Doing the Right Thing—A New Year's Resolution

As we start the New Year, please join me as I add “do the right thing” to my list of resolutions.

On December 14, Josh Freeman, a close friend, member of the Board of Venture Philanthropy Partners, and Founding Investor, was killed in a helicopter crash. Josh’s own life was jarred nine years earlier when his father died and he found himself taking over both the family business and the Carl M. Freeman Foundation. In his 42 years, Josh touched the lives of many people in meaningful ways.
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VPP Invests $4.25 Million in Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington

VPP has made its largest investment to date—$4.25 million—to Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (BGCGW). BGCGW is one of the largest youth serving organizations in the National Capital Region, offering programs to tens of thousands annually through more than 20 sites across the region.
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Doing the Right Thing—A New Year's Resolution

As we start the New Year, please join me as I add “do the right thing” to my list of resolutions.

On December 14, Josh Freeman, a close friend, member of the Board of Venture Philanthropy Partners, and Founding Investor, was killed in a helicopter crash. Josh’s own life was jarred nine years earlier when his father died and he found himself taking over both the family business and the Carl M. Freeman Foundation. In his 42 years, Josh touched the lives of many people in meaningful ways.

As friends and colleagues alike singled out and I witnessed first-hand, Josh was always trying “to do the right thing.” Because of his relative newness to the worlds of business and philanthropy, he demonstrated an insatiable desire to learn and understand. As a fellow VPP board member respectfully noted, “I was impressed by his grounded analyses, forthrightness, and willingness to entertain views divergent from his own.”

Josh Freeman’s life is a reminder—especially for those in leadership positions—that we should all strive to “do the right thing.” This requires an honesty to self, an integrity of purpose, and a willingness to put others first. It demands that we focus on real outcomes—such as improving the lives of children and youth—and then stay focused on doing just that, and not let things like recognition, turf, personal reward, or the role and brand of our organizations and ourselves get in the way.

“Doing the right thing” also demands that we do more to find where we agree and to consciously make sure we don’t let our differences―whether grounded in race, ethnicity, class, organization and neighborhood turf, jurisdictional lines, or ideology―keep us from realizing the potential of our collective strengths. We can all learn from Josh and emulate his willingness to entertain views divergent from his own.

By doing more to find common ground, we can make a major difference in ensuring that all children in the National Capital Region have the opportunity to “live the American dream”—something that is the core of VPP’s mission and that Josh himself believed in very strongly.

While “doing the right thing,” is something that each and every one of us can do every day in big and small ways, it is particularly important that the leaders of our foundations, government agencies, nonprofits, and private enterprise adopt this as a guiding principle, for they have the greatest potential to benefit children and youth in our region. For these leaders, “doing the right thing” includes:

• Being more patient, open-minded, and tolerant so that we are better able to entertain and constructively debate views different from our own, especially when these views come from people who are different than us;
• Finding common ground in working with others and not letting disagreements keep us from achieving common good together; and
• Being relentlessly focused on seeing the sought-after social outcome and impact achieved, even if it means sublimating our own brand and role.

The National Capital Region is blessed in so many ways: It is home to our federal government, a true world center with numerous international organizations and initiatives, a global tourist destination, and a burgeoning technology sector. We have a strong economy, remarkable arts and cultural opportunities, benefits from our racially and ethnically diverse communities, and a growing culture of philanthropy. Yet, we are also home to a significant wealth divide, high poverty, and too many children and youth who do not have access to opportunities to learn, grow, and become productive, responsible citizens.

We have the opportunity to find new ways to tap the potential of our collective strength to help change the fate of thousands of children. That in itself would be “the right thing to do” and a great resolution.

My best wishes for a safe, happy, and gratifying New Year.

- Mario Morino

Josh Freeman: A Tragic Loss

Last month VPP lost a dear friend, board member, and founding investor, Josh Freeman, in a tragic helicopter accident. Josh was a successful businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist, but, most importantly, he was a dedicated and loving father, husband, and son, whose family, both immediate and extended, was hugely important to him.

