On Thursday, March 11, 2021, we presented the 2021 Shape of the Region Conference in partnership with 12 regional organizations to inspire our community about ways our region is coming together to institute real change. More than 300 people registered to attend the virtual event.
This year’s conference, Co-Creating a New Northern Virginia: An Emerging Vision of a More Inclusive, Sustainable, and Equitable Region examined strategies for advancing a more inclusive economy in our region while facing some of the biggest challenges of our day – entrenched poverty, structural racism, and environmental sustainability.
Today, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia is releasing its Every Voice Counts: Count the Region final report that provides a comprehensive understanding of our efforts to support the 2020 Census with our “get out the count” initiative. This report will also serve as a roadmap for the next census count in 2030.
READ FULL REPORT
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia released its 2019 -2020 Annual Report, “Build Back -Dream Forward,” which highlights our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact.
The past year has tested pretty much everything we are as human beings, as a country, and as a local community. The Community Foundation, therefore, spent considerable time during 2020 in response mode, helping the region address not one, but two crises – the COVID-19 pandemic and racial injustice.
Food insecurity has been a problem in America long before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. But it’s clear the virus has exacerbated the problem, with images of long lines at food distribution sites shining a light on the harsh reality.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, food pantries across Northern Virginia quickly shifted into high gear, after experiencing a surge of residents in need of food assistance. In Fairfax County, Virginia, one of the Nation’s wealthiest regions, more than 70,000 people live in poverty, according to government figures.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted education in so many ways, forcing most school districts in Northern Virginia to adopt a virtual format to deliver instruction. But some officials across the region have expressed concern over how the switch to online learning could increase learning challenges for underprivileged students in the region.
In response to this challenging time, a group of longtime area educators got together last summer to form EduTutorVA, a new education nonprofit working to connect tutors with K-12 students at risk of falling behind in their classes during this pandemic. The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia is supporting the program through its new EduTutorVA Fiscal Sponsorship Fund.
by Elizabeth Hughes, Senior Director of Insight RegionTM
Insight Region recently released its first research brief, Unequal Burden, which highlighted the state of housing affordability in Northern Virginia. The brief and the release event that we held on January 13th (watch here) have generated a lot of questions about how we move forward as a region.
In this post, I am joined by my colleague Michelle Krocker (MK) from the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance to begin to answer some of those questions. Please check back as we continue to update this page with more responses.
As the coronavirus crisis unfolded across our region, food banks had to expand their services to address not only the increase in the demand for food aid, but also healthcare, housing assistance, and other services.
Today, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia announced it has awarded $100,000 in grants to four organizations in a new round of funding through its Build Back – Dream Forward COVID-19 Response initiative. The grant recipients include ALIVE!, Arlington Free Clinic, Capital Area Food Bank, and The House, Inc. Each organization received a grant of $25,000 that will be used to support creative and innovative solutions for food access and distribution to residents in Northern Virginia.
If you’re a high school senior or current college student looking for funds to help cover the cost of college, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia is accepting applications for college scholarships for the 2021 – 2022 school year. Eligible students include high school seniors, undergraduates, and graduate students in Northern Virginia.
Community Foundation manages twelve scholarships and administers the funds for 18 other scholarships that support Northern Virginia students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees.
by Elizabeth Hughes, Senior Director of Insight RegionTM
Northern Virginia is one of the country’s most expensive places to live, but also one of its most affordable.
Now, I know how that sounds. But look at the data—in 2019, Loudoun County had the fourth highest median housing cost among all counties and independent cities in the country, followed by Fairfax (#8), Arlington (#10), Prince William (#24), and Alexandria (#26). The same year, 72% of households had housing costs that were considered “affordable” by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and just 11% were considered severely burdened by housing costs, a rate well below the national average (14%) and other tech hubs.
A new report by the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia finds that 67% of Northern Virginians with low incomes (less than $50,000 per year for a family of four) are “severely burdened” by the cost of housing, spending over half of their income on rent, mortgage, taxes, fees, and basic utilities. Individuals and families with moderate incomes ($50,000 to $100,000 for a family of four) fare slightly better, but still over half (59 percent) cannot afford their homes and 19% spend over half of their income on housing.
Questions?
