From Our Executive Director
As we enter and embrace the fall season, I would typically spend time using the expanse of this space to reflect on the joy that the summer solstice has hopefully brought us.

However, that conversation seems unbefitting in this moment. As I write this, millions of people in Puerto Rico are without power and fresh running water. Almost five years to the date of the devastation laid to the island due to Hurricane Maria, Hurricane Fiona has again plunged Puerto Rico into crisis.

Here are two of the community-based organizations on the ground in Puerto Rico working to support the residents there: Brigada Solidaria del Oeste and Taller Salud.

Please take a moment out to read about and support their work, and by extension our fellow human beings who are in need. Whether it be Puerto Rico, Jackson, Mississippi or Ukraine, let us not be distracted from doing our part to make sure that every human being has their basic needs met, and their full humanity seen and valued.

Elijah Wheeler
Seeing Hispanic Heritage through the Eyes of Artists
"It's important for the rest of the community to see who we are. It's important for us to show who we are." - Roxana Rojas-Luzon

As we honor Hispanic Heritage Month, the Collaboration Council highlights the work of collage artist Roxana Rojas-Luzon, who curated the “Hispanic Heritage Celebration” art exhibit in Gaithersburg's Bohrer Park.

We invite you to watch a short video of Roxana talking about the exhibit.
Artists featured in the exhibit include María Luisa Benavides, Tony Brun, David Camero, Felisa Federman, Magaly Garza, Elena Gaston Nicolas, Edward Johansen, Mita Lazarte, Silvia Martinez, and Sandra Pérez-Ramos.

The exhibit, located in the Bohrer Park Activity Center, is free and open until November 13, 2022. Click here for more information.

To learn more about Roxana's art, please visit roxanarojasluzon-collage.com
The Basics at Bus Stops

We are excited to work with community partners to implement The Basics in Montgomery County’s 20877 zip code. The Basics is a FREE program that consists of five evidence-based parenting and caregiving principles that promote high-quality cognitive and social-emotional development among children 0-5.

To learn more about The Basics, visit the program web page.

Help us spread the word about The Basics by downloading and sharing flyers featuring the five principles in English and Spanish.
Reissue of Open Solicitation 2023-76

The Collaboration Council is currently re-issuing OS 2023-76 so that Out of School Time programming is available to youth at no cost to their families in targeted regions of the County. 

If you have already submitted a proposal under this OS, you do not need to reapply. 

We are reviewing current submissions now, but encourage new proposals for programming between now and June 30, 2023, particularly in those areas of focus noted in the OS. 

For more details and instructions on how to write and submit a Letter of Interest, download the Open Solicitation.

Questions may be directed to OST Program Manager Thylan Singleton at thylan.singleton@collaborationcouncil.org.
Thank you for your continued support of children, youth and families in Montgomery County.
Click the logos to visit our program websites: