PERSPECTIVES | IDEAS | COMMUNITY LEADERS | VIEWS
A Partnership That Saves Lives O BY GERRY CONNOLLY
ne of the great things about representing Reston, first as Chairman of Fairfax County and then in Congress, is the opportunity to work with our vibrant nonprofit community. It seems that for every local need, there is a dedicated nonprofit helping to improve our community. Take our effort to end homelessness. Even in a region as fortunate as Northern Virginia, there continue to be tremendous needs. When I was first elected Chairman of the Board of Supervisors in 2003, there was growing concern about the increase in the local homeless population. Particularly alarming was the fact that 60 percent of homeless adults in families were already employed, highlighting the need to address the shrinking number of affordable housing units. Knowing government could not tackle these challenges alone, we convened separate community summits to devise action plans to preserve affordable housing and prevent homelessness. We launched The Penny for Affordable Housing Fund, which dedicated a penny on the tax rate for the preservation of affordable housing, with a goal of preserving 1,000 units by 2008. This generated more than $26 million annually. We adopted a 10-year plan to prevent and end homelessness, opened the new Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter and hired a coordinator to oversee all local efforts to assist the homeless. And we
14
PHOTOS COURTESY OF CORNERSTONES AND SHELTER HOUSE, INC
created innovative community partnerships that leveraged public, private and nonprofit expertise. One important element of that plan has been the annual hypothermia program. In partnership with local churches, the program provides warm meals and temporary shelter for those most at risk. Our goal was simple: Make it through the winter without the loss of a single life due to hypothermia. In the program’s first year, across those 17 weeks, there were 17
RESTON | LIVE, WORK, PLAY AND GET INVOLVED™
houses of worship that opened their doors to provide food and shelter. Thanks to the work of thousands of volunteers, no one died from hypothermia. More than a decade since these programs launched, we have seen tremendous progress. We’ve preserved more than 2,757 affordable housing units. The homeless population in Fairfax County has declined 47 percent since 2008. Working together, we’ve saved people’s lives and changed them for the better. Locally, much of that
progress is thanks to nonprofits like Cornerstones in Reston. Since 1970, Cornerstones has promoted self-sufficiency by providing support and advocacy for those in need of food, shelter, affordable housing, child care and other human services. Over the years, their program scope and number of clients have continued to grow. For example, in 2015, Cornerstones provided critical assistance to more than 15,502 individuals, including more than 4,506 families and 8,163 children.