2023 Community Development Tour
Arlington County’s Community Development Citizens Advisory Committee (CDCAC) hosted the 2023 Community Development Bus Tour on May 3, 2023 at 6:00 pm featuring programs supported by Arlington’s Community Development Fund.
The tour featured four community development programs that support the Arlington Community.
Tour Itinerary
Start: 2100 Clarendon Boulevard
Stop A: AHC, Inc., 4108 4th Street North
Stop B: Arlington Neighborhood Village (ANV), Arlington Retirement Housing Corporation (ARHC) - 4435 N. Pershing Drive
Stop C: Wesley Housing Development Corporation (WHDC)- The Cadence - 4333 Arlington Boulevard
End: 2100 Clarendon Boulevard
Program Descriptions
AHC Inc.
Project Discovery - Pathways Out of Poverty through Tutoring and College Access
Project Discovery supports 6th-12th graders onsite where students live. 11th and 12th grade students are paired with a volunteer mentor to receive coaching on goal development and career path. The program successfully engaged 165 students in the 2021-22 academic year. Programming occurred over seven sites, allowing students to actively engage near their homes. As a result, this year the average GPA across for Project Discovery middle and high school students was 3.11. 67 students created and met enrichment goals for themselves, with a focus on extracurricular activities, self-care, and other types of self-improvements. 46 created and met academic goals for themselves. Students have applied to 224 universities and colleges, and 127 have been accepted with $6.5 million in scholarships and gift aid. AHC Inc. received $30,000 in Community Services Block Grant funding in FY2023.
Arlington Neighborhood Village (ANV)
Supporting Seniors in Their Homes and Communities
Arlington Neighborhood Village (ANV) helps older adults age in place safely, independently, and with an enhanced quality of life. ANV recruits, trains, and manages a large volunteer corps who create opportunities for social connection and provide direct services to members, including transportation to medical appointments, grocery shopping, errands, and help around the house. The Community Development Fund grant has contributed to a substantial increase in the number of members receiving financial aid support: in 2014, ANV’s first year providing services, financial aid was given to 8 members. In 2015, it increased to 11 members; in 2016, to 19 members; in 2017, 22 members; in 2018, 27 members; in 2019, 32 members; and today ANV supports 76 members through its Financial Aid fund. Arlington Neighborhood Village received $25,000 in Affordable Housing Investment Fund Housing Services funding in FY2023.
Arlington Retirement Housing Corporation (ARHC)
Tablet Technology Training and Support for Low Income Seniors
The goal of the program is to improve the technology and digital literacy of the low-income senior residents at Culpepper Garden. The age group and economic demographic of these individuals makes them a population at risk of lacking tools and skills to communicate electronically, resulting in their isolation and disconnection from their loved ones, medical and care providers, and modern conveniences. The target is to have 15 individuals trained in tablet technology, 25 residents to participate in training courses. ARHC received $20,000 in Affordable Housing Investment Fund Housing Services funding in FY2023.
Wesley Housing Development Corporation of Northern Virginia (WHDC)
The Cadence Apartments and Program: Housing Stability Initiative (Formerly “Promising Futures”)
The Cadence is a new 97-unit affordable housing apartment community, ranging from units for households at 30% of the area median income to 70% area median income. More than half of the units are family sized, including three three-bedroom units, and ten units have been set aside for people with disabilities through the Permanent Supportive Housing Program. The County provided more than $11 million in financing to the project, with nearly $4 million Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnerships funding.
In addition, CDBG funds support the on-site programming that addresses risk and resilience factors of families living in the community. Services include eviction prevention, counseling, workforce development, and health and wellness opportunities. In FY22, a total of 105 households received services including referral support for eviction prevention; they also accessed monthly food assistance and received health information; 30 individuals were provided with COVID 19 vaccinations; 8 residents received funding from state Rent Relief Program due to education/ assistance provided by WHDC. WHDC received $20,000 in CDBG funding for FY2023.
About the Community Development Fund
Arlington’s Community Development Fund provides grants to nonprofit organizations that support creating and preserving affordable housing, preventing and ending homelessness, encouraging economic self-sufficiency, and fostering healthy and sustainable neighborhoods. The Fund is made up of a combination of a federal Community Development Block Grant, federal and state Community Services Block Grant, and local Affordable Housing Investment Fund dollars. Through an annual competitive process, approximately 30 organizations assist more than 6,000 low and moderate-income Arlingtonians every year.