October 2023 Roundup

Happy October, happy fall!

We are releasing our monthly roundup a week early as the Spur Local team is gathering for a staff retreat next Friday.

Below, find timely volunteer opportunities, job openings, upcoming events, and local nonprofit news!

Our next roundup 👉 Thursday, November 9, 2023. Till then! 💖

Volunteer Opportunities

Timely Opportunities

⚡ Timely Opportunity 1: Next Wednesday, on October 11, Family & Youth Initiative is hosting its annual fundraiser, Establishing Roots. It'll be a fun celebration with a meal, silent auction, and chance to hear from their teens in foster care. Volunteer to help with the event!

⚡ Timely Opportunity 2: Sign up to volunteer at Generation Hope's 2023 Career Week. They provide direct support to teen parents in college and their children. During Career Week, scholars and alumni will network and build career-readiness skills in virtual workshops and panels, culminating in an in-person Career Clinic on October 21. Learn more about their various volunteer roles and sign up ASAP!

⚡ Timely Opportunity 3: October 21 is VolunteerFest! In partnership with host Volunteer Fairfax, Britepaths is looking for volunteers to help stock their Emergency Pantry in Fairfax, VA. Find more information about this project and volunteer.

⚡ Timely Opportunity 4: Volunteer at All Ages Read Together's 11th Annual Halloween Hoedown! Their annual fundraiser, and their largest one of the year, is a fun, ~ not too spooky ~ night with great music, food, friends, and activities!

⚡ Timely Opportunity 5: Platform of Hope is hosting a Thanksgiving luncheon on November 18 for their families. There will be food, drinks, games, and a grocery gift card giveaway. They're looking for volunteers to help with food distribution, arts and crafts, and setup/cleanup. Sign up here.

Ongoing Opportunities

💞 Volunteer with Rainbow Place Shelter this season. Help prepare and deliver dinners by cooking or ordering takeout/delivery meals - potentially on-site! Indicate your interest here and email them at rainbow@rainbowplace.org with any questions.

💞 The DC Peace Team is looking for people to join their Unarmed Civilian Protection units! Currently deployed in places like the Columbia Heights civic plaza, this team offers an alternative form of community protection. Team members are provided with training and shadowing experiences. (*This opportunity comes with financial compensation at $25 per hour.) Not ready to join the team right now but interested in training? Check out their upcoming trainings in active bystander intervention, restorative justice, and more!

Job Opportunities

Spur Local collates job openings from our nonprofit partners as a resource for our community. For more information or to apply for the positions listed below, please reach out to the appropriate organization directly.

Full-Time Positions

Psychotherapist/Program Director | The DC Center | $65,000 - $75,000. Contact info@thedccenter.org.

Development Manager | Heartly House | $67,500 - $72,800. Contact Nthrash@heartlyhouse.org.

Manager of Development and Communications | Asian American LEAD | $60,000 - $80,000. Contact Siu Cheung at info@aalead.org.

Grants Manager | Neighborhood Legal Services Program. Contact Cassidy at CWaskowicz@nlsp.org.

Communications and Advocacy Coordinator | The Dream Project | $50,000. Contact executivedirector@dream-project.org.

Development Manager | Critical Exposure | $65,000 - $75,000. Contact hiring@criticalexposure.org.

Policy Director | Council for Court Excellence | $100,000 - $115,000. Apply online.

Part-Time Positions

Bilingual Program Support Coordinator | Playtime Project | $22 - $25 per hour. Apply online.

Development and Communications Assistant | Justice Arts Coalition | $25 per hour. Contact jobs@thejusticeartscoalition.org.

Program -- Multiple Positions (Workplace Literacy Program Coordinator, Workplace Literacy ESOL Instructor) | Literacy Council of Frederick County | $22 - $23 per hour, $32 per hour. Contact Laurie Fisher at lauriefisher@frederickliteracy.org.

Dance Loft on 14 is hiring a Bilingual Program Teacher for their Bilingual Youth Dance Program! Contact madison@danceloft14.org.

Events & Save the Dates

🍻🎶 This Sunday, October 8, come by our table at Porchfest in the Hillcrest neighborhood from 10am-7pm! Later that afternoon, we'll also be hosting a Civic Happy Hour with Greater Greater Washington and Game Genius at City-State Brewing from 3-5pm.

🙌 Early bird tickets for Community Changemakers are still available. Meet dozens of local nonprofits and honor our 2023 Changemaker honorees over drinks and Timber Pizza!

PS. You can always find upcoming nonprofit events and timely volunteer opportunities on our website.

Happening in October

• Together We Bake | Stop by their booth at Art on the Avenue in Alexandria, VA | October 7, 10am-6pm

• Mother's Outreach Network | Stand with D.C. Moms! fundraiser at Busboys and Poets on 14th St | October 11, 5:30-7:30pm

• DC SCORES | One Night One Goal at Audi Field | October 12, 6pm

• Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art | Family Day: Indigenous beading workshop with artist Noelle Garcia in Reston, VA | October 14, 12-3pm

• Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) of Northern Virginia | Old Dominion Bocce Tournament | October 14, 1-4:30pm

• Immigrant and Refugee Outreach Center | 1st Annual Hunger Walk around Roosevelt Island | October 15, 9am (rain or shine)

• Rainbow Families | at Howard County Pride, family-friendly, in Columbia, MD | October 15, 11am-4pm

