D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine is awarding a total of $150,000 in migrant and humanitarian crisis grants to six local nonprofit organizations. The money will be used to help bused migrants and asylum-seekers transported from Texas.
Goods For Good, a nonprofit focused on providing critical care and resources to address the specific needs of the migrant community, is receiving $16,550 of the total.
“We have touched in some way shape or form probably between 1000 and 1500 migrants,” said Goods For Goods founder and executive director Elizabeth Workman.
The money from Racine’s office will help alleviate some of the cost of providing housing, food, clothing and transportation.
Since April, nearly 9,400 migrants have arrived at Union Station with neither local nor federal government representatives there to greet them. However, volunteers of Friends Place of Capitol Hill, a learning center and guesthouse that has hosted about 468 migrants, are often present and ready to provide essential supplies.
“When folks are being greeted at Union Station, we make sure we have Spanish-speaking volunteers there, assess what their needs are, like ‘where are you coming from, where’s your end destination goal,’” said Friends Place on Capitol Hill program director Sarah Johnson.
After receiving $31,920, the first thing Johnson did was order prepaid phones. “If you’re looking for housing, work, needing to connect with family or to make sure you can navigate your way to an ICE appointment, all those things require technology. ”
The four other recipients are Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of D.C. ($32,280), Ayuda ($32,350), Central American Resources Center ($31,900) and the Father McKenna Center ($5,000).
Awards must be spent by the end of September when the current fiscal year ends. Racine’s office will then evaluate whether to renew the grants.
