Project Community Connect – DC Area Community Outreach

United Way NCA expanded its annual Project Homeless Connect in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to align with our strategic programmatic direction focused on achieving equity for all of our community members, regardless of race, gender, income and ability. Now called Project Community Connect, the event took place Oct. 19-23, 2020, providing essential services to those at risk of or experiencing homelessness, as well as the region’s ALICE population. The next Project Community Connect will take place in fall 2021. Support the next Project Community Connect as a PCC Community Partner or PCC Community Advocate.

Who is ALICE? ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) households earn above the Federal Poverty Level, yet they are not eligible for assistance and can’t afford the basic household necessities – including housing, child care, food, transportation, health care and a basic smartphone plan. Project Community Connect brings much-needed resources to individuals and families across the region through virtual workshops aimed toward the ALICE population, focusing on things like writing resumes, financial stability, food access and more.

In 2020, we hosted both in-person resource kit deliveries, as well as virtual workshops. United Way NCA partnered with community organizations, providers and partners, such as Starbucks and DC Central Kitchen, to provide resource kits and to host Project Community Connect’s virtual workshops focusing on the following themes:

• Food Access
• Basic Needs
• Education
• Economic Opportunity
• Health

We will be continuing this theme of a larger conference-style event spanning a week and including multiple pop-up events around the National Capital Area during upcoming Project Community Connects.

The mission of Project Community Connect is to build community, shift mindsets around homelessness through personal experience and connection, and provide critical resources to individuals and families in Washington, DC and surrounding counties in Maryland and Northern Virginia.

Join us for the next Project Community Connect in fall 2021. You can watch recordings of 2020 Project Community Connect Virtual Workshops below.

Watch Now

You can make monetary donations for initiatives like Project Community Connect here:

Donate Today

Your organization can sponsor Project Community Connect as a PCC Community Partner or PCC Community Advocate below.

PCC Community Partner

PCC Community Advocate

Become a United Way NCA volunteer to support initiatives like Project Community Connect:

Sign up to Volunteer

When Tamra Holmes came to Project Community Connect (formerly known as Project Homeless Connect) in 2018, she desperately needed assistance breaking her lease and reducing the increasing charges from her landlord. Within the year of receiving assistance, Holmes found a new apartment and returned to Project Community Connect in 2019 as a volunteer.

“Nobody in a homeless situation should be looked down upon, or judged or made to feel bad,” shares Holmes.

At the 2020 event, United Way NCA continued to provide much-needed resources like healthy food, hygiene and winter clothing kits for our neighbors at risk of or experiencing homelessness. In addition, United Way NCA launched a series of health, education and economic opportunity virtual workshops targeting our ALICE population.

Through daily, virtual workshops during the week of Project Community Connect in 2020, United Way NCA provided the community with much-needed resources. Workshop topics included food access, basic needs, economic opportunity, health and education. See recording’s of Project Community Connect 2020’s workshops here.

• So Others Might Eat (SOME)
• Friendship Place
• Salvation Army National Capital Area Command
• District Alliance for Safe Housing
• Loudoun Hunger Relief
• Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless
• Northern Virginia Family Service
• United Community
• Capital Area Food Bank
• Legal Services of Northern Virginia
• Britepaths
• United Way NCA’s Community Schools
• Talkspace
• Character Playbook
• FamilyWize
• Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE)
• Delivering for Good
• Starbucks
• Communities in Schools of Northern Virginia
• Latin American Youth Center/Maryland Multicultural Youth Center
• EveryMind
• Streetwise Partners
• For Love of Children
• Bright Beginnings
• Catholic Charities DC
• Reading Partners
• Community Services Agency of the Metropolitan Washington Council AFL -CIO
• Sasha Bruce Youthwork

2020 Project Community Connect (formerly known as Project Homeless Connect) was made possible with the generous support of our sponsors. If your organization is interested in supporting Project Community Connect, please contact United Way NCA Corporate Engagement Team at CSR@uwnca.org.