Josh was beloved throughout the local business and philanthropic communities for his boundless energy, generosity, and kindness. As President and CEO of the real estate company Carl M. Freeman Associates and as Chairman of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation, Josh built on and expanded his late father’s vision of building communities and supporting them through philanthropic endeavors. Josh approached philanthropy with the same intellectual inquisitiveness that characterized everything he did. He actively explored new philanthropic models, including VPP’s, for inspiration as he transformed the foundation from a traditional grantmaker to an innovative funder. Under his leadership, the Carl M. Freeman Foundation developed capacity-building programs such as the Nonprofit Leadership Institute, a three-day intensive training program for new and emerging leaders of Montgomery County nonprofit organizations; as well as an innovative micro-grant program, F.A.C.E.S. (Freeman Foundation Assists Communities with Extra Support).

Said Cheryl K. Kagan, Executive Director of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation (and Josh’s cousin), “While Josh was very proud of the company’s many successes, he was especially passionate about giving back to the communities where he achieved those successes. For him, it was about more than writing a check—he wanted to make a difference.”

In addition to leading the Freeman Companies, Josh was an organizer and member of the Board of Directors of Congressional Bank; founder of Bethany Partners, LLC, a private equity boutique; and an investor in Lincoln Holdings LLC (the owner of the Washington Capitals, partial owner of the Washington Wizards, and owner of various sports properties including the MCI Center). In addition to his Board role at VPP, he also served on the Boards of the Washington Capitals, the Washington National Opera, and was a member of the Board of Directors and Capital Campaign Co-Chairman for the Landon School.

Prior to joining his father’s company, Josh served as a Green Beret in the United States Army Special Forces, where he was received an Army Service Ribbon, an Army Good Conduct Medal, a Parachute Badge, an Army Achievement Medal, an Army Commendation Medal and a French Commando Badge. His other awards include the 2004 Marriott International Inc. Arts and Humanities Corporate Patron Award for Excellence and the 2005 Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce Lighthouse Award for lifetime achievement. He was also a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2005.

Gabriela Smith: A Woman of Substance and Style

VPP Founding Investor and Board Member Gabriela Smith is featured in Washington Life magazine as a Woman of Substance and Style. The article captures Gabriela’s fascinating journey of service to others--from her native Argentina to Los Angeles where she founded the Hispanic Leadership Program to help local immigrant families; to Boston, where she received a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government; to Bolivia (via Washington) where she managed health and education projects as a World Bank economist; and finally back to Washington, where she and her husband Doug founded the Amanter Fund, which focuses on children, families, and education. See the article.

VPP Invests $4.25 Million in Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington

VPP has made its largest investment to date—$4.25 million—to Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington (BGCGW). BGCGW is one of the largest youth serving organizations in the National Capital Region, offering programs to tens of thousands annually through more than 20 sites across the region.

The VPP investment will focus on efforts to develop and strengthen BGCGW’s infrastructure and to enhance its programs, with the goal of increasing its membership from roughly 20,000 to 35,000 youth in the National Capital Region by 2016. Specific targets of the investment include: refining and implementing program quality standards tied to specific outcomes; rounding out the expertise of the management team to improve organizational effectiveness; developing a club location strategy; enhancing information systems and technology; and establishing long-term financial sustainability.

Although the Investment Agreement was signed on December 19, VPP and BGCGW have worked closely together for more than two years. This work included performing a rigorous review of the entire organization, recruiting a top new CEO, and developing a plan to solidify the organization’s finances after its merger with the Metropolitan Police Boys & Girls Clubs. The investment decision was also based on VPP’s belief in BGCGW’s recently approved strategic plan, which outlines a road map for enhancing programming quality and for future growth.

“It has been very gratifying to work with the leadership of BGCGW. They have embraced change today to achieve future gains,” said VPP Managing Partner, Carol Thompson Cole. “The past few years have brought a series of major transitions. Through it all, BGCGW has never wavered from its focus on children and youth. It has proven to be a resilient organization and is now poised to further strengthen its approach to serving youth. We are confident that BGCGW will achieve its goals for excellence in order to enrich and improve the lives of our region’s young people.”

