It’s not too late to help us reach our Gala fundraising goal! Please go to the button below as soon as you are able to raise your paddle and donate for one of these Next Step program needs! Or, scroll down for more information about the different options we’re offering!
$10,000: Next Step Participant Direct Expenses
This would go towards approved direct support for critical and emergency items for enrolled Next Step participants, such as checks towards needs as diverse as the fee for a returning citizen’s official Driver’s License or other ID, a car repair necessary for a participant to travel to work, a verified medical expenses, or an apartment deposit.
$7,500: Start-Up Costs: 2024 OPENING of Our NEW Next Step Site at St. Paul’s, Rock Creek Parish
Longstanding Partner Council member St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Rock Creek Parish, generously committed rent-free, one of their vacant buildings, to serve as a site close to the North Capital Street corridor, thus making us more accessible to participants from the NE representation and volunteer engagement as well, they’re doing their part! But now, as we’re poised to OPEN this site in 2024, we will need to purchase furniture, as well as office phones, desktop computers, and other material to finally launch this office! Note the most important ingredient to this opening – a Lead Caseworker – arrived effective October in the form of Rachel Bowling, who has a made a wonderful start as she trains up under the supervision of senior Lead Caseworker Jane Bishop in our Main Office on Hamilton Street, NW. In 2024, Rachel will initially toggle between the Hamilton Street office and the Rock Creek Road office as we get started. So, please, empower us launch this site! Bidders will be invited to our ribbon-cutting ceremony on a 2024 date to be determined!
$5,000 – ONE STRIVE Employment Readiness Training Cohort!
Underwrite the full cost of one STRIVE Employment Readiness Training. A training is approximately 15 – 25 Next Step participants with employment goals, who seek sustainable and meaningful employment. These soft skills trainings are 3 weeks long, with additional hard skills training in different sectors based on discerned interest. Participants may be unemployed or underemployed, or looking for serious coaching to build a career vs. just finding a job. Your contribution funds employment training and placement — a key component for graduates of STRIVE training. Here’s to sustainable, meaningful work for our participants! In 2024, some will be part of an on-site collaboration with IT Trainer Byte Back at their North Capitol Street location; the result of our successful year-long 2023 pilot!
$2,500 – Life-changing Next Step casework for FIVE Next Step participants of TEN sessions each!
Next Step casework is the heart of what we do, and is a combination of coaching, problem-solving, navigating, and counseling between a caseworker and a Next Step casework participant. They collaboratively identify life goals, as well as the smaller, achievable next steps required to meet their goals, at one of Samaritan Ministry’s five locations:
- Hamilton Street & Rock Creek Church Road, NW DC (Rock Creek Site Opening, 2024)
- SE/Anacostia & Congress Heights, SE DC
- South Arlington, VA
- Silver Spring, MD (Re-opening, 2024)
- Skyland Workforce Center, SE DC
$2,000 – ONE Lap-top for ONE Next Step Program Participant through our Loan-to-Own Initiative!
Most program participants do not have laptops, never mind desktop computers. Many participants have I-Phones, but you can’t do a resume or a job interview on a phone – it certainly isn’t the professional norm! Samaritan Ministry now GIVES program participants laptops when they accomplish their first goal through our “Loan-to-Own Initiative.” The $2,000 provides a laptop and covers connectivity and support costs for ONE Next Step participant for ONE year.
$1,000: ONE Complete Digital Literacy Training
Since 2021, Samaritan Ministry has been providing Digital Literacy Training (or DLT, for short) to equip and empower participants to take virtual training, such as we offered when the pandemic began – which requires more than the ability to use and I-Phone. This training is both for the digitally illiterate and the digitally challenged participants, who wish to become more sophisticated in their digital skills, which reveals more employment opportunities!
$500: Transportation Costs via a Metro SMART-TRIP Card for ONE Participant for ONE Year
For the first time in our history, Samaritan Ministry is equipping participants with remotely replenishable SMART-TRIP Cards as they accomplish goals, start a new job, and see their Next Step caseworker at one of our offices. As of 2022, we are set up to replenish the card from our main office via Metro’s website, because each card a participant has is registered!
Fresh Fruit and Veggies giveaway for 5 participants, 4x/year in 2024, further sustained by in-kind gift cards.
$100: Resources for ONE Successful Job Search
These searches are guided by our ‘expert navigators,’ namely Next Step caseworkers! Also includes ONE month of connectivity at home, so that follow-up work can be done after the guided search session with a participant with their own device, namely a laptop, desktop, or tablet.
Raise Your Paddle for Any Amount:
Every contribution is critical! Raise your paddle virtually by clicking the button below to either fund one of the above items or to tell us what other amount would like to donate to ensure that we can meet the ever-growing demand for our services!