Alexandria Women for Good

Here in the United States, there are at least 110,000 children in foster care waiting to be adopted each year - including 5,400 right here in Virginia. For these children, growing to adulthood without finding a forever family often leads to a life of poverty, ill health, lost opportunity, and emotional struggle. National Council For Adoption, opens pathways to adoption so that more children can thrive within forever families. We accomplish that through education that helps families navigate the adoption journey, advocacy that reduces unnecessary barriers to adoption, member services that increase capacity in adoption agencies, and research that ensures all our work has a strong data foundation. NCFA seeks to empower encourage, and advocate for all those who have adoption as part of their story, including vulnerable children, prospective and current adoptive parents, birth parents, and adult adoptees.

The Spitfire Club is an Alexandria-based girls literacy, empowerment, & mentoring organization serving ~85 local students a week. This extracurricular program encourages students in grades 1-5 to read a variety of books featuring strong, diverse, female protagonists.

The club builds literacy and socio-emotional skills while also exploring stories that model Spitfire’s values of curiosity, resilience, empathy, authenticity and tenacity.

Spitfire works with Title 1 schools, and community organizations that offer wrap around services for girls in need. "Nurturing each Spitfire’s love of reading, love of self, and love for Spitfires across all communities."

The Spitfire Club was featured by Alexandria City Public Schools as a valued partner in 2024 (Read more here) and, will be expanding to offer summer programming. @Amanda Parker Hazelwood

Heard is a transformative nonprofit that supports Alexandria residents, local artists, and Alexandria nonprofit program partners by bringing Casa Chirilagua, the Carpenter’s Shelter, Friends of Guest House, Space of Her Own, Together We Bake, detention centers, and other sites to bring arts such as creative writing, dance, improvisation, visual arts, public speaking, singing, and yoga to people who traditionally have not had the opportunity to express themselves.

Based on responses from the clients, the program partners, and the artists, Heard’s impact is overwhelming. Clients learn life skills such as teamwork, communication, empathy. Their art, if they choose to share, is posted on the Heard website so they and their families know they are heard (this is especially powerful for the incarcerated clients). Heard classes are powerful and clients are often overcome as they share their art with their peers (if they choose to do so). Nonprofit partners praise the professional skill, emotional intelligence and boundaries of Heard artists.

Heard also believes in supporting arts and pays its artists fairly. Heard artists know they are heard and respected too.

Have you ever packed up and moved to a new place in search of greater opportunity? It can be daunting! Especially if you’re crossing cultures.

Alexandria’s New Neighbors offers a hub for recent immigrants and refugees, speaking more than 15 languages and representing 24 countries. Ranging in age from their mid-20s to mid-60s, nearly 90% of New Neighbors’ participants are women facing wide-ranging systemic challenges. 82% live in poverty, 82% are unemployed, and 28% do not have a high school diploma or equivalent. Despite these obstacles, they are deeply invested in supporting their families.

And we can help!

Awarding a grant to New Neighbors enables personalized quality English language instruction for 100 students, including the major components of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. While literacy is the central focus, New Neighbors staff also serve as mentors, linking students with resources related to food, housing, healthcare, transportation, employment, GED classes and more. Free childcare services remove barriers for participation, and a lending library helps families extend their learnings at home.

As an integral part of the Campagna Center (with its own budget), New Neighbors collaborates with partners across Alexandria’s wide-ranging schools, social services and faith communities to build opportunities for connection and growth.

ALL of us are from somewhere. New Neighbors helps families from ALL over the world and ALL walks of life transition with joy and dignity.

UpCycle Creative Reuse Center is an Alexandria, Virginia based nonprofit that connects creativity and conservation by providing a resource center for reuse materials and a creative making space for the community.​

At UpCycle, they rethink the traditional notion of waste by collecting cast-offs from our community to serve as creative materials. UpCycle's programs foster creative expression, resourcefulness, experiential learning, individuality and fun for all ages. Whether through playful “tinkering” or a special workshop, they inspire you to create through exploratory experiences with reuse materials.

If awarded, funding from Alexandria Women For Good will be used to fund an outreach initiative: “It’s Tinker Time: Creative Aftercare Programs and Materials for Alexandria’s Youth.” UpCycle program teachers enhance the after care experiences in ten recreation center sites, where 900 children from backgrounds typically underserved in the arts are cared for after school hours, by providing materials and programs that inspire creativity, problem solving and innovation. More than half of the children served in this program are economically disadvantaged, and the racial demographics are roughly 40% Hispanic, 26% White, 25% Black and 9% remaining groups.