This school year brought many challenges as we dove headfirst into our roles as Co-Executive Directors, but we have made it through! On the programming side, we dispatched a DCPS-wide bus policy fiasco, trained and onboarded our rockstar Fellows, and aligned every unit taught to DCPS scope and sequence. In the administrative department, we revised our organizational chart and role descriptions, streamlined the financial reporting processes, and implemented new strategies to connect with our donor base. You can be sure we were not expecting trip cancellations due to wildfires (what?!?) and yet we have overcome almost every obstacle with the unending support of our staff, our Board, and friends like you.
Despite these challenges, LILI served nearly 2,000 students in 96 classrooms across 15 DC schools, and we definitely think that is something to celebrate! Nonprofit work isn’t always easy, but it is so worth it when we see the outcomes first-hand within our school communities.
Below you will find the Spring/Summer issue of The Progress Report, highlighting our work in curriculum development, fundraising, and community building. We take great pride in what we can accomplish as a small team, but it is not lost on us that your support is at the foundation of what we do. So, thank you. We wish all of you a wonderful summer and we look forward to reconnecting in the fall!
Sincerely,
Erin McSpadden & Maryam Trowell
Words Have Power
Our partnership with the incredible Planet Wordkicked off this spring with classes from JO Wilson, Savoy, and Turner Elementary Schools. In our unit My Words, My Story, fourth-graders dive deep into the power and discovery of words in both the classroom and the museum space. They test their active-listening skills with their classmates, recount memories they’ve shared this school year, and capture these stories with words and symbols. At Planet Word, students excitedly move from room to room learning more about the origins of words, languages from around the world, songwriting techniques, and more. Kat Thomas, who programmed this unit recently, shared that students’ jaws fell to the floor in awe when they walked into the magical Library. “Before I could give instructions, they were already flocking to every square inch ready to read the books available to them.”
Planet Word is an absolute must destination for friends and family visiting this summer!
Best Wishes, Warmest Regards
For three years Tara Sakraida Parker has been our Board Chair, and we are beyond grateful for her leadership, tenacity, and wisdom as she helped guide the LILI team through the many changes and challenges of the past few years. We’re thankful that she’s remaining on the board, but she will be missed as our fearless leader!
We also want to give a HUGE shoutout to Sharon Weiner, an incredible donor and volunteer who has attended nearly 20 field experiences since February. She has jumped in and helped out in more ways than we could have imagined, including translating for our Spanish-speaking students when needed!
Field Notes
New Family Member!
Melissa began her role as our Bookkeeper and Administrative Assistant in March and hit the ground running. As a former educator, Melissa believes in LILI’s work and is excited to be a part of the team in bringing the mission forward. Get to know Melissa→
Leaders Who Learn
Our Co-ED’s recently participated in Georgetown's week-long Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program to explore trends, challenges, and best practices of nonprofit leaders. They even practiced fundraising pitches, as pictured here. Learn More→
Historians Unite Have you ever heard of the DC History Center? We hadn't either until designing a third-grade unit around the local history. Students are introduced to maps, old photographs, and artifacts to increase familiarity with past events in Washington. Visit DCHC Today→
Go-go at the Gala
Live It Learn It was one of four nonprofits selected to participate in the Catalogue for Philanthropy’s 20th anniversary showcase highlighting one of our reimagined units titled, The Sound of DC. This unit harnesses the creativity of the students who are often asked to stop drumming their pencil or beatboxing or turning everything into a song! Our most musically-inclined team member, Ben Lasso, led the audience through a Go-go style call and response experience, leaving everyone with a pep in their step. We are grateful to the Catalogue (now rebranded Spur Local!) for their continued support over the years in helping us further our mission of connecting DC public school students with the world.
That's a Wrap!
The days are getting warmer and longer, and our spring fundraiser is now in the rearview mirror. Although we didn’t quite reach our fundraising goal, the campaign left us with much to celebrate! We had several first-time donors, lots of returning friends and supporters, and even two brand new members of the LILI Honor Roll! You had better believe there was more than a little happy dancing over here! We’d like to sincerely thank everyone who donated or supported us in other ways -- heck, we appreciate you if you opened our emails and watched our videos (and you should, you really should). We know not everyone can donate every time but nearly 30 new and old friends stepped up and it means everything to us. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Last, But Not Least
Roll Call!
It’s always a good time to become our newest recurring donor! Monthly donors help us out in so many ways, and each and every LILI Honor Roll member, regardless of the size of the donation, strengthens us and our community. And there are perks, including the opportunity to come along on a field experience and discounts at our soon to be unveiled Merch Store!
Throwin' Kudos...
The Capitol Hill Community Foundation actively supports and promotes the people, activities, and organizations that make Capitol Hill such an amazing place to live and work. We are proud to say that they have been financial supporters of LILI since 2013, helping to fund LILI’s work in select Ward 6 schools. We are so appreciative of their support over the years!
