The following organizations are based in Northern Virginia and provide critical services to the immediate community. Many thanks to the Arlington Community Foundation for its help in compiling this resource. An 
next to a nonprofit’s listing indicates the availability of college internships or student service-learning opportunities.
AHC Inc.
AHC provides quality affordable housing to more than 3,000 low-income families. AHC also offers onsite educational programs and social services to help residents build more stable and successful lives.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $35 provides literacy-building after-school activities, including audiobooks, listening devices and vocabulary puzzles.
❱❱ $150 provides emergency groceries to a family struggling with new hardships.
❱❱ $500 supports a college field trip or mobile tech devices for high school students.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers provide homework and studying support to elementary and middle school students, and mentor college-bound high school students. They also teach life skills and SAT prep, and provide organizational support, including staffing AHC’s food distribution sites, delivering school backpacks and serving holiday dinners.
Animal Welfare League of Arlington
For more than 75 years, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington has provided animal sheltering, pet adoptions, community support and animal control services to help pet owners keep their animals healthy, happy and home.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $25 covers an animal’s one-day care at the shelter.
❱❱ $100 funds a spay or neuter surgery before adoption.
❱❱ $200 provides specialty care to a pet in need.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers 18 and older are needed for dog walking, cat socialization, food prep, kennel cleaning, pantry organization, adoption counseling, front desk duties, laundry, administrative assistance and fostering. Some of these roles are also available to teens ages 16-18, as are Senior Experience and internship opportunities.
Arlington Community Foundation
Arlington Community Foundation helps individuals, businesses and organizations in Arlington carry out their charitable giving, both in the short term and through permanent legacy funds. As a grant-maker, convener and leader of programmatic initiatives, the Community Foundation strives to strengthen local nonprofits, encourage better understanding of the needs of Arlingtonians, and address the most critical issues of our time. Since 1991, ACF has awarded thousands of grants and scholarships and created a source of diverse and flexible philanthropic capital that can address changing community needs.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $500 funds a small community grant.
❱❱ $1,500 provides one college scholarship or a prompt-response grant (e.g., a replacement washer and dryer for a homeless shelter).
❱❱ $10,000 or more can start a permanent scholarship fund or charitable giving fund to support the donor’s charitable interests.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers assist with fundraising events, community outreach and professional services, and serve on grant or scholarship review committees. The youth-led Arlington Youth Philanthropy Initiative (AYPI) awards grants to youth-initiated service projects and nonprofits.
Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC)
The Arlington Food Assistance Center feeds neighbors in need by providing dignified access to supplemental groceries. The groceries are given directly and free of charge to people living in Arlington and surrounding areas who cannot afford to purchase enough food to meet their basic needs.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $464 per month provides 100 families with a carton of eggs.
❱❱ $616 per month provides 100 families with fresh vegetables.
❱❱ $704 per month provides 100 families with fresh fruits.
❱❱ $732 per month provides 100 families with a half-gallon of milk.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers of all ages organize food drives. Those 12 and older may help with re-bagging bulk purchases at AFAC’s warehouse.
Arlington Free Clinic
Arlington Free Clinic advances health equity by providing comprehensive, whole-person health care to neighbors who would otherwise lack access. Since 1994, the clinic has been filling the gap in health care access for the community’s most vulnerable residents.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $250 procures 10 blood pressure cuffs for at-home health monitoring, or five cases of liquid food supplements for a cancer patient.
❱❱ $1,000 covers 16 emergency dental visits for patients whose oral health needs cannot wait.
❱❱ $10,000 covers three months of generic medications. Most medications (about $3 million worth each year) are donated to the clinic, but some cannot be accessed for free.
Volunteer opportunities: AFC is always looking for volunteer physicians (primary/specialty), nurse practitioners, nurses, dentists and Spanish interpreters. Psychiatrists/psychiatric NPs, licensed counselors, dental hygienists and exercise instructors are especially needed right now.
Arlington Independent Media
AIM supports, educates and inspires diverse creators and fosters independent media production through community television, local radio and digital arts. Since its relaunch in 2021, AIM has prioritized the voices of Arlington’s youth, serving as a creative catalyst to ignite learning in people of all ages while centralizing diverse voices that take risks and drive culture forward.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $250 supports a monthly youth journalism club for students ages 14-19 as an entry point into the world of journalism and media.
❱❱ $600 supports a scholarship for an Arlington high school student to attend two-week media-making summer camp.
❱❱ $1,000 supports the stipend for one youth journalism intern.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers with sufficient training and certification can assist AIM audio and video producers with content creation. Volunteers of all ages and abilities are encouraged to participate in AIM’s community events, including music festivals, neighborhood celebrations and other art, culture and social justice events.
Arlington Neighborhood Village
Arlington Neighborhood Village provides the “extra help” Arlington County residents aged 55 and older need to continue living in their own homes and communities as they age. More than 200 ANV volunteers provide services, social support and engagement for ANV’s 370 members, including some whose limited income makes these services even more critical. One third of ANV members have mobility, eyesight or hearing challenges.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $40 supports services for a lower-income senior for one month.
