Stand Together Foundation 2020 Impact Report

At Stand Together Foundation, our mission is to break the cycle of poverty by supporting local nonprofit leaders who are creating change in their communities. So many Americans have been trapped in vicious cycles of poverty for too long, and it’s time to think differently about the solution. One-size-fits-all, sweeping solutions just aren’t working. Instead, we can empower people closest to the problem to lift others up and make lasting change in our cherished communities. This past year, our nearly 200 nonprofit partners came together in new and innovative ways to create profound impact on the communities and individuals they serve.

Historical and current injustices related to race continue to place barriers in the way of Black Americans realizing their full potential. Stand Together Foundation and its partners seek to unite Americans to eliminate these barriers that result from our country’s violation of our commitment to equal rights. Our unique role is to support and elevate the social entrepreneurs with firsthand knowledge and experience addressing these problems.

Nearly 21 million Americans struggle with addiction to at least one substance, and the number of fatal drug overdoses has more than tripled since 1990. COVID-19 has made things much worse; almost every state has seen an increase in opioid-related mortality during the pandemic. We keep trying and failing to address the problem with sweeping top-down solutions that merely treat people as problems. At best, we offer clinical approaches, such as treating drugs with other drugs, that have 30 percent success rates at best. At worst, we incarcerate individuals with an addiction rather than help them overcome it. Stand Together Foundation takes a different approach. We support innovative solutions that help people recovering from substance use disorder regain control of their lives and achieve lasting sobriety by tapping into their unique gifts and building strong relationships.

A fair criminal justice system treats everyone equally and recognizes the potential of all people to transform their lives, providing second chances for people to thrive. Far too many people have been trapped in a system that makes it difficult for people to escape. Through our partnerships, we aim to help move America’s criminal justice system away from punitive approaches and toward a more rehabilitative and productive culture that allows incarcerated individuals to become contributing members of society. To make this vision a reality, we support nonprofits that leverage local knowledge and lived experience to help people break the cycle of incarceration and build a better future.

More than 250,000 children in America enter the foster care system each year and the overwhelming majority enter for reasons related to poverty and family crises rather than abuse. Today, the social sector focuses on recruitment of foster care and adoptive families and reducing the harms in the system related to group homes and abuse. These are important, but the real opportunity is to work upstream and support families in poverty to prevent children from ever needing to enter the system.

If the child’s safety is not at risk, we believe that community-based organizations are best positioned to step in and support child and family well-being long-term. Research shows that for all children, strong, lasting and stable relationships with caring adults is necessary for a child’s well-being — and foster youth are at risk of lacking these developmental relationships. We work with our partners to strengthen and support existing relationships between children and their caregivers to prevent family separation.

The ability for individuals and families to improve their economic situation is critical to the American dream. For the first time in modern American history, economic mobility is on the decline. If you’re born into poverty, you are becoming more likely to stay in poverty. Over 90% of children born in the 1940s surpassed their parent’s income as adults, while only about 70% of children born in more recent generations ultimately earned more than their parents. For too long, the solution has been a top-down War on Poverty, which has only succeeded in making poverty easier to endure, but harder to escape. We have supported social entrepreneurs that trust and empower individuals in poverty to tap into their gifts and talents to become contributing members of their communities.

The number of people seeking mental health care is on the rise, with nearly one in five adults in the United States living with a mental illness. Many more are suffering with personal trauma and emotional pain. The problem far eclipses the number of clinical mental health services our country could ever provide. Moreover, the stigma associated with mental health issues creates further isolation, pain, and suffering. Our portfolio of mental health organizations is focused on helping individuals tap into their intrinsic resilience and belief in themselves by harnessing the power of safe and supportive community.