NEWS

IMPACT Recognized with Leadership Award

IMPACT Silver Spring is one of 10 local nonprofits recently selected to receive a Washington Area Women’s Foundation 2010 Leadership Award. The Leadership Awards Program invests in the work of outstanding, emerging community-based organizations that exhibit vision and impact in serving the critical needs of women and girls. As an awardee, IMPACT will receive $10,000.

Read the full press release.

Organizations Partner to Connect and Empower Jewish and Immigrant Women

In February and March 2010, a group of 12 Jewish, African, and Latina women have come together for five weeks of cross-cultural learning, exchange, and action. They are taking part in a new program called "Neighbor Circles" to bridge the all-too-common gap between neighbors of different races, classes, and cultures.

The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Washington, the public affairs and community relations arm of the Jewish community, teamed up with local nonprofit, IMPACT Silver Spring, to design this new effort. Neighbor Circles are based on the ongoing work of IMPACT Silver Spring to build social networks and civic engagement for a thriving, multicultural community.

The inaugural Neighbor Circle involves Jewish and immigrant women who live in Takoma Park, especially on and around Maple Avenue, home to many high-rise apartment buildings where immigrants from all over the world have settled. A second circle will be run this fall in partnership with a Silver Spring school.

Read the full press release.

IMPACT Silver Spring Announces Addition of Casey Foundation Manager
Hire Helps Door-Knocking Campaign to Connect Neighbors in Need

IMPACT Silver Spring, a community-based organization devoted to bringing residents together across lines of race, class and culture, announced today that Ronnie Galvin, Jr. of the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia, will assume the new role of Deputy Director as of February 16.

The addition of Galvin allows the organization to build on the highly successful Neighbors Campaign, a partnership with the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services and others, to provide emergency services to neighbors in need and create new networks of mutual support. A central part of the Campaign is knocking on 10,000 doors in three targeted communities to connect those in crisis to services, and to invite residents to begin forming neighbor circles, a vehicle for supporting each other.

"The newly created position signals IMPACT Silver Spring’s growth and underscores our commitment to expanded accountability to network members, partners, and the larger community," said Executive Director Frankie Blackburn. "This was a significant step for us, and after reviewing more than one hundred applications, we are confident that we have hired the most qualified candidate who shares our belief in shared power, diversity, and the efficacy of relationships."

Read the full press release.

IMPACT Now! Calls for Stronger Business/Community Relationships
Echoed by Honest Tea’s Seth Goldman, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett,
Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown and Congressman Chris Van Hollen

County business leaders from large and small companies, retail stores, and restaurants came together this morning with government and nonprofit leaders to hear a call for greater reciprocity across sectors. This highly-diverse group of nearly 200 people gathered at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center for IMPACT Silver Spring’s annual breakfast event, IMPACT Now!

“We have a theory that business and community leaders in Montgomery County generally do not get along as well as they do in other communities,” said co-host Steve Silverman, Director of Montgomery County’s Department of Economic Development. He said that a “paradigm shift” is needed, one of greater collaboration which can achieve business goals and also solve tough, longstanding community issues. County Executive, Isiah Leggett, affirmed the need for this new paradigm, saying that government cannot solve all business and community problems.

Read the full press release
Download a copy of the report distributed at the event.