The Washington Home

11/05/2025

🎨 Honored to have our CEO Crystal Carr Townsend participate as a panelist at the RWJFoundation's Collective Current Fall Convening hosted for its Change Leadership Alumni Network (CLPAN).

Crystal was joined at the "Funders' Roundtable: Philanthropy's Role in Equity Now and in the Future" session by esteemed community colleagues Jamie Baxter of the Prince Charitable Trusts, William Buster of the Stryker Johnston Foundation, Erin Morris of the Hill-Snowden Foundation, and Tonia Wellons of the Greater Washington Community Foundation.

🩺 Discussion topics included how funders are responding to today's political and funding climates, what's ahead for health and racial equity work, emerging philanthropic priorities and approaches, and guidance for organizations seeking to sustain and adapt their efforts.

Managed by CommonHealth ACTION, the Network features alumni from RWJF's past and current programs including: Clinical Scholars (CS); Culture of Health Leaders (CoHL); Culture of Health Leaders Institute for Racial Healing (COHLI); Health Policy Research Scholars (HPRS); Interdisciplinary Research Leaders (IRL).

The event was a special opportunity for alumni to gather in-person to connect, reflect, and act on today’s biggest challenges in health and racial equity, as well strengthen bonds to transform future opportunities in the healthcare sector.

11/03/2025

🎉 Excited to celebrate two special events with our partner Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home - their ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of their new independent living residence and the reopening of their newly modernized assisted living residences.

Together, the spaces reflect their commitment to creating homes where every older adult feels valued, connected, and supported. The Louise includes 93 new affordable apartments, alongside the refreshed assisted living residence. Modern, ADA-accessible private rooms with updated baths and kitchenettes, and beautiful gathering rooms, help to create safe, comfortable, and dignified living spaces for residents.

☀ TWH is a proud supporter of the Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home and the team was pleased to share the day with several of our board members -Jill Marcel DeTemple, Keith Eig, and Greg Faron, as well as with Mayor Muriel Bowser.

DC Department of Aging and Community Living Nick Moreland Photography

10/27/2025

Our Washington Home team was honored to join funders, thought leaders, and change-makers at the 2025 GIA (Grantmakers In Aging) Annual Conference in Long Beach, California.

✨We were inspired by the dynamic environment focused on aging and exploring ways philanthropy can branch out with fresh ideas and common ground to strengthen policies, programs, and resources for all as we age.

🧵We also appreciated this special time to connect and collaborate with the esteemed group of philanthropists dedicated to successfully supporting older adults in our communities.

10/19/2025

🎉 Wonderful night celebrating Unity Health Care’s 40 years of service and empowering 80,000 patients annually!

Unity’s mission in action: creating pathways, building equity, and transforming care from the inside out.

TWH is a proud funder of the Community of Hope DC & Unity Health Care's programs to provide all-inclusive dental support covering preventive care and specialty services for older adults in our community.

Looking forward to celebrating another 40 great years ahead!

10/17/2025

🎉Congratulations Iona Senior Services on your 50th Anniversary!

Wonderful to see so many of our collaborative partners - Story Tapestries, Seabury Resources for Aging, Genevieve N. Johnson Senior Day Care Center, Capacity Partners and Wild Tech, celebrating this commemorative milestone for older adult services.

The Washington Home was honored to serve as one of the event sponsors and on the gala committee and we look forward to celebrating their continued community impact ahead!

10/09/2025

🥕 Great day checking in with our partner DC Central Kitchen at their recent Open House, where we took a tour of their newly expanded facility that's helping increase food service and culinary training capacity.

As part of TWH's mission to address food insecurity, chronic illness, and social isolation, we provided funding for DC Central Kitchen's meal delivery to older adults who have been referred to the organization by the DC Department of Aging and Community Living (DACL) and other community partners.

We also funded a new, innovative meal-delivery partnership between DC Central Kitchen and DoorDash’s Project DASH to provide 4,200 locally sourced meals monthly.

🌱 So proud of DCCK's partnership network creating holistic approaches to combating hunger in the DC area.

With (L-R): Abby Lynch, Alexander Moore, Patricia Ndimantang, MPP, July Gutierrez, Crystal Townsend, MPA, and Beverley Wheeler, Ed.D.

10/06/2025

🎯Announcing: TWH's Ward & Systemic Planning Meetings for FY26 Open Call for Grant Applications | October 6 - 10, 2025

Beginning with its 2026 grants, TWH is transitioning to a collaborative grant submission process for all RFPs.