Under the terms of the investment, VPP will provide strategic assistance and funding of up to $3,350,000 over a three-year period, with $1.55 million disbursed in the first year, and the remaining $1.8 million of funding contingent upon BGCGW’s performance in achieving mutually agreed upon milestones over the remaining term of the investment partnership. VPP has already invested $900,000 for business planning and a bridge investment to cover the hiring of the CEO, search fees for executive positions, consulting services, and other expenses, bringing the total VPP investment to $4.25 million.

“It is unusual in the nonprofit world to obtain the kind of investment that allows us to better organize and position ourselves to serve young people throughout the region,” said BGCGW President & CEO Will Gunn. “VPP’s support, both in terms of dollars and sound counsel, provides an unparalleled opportunity for strategic reflection regarding our future, enabling us to identify the best path forward to achieve our youth service mission. Our dedicated staff and Board have been instrumental in building forward momentum throughout this process,” he said.

"Effectiveness and Excellence in Nonprofits" Video Now Online

In late October, VPP Chairman Mario Morino gave the keynote speech, "Raising the Bar for Organizational Effectiveness and Excellence for Nonprofits,” at the Alexandria Community Trust's Annual Forum. A video of the speech can now be viewed on the VPP website.

Expansion

CentroNía Plans Expansion into Maryland
Thanks to Isabel Barranzuela, Communications Associate, for this update.

CentroNía, an organization characterized by its continuous growth and dynamic leadership, has new and exciting plans beyond 2007. Since CentroNía’s constituency is moving north and east of the District of Columbia into Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and the changing demographics in these counties are creating new needs, CentroNía has decided to join local partners in these jurisdictions to bring new services to families.

Maryland is looking into having more bilingual service providers to serve the evident growing Latino population in Langley Park as well as other new communities from South Asia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Russia.

The Maryland expansion program brings CentroNía into a new collaboration with CASA of Maryland and into two new locations that will eventually serve 175 children and youth in 2007. CentroNía’s main new center at 1345 University Boulevard, in the heart of Langley Park, is a 15,000 square foot facility that will be shared with CASA of Maryland (CASA), a human service agency that has long served Latin American, immigrant, and refugee communities in Maryland. The second CASA-collaboration site will be located in the Pine Ridge housing complex at 1867 Piney Branch Road in the Flower Branch Community and consists of two large classrooms, a computer lab and a recreational area.

“This collaboration between CASA and CentroNía represents a step forward in serving the low-income family as a whole,” Gustavo Torres, Executive Director of la CASA affirms.

Beginning in July, CentroNía staff toured both facilities, then participated on information sessions with CASA staff, and completed the first retreat between Senior Managers of CentroNía and CASA.
Over the next several weeks, CentroNía will complete construction on the new site, transfer, recruit, hire, train new staff, and begin recruiting children.


Heads Up Opens New Headquarters
Thanks to Sara Brandspigel, Development Manager, for this update.

On December 18, Heads Up opened the doors of its new headquarters. Located in the Children’s Defense Fund building near Union Station, the new office is an exciting upgrade for Heads Up staff and volunteers. Heads Up shares a floor with the DC Education Compact, a community partnership that works to ensure all DC children receive a quality education. “We are excited to work in close proximity with so many other advocates for children,” said Darin McKeever, executive director. Heads Up will hold an open house on February 21, from 5-7 p.m. The new address is 25 E Street, NW, Third Floor, Washington, DC 20001.

Programs & Services

LAYC's New NEP/LEP Program Off to a Strong Start
Thanks to Jim Whitney, Director of Communications, for this update.

This past fall, LAYC began working with students at four DC high schools and middle schools to provide English assistance, homework help, peer mentoring, and other educational and leadership opportunities to students identified by DCPS Bilingual Education Office as Non-English Proficient or Limited English Proficient (NEP/LEP).

The new program works to ease the transition for recent immigrants and other newcomers to the DC school system. A core objective of the program is to reduce the drop-out rate among Latino students. LAYC is partnering with Wilson and Roosevelt high schools and Deal and MacFarland middle schools and will work with 160 students during the school year. Already, there are more than 95 students participating at the four schools. At Wilson High School, the 27 students currently in the program come from ten different countries.