❱❱ $50 supports a criminal background and driving record check for a prospective volunteer.
❱❱ $500 provides a gift membership for a lower-income senior for a year.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers provide transportation to medical appointments, run errands, shop for groceries, pick up prescriptions, help with technology and household tasks, and connect with seniors via telephone and in-person visits to reduce social isolation. Volunteers also help with all the behind-the-scenes tasks that make an organization run smoothly—from finance and IT to strategic fundraising and long-range planning. We welcome individuals ages 18 and over (21 for those who wish to drive). All must receive training and pass a background check.
Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing
Dedicated to solving the D.C. area’s growing affordable housing crisis, APAH believes that all people, regardless of their economic status, deserve a place to call home. Having an affordable home should never be a barrier to achieving one’s dreams. Currently, APAH provides more than 2,400 homes to lower-income individuals and families, and is poised to triple this impact over the next five years. Additionally, APAH offers resident-centered programming to propel residents’ efforts to achieve their personal and professional goals.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $50 funds a student’s participation in an afterschool activity.
❱❱ $100 buys emergency groceries for a single parent who is between paychecks.
❱❱ $500 offers rent relief for two households experiencing financial hardship.
❱❱ $1,000 covers holiday gift expenses for a family of five.
Volunteer opportunities: Assistance is needed with family engagement activities, grocery distribution, literacy programming, affordable housing advocacy and volunteer management/recruitment. APAH offers internships and community service projects for student groups.
Arlington Thrive
With a deep commitment to empowering individuals and families and fostering community resilience, Arlington Thrive has been serving Arlington County for 48 years. Arlington Thrive provides emergency financial assistance to cover unexpected medical expenses, rent, utilities and more. Without this lifeline, many individuals would be faced with the devastating reality of homelessness and unemployment, struggling to afford even the most basic necessities. By facilitating access to crucial services such as health care and child care, we play a pivotal role in building a stronger, more vibrant community.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $100 pays for a prescription for a homeless individual.
❱❱ $500 places a low-income child in high-quality child care.
❱❱ $1,000 restores utility service for six families who, due to temporary unemployment, are unable to pay for their heat and/or electricity.
❱❱ $5,000 pays the rent for five Arlington families facing eviction so they do not become homeless.
Volunteer opportunities: Thrive is currently seeking volunteers to support its Wee Thrive Baby Box program, which provides basic infant supplies to low-income Arlington families.
Arm & Arm
Arm & Arm provides peer-to-peer behavioral health services (support, training, mentoring) to individuals re-entering the community following incarceration, military service, homelessness, substance abuse recovery and/or mental health challenges.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $75 covers a peer mentoring support session for one individual.
❱❱ $550 provides Game on the Line immersion training (cognitive and somatic coping skills) for one individual.
❱❱ $750 pays for one individual to receive 72 hours of Peer Recovery Training (for state certification).
❱❱ $960 funds a focus group for 4-5 participants struggling with severe traumatic experiences.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed for outreach to raise awareness of social isolation, opioid addiction, mental health issues and Covid-19 vaccination and testing, as well as connecting with at-risk youth. Arm & Arm facilitates a monthly Shop Talk forum on issues relating to community inclusion.
Aspire Afterschool Learning
Aspire expands learning opportunities to help historically underserved South Arlington students in grades 3-8 fulfill their potential through daily after-school and summer learning programs. Committed to closing the opportunity gap, Aspire offers its programs at no cost to families.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $50 provides one day of after-school support and a literacy kit for a student.
❱❱ $250 provides one year of books for a student.
❱❱ $600 provides one month of daily after-school support for a student.
Volunteer opportunities: Aspire offers full-time service opportunities for community members and students over age 18 through its AmeriCorps partnership. Weekly volunteers are also needed to provide in-person reading, math, science and homework support for young learners between 3:30 and 6 p.m., as well as during a full-day summer camp. High school volunteers are welcome. Aspire also hosts monthly Community Reading Nights for community members who want to get involved, but can’t commit to weekly volunteering.
Borromeo Housing Inc.
Borromeo Housing maintains an education-first, safe, transitional housing program for single homeless mothers (ages 16-22) and their children. BHI’s mission is to break the cycle of poverty two generations at a time by empowering residents to achieve self-sufficiency through education. Families living at BHI attend school and take part in life skills training, parenting classes and counseling, with the goal of being able to live healthily and independently.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $50 provides a month’s supply of diapers for one child.
❱❱ $100 provides a month’s supply of groceries and toiletries not covered by federal assistance (WIC) for a family.
❱❱ $250 provides educational supplies for two young mothers to attend school for one semester.
❱❱ $1,000 funds a month of shelter care for one family.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers serve as guest chefs, infant care supply coordinators and skills presenters (weekly), and mentors. Grant writers and researchers are needed to pursue funding opportunities. Borromeo is currently seeking guest chefs to teach moms how to prepare healthy, family-friendly meals and volunteers who are fluent in Spanish. Student internships are also available.
