The DC Language Immersion Project (DC Immersion) is pleased to announce it was awarded a $35,000 grant from The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. The grant will support the strengthening of DC Immersion’s organizational capacity to increase equitable access to dual language programs in DC.
“We are profoundly grateful to The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation for its generous support of the work of DC Immersion,” says Vanessa Bertelli, executive director. “We are particularly grateful to The Foundation for sharing in the vision that opportunity, both in terms of academic achievement and future jobs, can be increased through dual language education.”
With this grant, DC Immersion looks forward to building its organizational capacity to work towards its goal of quadrupling the number of seats in quality dual language programs by 2030 with a focus on low-income and at-risk communities.
About The DC Language Immersion Project
DC Immersion ’s mission is to engage families, support educators, research best practices and advocate for a systematic approach to equitably increasing opportunity and strengthening communities through multilingual education. DC Immersion’s vision is a quality multilingual education for every child in the nation’s capital to become an empathetic citizen of the world, and for the District and its future workforce to compete successfully in the global marketplace.
About The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation is the largest private, independent, local Foundation focused exclusively on the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The Foundation is the legacy of Morris Cafritz, one of Washington’s leading commercial and residential builders from the early 1920’s to the mid-60’s. An outstanding civic leader known for his generosity, Morris Cafritz established the Foundation in 1948. His wife, Gwendolyn, one of Washington’s leading hostesses in the post World War II years. The Cafritz Foundation is committed to building a stronger community for residents of the Washington, DC area through support of programs in arts and humanities, community services, education, health and the environment.
“We are profoundly grateful to The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation for its generous support of the work of DC Immersion. We are particularly grateful to The Foundation for sharing in the vision that opportunity, both in terms of academic achievement and future jobs, can be increased through dual language education.”