According to the DC Policy Institute, “the District has a higher level of income inequality than any state in the country, with households in the top 20 percent of income having 29 times more income than the bottom 20 percent.” Twenty-nine times. It is this difference that drives the vast majority of the work represented in this (and other) sections of the Catalogue. One in three persons faces food insecurity and the number is even higher (50% or more) for Black and Brown residents and for children (61%). As inflation increases, the problem only gets worse for those who can’t afford the food they need and for the organizations sourcing it to help them.

nonprofits have a tough road ahead

(Most of the adults surveyed by Capital Area Food Bank are employed, but wages don’t keep up with the high cost of living in the region.) Housing is problematic for the same reason: gentrification and rising prices have pushed many out of familiar neighborhoods and others onto the streets. Although official reports from the Mayor’s office show a decrease in the number of people experiencing homelessness, the number of “chronically homeless people is increasing – and burgeoning encampments are now part of the fabric of downtown”, according to The Washington Post which also, separately, reports that “2020 was the first time that gunfire killed more people 19 and younger than car accidents.” In short, the nonprofits featured in these pages have a tough road ahead: feeding families, providing housing and housing support, offering workforce training to move families out of poverty, supporting LGBTQ youth, newly arrived immigrants, and returning citizens, and finding ways to keep young people engaged and safe. It isn’t work for the faint of heart, but it is work for those who believe that racial equity and access to opportunity are human rights.