Bridges to Independence
Bridges to Independence leads children and families out of homelessness and into stability and self-sufficiency. Its vision is to break intergenerational cycles of poverty. In addition to operating Arlington County’s largest emergency shelter for families, Bridges provides workforce development, rapid rehousing and a youth program that emphasizes confidence, skills-building and job readiness. A new program provides drop-in services and case management at its community services center. Current needs include gift card donations, volunteer tutors and translators.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $125 provides a new bed for a family moving out of the shelter and into a new home.
❱❱ $250 provides a laptop to a college student.
❱❱ $1,000 provides one month’s rent for a family in an affordable housing unit.
Volunteer opportunities: Bridges welcomes volunteers of all ages to coordinate food drives and deliveries, organize storage spaces, serve on committees, move furniture, and tutor or mentor youth. Sign up to receive the monthly volunteer newsletter to learn more about student internships and service opportunities.
BU-GATA
BU-GATA partners with other community organizations to produce, preserve and advocate for affordable housing in Arlington County. It also encourages youth civic and leadership development through its Buckingham Youth Brigade (BYB) program, which is geared toward underserved teens ages 14-18.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $50 provides snacks for weekly homework help and tutoring sessions.
❱❱ $100 provides materials for a youth skills-building workshop.
❱❱ $400 supports a college field trip and other educational trips for BYB students.
Volunteer opportunities: Virtual and in-person tutors (18 or older) are needed to assist with youth programs.
Capital Caring Health
As the region’s oldest and largest nonprofit provider of hospice and advanced illness care, Capital Caring Health is there for patients and families 24/7 at 800-869-2136.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $250 provides two companion robotic pets for a terminally ill child and their siblings.
❱❱ $500 covers two nursing visits to an uninsured hospice patient.
❱❱ $1,000 provides a day of comprehensive hospice care for a patient at one of our inpatient facilities open 24/7 for visiting family members.
Volunteer opportunities: Essential services include comfort and companionship for individuals with life-threatening illness and their loved ones, art and music therapy, pet care (including dog walking) and counseling for those facing the loss of a loved one. Volunteers also sort, price and sell donated items in Capital Caring’s thrift store.
Center for Youth and Family Advocacy (CYFA)
CYFA uses collective impact, restorative practice, education and advocacy to create and promote the community conditions necessary for all children, youth and families to thrive. CYFA was created to keep children and youth out of systems of harm, and it empowers young people to become ambassadors of transformative justice. CYFA’s programs fall along a continuum, from promotion to serious intervention, and are designed to elevate the voices of those most impacted by systemic inequity.
What a donation can do: Gifts of all amounts are appreciated. Unrestricted gifts support the mission by funding programs focused on educational enrichment, community-building, racial and social justice and community justice.
❱❱ $100 provides funding for Know Your Rights educational materials for youth.
❱❱ $250 provides funding for one community-building conversational restorative process.
❱❱ $750 funds nine sessions of educational and prosocial activities for one student.
❱❱ $2,500 provides funding to host a PEER Ambassador Academy or YPC Ambassador Academy.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers assist with special events, community outreach and professional services. Grant writers and researchers are needed to pursue funding opportunities. Student internships are available, and CYFA regularly hosts young people for senior experience projects.
The Clothesline for Arlington Kids
The Clothesline collects clothing donations and funding so that low-income Arlington families with kids can get a season’s worth of clothes, free of charge, in a welcoming store. Families can shop twice a year for students in kindergarten through high school. The aim is for kids to feel dignified and comfortable in the classroom so they can focus on their education. More than 1,200 children and teens rely on The Clothesline for quality clothing each year.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $60 provides socks and underwear for a family with four kids.
❱❱ $120 gives shoes to four kids.
❱❱ $180 delivers a full wardrobe of clothing to a child.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers sort and hang clothing donations and assist families shopping in the store. Older teens (15+) are welcome on sorting days or can organize a clothing drive.
Communities in Schools NOVA
Communities in Schools empowers students to stay in school and achieve in life. School-based counselors bring resources into schools to remove barriers that put students at risk of dropping out.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $250 provides school supplies for 10 students.
❱❱ $1,000 covers supplies and snacks for an after-school program serving 50 students.
❱❱ $5,000 funds paid internships for high school students.
❱❱ $10,000 funds dental, hearing and vision exams for 500+ families.
Volunteer opportunities: Tutors and homework buddies work with students at partner schools. Volunteers also serve as guest speakers at career events and assist with outreach, marketing and development.
Culpepper Garden
Culpepper Garden provides quality affordable housing, assisted-living services and programs to lower-income seniors. It currently offers 273 independent-living units and 73 assisted-living units in a caring community where older adults are able to age in place with dignity and independence.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $100 covers one month of toiletries and incontinence products for residents.
❱❱ $250 provides one month of water and nutritious snacks for resident activities and events.
