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Group effort: La Colectiva
"village" promises shared benefits for four local nonprofits
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Centro Familia |
IMPACT Silver Spring |
Community Bridges |
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In an exciting step for
Long Branch, four local organizations–Centro Familia,
Community Bridges, Impact Silver Spring, and Progress Online–are
coming together to form La Colectiva, a nonprofit "village"
supported by the Montgomery County Community Foundation.
Executive staff and board members from each of the founding
organizations are participating in the planning of La Colectiva.
Once established, La Colectiva’s space will accommodate
the core group of nonprofits, other emerging nonprofits, and
several small businesses, including a multilingual/multicultural
early childhood education center and a community café.
Although La Colectiva is still just a concept, with many
steps to be completed and decisions to be reached, there is
a sense of anticipation among the participants.
"We are in an amazing stage of development, but this
is just the beginning," said Nancy Navarro, executive
co-director of Centro Familia. "There’s a synergy
regarding our programmatic designs that we’re excited
about."
"We think this represents our future," said Carolyn
Feola, co-chair of the board of directors for Community Bridges,
which provides educational and empowerment programs for young
girls in Long Branch. "The organization benefits all
around, and so do our girls–the programs and services
offered by our partner organizations will be available to
them, and the girls will contribute back, in their own special
ways."
The idea behind La Colectiva is to create a space where nonprofit
organizations can combine efforts and resources. Navarro envisions
sharing everything from training space to professional development
and administrative personnel–a clear benefit to any "small
nonprofit [which] may not be able to afford high-quality services."
The impetus of the project, Navarro says, is the demographic
changes in Montgomery County, and the changing, expanding
needs of the local community.
"Montgomery County is rapidly growing, she said. "It’s
exciting to see all these people–Korean, Haitian, Latino."
Another advantage of La Colectiva is its appeal to grantmaking
foundations, according to Meagan Labriola, executive director
of Community Bridges. Her organization is in danger of losing
40 percent of its budget if the Montgomery County Council
passes its proposed drastic cuts in services funding, and
such threats make it essential for Community Bridges to identify
private funding sources. Membership in La Colectiva provides
another potential level of grant resources, she says.
"Each of us in La Colectiva can receive grants for being
part of it, in addition to applying for grants as an individual
organization," Labriola said.
Navarro believes that La Colectiva is emerging at a good
time, with rising awareness of immigrant issues and the county’s
formation of the Long Branch Task Force. It could be one or
two years before concrete plans for La Colectiva are put into
effect, however.
"We’re at the intermediate stage of a feasibility
study," Navarro said. "We have local and national
consultants creating an exploratory document."
The study has already determined that 30,000 square feet
will be required to accommodate the administrative and programmatic
needs of all the organizations, so the search is on for a
home of that size in Long Branch, Labriola said.
Funding for La Colectiva has come from The Washington Area
Women’s Foundation, The Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation,
and an anonymous donor at the Montgomery County Community
Foundation, who provided a Nonprofit Village Sponsored Program
Fund of $32,000 towards the development of a business plan.
One working example of this type of arrangement is the Perry
School in Washington, D.C., which meets a variety of needs
for people in the local community. The school is one of the
models for La Colectiva.
Navarro feels that this kind of endeavor is important not
only for the future of La Colectiva nonprofits, but for the
underserved communities behind all their efforts.
"There is a place for them that’s not in a basement,"
she said. "A safe and comfortable place where [they]
are welcome."
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