CASA is proud to announce that we are the 2019 Tom Marmet Memorial Job Readiness Grant From Many Hands. CASA will utilize this grant to create a job readiness initiative to improve outcomes for older foster youth preparing to transition out of foster care to adulthood. Through one-on-one support from their CASA volunteer and being connected to appropriate workforce development and employment opportunities, CASA will help youth attain and sustain employment and build a career path that will foster a stable adulthood.

CASA staff will work with youth and their CASA volunteers to conduct assessments, develop goals around workforce development and job seeking; coordinate meetings and provide training and support volunteers to ensure goals are actualized. CASA will create and maintain relationships with stakeholders, community resource providers, potential employers and stakeholders. CASA will make connections with different opportunities based on the needs and interests of the youth to ensure tailored plans for each individual. CASA will provide support to youth ages 14-21 and ensure that their individualized plan becomes reality. To learn more about these efforts or provide workforce development or employment opportunities to youth in foster care, please contact Phil Lartigue. 

Please see the press release below for more information. 

Many Hands Inc. Announces 2019 Grantees

At its May 16th annual meeting, Many Hands members heard from four Washington, DC area nonprofit organizations which will receive grants totaling $275,500 in four focus areas: Education, Health, Housing and Job Readiness.

Many Hands is a women’s grant making organization committed to collective giving which benefits local women, children and families in need. Each year, Many Hands grants $100,000 to help one area nonprofit expand its mission. This year we awarded three additional grants of $58,500 each. Fundraising has increased steadily each year since Many Hands was founded in 2004, resulting in over $1,678,000 in grants to area nonprofits.

$100,000 Many Hands Grant

$100,000 Education Grant: Access Youth
Access Youth works to keep at-risk Washington, DC youth in school and out of the criminal justice system by reducing chronic truancy and suspensions, and promoting restorative justice as an alternative to punishment. Access Youth addresses behavioral problems and student disputes through individual mediation and by teaching life skills and conflict resolution.

Access Youth served 555 students this year at Ballou, Eastern, and Anacostia high schools in the District of Columbia, and is in the process of expanding from a one year to a four year model, and from three to ten Washington, DC schools. With the 2019 Many Hands $100,000 grant, Access Youth will develop its first peer mediation program, training student leaders to serve as peer mediators for their school communities.

$58,500 Health: The Greater DC Diaper Bank

The Greater DC Diaper Bank provides basic baby and personal hygiene products to families in need. Supplies like diapers are distributed by partner organizations and serve as gateway resources to introduce hard to reach families in DC, Maryland, and Virginia to medical, mental health, housing, and employment services. The Diaper Bank helped over 9,000 families this year, with 7.5 million diapers, 436,000 hygiene products, and 185,712 eight-ounce bottles of infant formula.

$58,500 Housing Grant: New Endeavors by Women
New Endeavors by Women runs seven transitional and permanent housing programs, providing shelter and support to approximately 200 formerly homeless women and children. Clients include seniors, HIV Positive women, survivors of domestic violence and women with mental illness and substance dependency. Along with housing, New Endeavors offers education, life skills, employment, substance abuse and counseling support.

$58,500 Job Readiness Grant: CASA/Prince George’s County
CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates, of Prince George’s County partners with the juvenile court to improve the lives of abused and neglected children living in foster care. CASA serves 35% of Prince George’s County’s foster children through a network of 150 volunteers, who spend, on average, 10-15 hours per month with each child they represent, often becoming the primary source of stability in that child’s life. Within five years, CASA hopes to serve 100% of youth in the county foster care system.

Job Readiness Grant to honor Tom Marmet
This year, Many Hands will honor Tom Marmet, the son of one of our founders, Betsy Marmet, by awarding the Job Readiness grant in his memory. In October of 2018, Tom, who was only 22 years old, tragically was shot and killed by a stray bullet while driving home from his work with So Others Might Eat’s one-year Volunteer Corps. Tom was serving as a Volunteer Employment Specialist, working one-on-one with formerly homeless clients at a SOME transitional housing site and focused on job readiness. Tom was remembered by all who loved him as a loyal friend, committed to a life of service and to making the world a better place. We cannot think of a better way to remember him than to name this year’s grant the Tom Marmet Memorial Job Readiness grant.

For more information, or if your nonprofit organization is interested in applying for a Many Hands grant, please visit our website, www.manyhandsdc.org. Many Hands will not accept letters of inquiry for 2020 grants before September, 2019.