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Dec 04, 2009
D.C. groups seek place to call home
D.C. nonprofits co-locate to streamline services for the poor.
Washington Business Journal - by Jonathan O'Connell
A band of nonprofits focused on work force development wants to create a collective headquarters to help under- and unemployed D.C. residents.
About 10 groups have expressed interest in sharing a building, though they don’t have a location and have not raised any money yet, said Bob Wittig, executive director of the Jovid Foundation, which is focused on antipoverty measures.
The groups prefer a site in Ward 5, which includes the Brookland, Trinidad and Fort Totten neighborhoods in Northeast, where job skills are badly needed and many training providers already are located.
Co-locating the various organizations would streamline services for people who need them, Wittig said. “By bringing everyone together we could have centralized case management in the building with centralized intake.”
Besides Jovid, other groups joining the effort include the D.C. Jobs Council, Jubilee Jobs, Strive D.C., the Academy of Hope and the Coalition for Economic Empowerment.
In his effort to find a headquarters for the group, Wittig has met with Deputy Mayor Valerie Santos and Councilman Tommy Thomas, D-Ward 5.
“You’ve got 60,000 people in this city who need work force skills, and there just isn’t the capacity for that,” he said.
Wittig said he had been in touch with potential partners, such as the San Francisco-based Tides Foundation. Private employers who can hire newly trained workers are also needed as partners he said.
Articles published by the Washington Business Journal, Dec. 4, 2009.
