nonprofit | ALXnow

Alexandria nonprofit Momentum Collective wants to be a charter school teaching the arts

Published August 12, 2022 at 11:15AM

In five years, Jason Ellis wants Momentum Collective, Inc. to be a charter school teaching kids the arts in Northern Virginia.

The nonprofit resumed programming in October, after a two-year Covid hiatus, and are one again teaching low and moderate income children how to sing, dance and act in summer camps and after school at the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s Ruby Tucker Center. About 90 elementary school-aged kids have participated since programming resumed, and the plan is to eventually bring back middle and high school kids.

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Volunteer Alexandria’s Theresa Kramer-Burgess uses social media to help the city

By James Cullum

Published July 20, 2022 at 3:30PM | Updated July 20, 2022 at 3:58PM

Volunteers sort food at ALIVE! (Photo via ALIVE!/Facebook)

If you’re an Alexandrian on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve seen Volunteer Alexandria posts written by Theresa Kramer-Burgess.

If the Volunteer Alexandria needs something, Kramer-Burgess lets everyone know about it on social media. Sometimes she posts more than a dozen times a week on each platform.

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ALIVE! opens West End Food Hub on S. Van Dorn Street

By James Cullum

Published May 26, 2022 at 11:00AM

City leaders cut the ribbon for the new ALIVE! West End Food Hub at 510 S. Van Dorn Street, May 26, 2022. (staff photo by James Cullum)

West End residents now have a new hub to to take care of food insecurity and other basic living needs.

On Thursday morning (May 26), nonprofit and city leaders cut the ribbon for the ALIVE! West End Food Hub at 510 S. Van Dorn Street in the Van Dorn Station Shopping Center. The brick and mortar location was made possible by funding from the American Rescue Plan.

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These Alexandrians just found a stash of baby formula and donated it to ALIVE!

By James Cullum

Published May 20, 2022 at 2:15PM

Alexandria’s Homegrown Restaurant Group just stumbled across a proverbial goldmine of infant baby formula, and on Friday morning (May 20) they donated 10 cases of Similac Advance to ALIVE!.

It could take months before Alexandria grocery store shelves are stocked with infant formula, as communities around the country are struggling through the shortage.

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Goodwin House acquires West End senior living facility with plans to expand

By Vernon Miles

Published May 18, 2022 at 2:30PM

Hermitage Northern Virginia, image courtesy Goodwin House

Alexandria-based Goodwin House Inc., a non-profit organization built around senior living, has acquired the West End senior living community Hermitage Northern Virginia with plans to undergo an expansion in the coming years.

While the current operator of Hermitage will remain in place until August 1, after that the facility will become part of Goodwin House.

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Spring2ACTion fundraiser raises $2.5 million for Alexandria charities and nonprofits

By James Cullum

Published April 28, 2022 at 11:00AM | Updated April 29, 2022 at 3:16PM

(Photo via Runningbrooke/Facebook)

ACT for Alexandria raised $2.5 million for 172 local nonprofits in its 12th annual Spring2ACTion fundraiser on Wednesday (April 27). The fundraiser is the largest single day of giving in Alexandria, and came just short of matching the amount raised last year, ACT CEO Heather Peeler told ALXnow.

“I’m almost speechless in terms of thinking about how to describe just the care and love that people show for our community,” Peeler said shortly after midnight. “This is really about the entire community coming together. It’s about the nonprofits that are doing incredible work that people want to support, the donors who are feeling really generous and the local businesses who see giving back as core to their business. It’s really an all-hands-on-deck effort from across the city.”

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Spring2ACTion aims for $2.5 million single-day fundraising goal for Alexandria charities and nonprofits

By James Cullum

Published April 26, 2022 at 1:00PM

(Photo via Runningbrooke/Facebook)

Spring2ACTion has broken Alexandria’s single-day fundraising record two years in a row, but can ACT for Alexandria do it again?

The nonprofit wants to raise $2.5 million from 10,000 donors for 171 Alexandria nonprofits and charities — essentially matching the amount raised last year.

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Nonprofit looks to triple affordable housing units at Arlandria apartment complex

By Vernon Miles

Published March 10, 2022 at 10:45AM

Elbert Avenue Apartments (via Google Maps)

Alexandria non-profit Community Lodging has announced plans to significantly expand affordable housing in Arlandria-Chirilagua with the redevelopment of a 1940s apartment complex.

Elbert Avenue Apartments, a set of three three-story buildings constructed in the 1940s, currently has 28 units affordable for renters making 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI) — the standard applied for evaluating affordable housing. But these buildings are in rough shape after what Community Lodging called years of “Band-Aid fixes”.

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Inova to put $1 million in grant funding into local nonprofits

By Vernon Miles

Published March 7, 2022 at 1:15PM

Inova Health System announced today that it plans to put $1 million in grant funding into non-profits addressing health needs in Alexandria and its neighbors.

The hospital system announced today that applications are open for the 2022 Health Equity Grant program, into which Inova is putting a record $1 million in funding. The grant program helps nonprofit organizations that provide services for under-resourced locals and promote equity.

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ALIVE! is hosting six free food distributions this month in Alexandria

By James Cullum

Published March 4, 2022 at 10:45AM

Bags of food from ALIVE! were given to Arlandria residents on May 21, 2020 (staff photo by James Cullum)

Alexandria nonprofit ALIVE! will conduct six free food distributions throughout the city this month.

No identification is required to pick up the groceries, produce, chicken, eggs and bread.

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Alexandria Seaport Foundation’s second floating center gets back on City Council docket

By James Cullum

Published March 3, 2022 at 10:00AM

After two years in limbo, the Alexandria Seaport Foundation’s request to open a second floating Seaport Center on the waterfront is going back to City Council for approval next week.

The project was supposed to go to the Planning Commission in April 2020, but got sidelined by the pandemic. On Tuesday, March 8, Council will vote on the second center, which would be adjacent to its current location — the 1,200-square-foot McIlhenny Seaport Center at 0 Thompsons Alley.