The Crimsonbridge Foundation is an entrepreneurial philanthropic organization that builds bridges of collaboration to create transformative solutions to improve the lives of our nation’s youth and families. We innovate and strategically invest in education, leadership development, and capacity building programs to help America’s youth and nonprofit organizations succeed.
#Community
#Community is the Crimsonbridge Foundation’s commitment to participate, engage, listen, and learn with the communities we support. It is a team driven social philanthropy initiative to take relationships beyond grant proposals and engage directly with partners to better understand challenges, identify solutions, leverage new resources, celebrate success, and build community. It’s our approach to philanthropy and community partnership.
Latest News
Liberty’s Promise and Census 2020
A Community Partner Guest Post
Liberty’s Promise supports immigrant youth in the Greater Washington region by providing them with means to become actively involved in civic life, pursue higher education, and embark upon meaningful careers. In the fall of 2019, we introduced the topic of the census to our youth through our two after school programs at Gaithersburg High School, Civics and Citizenship, and Civic Engagement for Beginning English Language Learners (CE‐BELL). We started by discussing what the census is and how important it is for the community and the country. We explained how the Census is safe and anonymous, and does not put the population, including the most vulnerable individuals such as undocumented residents, at risk of being exposed to law enforcement authorities.
Our youth learned about how they can play a crucial role in Gaithersburg’s outreach efforts in hard-to-count census tracts. We invited a graphic designer employed by the City of Gaithersburg to give our youth insight on how to design a flyer. With the help of the graphic designer, youth worked together in small groups and used their talents to design and create posters to display at Gaithersburg High School. Our youth also participated in a photo and video shoot as part of the Gaithersburg Census 2020 campaign. Youth and staff alike enjoyed being part of the event, and are now featured on the City’s website. If you drive around Gaithersburg, you may see them on promotional posters at various bus stops!
Since schools closed in early March in response to COVID-19, Liberty’s Promise has been working to adjust our programs. We are now relying on social platforms, video-conferencing, and phone calls to continue our work with our youth. Census outreach will no longer be conducted in-person, so our youth are working on crafting a video message and a graphic to share on social media. Despite challenges presented by COVID-19, our youth are still working to help achieve a Complete Count for Census 2020 in our community of Gaithersburg!
By Julien Labiche, Director of Montgomery County and Prince George’s County Programs, Liberty’s Promise.
Liberty’s Promise was featured in the Special Census 2020 edition of in Gaithersburg. Click to read: “OUTREACH & ADVOCACY: Census and Youth Mentoring Programs”
A Message to Our Community Partners
We are writing to you with hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy. During this time, the foundation and its team members remain committed to our community partnerships, as we all experience the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) personally and professionally.
In light of unforeseen challenges of the current climate, we are adapting some practices, while doubling down on others. Over the past week, we’ve connected directly with partners to address any specific concerns. In addition, we seek to provide flexibility and support to all of our community partners in the following ways:
- Extensions for reports and proposals. The Foundation reminds you of its existing policy of flexibility with proposal and final report due dates as urgent needs arise. Contact us.
- Sharing your messages. The Crimsonbridge Foundation and its team want to help share your work and needs and will use our communications resources to extend your reach. Have an urgent message? Email your program officer.
- Added accessibility. We are here for you. Though working remotely, our team members can always be reached by email and can now be reached by Zoom and Google Hangouts.
- Staying connected. Our whole team is on Twitter as is the Foundation at @CrimsonbridgeDC. Please know we value all of your communications and are reviewing our grantee partner information daily, from email to online news.
We also want to say, “Thank you!” to our nonprofit and school community partners for all that you continue to do during this unprecedented time. Though information on COVID-19 continues to develop daily, we’ve watched schools and nonprofits demonstrate their ability to be responsive, nimble, and committed to the children and families of our region. We stand with you in this commitment.
Sincerely,
Danielle M. Reyes, Executive Director and Gabriela Smith, Founder & President
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Goal to Reach 21,000 Adult Learners by 2021
The Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy (MCAEL), a coalition of over 60 English language instruction programs, is working to build a thriving community and effective workforce in Montgomery County, MD. According to census data, there are over 126,000 adults in the county who are limited in their English proficiency. In response to a growing need for English language instruction, MCAEL set a goal to grow its annual reach from 15,000 to 21,000 adult learners by 2021. Potential strategies for expansion include partnering with public schools, utilizing literacy apps to serve learners who cannot attend in-person classes, and providing tools to community-based organizations that are positioned to start their own ESOL programs. The Crimsonbridge Foundation is supporting these targeted efforts to develop new ESOL learning opportunities for hard-to-reach populations in Montgomery County. In this video, hear from two adult learners about their experiences learning English at the Family Discovery Center, a provider in the MCAEL network.
read more read lessLatino Student Fund Recognizes Crimsonbridge Foundation
During its 25th Anniversary Gala the Latino Student Fund (LSF) recognized Crimsonbridge Foundation with the Community Builder Award. Watch the below video to learn more about our partnership.
Apply NOW to the #COVID19 Emergency Response Fund at the @communityfndn supporting nonprofits in the #DMV Bf6DrJSFt0Fri Apr, 3 2020
