TIS Foundation – Newsletter (April 2022)
Strength for Today, Hope for Tomorrow
Hello All,
Blessings to you all! For 28 years now, TIS Foundation has been making great strides in serving the underserved. We are so grateful to everyone who has participated in our mission over the years.
Recently, so much has been happening, and so many great programs are coming to fruition. After an extensive amount of planning and negotiations, TIS Foundation is finally entering the next chapter of our storied history of inspiring strong families to survive and thrive.
Over the past three years, we have been developing and implementing our Innovation Heritage Center concept. Our project is designed around one basic principle: the support services provided by government agencies and local nonprofits aren’t equitably accessible to the most vulnerable people in our communities! Although there is a lot of great work is being done in our region to provide pathways for low-income families to achieve social stability and financial prosperity, the most marginalized people, especially those who are striving to overcome a brutal legacy of racial injustice, cannot participate in the same rates as other, more privileged groups.
Our solution is simple: we will provide the accessibility and stabilization resources necessary for disadvantaged individuals to participate in socio-economic development programs. That means childcare, senior care, transportation, mental health assistance, rehabilitation, and wide-ranging daily case management. We will walk with our brothers and sisters every step of the way towards reaching a beautiful, healing future.
More importantly, we will be providing two inspiring campuses for programs to take place: a 70,000 sq. ft. Urban Campus in Lanham and a 130-acre Scenic Campus in Upper Marlboro. These facilities are designed to have a fresh, upscale look to them. We believe that serving the underserved means emphasizing empathy and progress, rather than institutional pity and poverty. That’s why we’re taking so much care to design these campuses to be aspirational, dignified, humanity-affirming platforms for achieving truly transformational success. These campuses will be places where our diverse, premier coalition of public and private partners will come together to collocate and collaborate increase efficiency and effectiveness in reaching marginalized people.
That dream is now so close! We’re in the process of finalizing our agreements, and we will soon hold our Groundbreaking Ceremony to renovate our Urban Campus. We can’t wait to show you all that we’ve achieved, and we hope you all will swing by to check out the stage we are building to show the world a better tomorrow! In the meantime, here are some pictures and ideas from our facilities that demonstrate our vision and our mission.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ogay Irono
NEWS
Since the start of the pandemic, TIS Foundation has been at the forefront of community outreach through partnerships to meet anticipated needs in the Washington Metropolitan area. TIS Foundation’s work enabled the early reopening and remobilization of the essential worker to meet critical needs. However, we are continually looking to scale up our services to meet the demand in other marginalized communities. To ensure that all high-need communities receive the supportive services they need to recover from the pandemic, TIS Foundation will be entering into a three-year contract with the Pennsylvania Department of Health under the Department of Community and Economic Development to deliver to conduct outreach to communities about COVID-19 vaccines. TIS Foundation will educate the communities of PA on COVID-19 vaccines to address hesitancy concerns and barriers.
This work continues alongside our existing commitment to the Maryland Department of Health, and we have been working to build bridges and forge local community dialogues surrounding a comprehensive public health portfolio. We’re so glad to have this platform to make sure that government provisions deliver services to those in need. We want to build the connection between the people and their support systems to make sure that our public resources are responsive to those whose voices deserve to be centered in their development. PROGRAM UPDATES
TIS Foundation is excited to announce its annual Back-to-School drive.
TIS holds an annual back-to-school drive to help remove barriers to academic achievement for youth in low-wealth communities. We are currently soliciting donations to purchase educational supplies and backpacks to distribute at our event scheduled for August 2022 to ensure students have the tools to be successful in school and have a positive educational experience. TIS Foundation is set out to serve at least 2,000 children in August 2022.
If you are interested in making any kind of contribution (funds or supplies), please email info@udd.vvg.mybluehost.me to discuss the next steps.
TIS launched the first Child Development Associate (CDA) program of the year in March 2022. Students will prepare their professional portfolios before applying for the CDA exam in either infant/toddler, preschool or family childcare. Such professional development will help childcare workers achieve livable wages to progress financially and reduce their dependence on government subsidies through food stamps and rent control.
If you are interested or know someone who may benefit from our CDA program, please contact us at info@udd.vvg.mybluehost.me to learn about the upcoming opportunities.
THANK
YOU
for your continuous support.
We appreciate supporters like you!