❱❱ $500 provides household items and technology assistance to formerly homeless seniors moving into the independent-living residence.
❱❱ $700 provides seven days of supportive services for one frail, low-income, assisted-living resident who can no longer afford the cost of care.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers 18 and older are needed to provide technology assistance to residents. Donations of face masks are also appreciated. Internships and service opportunities for middle school, high school and college students are available.
Doorways
Every day, thousands of adults, youth and children in Arlington suffer the impacts of domestic violence and sexual assault. Intimate partner violence is a leading cause of homelessness, especially among women and families. As Arlington’s only provider of emergency shelter, services and supportive housing for survivors and their families, Doorways has in recent years seen a dramatic increase in those requiring emergency shelter to escape harm. The nonprofit is expanding its capacity to meet this growing need while also maintaining a full spectrum response to domestic and sexual violence, from prevention programming for youth to community-based services and supportive housing.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $250 provides a play- or art-based therapy session for a child healing from the impacts of domestic violence.
❱❱ $500 supports a family graduating from Doorways’ shelter to its HomeStart supportive housing program by funding essentials like a new bed and kitchen supplies.
❱❱ $1,000 provides one week of emergency shelter in safe housing for a survivor escaping domestic violence.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers 18 or older who have graduated from high school are needed to assist with shelter coverage, children’s activities, interpretation, administrative support and fundraising. Individuals working directly with clients must complete at least 40 hours of training and a background check. Community groups, including youth and children, can help by organizing collection drives and fundraisers.
Dream Project
Founded in 2011, the Dream Project empowers students whose immigration status creates barriers to education by helping them access scholarships and mentoring, as well as scholar, alumni and family support. This year the nonprofit awarded 100 scholarships of $3,500 each, for a total of $350,000.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $100 allows one Dream Scholar to attend the Dream Summit conference.
❱❱ $500 allows one student to participate in college coaching and support.
❱❱ $3,500 funds a Dream Scholarship for one student.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers serve as mentors, serve on committees and assist with fundraising events.
EcoAction Arlington
EcoAction Arlington educates, advocates and acts to create a sustainable community by improving our natural environment, encouraging environmentally friendly behaviors, ensuring environmental justice and addressing the climate crisis. EcoAction Arlington offers regular education programs (both virtual and in-person) and volunteer service opportunities.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $250 buys and plants one tree.
❱❱ $1,000 covers materials for energy- and water-efficiency improvements in the homes of 25 low-income families.
❱❱ $10,000 provides hands-on environmental education programs for 4,000 Arlington students.
Volunteer opportunities: EcoAction Arlington offers regular public stream and park cleanup events for volunteers of all ages, including students, groups and families. Outdoor service projects can be customized for business, community and school groups. The Energy Masters program (a one-year commitment for volunteers 16 and older) trains volunteers to make energy- and water-saving building improvements in affordable-housing complexes. High school students hold positions on the nonprofit’s board of directors and can complete senior experience internships in May/June.
Educational Theatre Company (ETC)
ETC’s mission is to unlock the potential of youth through immersion in theatre arts. Now in its 25th year, ETC provides process-driven theatre education for students from ages 3 -103 in the Arlington and greater Washington D.C. region.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $80 provides a scholarship to Drama Day during a no-school day for an elementary student
❱❱ $385 provides a one-week summer camp scholarship to a student age 5-18
❱❱ $1000 provides a 9-week after-school class to 12 students at a Title 1 elementary school
❱❱ $5000 provides 9 weeks of classes for all PreK classrooms in Drew Elementary School
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed to join the board, organize our storage area and provide online assistance in administrative duties. Paid internships available for high school and college students.
Edu-Futuro
Edu-Futuro empowers disadvantaged Latino and other immigrant children, youth, first-generation college students and families to succeed and fully contribute to their community. The nonprofit emphasizes education, leadership, parent engagement, and workforce development to break the cycle of poverty and close the achievement gap. Since the pandemic, Edu-Futuro has provided individual case management to program participants who lost their jobs due to the health and financial crisis, including emergency financial assistance for rent, utilities, food and other needs.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $250 covers supplies for five middle school students attending our annual regional robotics competition.
❱❱ $500 covers a stipend for a low-income high school student to hold an internship before beginning college.
❱❱ $1,500 covers the rental fees for two buses, enabling 90 underserved students to tour a college campus.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed to mentor high school students in a leadership development and college readiness workshop series offered three times per year. In addition, professional volunteers may serve as college and career panelists, speech/essay competition judges and committee members for the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP). Financial literacy coaches with expertise in budgeting and personal credit are needed for the Parent Empowerment Services (PES) program.
Encore Learning
Encore Learning is dedicated to providing high-quality, lifelong learning at a reasonable cost for anyone over 50 in the D.C. metro area, via daytime college-level courses, clubs and special events. Courses are taught by working and retired scholars and business professionals. Classes, clubs and events are offered both in-person and virtually. The Encore Learning Presents series includes public lectures, panels and film screenings. Encore Learning and its donors support the Arthur W. Gosling Scholarship, which awards $2,500 annually to an Arlington Public Schools graduate to attend George Mason University or Marymount University.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $175 funds an annual membership and one class per semester for a limited-income student.
