LIFT

LIFT-DC will serve hundreds of additional Washington, DC individuals and families in 2010 with its recent expansion into the Columbia Heights neighborhood in the city.  LIFT-DC, Columbia Heights opened its doors at the beginning of March and is currently providing free social services to residents in the area.

LIFT-DC, Columbia Heights has partnered with CentroNía, a nationally recognized, award-winning charter school and educational organization that provides education, professional development and family-support services for families in the District, to provide on-site services Washington-area families and parents of CentoNía’s charter school students.

When Phyllis Newman walked into LIFT-DC, she had just missed another payment on her mortgage and was dreading the thought of losing her home. With no job and no income, she couldn’t afford to keep her house, but with three grandchildren to support, losing her home was not an option.

When Bishara Addison first read a description of LIFT-DC at a community service fair, she was reminded of a passage from Desmond Tutu from her coursework at George Washington University.  In it, he discussed the concept of Ubuntu, meaning, “My humanity is caught up and inextricably bound in yours.”  She knew that Ubuntu could be found in LIFT’s model of bridging university and urban communities to combat poverty and expand opportunity, and she wanted to be not only a part of it, but a leader in it.