GT Awards $120,000 to Area Non-Profits at 2025 Annual Meeting

At Giving Together's Annual Meeting of the members on September 25th, 2025, our giving circle voted for a total of $120,000 in grants to area non-profits. In the two-year Thematic category, the top award of $60,000 over two years went to Identity, Inc. In the Accelerator Grants category, where the focus is on local BIPOC-led non-profits, the top award of $40,000 over two years went to Trabajadores Unidos de Washington, DC.

TWO-YEAR GRANT AWARDED TO IDENTITY 

Identity was founded 27 years ago as a non-profit organization to benefit the well being of the Latino community of Montgomery County, MD. It now serves over 10,000 individuals each year through core programs that provide emotional and educational support as well as workforce skills. Services are provided through case management, non-clinical mental health support and recreational activities.One of these services is the Encuentros program, which works with adults and high school students to manage stress and anxiety and build social and emotional coping mechanisms. In 2020, Identity received its first grant from Giving Together (GT) to help launch Encuentros.

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This year, Identity received a second GT grant to help expand Encuentros to middle schools. The award is a total of $60,000: $30,000 in 2025 and another $30,000 in 2026.  Based on a promising pilot with middle school students, Identity will scale up with four Encuentros programs for 96 students in this age group. The initiative leverages Identity’s experienced Encuentros staff and visibility in the local Latino community. It reflects the critical need for help among this younger age group in dealing with emotions and past trauma and avoiding self-harm.

The runner-up for the two-year award was Sasha Bruce Youthwork, a Washington, DC-based non-profit that provides safe housing and trauma-informed case management for area youth. Its program of comprehensive support services is designed to return the young clients to supportive families or help them achieve independence and self-sufficiency. For its excellent work in this capacity, Sasha Bruce Youthwork received a $10,000 award from Giving Together.

ACCELERATOR GRANT FOR BIPOC-LED NON-PROFIT AWARDED TO TRABAJADORES UNIDOS

A second awards category, called the Accelerator Grants, is designed for organizations that not only serve BIPOC populations (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), but have BIPOC leadership and staff. The 2025 Accelerator award went to Trabajadores Unidos de Washington, DC, a grassroots non-profit that serves and defends the rights of low-wage, BIPOC immigrant workers in DC Wards 1-8 as well as the greater DC area. Community members staff the organization and serve on the board. TUWDC provides direct support services such as case management, rights education, job counseling, legal representation and workshops that help members advocate for themselves. TUWDC also issues identification cards to members that are recognized by the government of DC, where most members reside.

TUWDC is the recipient of a two-year award totaling $40,000: $20,000 in 2025 and $20,000 in 2026. TUWDC will use the grant to launch an initiative focused on empowering immigrant women, who make up half of TUWDC's membership of 2,000. They will create a Women's Empowerment Committee, which will focus on new programs specifically for women and build leadership skills and opportunities for this population. The runner-up for the Accelerator Grant was the Center for Youth and Family Advocacy (CYFA). It received an award of $10,000

IN OTHER BUSINESS

The meeting, which was held at the Women's Club of Chevy Chase, also included the election of three board members to the seven-member GT Board of Trustees. Incumbents Maria Hatziolos Grant and Susan Alberts were re-elected. They were joined by new board member Heather Kaye. Each will serve a two-year term.