CORNERSTONES INC

Cornerstones is passionate about preventing and ending homelessness, attacking root causes of poverty, and connecting everyone to opportunities to thrive and succeed. The nonprofit has three primary goals: a) to remove barriers to individual success; b) to promote individuals and communities advocating for themselves and working together for their children’s futures; and c) to work in cross-community partnerships focused on removing systemic barriers and promoting equitable access to education, housing, and employment.

Cornerstones convenes and collaborates with community stakeholders around five key strategies:

• Stable Housing – To increase the number of housing units affordable to low-wage workers; prevent evictions and ensure that low-income households find and maintain homes; limit the time spent on the streets and in shelter, moving adults and children as soon as possible to more appropriate housing; and provide care management support while families are working to thrive.
• Successful Youth and Children – To provide quality childcare and early learning to children in low-income families; promote and provide neighborhood services for youth to have safe, enriching out-of-school services; support parental engagement for family stability and success, and engage at-risk youth in academic and social services.
• Connected Communities – To promote self-advocacy and neighborhood engagement on common issues; provide training and opportunities for adult and youth leadership; and lead collaborative efforts to focus public and private partners and residents around successful children, from cradle to career.
• Self-Sufficiency – To increase the ability of youth and adults to envision and achieve long-term career goals; ensure access to basic needs such as food and medical services; and provide one-on-one support to low-income residents facing multiple barriers to life-sustaining goals.
• Partnerships and Advocacy – To facilitate public and private partners and community groups working together, with and for low-income households; and promote efforts to break down barriers that hinder the long-term success of community members at the local, regional, and state levels.

Cornerstones is a trusted and influential nonprofit that has offered life-sustaining human services and housing stability in Northern Virginia since 1970. Cornerstones’ capabilities include:

• Critical community assets such as emergency shelter, food pantry, quality childcare, school readiness and academic enrichment, and affordable housing units; as well as, on-the-ground presence in four apartment complexes, and two neighborhood resource centers;
• 140+ staff, including specialists in homelessness prevention and rehousing, social work, self-sufficiency services, housing counseling, out-of-school-time programming, adult educational enrichment, and monitoring and evaluation;
• A vibrant, engaged Board of Directors, with diverse expertise and experience in the regional and state public and private sectors; and
• 6,000+ local volunteers bringing non-professional and professional support to Cornerstones’ efforts.
Cornerstones stands out as a community-based organization due to its unique ability to offer integrated, accessible services; to provide information and referrals (either directly or in coordination with others); and to adapt programs quickly to meet changing needs.
Cornerstones is respected and consulted by elected officials and agency staff at the local and state level and supported by a diverse array of public and private partners, foundations, faith communities, and social and neighborhood associations.

Over the past 50 years, with the dedicated support of funders, partners, and volunteers, Cornerstones has:
- Reduced the number of people experiencing homelessness in Fairfax County by 46 percent;
- Purchased 108 housing units for formerly-homeless, very low-income households, including seniors and families;
- Worked with community leaders and public/private partners in low-income neighborhoods to promote self-advocacy and a stronger bridge to success for children and youth;
- Helped more than 15,000 community members a year get through difficult times with access to basic needs assistance, self-sufficiency services, and wrap-around caring support;
- Improved access to affordable childcare, early learning, and out-of-school-time programming to keep participating families on track for school and career success.
Plans for 2020 and the future, include:
- Making long-term plans for developing 200+ new units of affordable housing in the Dulles corridor region for low-income families and individuals leaving homelessness;
- Marking our 50th year of service by educating and engaging our community in ongoing needs and securing resource commitments for Cornerstones’ efforts to ensure Strong Stable Families and Communities;
- Increasing alignment between client services and advocacy, to ensure greater impact and equitable access to resources across the community; and
- Promoting community involvement in the 2020 Census, especially in traditionally undercounted areas.