County Board
Barbara A. Favola - Member, Arlington County Board
Barbara A. Favola has been a resident of Arlington since 1982. Ms. Favola has served as Chairman and a member of the Arlington County Board since 1997. She served as Chairman of the Board in 2000, 2004 and 2009; and Vice Chairman in 1999, 2003 and 2008.
During her service with the County, Ms. Favola has been the Board's leading advocate for children, youth and families. She supported the creation of teen lounges for young people, established mental health services in the public schools, provided a permanent home for the Head Start program, and forged a community Partnership for Children, Youth and Families.
She has championed land-use and transportation policies designed to encourage growth along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor while at the same time protecting surrounding neighborhoods from encroachment. Ms. Favola is a strong supporter of expanded recycling efforts, “Green Building” initiatives and other efforts to reduce the carbon footprint.
She is a strong advocate for policies that increase the supply of affordable housing. She has also been a vigorous supporter of human rights and diversity in Arlington, both as a Board member and a private citizen.
Ms. Favola received the Phyllis Campbell Newsome Public Policy Leadership Award from the Washington Council of Agencies (WCA). The award is given to elected officials who are leaders in understanding and supporting the contributions of the Washington area nonprofit sector.
In 2006, Ms. Favola was appointed by Governor Tim Kaine to the State Health Board. The 13-member board provides leadership in health planning and policy development for the Commonwealth and advises the Governor on health-related issues. The Board works to prevent and control chronic diseases; promote health; assure access to primary care, including access to dental care, for Virginian residents; and establish public/private health partnerships.
Ms. Favola is the First Vice President on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Association of Counties (VACo), a statewide organization with 95 local governments participating. Ms. Favola has served as Chair of VACo’s Human Services Committee and the Public Finance Committee. Ms. Favola also serves on the National Association of Counties’ (NACo) Health Committee. At the state level, Ms. Favola advocates for sensible budget and legislative policies to enable local governments to better serve constituents.
Ms. Favola is Chair of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government’s (COG) Washington Area Housing Partnership, which is a public-private partnership that serves as a resource and catalyst on “state of the art" approaches to the creation and preservation of affordable housing. She is also Vice Chair of the COG Chesapeake Bay Committee. The Committee, established in 1998, tracks developments under the federal-state Chesapeake Bay Program for implications to local governments and recommends Bay-related policies to COG’s Board of Directors.
Ms. Favola completed a two year term as Chairman of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC). NVRC is a public agency engaged in a wide variety of regional planning, coordination, policy analysis and technical assistance activities in support of 14 northern Virginia local governments. She has been a member of the NVRC since 1998.
Ms. Favola is involved with several Arlington groups. She serves on the Board of the Ballston Science & Technology Alliance which is based in Arlington and promotes innovation and research in the scientific and technology fields. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Child and Family Network Centers, an organization that serves Arlington and Alexandria. Other Arlington organizations she is involved with include the League of Women Voters, the Arlington Committee of 100 and the Arlington YMCA.
Ms. Favola is a part-time employee at Marymount University working in the area of institutional development and government relations, a position she has held since 1995.
Prior to 1995, she was a policy advisor for 15 years at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Ms. Favola started her career at HHS as a Presidential Management Intern (PMI), and served in various policy and planning positions throughout the Department, with several assignments in the Office of the Secretary and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Health. Ms. Favola also worked on the House Budget Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
She and husband Douglas Weik live in Arlington 's Lyon Village neighborhood with son Donald Patrick.
Ms. Favola holds a Masters of Public Administration from New York University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Saint Joseph College , West Hartford , Connecticut .