An important feature of the program is that it's offered right in the schools, reaching students in an environment they're already used to and comfortable in. LAYC has recruited and trained local college students and other community volunteers to lead the tutor groups and to oversee individual peer mentors, with the peer mentors coming from each of the four schools where the program is operating.

Additionally, coordinators at the schools are able to refer students and their families to other programs and services that LAYC offers, including computer classes, social services, and family-to-family mentoring.

Noteworthy Announcements

College Summit Overhauls its Website

Thanks to Tom Harrison, Senior Marketing & PR Coordinator, for this update.

In early 2006, College Summit determined that its three-year-old website, at www.collegesummit.org, needed more than a visual facelift. It no longer met the needs of those seeking information about the organization.

For help, it turned to Navigation Arts, a consulting firm providing expert advisory, web design, and web development services. The Virginia-based firm soon recognized the significant gap between College Summit’s rapidly expanding reach and its stagnant website functionality.

“We took five weeks on [just] the web strategy portion,” says Bianca Prade, Director of Content Strategy for Navigation Arts. “That was probably the most complex part.”

The effort yielded results, as College Summit devised an online strategy that targeted its key audiences: school districts, colleges, students and alumni, supporters, and people located in the six regions that the organization operates in. Navigation Arts created a “tab forward” approach to allow these audiences to easily access the content that interests them.

One aspect fundamental to College Summit proved, at first, to be a liability for web design. Its brand colors, blue and yellow, “looked bright and energetic, not collegiate,” says Ms. Prade. Navigation Arts worked with College Summit’s graphic designer, Julie Cipriani, on a number of designs. The resulting look is proving so popular within the organization that it may be extended to other print materials. Navigation Arts also introduced an attention-grabbing feature for the College Summit homepage. According to Ms. Prade, the open book that contains text and an image is “an iconic piece of art that illustrates the academic nature of the business.”

While Navigation Arts worked on the website’s design, College Summit was faced with a significant challenge—filling the new structure with content. A team of content writers worked for several months and developed over 150 pages of content.

The new website launched on November 29, 2006. Information is now readily available to the school districts that College Summit partners with, the students and alumni it trains, the colleges and universities that host its summer workshops, and its financial supporters. Within seconds, a visitor can access current news and events concerning College Summit and its rigorously compiled results and metrics.

The website also offers access to the organization’s regional operations. “The tab forward approach allowed local site content to be housed in a “mini-site,” says Ms. Prade. As each local site expands its operations, the expansion will be easily visible on its mini-site.

Visitors should also stop by “In Students’ Words” (located under the “For Students and Alumni” tab), where they can read complete versions of outstanding essays produced at College Summit’s most recent summer workshops.

CFNC Captures Essense of Season Through Holiday Giving Programs
Thanks to Kate Lyng, Manager of Development, for this
update.

Each year, the holiday season at CFNC is a busy time filled with the spirit of giving. Food, clothing, coats, and presents are distributed to the children and families that CFNC serves in an effort to ensure the holiday season is a joyous time rather than a time characterized by tremendous sacrifice. This year was no different.

Beginning at the end of November, with the help of Westminster Church, CFNC distributed 188 Thanksgiving dinners to its families with all the trimmings. Each family received a box containing a turkey, potatoes, pumpkin pie, rolls, vegetables, and cranberry sauce, allowing them to experience a traditional Thanksgiving feast.

In early December, CFNC’s social work staff organized a clothing drive fueled by donations from local churches and individuals, supplying families with winter clothing. Families were able to take advantage of the free clothing which was distributed in sizes ranging from infant to adult and included pants, sweaters, shoes, and other necessities.

Capital One employees also purchased coats out of their own pockets for each CFNC child and hosted a holiday party for the children, held in lieu of a traditional company holiday party. This year’s parties were held on December 15 and 18, and included “ice” fishing, a bean bag toss, assorted crafts, and a photo station complete with a holiday fireplace and stockings.

For many of CFNC’s families, gift giving is a luxury they cannot afford, but due to the generosity of local churches, individuals, and community groups, all CFNC families had gifts to open through an Adopt-A-Family program spearheaded by one of our Board members.