❱❱ $850 buys a laptop for part-time staff.
❱❱ $5,000 covers the cost of marketing for one semester to include design, advertising, printing and mailing of fliers.
Volunteer opportunities: Encore Learning is a volunteer-led organization, with administrative support provided by part-time staff. Volunteers serve as course instructors who develop and teach semester-long courses over a 4- to 10-week period. Volunteers also recruit new instructors; seek speakers and performances for special events; write and edit course catalogs; initiate and maintain clubs; advise on office technology; organize social functions; and recruit, train and support class aides. Encore Learning welcomes volunteers of any age and has worked with college students on academic projects.
English Empowerment Center
Formerly known as the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia, the English Empowerment Center teaches adults the basic skills of reading, writing, speaking and understanding English so they can access employment and educational opportunities and more fully and equitably participate in the community. EEC is currently providing both in-person and live-streamed group instruction.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $85 provides a student scholarship.
❱❱ $100 trains two volunteer instructors.
❱❱ $500 supports five families in EEC’s Family Learning Program.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteer teachers lead classroom instruction 2-3 times a week per 3-month semester. Class aides support learners in the classroom once or twice a week. Tutors provide supplemental instruction before or after class. Assessment specialists assess learners for appropriate program placement and measure their progress six times a year. Others help with class registration, outreach, office tasks and special projects. Unpaid internships are available to students over 18.
Food for Neighbors
Food for Neighbors tackles teen food insecurity by mobilizing communities and partnering with Northern Virginia middle and high schools to connect vital resources with students. Over 2,500 volunteers strong, FFN establishes in-school pantries and fills them with supplemental food and toiletries, and—for the most vulnerable—offers grocery store gift cards that enable students and their families to select food that meets their cultural, religious and situational needs. FFN is currently working with 42 schools, to which it anticipates providing over 100,000 pounds of donations this year to help approximately 5,800 students.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $100 provides supplemental food to 20 students so they don’t go hungry over a weekend.
❱❱ $500 provides grocery gift cards for 10 area families to purchase the food they need most.
❱❱ $1,500 builds a food pantry for a newly partnering school to store food and toiletries.
Volunteer opportunities: Five massive Red Bag Events every school year invite community members to donate food and toiletries. Volunteers 9 and older may help collect and sort the donations at sites in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Individuals and groups are welcome, and students may earn service hours. Food drive and team-building service opportunities are also available.
Homestretch
Homestretch empowers homeless families to secure permanent housing and attain the skills, knowledge and hope they need to achieve self-sufficiency. The most pressing current needs are for Uber cards for transportation, food gift cards (Aldi, Giant, Safeway, Harris Teeter and Target), household cleaning products, toilet paper, large kitchen trash bags and dishwasher detergent.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $250 buys shoes for 15 children or 10 gas or Uber cards for working parents.
❱❱ $500 buys a week’s worth of groceries for three families.
❱❱ $1,500 funds dental work for 2-3 homeless adults, or car repairs for parents who need their cars to get to work.
❱❱ $20,000 covers one family’s housing costs for one year.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers tutor adults or children, teach life skills classes, prepare apartments for incoming families, organize donation drives, assist with property landscaping, help in the preschool or nursery, and provide pro bono expertise in their given professional fields. Service projects can be adapted to fit school service commitments or learning credits.
HopeLink (formerly PRS)
HopeLink provides behavioral health, crisis and suicide intervention services to adults, youth and families. Its vision is to change and save lives by empowering hope, safety, recovery, wellness, independence and community integration. Services include the CrisisLink hotline, textline and chat, as well as Recovery Academy day programs, employment support services, peer services and outpatient therapy.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $100 funds program supplies for music and art recovery activities, health and wellness, and coping skills for clients in Recovery Academy day programs.
❱❱ $250 sponsors training for one CrisisLink hotline volunteer who can answer 450 calls per year.
❱❱ $500 provides five hours of skill-building sessions to uninsured clients needing assistance with medication management, housing and independent living skills.
Volunteer opportunities: Crisis workers provide crisis and suicide intervention services via phone, text or chat to community members contacting CrisisLink. Volunteers must be 21 or older, undergo intensive training and make a weekly commitment for a minimum of one year via remote call center. Volunteer opportunities also are available in the Recovery Academy programs, events and the administrative offices. Internships available.
Just Neighbors
Just Neighbors supports immigrant communities in the DMV by providing high-quality immigration legal services to low-income immigrants, asylees and refugees. The nonprofit builds community through education, advocacy and volunteerism.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $50 allows a Dreamer to renew their work permit.
❱❱ $100 reunites an unaccompanied youth with their family.
❱❱ $500 helps a refugee family apply for lawful permanent residency (green cards).
