Scholarships Award Ceremony and Reception

Arlington Community Foundation (ACF) awarded new college scholarships totaling nearly $600,000 to 92 students who will attend college next year. An additional 116 scholarships were given to renewal students. More than 60 scholarship funds support these student awards, each with their own eligibility criteria, with many of them designed to support students facing significant financial barriers to higher education.

On Monday, June 6, for the first time since 2019, scholarship recipients were celebrated at an in-person awards ceremony and reception at Kenmore Middle School. Many of the funders and supporters of the scholarships also attended the event where they were able to meet and connect with their scholarship recipient(s) for the first time.

During the ceremony, Brian Marroquín, Graduate Fellow at Georgetown University and a National Urban Fellow, took the stage to offer words of inspiration to the scholars, “Look for the helpers in all situations. Every college is invested in seeing you succeed: just like Arlington, and just like the people in this room. Community is not a thing, it’s an activity. It’s something you do. Join clubs, volunteer, work: this is how you find friends, mentors, and allies. People who support you during your college journey can come from places you least expect it. Be kind, and lift others as you climb.”

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Arlington’s Guarantee is Fully Funded

What this means is that our goal of enrolling 200 families has now been met: maximizing our shared impact, making full use of our generous administrative grant from the Kresge Foundation, and best positioning us to take what we learn into the local, regional, and national conversations around guaranteed income and financial equity.

What we’ve learned so far is that the pilot is already making a very real, very tangible, and very powerful impact on the lives of the participants and their families.

The federal poverty level is a relic set in the 1960s based predominantly on food costs.

It does not take into account other costs such as housing, child care, and health care. Policy makers agree that in the absence of an updated federal poverty line, we need to adopt a measure that reflects local living costs.

In Arlington, 30% of our 2022 Area Median Income (AMI) is $42,690 for a family of four (which is about 150% of the federal poverty level). This is a more accurate reflection of poverty in our community, as current data shows that living costs for such a household in Arlington average three times that. There are 10,000 households or 24,272 individuals living below this level. That is just over 10% of our population.

View the new statistics

Arlington Community Foundation runs a number of economic mobility initiatives and funds designed to address the many issues threatening to displace these individuals from our community. We also provide policy analysis and advocacy in our three main target areas aimed at these lowest income residents: deeply affordable housing, childcare, and living wage/workforce pathways.

For additional information about Arlington Community Foundation’s economic mobility initiatives, contact Anne Vor der Bruegge, Director of Grants and Initiatives.

Financial Organizing: The Key to Financial Confidence

Whether you are managing your own financial affairs or assisting a family member with theirs, these questions are often top of mind:

Who should I turn to for expert advice?

What tasks should I be doing monthly, annually, or every few years to ensure that my financial and legal affairs are in order?

How much should I save and spend each year? How can I ensure that I do not outlive my retirement savings?

How can I make it easy for my family be able to manage my affairs when I am no longer able to do so?

How can I leave a legacy for my family and the organizations and causes I care about?

In this recording, our expert panel shares their professional expertise and practical tips and tools for financial organizing so that you can feel confident that you have the right team of experts in your corner and the systems and oversight in place to be confident in your financial future.

Fundholder Highlights – July 2022

Fundholder Highlights – July 2022

Scholarships Award Ceremony and Reception

Arlington’s Guarantee is Fully Funded

Financial Organizing: The Key to Financial Confidence

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