Fund for DC

see eligibility below ›

Although Washington, DC is effectively the "capital of the free world," its residents do not enjoy the full representation in Congress. Moreover, duly elected DC lawmakers do not really have legislative or fiscal autonomy because Congress ultimately has the authority to review and countermand the budget and any law put forward by local lawmakers. The reality of this political powerlessness is deeply ingrained in the socio-political culture of DC, such that it has never really developed a history of resident-led advocacy and organizing like many of other major cities in the country.

When HSF decided to locate our offices in Washington, DC, we did so with the idea that we wanted to have a specific impact in the local community. In 2005, HSF staff held a series of conversations with local grassroots and funder leaders in District to increase our understanding of local needs and issues and to help inform the direction for our DC-based work. One of the recurring themes from these conversations was the need for community-based efforts to organize low-income DC residents to contend with the persistent and more recent challenges that face their communities.

Thus is 2005, HSF developed a new Program Area called the Fund for DC with the long-term purpose of stimulating and promoting a culture of empowerment and the practice of resident-lead decision-making at all levels of DC's civic and civil society. We are not assuming that such a culture and practice does not currently exist, but rather that it is very under-developed. Our goals through the Fund for DC are to:

• Support the development of a diverse set of community-based organizations to increase the power of residents of low-income communities in DC to define and secure systemic change to better their lives;
• Help to build and leverage a stable and sufficient base of funding for low-income resident-led organizing in the District;
• Enhace the understanding and involvement in the issues that impact low-income communities in DC of the Foundation and its partners.

HSF made 2 rounds of exploratory grants through the Fund for DC in 2005 and 2006. Most of these grants went to local organizing organizations that worked with low-income DC residents on issues of economic justice (e.g., affordable housing; living wages; improved working conditions; access to childcare; etc.).

Eligibility
Grantmaking from this Fund will continue to be exploratory in the coming years as we continue to specify the objectives. Additionally, since we are developing our knowledge of local groups and issues in DC, what we are looking for is broader now than it will be in the future. Overall, we are interested in community-based organizations that work with low-income residents in the District of Columbia to change institutional policies that impact systems, neighborhoods and constituencies. These organizations should be accountable to the communities that they work with and strive to promote the leadership skills and ability for their members to come together to advocate for necessary community and institutional changes. (Click here to search grants.)

Application Process
While we do not accept unsolicited proposals for the Fund for DC, we strongly encourage you to call us to talk about your project if you think that your organization is a good fit with our criteria and interests.