Volunteer opportunities: In-office volunteers help with client intake via phone (Spanish-speaking volunteers are needed), on-site reception, interpretation and translation services and legal casework (Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.). Immigration clinic volunteers (once a month in the evenings) help clients fill out documents and prepare their immigration applications. Because cases require written translation of client statements, translators are occasionally needed. Volunteer attorneys and law students provide face-to-face counsel for low-income immigrants and refugees. Volunteers who are not attorneys may represent the organization at various outreach events. Covid-19 vaccination is required for all in-office staff and volunteers.
Kitchen of Purpose
Kitchen of Purpose, formerly known as La Cocina VA, creates socioeconomic change using the power of food. Open to the public, its café on Columbia Pike is part of a social enterprise that supports transformative programming, including culinary job training that leads to career pathways with a 90% job placement rate; a small-business incubator supporting entrepreneurs of color with a shared kitchen; and an innovative food assistance program with fresh meals delivered to those who need them most.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $100 covers the study materials for one Small Business Incubator Signature participant.
❱❱ $500 offers 60 healthy meals delivered to low-income individuals.
❱❱ $250 covers study materials and supplies (i.e., forms, thermometer, kitchen knives, books) for one culinary student.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed for meal preparation, small-business mentorship and professional “skill sharing.”
Legal Aid Justice Center
The Legal Aid Justice Center partners with communities and clients to fight for racial, social and economic justice, and to dismantle the systems that create and perpetuate poverty. The center provides free legal services on noncriminal matters (such as housing, consumer debt, criminal record-sealing, court fines and fees, immigration, and youth and education) to low-income people in Virginia. Through community organizing and advocacy it also partners with low-income communities to change local and statewide policy and address systemic injustices.
What a donation can do: Gifts of all amounts are appreciated. Unrestricted gifts support the mission by funding ambitious programs, leadership, internal equity, staff excellence and stability, operational support, technology, professional development, communications, fundraising, a healthy working environment, and a strong, supportive presence in low-income communities and communities of color.
Volunteer opportunities: Spanish-speaking volunteers help with food distribution in Culmore and Annandale on Thursday mornings.
Meals on Wheels Arlington
Since 1974, Meals on Wheels Arlington has been providing nutritious meals and personal contact to Arlington seniors and residents with disabilities who are homebound and food insecure. The provision of meals and personal contact supports the ability of these residents to live independently. We believe in community and that every person deserves food security and a good meal.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $250 will provide a month’s worth of meals for a homebound Arlington resident.
❱❱ $1300 will cover a quarter year’s delivery costs to deliver to 200 clients each month.
❱❱ $3000 will provide a homebound Arlington resident meals for a full year.
Meals on Wheels Arlington is a part of the Combined Federal Campaign. Federal employees and retirees can donate using CFC code 941214.
Volunteer opportunities: Meals on Wheels Arlington is always looking for volunteers to deliver meals to our homebound clients each week. A volunteer can sign up for every week or on a monthly basis. We also have volunteers who load and unload the meals into and out of the drivers’ cars.
NAACP Arlington Branch
Founded on February 12, 1909 by an interracial group of activists, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett and Mary White Ovington, the NAACP is the nation’s largest and most widely recognized civil rights organization. Its founders worked to abolish segregation and discrimination in housing, education, employment, voting and transportation; to oppose racism; and to ensure African Americans and others their constitutional rights. Ester Cooper, a landowner and resident of Arlington County, organized the Arlington Branch of the NAACP in 1940. The mission of the NAACP is to achieve equity, political rights and social inclusion by advancing policies and practices that expand human and civil rights, eliminate discrimination, and accelerate the well-being, education, and economic security of Black people and all persons of color. Over the past five years, the Arlington Branch has awarded over $250,000 in scholarships to students of Arlington Public Schools. It continues to hold community events and engagement for anyone interested in civil rights and social justice.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $50 secures a one-year NAACP membership and supports its scholarship program for local students.
❱❱ $100 assists an NAACP Scholar and branch programming.
❱❱ $1000 creates a Named Scholarship for a student at an Arlington public school.
Volunteer opportunities: NAACP Arlington Branch volunteers serve on committees (health, housing, criminal justice, political action, education, environmental, etc.), mentor students and assist partners with civic engagement and fundraising events.
National Capital Treatment & Recovery
For over 60 years, National Capital Treatment & Recovery has provided high-quality, evidence-based treatment to individuals suffering from substance use disorder and related mental health issues. In treatment, patients gain the skills needed to manage their recovery and go forward to lead independent, productive and drug-free lives. Treatment services are offered to eligible individuals regardless of their financial resources. NCTR’s continuum of care includes gender-specific residential treatment facilities for adult men and women. Outpatient programs include tiered programming of comprehensive patient services, support groups, individual/group counseling and education. Family involvement is encouraged through a weekly “Concerned Persons Conversations” group.
What a donation can do:
Donations to the Patient Assistance Fund or Young Adult Treatment Fund in Memory of John Buck financially support treatment costs for those who lack insurance or otherwise could not afford care.