MAPCS Student Honored at Children's Defense Fund Scholarship Awards Ceremony
Thanks to Sunny Lee, Director of Development, for this update.

On November 14, MAPCS Evans Campus student Charlette Nicole Smith was one of five Washington, DC, area high school students awarded a $10,000 Beat the Odds scholarship from the Children’s Defense Fund.

The scholarship awards, which also included laptop computers and $500 Macy’s gift cards for each student, were presented by Academy Award-winning actress Renée Zellweger at a gala event in Washington celebrating young people who demonstrate resilience in the face of tremendous adversity. Co-chairs Ali Wentworth and George Stephanopoulos hosted the event.

“I am so proud of these young people,” writes Edelman, in an essay for her Child Watch column detailing the hardship stories of Charlette and the other award winners. “They and the thousands of young people like them—many all around us and struggling quietly each day to stay on track and do the right thing—deeply deserve our recognition, praise, and support.”

In her Beat the Odds scholarship interview, Smith spoke of finding the strength to carry on in the midst of poverty and her family’s struggles, including losing her father to the AIDS epidemic when she was a child and her mother’s current battle against lung cancer.

When asked about her commitment to her own education in the face of such adversity, Smith said her mother had been a constant source of strength and taught her that you have to be strong for yourself before you can be strong for anyone else. “I want to be strong for my mother,” Smith said.

Such strength is what drives Edelman and her work with the Children’s Defense Fund, and she has been seeking out similar stories since establishing the Beat the Odds awards in 1990.

“Too often we hear about the negative outcomes of teenagers faced with problems such as poverty, violence, homelessness, family separation, or substance abuse,” said Edelman in her remarks at the event. “The Beat the Odds program celebrates the positive potential of young people by honoring those who have succeeded and providing role models for those who are still struggling.”

Zellweger, who won a 2004 Academy Award for her performance in Cold Mountain, said that Smith and the other award winners had become role models for her, noting that their inspiring stories helped put her own life and career in perspective.

“I have had the great fortune as an actress to play many roles, but I don’t know if I could have attempted to play the roles that these extraordinary young people have,” said Zellweger.

Maria Gomez to Chair Mayor Fenty's Health Advisory Group
Thanks to Vanessa DeCarbo, Director of Advocacy and Communications, for this update.

In December, then-Mayor Elect Adrian Fenty announced an appointed group to develop a plan for his first 100 days in office, with a goal of transparent accountability. Maria Gomez, Mary’s Center’s President and CEO was appointed to chair the healthcare issue group. She joins Rodney Slater, Togo West, Peter Edelman, and Stacey Stewart. According to a press release, “Each are recognized experts in their respective fields and are combining their experience and knowledge of best practices to review input collected during the transition period at community town halls, the eTransition process and agency reviews to form a strategic plan for the city’s most pressing issues. Education, Public Safety, Healthcare, Human Services, Affordable Housing, Economic Development, Environment and Transportation are all identified priorities for the administration.

Sharing Witness Community Shares Insights, Experiences

The Sharing Witness blog, recently launched by Billy Shore, VPP board member and executive director/founder of Share Our Strength, provides a unique platform where civic and social change leaders leverage their perspectives to bear witness to the promise—and pain—they see in society.

Sharing Witness allows a diverse group of contributors, including Diana Aviv, President & CEO, Independent Sector; David Bornstein, author of How to Change the World; Jeff Bradach, Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Bridgespan Group; and author Richard Russo to share their insights and practical experiences that many people don’t have the opportunity to see, and that aren’t often discussed in the mainstream press.

A number of Sharing Witness contributors are directly involved in VPP as board members, investors, or executive directors of investment partners: Kathy Bushkin Calvin, Jean Case, David Domenici, Maria Gomez, Mario Morino, JB Schramm, Ed Skloot, and of course, Billy Shore. Mario's most recent post, "Slow Down and Listen: Lessons from Gates Foundation CEO Patty Stonesifer ,"received some comments and sparked a separate post from Clara Miller, President of the Nonprofit Finance Fund, “Tackling the Learning Curve: Reflections on Patty Stonesifer's Insights.”