Amazon to donate $9M to NoVa nonprofits

Marking the second anniversary of the news that it would brings its East Coast headquarters to Virginia, Amazon.com Inc. will donate $9 million to several nonprofits in Northern Virginia, the company announced Monday. The gifts include $3.5 million to community organizations supporting small businesses and military families and $3 million to nonprofit legal services groups that work on housing issues.

Friday was the two-year anniversary of Amazon’s announcement of its plans to build its HQ2 headquarters in Arlington’s new National Landing area. The $2.5 billion project is expected to employ 25,000 people in the next 15 years. Amazon has already hired more than 1,000 people for HQ2, with 500 more hires planned for 2021. Construction started in February on the first of two office towers in the 2.1 million-square-foot Metropolitan Park complex, which is set to open by 2023.

“It’s an understatement to say how proud we are to be part of National Landing,” Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president of public policy, said in a statement. “To mark this milestone, we will donate $9 million to help support a broad range of local community organizations that make up the fabric of the diverse, vibrant region we now call home.”

According to the company, the donations are the result of community input and include the following gifts:

• $3.5 million in gifts to community organizations across the region supporting sustainability, small businesses, military families and more; $750,000 will be given to each group
• $3 million to Legal Services of Northern Virginia, Virginia Poverty Law Center, Bread for the City’s Legal Clinic and Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, with each receiving $750,000 for housing issues
• $1 million to racial equity and community empowerment organizations, including Bridges to Independence, Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR) and the Arlington Branch NAACP Scholarship Program
• $1 million to community health facilities, including the Arlington Free Clinic, Alexandria Neighborhood Health, Children’s National Hospital and the Virginia Hospital Center
• $500,000 to literacy and workforce training programs in the region, including La Cocina VA, D.C. Central Kitchen’s culinary job training program and the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia

“This $3 million [housing] donation will quickly provide support to individuals and families who need help. Tenant rights are a particularly complicated issue right now, and families are facing innumerable challenges related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” Alice Shobe, director of Amazon in the Community, said in a statement.

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