❱❱ $250 purchases one weekly dinner for adolescent patients in our outpatient treatment program and their families.
❱❱ $500 contributes to the outdoor landscape renovation campaign at our Demeter House Women’s Residential Treatment Program.
❱❱ $1,100 supports one day of equine therapy sessions for six patients.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers serve on NCTR’s board and committees and assist with fundraising and marketing. Internships are available for college students majoring in counseling or related fields.
New Hope Housing
New Hope Housing serves more than 1,600 people a year through shelter, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, support services and outreach programs for homeless individuals across Northern Virginia. Last year, NHH rehoused more than 225 people and assisted hundreds more with employment services.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $250 gives someone a new bed for their new home.
❱❱ $1,000 covers the security deposit for a person experiencing homelessness to become housed.
❱❱ $5,000 helps more than 25 people land jobs via our Employment Scholarship Fund.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers help with meal prep and delivery, tutoring, résumé writing, job search assistance, game nights, building repairs and maintenance, landscaping, yard work, office tasks, and New Hope’s annual Over the Edge event in June. Commitments can be one-time or ongoing. Internships and service-learning hours are available to students pursuing careers in social services, communications and marketing.
Northern Virginia Family Service
Northern Virginia Family Service supports an average of 30,000 individuals and families each year on their journey to self-sufficiency, providing them with the support and resources they need to thrive.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $50 provides a portable crib for one newborn.
❱❱ $100 covers health screenings for 50 children.
❱❱ $500 provides five nights of emergency shelter for a family in need.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed to assist with classroom activities in the NVFS Head Start classrooms in Arlington. The Clock Tower Thrift Shop in Falls Church offers volunteer opportunities daily, including weekends (youth 12+ must be accompanied by a parent). Volunteers are also invited to organize donation drives for food; hygiene supplies; and new and gently used clothing and coats for 3-5-year-olds.
OAR of Arlington, Alexandria and Falls Church
OAR envisions a safe and thriving community where those impacted by the legal system enjoy equal civil and human rights. Through its “upstream” work, OAR is confronting and dismantling individual racism and racism in the legal system and across all systems. “Downstream” work allows OAR to be on the journey with individuals of all genders returning from incarceration and their families. OAR also offers alternative sentencing options (including community service) and diversion programs so people can avoid the trauma of incarceration and instead help the community to thrive.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $100 provides transportation for five participants recently released from incarceration.
❱❱ $500 covers up to three months of coaching for one participant.
❱❱ $5,000 provides up to a year’s worth of re-entry services (housing and transportation assistance, ID retrieval, mental health services, food, clothing, laptops with internet, smartphones with minutes and data, family reunification, and more) for one participant.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed for data entry, special events and to serve as court volunteers. Interested candidates must attend a virtual Tour of OAR’s Mission (bit.ly/tourregis). Volunteers working with OAR participants and their families are required to go through OAR’s racial justice and liberation training.
PathForward
PathForward envisions an inclusive and equitable community where all neighbors live stable, secure and independent lives, free from the threat of homelessness. Its mission is to transform lives by delivering housing solutions and pathways to stability. In the past year, PathForward’s medical program provided 1,008 free-of-charge in-person and 439 telehealth visits to uninsured or underinsured people experiencing homelessness. Current needs include PPE such as disposable gloves, disinfectant wipes, masks, hand sanitizer and disinfectant spray.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $100 purchases 10 boxes of disposable gloves.
❱❱ $250 purchases a 3-month supply of hand sanitizer.
❱❱ $750 purchases a 3-month supply of disinfectant spray.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed to help with dinner service at the Homeless Services Center. PathForward serves three meals per day, including a delicious hot dinner made fresh in its commercial kitchen. Dinner service is cafeteria style with volunteers needed at the service line. Dinner serves upwards of 80-90 people and volunteers are a great help in making sure that everyone is served a meal with a smile.
Phoenix Bikes
Phoenix Bikes combines youth educational programs with a full-service bike shop. Every year, 300-400 local middle and high school students benefit from free youth programming that includes learning hands-on mechanics skills, riding and racing, and building meaningful relationships with peers and mentors.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $25 provides one U-lock and helmet for an Earn-a-Bike program graduate.
❱❱ $30 provides a new floor pump for youth learning how to fix flat tires.
❱❱ $120 provides new cables (for shifting and braking) for 15 Earn-a-Bike students.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers help plan and execute community events, assist with youth rides, tinker with bikes in the shop and support youth education and community service programs.
Postpartum Support Virginia
Postpartum Support Virginia is on a mission to educate families, health care providers and communities about perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) and to provide resources to help new and expectant mothers and their families overcome anxiety, depression and other PMADs.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $100 funds the operation of PSVa’s Warm Line for one week.
❱❱ $250 covers one month of free support group meetings.
❱❱ $1,000 provides a full-day training session for peer mentor and social support volunteers.
