The Northern Virginia Journal, Tuesday, December 24, 2002
Program aids with more than housing

By Tom Steinfeldt

The holiday season and the giving spirit go hand-in-hand. But for some Arlington affordable-housing developers, gifts and cookies merely add a festive touch to year-round programs available to residents at no charge.

ARC Inc., the county's leading affordable-housing provider, organizes teen clubs, summer camps, after-school programs, middle and high-school tutoring sessions, adult computer classes and senior activities throughout the year. More than 700 residents participated in the Arlington-based nonprofit programs since July and more than half of those were children.

"It's great to give people a comfortable place to live, but people have more issues than that,” said Jennifer Endo, ARC senior manager of resident services. “And these services help deal with those issues.”

Many of the programs are offered in the afternoons and evenings for working adults and their children. The services, which heavily rely on volunteers, include helping children with school studies,  reading to toddlers, teaching adults computer basics and senior exercise  classes.

Programs, often housed in the five community rooms located at AHC properties, target communities in the greatest need of assistance, Endo said. Preferential seating is given to AHC tenants, but neighboring residents are regular participants.

Every Monday evening during the school year, six students and volunteers meet at Virginia Gardens Apartments in  South Arlington for one-on-one tutoring sessions. The individual attention creates a successful environment for learning, teaching and socializing, participants said.

"I like the setup here, general tutoring,” said Chris Hayes, an Arlington in his third year of volunteering at Virginia Gardens. Hayes has worked with eighth-grader Jessie Ontiveros for the past two years, particularly on science homework.

"Jessie's a great kid," Hayes said.  "He wants to excel, he has drive."

During a recent session, as the two strategized over a game of checkers, Jessie said the science work he disliked has become a favorite subject since he began working with Hayes, whom he  considers a friend.

Jessie also frequents the apartments' community room to use its computers for games and schoolwork and to participate  in Reading Connection programs.

The Arlington nonprofit makes weekly visits at two ARC properties and provides snacks, craft supplies and free books to children.

Wesley Housing Development Corp., an Alexandria-based nonprofit with six apartment properties in Arlington and 16 in Northern Virginia, serves nearly 500 people a year with low-cost family services, said family programs director Konovia Mikeal.

At Wesley Housing’s Whitefield Commons Community Resource Center, about 150 residents of Arlington’s Buckingham neighborhood attend programs including English-As-A-Second-Language classes,  adult computer courses, GED training and after-school and summer programs. The programs aim to help residents become homeowners and provide free room for  others needing affordable housing, Mikeal said.

In addition to the opening of the Whitefield Commons center in fall 2001, Wesley added centers at one property in  Falls Church and one in Manassas over the past two years.

It’s grown more in the last two years because we’ve identified it as a greater need,’ Mikeal said.

AHC and Wesley partner with local governments to provide additional funds and staff for the services. Arlington County’s community-outreach programs, for example, operate at three AHC properties and serve more than 400 people per week at its most popular site in Buckingham, said Judy Brosch, community outreach supervisor.

County-sponsored education services include parenting instruction, job readiness and health care for adults and library programs for kids.

Our mission is to promote self-sufficiency and community belonging," Brosch said. The services also help link residents with county programs such as job placement and health care. The  nonprofits often facilitate transportation to these programs. But bringing activities to residents' neighborhoods represents the best opportunity for participation, program organizers agreed.

One such program run by the county and Wesley Housing aims to help 40 high school students from low-income families in the Buckingham community find summer employment. The Joint Youth Employment Initiative funded by $7,500 in federal grant money distributed by the county, will offer six weeks of resume and interview training in February and March in  preparation for a March job fair.

The goal is to make the teens competitive with their peers who have access to better resources, said Carol Hoover, county recreation service area supervisor.

"The first thing for us is we can provide the services right in their neighborhood," she said. "It's a godsend."

The ability to combine county, Wesley and volunteer resources enables resident programs to reach more people in need, Hoover said.

“I could not provide the services I  run without the help at these locations, ”she said. “It wouldn't be possible. [The children] would just hang out.”

Christian Dorsey, Reading Connection executive director, said accessibility and volunteers are keys to success. Five of seven volunteers give time to reading programs attended by about 20 children one afternoon a week at ARC’s Woodbury Park Apartments and Virginia Gardens.

Success stories, such as a child at  'Woodbury Park that went from hating to read to jumping a grade level ahead  after a few months of Reading Connection classes, underscore the program's effort to break the cycle of poverty facing low-income families by enhancing their children's education, Dorsey said.

“Clearly, this attention to reading and making the process of learning fun translates into success in school,” he said.

Bill Davidson a tutor for more than five years' at Virginia Gardens, echoed several volunteers' sentiments that donating time to children is an opportunity to do good. He introduced backgammon to students as a way to understand mathematical probabilities.

And the mentors become the tutors, as evidenced by the stiff competition Arvidson faced from seventh-grader Mario Zambian at a recent tutoring session.

“Generally these kids are very respectful,” Davidson said. "They're here, generally, because they need a boost in their academics, and us adults give them special attention. And they like it.”