys Mentored by 50 Black Men

Young Philanthropists Participating:  Ora Wiseman, Garrett James, Joshlyn Ross, Jennifer Rhodan, Letitia Tajuba, Nicholas Gourdine

UPDATE:   The Men Who Mentor YP Giving Circle hosted a mixer on May 29, 2013, from 5:30pm – 8:30pm at Lost Society.  This event connected young black professional men to mentoring organizations looking for male mentors.  To date 53 men signed up as mentors.

 Recruit 50 Black Male Mentors – Complete

Cause:  Education, Poverty

Project: Five Young Philanthropists activated their networks to fund a $2,000 grant to purchase an online literacy tool and two laptops for Potomac Charter Lighthouse School.  Their gift assisted 144 youth who were in need of a more effective reading curricula.  Ninety percent (90%) of children receive free and reduced lunch, and the school is ranked 16th out of 117 DC public schools.  Help boost this schools reading levels by donating to provide valuable literacy tool.

Impact: 144 students receive access to literacy enrichment programs, and two laptops for school use.

Young Philanthropists Participating:  Anthony Harbour, Krishana Davis, Ijeoma Nwatu, Shantae Edwards

UPDATE:   Team Spread Light, Spread Love YP Giving Circle raised $2,042 to fund this project.

Support 144 Youth Who Struggle with Reading – Funded

Cause:  Health

Project: Five Young Philanthropists crowd-funded a  grant for $2,074 grant to support Institute for Student Health (ISH).  The ISH is a hands-on learning program that involves 25 under-served children living in DC Ward 5 in growing their own produce gardens.  Students participating learn not only how to grow healthy food but also cook healthy food and store it for longer use.

 Impact: 25 Youth that live in low to no-income neighborhoods will learn how to grow and prepare healthy food

Young Philanthropists Participating:  Daphne Charles, Elda Auxiliare, Richard Ezike

UPDATE:   The ISH YP Giving Circle raised over $2,000 and exceeded their fundraising goal.  Due to this team’s efforts, 25 youth will have their tuition fully funded to participate in a healthy-living initiative supported by nonprofit, the Institute for Student Health.  Congratulations to this team for reaching their goal!

Help Fund 25 Student Produce Gardens – Funded

Cause:  Poverty

Project:  Five Young Philanthropists crowd-funded a $2,000 grant to Homeless Children’s Playtime Project.  The grant will be used send three children experiencing homelessness to YMCA’s Camp Letts in Edgewater, Maryland.  Currently, 586 children call DC General Emergency Family Shelter Home. This team will work to create avenues of opportunities for some of these youth.

Impact:  Three homeless youth go to summer camp!

Young Philanthropists Participating: Joseph Kitchen, Tiffanie Wagner, Angelique Moss, Damita Roberson

UPDATE:   The Homeless Children’s Playtime Project Giving Circles raised $2,000 to reach their goal to send three homeless children to camp.

Send 3 Homeless Children to Summer Camp – Funded

 Cause: Poverty

Project:  According to the Food & Research Action Center, DC’s Ward 7 & 8 is ranked #1 among cities who have the most families (with children) who experience food insecurity.  Thirty-seven point four percent (or 37.4%) of DC families with children report not being able to afford enough food to feed their families.  The Capital Cause Giving Circles Team – Boots on the Ground – used their fundraising skills to assist with reducing the problem of hunger in DC’s Ward 7 by attempting to provide 50 food baskets and grocery store gift cards to Ward 7 families.  The Giving Circles Team asked donors to assist in off-setting the cost of the food baskets by launching a social media compaign.  Each food basket cost $50.00.

The project was completed November 3, 2012.

Impact: Giving Circles Project team raised $2,000 to fund 40 food baskets to 40 families living in DC’s Ward 7.

Young Philanthropists Participating:  Jalisa Whitley,  Nicole Battle, Matthew Lawrence, Brittney Hamilton, Courtney Hill