To provide support to our partners throughout the RFP process, we are hosting 10 ward and systemic planning meetings.

We strongly encourage all TWH partners to attend the meetings that align with their current programs. The meetings offer an opportunity to learn more about the collaborative proposal process and meet potential partners.

🚩Please use this link to select the sessions you would like to attend and to receive the dedicated Zoom link for each meeting: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S2PG7ZB

DC Department of Aging and Community Living

10/06/2025

✨ So exciting to host our first DC Village Consortium Retreat that brought together leaders of the 13 DC Villages and the DC Village Collaborative, as well as community partners from DACL, to gather and envision new paths to help scale and sustain village programs and services that enhance support for Washington, D.C.’s growing aging population.

🌈The DC Villages are part of the DC Senior Service Network. They serve as a key resource for DC-area older adults seeking to age in place - a grassroots, neighbor-to-neighbor network that make aging at home not only possible, but purposeful.

TWH has invested $1M to collectively support the 13 DC Villages - funding that helped to increase resources, improve access, and create a collective impact through strategic operations.

💡The day's event focused on ways to: 1) develop shared administrative services to create efficiencies of scale, 2) promote impact and align policy goals for older adults through shared data collection, and 3) improve access to Village programs and services across all Wards.

Thank you to event facilitator Margo Reid of Capacity Partners, and all who attended - including Charon Hines, Director, DC Department of Aging and Community Living and Katrina Polk, Ph.D., PMP, CAPS, ECHM, Executive Director of the DC Village Collaborative.



Capitol Hill Village Cleveland & Woodley Park Village Dupont Circle Village East Rock Creek Village Foggy Bottom West End Village Georgetown Village Glover Park Village Greater Brookland Intergenerational Village Kingdom Care Senior Village Mt. Pleasant Village Northwest Neighbors Village Palisades Village DC DC Waterfront Village

10/03/2025

10/01/2025

🌻Older adults are often at increased risk for loneliness and social isolation because they are more likely to face issues such as living alone, the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, mobility challenges, cognitive impairment, and hearing and vision loss.

Reducing social isolation among older adults is a key priority investment area for TWH - and we granted $1.4M in social and wellness support services to connect 20,000+ older adults and their caregivers to resources.

Thank you to our 2025 social connection partners: East River Family Strengthening Collaborative, Inc. Howard University - Hattie Holmes Senior Wellness Center & Hayes Senior Wellness Center Iona Senior Services Plants and Blooms ReImagined Rebuilding Together DC-Alexandria Seabury Resources for Aging SOME (So Others Might Eat) The Wilderness Technology Alliance Vida Senior Centers & Genevieve N. Johnson Senior Day Care Center

🔎Learn more about these local organizations’ efforts to establish resources within the community to provide caregiver support and decrease loneliness and social isolation - all in our 2025 TWH Impact Report: https://www.thewashingtonhome.org/about/annual-report/

DC Department of Aging and Community Living

10/01/2025

🦋 We enjoyed checking in with our partner Vida Senior Centers at their Calvert Street location and learning more about all of the exciting programs they offer to decrease social isolation among home-bound seniors.

They have a great collaboration with The Wilderness Technology Alliance DC supporting digital connectivity and laptops for tech classes at Vida.

The team also provides food security support through their breakfast program, weekly take-home meals, and monthly food packages, and they conduct wellness calls and home visits to keep the community members connected.

Vida is a wonderful resource for DC residents!


Crystal Townsend, MPA Patricia Ndimantang, MPP Maria Teresa McPhail, MD with WildTech's Noemi Mendez, Activity Coordinator, and Samuel Escalona, Communications Specialist.

09/24/2025

🍎 Ensuring food security for older adults supports their health, mobility, and well-being - providing an enhanced quality of life.

It's a priority focus area for The Washington Home, and this year we invested nearly $2M for healthy food access to increase coverage to serve 17,000+ older adults in need of nourishing food and wellness support.

Thank you to our 2025 food network partners: Bread for the City, Capital Area Food Bank, DC Central Kitchen, Food & Friends, Goods For Good, Martha's Table, Seabury Resources for Aging, & We Are Family Senior Outreach Network

🔎 Learn more about the programs underway - including food as medicine initiatives, meal and grocery deliveries, as well as a pilot program to access fresh produce via a food credit program - all in our 2025 TWH Impact Report: https://www.thewashingtonhome.org/about/annual-report/

DC Department of Aging and Community Living