• The Arc of Northern Virginia | Meet the Candidates Forums for the 2023 Virginia General Assembly (virtual + recordings of past forums available) | October 16-17, 24-25 (*The election is on November 7, 2023)

• Live It Learn It | Field Experience: "Painting Our Identity" at the National Portrait Gallery | October 18, 4:30pm

• Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop | The Power of Community - 20 Years of Free Minds (virtual) | October 19, 7:30-8:30pm

• Dreaming Out Loud | 6th Annual Fall Festival at The Farm at Kelly Miller | October 21, 10am-2pm (*Volunteer opportunities available! Visit the event link to learn more)

• Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture | Deco Chic: An Art Deco Fashion Show and Reception in Glen Echo, MD | October 21, 2-5pm

• BroadFutures | 10th Year Anniversary Celebration at The District Wharf | October 21, 5:30-8pm

• District Bridges | 4th Annual Art Walk with Ch/Art in partnership with Chevy Chase Main Street, around Chevy Chase, MD and DC | October 21-22

• Homes Not Borders | Storytelling Show with immigrant storytellers at Capital Turnaround | October 24, 7-8:30pm

• President Lincoln's Cottage | Two Faces Comedy Series: Sobriety in partnership with The DC Improv | October 24, 7-10pm

• Second Story | Beacon of Hope Breakfast Fundraiser in Vienna, VA | October 25, 8-9am

• Platform of Hope | Fall Happy Hour in Adams Morgan | October 25, 5-7pm

• Rock Creek Conservancy | Race, History, and Rock Creek: History of Jazz at the Carter Barron (virtual) | October 25, 5:30-7pm (*Want to actually be at the Carton Barron amphitheater? Join their annual fall cleanup on October 14)

• MobileMed | Laugh Riot! in Bethesda, MD | October 26, 6:30-9pm

• All Ages Read Together | 11th Annual ~not too spooky~ Halloween Hoedown! fundraiser in Leesburg, VA | October 28, 5-10pm

Coming Up Soon

• Justice Arts Coalition | Art + Agency Zine Launch (virtual) | November 2, 7-8:30pm

• DC Peace Team | The Third Harmony movie and discussion with the Metta Center for Nonviolence (virtual) | November 4, 4-5:30pm

• Community Reach of Montgomery County | Mansfield Kaseman Health Clinic Fall Fundraiser in Rockville, MD | November 4, 6-10pm

• Neighborhood Legal Services Program | Jazz for Justice | November 9

• Network for Victim Recovery of DC | 12th Annual Benefit | November 9, 6-8pm

• Best Buddies in VA & DC | Homecoming: Two Parties One Purpose Gala at the Ronald Reagan Building | November 10, 6pm

• Reset180 | 2023 Gala | November 17, 6:30pm

• Anacostia Watershed Society | Habitat Restoration Workday at Kingman Island | November 18, 9am-12pm

Save the date for GivingTuesday, happening on November 28 this year! Here in the DMV region, give back to your local nonprofit neighbors through Give Local Together, the official GivingTuesday community campaign for our region.

News & Happenings

📰 Though the government shutdown was averted, this article by Washington Improv Theater still shares three helpful principles of improv that are immensely helpful for working through conflict. Author John Windmueller argues for the "Yes, And" improv lesson - ""Yes, Why?" and "Yes, What If?" are equally important in improv as in life.

📰 Violence interrupters make a difference in DC. See for yourself and ride along with 7News and Curtis Brothers, a violence interrupter sponsored by the Alliance for Concerned Men. "If I had somebody when I was a kid that did for me, what I do for these kids," said Brothers, "I don't believe I would have gone the path that I did."

🗞️🎓 These two Washington Post articles by Petula Dvorak tell the story of Kamari Felton, whose college financial aid was revoked the day before his freshman program was set to begin. He had already packed his bags and cleaned out the Covenant House shelter that he'd been staying in. After the initial column was published, people stepped up and this error was fixed. "But it shouldn’t take a column to do what could’ve been done all along," Dvorak writes. "And now we have to ask how many students like Felton are falling through the holes of thoughtfully constructed safety nets."

🗞️👏 More than two dozen young people were celebrated at the Right Direction Awards last month for their resiliency, leadership, and achievements. Among the awardees recognized by the DC Attorney General were four young people who participated in Life Pieces to Masterpieces (LPTM) growing up and are now college students, including Termane Jay Jr., who won an Arts Accolade and is a mentor at LPTM. Congratulations!

🗞️💧 For the third time in six years, the Anacostia River received a failing grade, with a 3-point drop from last year's score. That said, river otters have re-established themselves in the river and the freshwater mussel population continues to thrive. Long-term trends still point to a slow and steady improvement in the river's water quality and ecosystem health. Learn more in the Anacostia Watershed Society's 2023 Report Card.

🗞️🦋 Did you know that the Prince William Conservation Alliance has been hosting an annual butterfly count since 2017? Their last one took place this July and covered 113,000 acres in Manassas. Take a look at their count results and watch "Jewels on the Wing: The Butterflies of Summer," their immersive journey into the world of Prince William County's butterflies.

Missed last month's roundup? View more volunteer and job opportunities from September 2023.

Have feedback on this newsletter or other thoughts you want to share? Reach out to Amanda Liaw, Spur Local's Communications & Marketing Manager, at aliaw@spurlocal.org!