Doing good: WBJ shines a spotlight on WIT@Work

WIT’s team building and professional skills development program, WIT@Work, was recently featured by the Washington Business Journal in their online BizSpotlight section. The article covers how WIT’s applied improv workshops help teams communicate, collaborate, and navigate change – all while ensuring that participants have a joyful time together.

The article also appeared in the WBJ’s print edition ahead of National Nonprofit Day on August 17, honoring the positive impact of organizations like WIT, which is DC’s only nonprofit improv theater.

In addition to WIT’s community outreach, which includes free classes for military veterans through the Armed Services Arts Partnership and residents of Wards 7 and 8 in partnership with Project Create, WIT@Work also provides free services to other nonprofits as part of its efforts to “do good work for organizations that are doing good.”

Here are some of the nonprofits that WIT@ Work has collaborated with over the past year:

• Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the American Chemical Society: WIT@Work helped early-career scientists build the communication skills needed to develop professional networks, collaborate effectively on research projects, and share their discoveries effectively to wide audiences. 

• Eshel: WIT led a workshop for parents of LGBTQ+ youth in the Orthodox Jewish community that used applied improv to help participants build deeper listening, empathy, and communication skills, while fostering connection among parents who are navigating complex family, faith, and community dynamics.

• MedStar Community Health: WIT@Work led multiple trainings for their Community Health Teams to strengthen the listening, empathy, and communication skills needed to identify patients’ social needs, build trust during sensitive conversations, and connect individuals with resources that support healthier outcomes once discharged from the hospital.

• Congressional Cemetery: WIT@Work organized a team-building workshop for the Cemetery’s staff, using applied improv to strengthen relationships and the listening, empathy, and communication skills needed to serve the cemetery’s diverse community (from grieving families navigating burial logistics to donors and dog owners).

• Community Change: Their mission is to “build the power and capacity of low-income people, especially low-income people of color, to change the policies and institutions that impact their lives.” WIT@Work was invited to their leadership team’s annual retreat, where the group got guidance in connecting, in the wake of a significant organizational restructuring. They also learned new tools for better communication.

Nonprofit organizations (as well as NGOs, businesses, and other institutions) that are interested in learning what WIT@Work can do for them are invited to contact the program director, John Windmueller via work@witdc.org and check out our website.

Photo: WIT@Work Director, John Windmueller, who holds a PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution. By Mikail Faalasli