Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Contact: Mary Curtius 703-228-7943 (voice) 703-228-4611(TTY)
Arlington County Receives 2006 Achievement Award from National Association of Counties
Recognized for encouraging citizen participation, producing easy-to-understand plan
| Arlington's 5-Year Consolidated Plan |
ARLINGTON, VA – Arlington County has received a 2006 Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties (NACo) for its consolidated planning process and its innovative 5-Year Plan Citizen Summary.
The award recognizes the County’s efforts to involve more citizens in the development of its Consolidated Plan for fiscal 2006-2010 and to provide a Citizen Summary that helps inform residents about housing and community issues and the efforts to address them. The plan is a document required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
“I am particularly proud of this award, because it recognizes the hard work Arlington does to engage more people in developing important policies,” said County Board Chairman Christopher Zimmerman. ``I congratulate the staff for reaching out to the public in new ways, and for producing a meaningful plan that everyone can understand.” Zimmerman presented the award to staff members at a brief County Board ceremony Tuesday.
Communities required to produce housing plans every five years
Any community that receives funding from federal programs such as Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) or HOME, a grant designed to create affordable housing for low-income households, must complete a Consolidated Plan that provides a strategic framework for housing, community development, economic development and issues of homelessness for a five-year period.
Such documents are often highly technical, and frequently comprehensible only to those deeply involved in housing and community development issues. Arlington took innovative steps to open up the process in 2005 and to produce a plan that anyone could easily understand.
Arlington distilled 250-page document to colorful eight-page summary
The County sponsored a well-attended forum, developed user-friendly surveys and used other creative methods to encourage residents to help shape the plan. It then produced an eight-page Citizen Summary that replaced the previous 250-page plan.
The summary explains information clearly and quickly through the liberal use of photographs, tables and other graphics. It concisely captures data on demographics, housing, homelessness and community development. It identifies long-term objectives and new initiatives, describes community recommendations and provides detailed information on housing. The summary crisply lays out Arlington’s affordable housing needs and goals and the numerical targets to reach some of those goals.
Readers who seek a greater level of detail are referred to a narrative produced using a new HUD online tool. The Citizen Summary and the HUD narratives can be found by going to www.arlingtonva.us and searching for "consolidated plan."
Background
The annual Achievement Award Program is a non-competitive program that recognizes innovative county government programs. Created in 1970 as a part of NACo’s New County, USA campaign, the award embodies the grassroots and local government energy the program was designed to promote. The New County, USA campaign sought to modernize and streamline county government and to increase its services to its citizens.
The Achievement Awards Program gives national recognition to county accomplishments, and has enabled NACo to build a storehouse of county success stories that can be passed on to other counties.
Arlington, Va., is a world-class residential, business and tourist location that was originally part of the "10 miles square" parcel of land surveyed in 1791 to be the Nation's Capital. It is the geographically smallest self-governing county in the United States, occupying slightly less than 26 square miles. Arlington maintains a rich variety of stable neighborhoods, quality schools and enlightened land use, and received the Environmental Protection Agency's highest award for "Smart Growth" in 2002. Home to some of the most influential organizations in the world - including the Pentagon - Arlington stands out as one of America's preeminent places to live, visit and do business.