Volunteer opportunities: Trained volunteers lead support groups, serve as peer mentors and field calls to the PSVa Warm Line. Volunteers also assist with fundraisers, special events, community outreach, social media and administrative tasks. Internships and service hours available.
Read Early and Daily (READ)
Read Early and Daily was created to address reading inequities faced by our community’s youngest and most economically vulnerable children. The Arlington nonprofit puts new, free, quality, culturally relevant books into the hands of babies and toddlers every month.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $50 funds one month of texting weekly reading and parenting tips to 200 families.
❱❱ $100 provides five uninsured pregnant moms-to-be with a bundle of five bilingual board books with reading tips.
❱❱ $500 funds a full year of participation in the READ With Me monthly book club for five babies in need.
Volunteer opportunities: Adult volunteers deliver books to enrolled families, assist with administrative tasks and help out at community pop-up sales and school book fairs. READ offers young people a variety of ways to volunteer, including (but not limited to) tracking inventory of new books and assisting at community pop-up sales and book fairs. READ is happy to work with families to create parent-child volunteering opportunities for young children.
Restoration Immigration Legal Aid (RILA)
RILA supports immigrants in the community by providing pro bono immigration legal assistance to those who are most vulnerable and have the fewest resources. RILA works with immigrant neighbors who are seeking asylum and immigrant children and teens who have experienced abuse or abandonment by a parent. The organization currently serves over 800 clients in Northern Virginia.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $25 to $50 pays for an initial consult to determine eligibility for legal status..
❱❱ $75 allows RILA to help a client apply for an initial work permit. (Some private firms charge up to $375 for this service.).
❱❱ $333 covers the cost of applying for Legal Permanent Residency.
❱❱ $535 helps an immigrant seeking refuge in the U.S. file an initial Application for Asylum.
Volunteer opportunities: RILA’s bimonthly clinics welcome volunteers who provide dinner or serve as note takers, interpreters or interviewers in client meetings. Attorneys can volunteer to help with legal briefs or representation in immigration and state courts.
Rock Recovery
Rock Recovery provides affordable therapy services and support groups to help people find freedom from eating disorders and body image issues. Since 2009, Rock Recovery has provided treatment and support services to hundreds of clients and families who couldn’t otherwise access the care they needed to heal.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $30 provides two meals for a client in a meal support group.
❱❱ $50 sponsors one client’s screening fees.
❱❱ $100 provides one individual therapy session.
Volunteer opportunities: Rock Recovery is always looking for volunteers to support its services and help with events and fundraising.
VHC Health
VHC Health, a not-for-profit and independent health system, is a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network—a national network of independent health care organizations with locations across Northern Virginia. Through the VHC Health Foundation, the health system ensures the needs of each patient are met with the most comprehensive and advanced level of care.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $100 provides medications for 20 underserved children in Arlington.
❱❱ $250 provides special at-home care kits to underserved pregnant women in Arlington.
❱❱ $1,000 provides training to a nurse in the emergency room to be an expert in trauma care.
❱❱ $5,000 helps secure essential medical tech for services in the new outpatient pavilion.
Volunteer opportunities: The health system’s Volunteer Services Group provides various kinds of support to patient representative services, inpatient hospital units, outpatient services and specialized services. VHC Health Auxiliary members help with wheelchair transportation and gift shops, and staff information desks.
Wesley Housing
Wesley Housing supports 3,600+ low-income residents living in its affordable housing communities with personal development opportunities that foster self-sufficiency.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $25 covers a month of internet access for one family.
❱❱ $200 provides a month of healthy groceries for a senior.
❱❱ $500 grants a family of four’s wish list for the holiday season.
Volunteer opportunities: Graduate students pursuing a master’s degree in social work serve as interns each semester and gain valuable experience while earning college credit. Translators fluent in Spanish, Amharic, Farsi, Korean and other languages ensure all residents have equal access to resources. Volunteers also facilitate the Holiday Help drive (sorting, wrapping and delivering gifts), assist with youth after-school and summer camp programs, serve as aides in adult education programs, and provide event and marketing photography.
YMCA Arlington
Each year, YMCA Arlington provides nearly 4,000 residents with wellness facilities and programming, child care, summer camps, sports (including court sports), aquatics and other family programs. The Y offers wellness programs for all ages, and scholarships and financial assistance to those in need. In 2022, the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington, which includes YMCA Arlington, provided almost $500,000 in financial assistance to area children, families and seniors.
What a donation can do:
❱❱ $1,750 covers five weeks of camp for one child.
❱❱ $2,500 provides nine months of before- and after-school care for a working parent.
❱❱ $5,000 provides one year of healthy living classes and activities for seven senior couples.
❱❱ $13,500 allows 25 teens to participate in the Model General Assembly.
❱❱ $25,000 provides free after-school enrichment programs at elementary schools in challenged neighborhoods throughout Arlington.
Volunteer opportunities: Volunteers are needed to assist with birthday parties, various after-school programs and community wellness programming.