LIFT-DC began 2026 by gathering over 100 community members, policy makers, and organization representatives at the True Reformer Building, for the “Cash + Coaching = Change,” an event that uplifted the voices and stories of Washingtonian families, parents, neighbors, and community members breaking cycles of poverty.
LIFT DC Senior Program Director Patrease Douglas emceed the event, with LIFT DC Executive Director Neils Ribeiro-Yemofio co-hosting and moderating the panel. Dr. Marla Dean of the Greater Washington Community Foundation, delivered opening remarks, invoking the spirit of her grandmother, love for music, and celebrating her Detroit roots in setting the tone for the event on the legacy and impact of community care.
The most powerful hour of the event centered on the testimonies of four women participating in local District programs, Bread for the City, LIFT-DC, and Martha’s Table, that provide unrestricted cash assistance and coaching. Their backgrounds varied from an immigrant matriarch rebuilding in a new country, a systems navigation professional recovering from an unexpected hardship, to a Washingtonian mom who built advocacy and entrepreneurship in their families’ lives as they break cycles of generational poverty. Each speaker circled back to the irreplaceable impact of coaching on their resilience, growth, and joy as they worked to improve themselves for their families.
Ms. Olufuke Idowu immigrated from Nigeria with an extensive professional background in law, management consulting, and human resources. She described Bread for the City’s Cash Rx program as essential to her experience in navigating through crisis and meeting her basic needs with dignity and respect. Ms. Idowu remarked that receiving aid was not a handout, but a public service that anyone of any background can access when in need. Her remarks were a testament to the power of communities structured to give and receive care necessary for neighbors and families to thrive.
Ms. Kellie Jackson, a member of Martha’s Table Strong Futures cash assistance program, also received economic mobility coaching through LIFT-DC’s Pathways to Strong Futures group coaching program. As a career professional in resource mapping, Ms. Jackson described coaching as distinct from case management emphasizing her how her experiences in coaching were rooted in dignity, and how group coaching fostered a sense of sisterhood in shared struggles and goals.
Ms. Yesmine Holmes, a LIFT- DC member and mother of five, shared how her the support and coaching she received at LIFT led to advocacy work, including becoming an inaugural member of the Mother Up Pilot in 2023, which provided basic income support and a fellowship with the Mother’s Outreach Network. Ms. Holmes testified the consistent support of her coaches sustained hope through life events such as the birth of her youngest child, moving to safer housing, and seeking employment.
Ms. Monique Jackson from LIFT-DC added to the shared message emerging across the panel, speaking to the need for cash plus coaching programs to be stable and reliable. Drawing on her lived experience, she emphasized that families should not have to depend on nonprofits piecing together funding, staffing, and infrastructure year to year. Instead, she called for these supports to be embedded in legislation and treated as essential, guaranteed resources—on par with other core elements of the social safety net.
Following the panel, attendees were encouraged to attend one of six breakout sessions that centered on an aspect of unrestricted cash assistance and coaching.
LIFT-DC’s session “Investing in Hope Money and Love”, facilitated by Program Manager Jamy Drapeza and Coach Semaria Kebedom explored LIFT’s 2-generation cash + coaching model and encouraged dialogue among the participants to share their varied expertise to address the most common issues faced by an average LIFT member, such as, seeking tools and resources, navigating support systems, parenting through system failures, and honoring the lived experience of the individual through the process.
In closing remarks, LIFT DC Executive Director Neils Ribeiro-Yemofio reflected on what the evening demonstrated: cash works, coaching works, and hope is built when families are trusted with resources and relationships rooted in dignity and trust. Neils emphasized that these solutions are not theoretical—they already exist. Attendees were encouraged to carry this momentum forward by centering community voices, investing in family-driven approaches, and advancing policies that break cycles of poverty.
To learn more about supporting LIFT- DC’s work to expand access to unrestricted cash assistance and economic mobility coaching for Washingtonian families, please contact Monique Johnson at mjohnson@whywelift.org.