Today, Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Government Operations, announced the inclusion of fifteen of his Community Project Funding (CPF) requests in the FY 2023 omnibus appropriations package.
“I am proud to have secured more than $28 million for our community,” said Connolly. “These projects represent the cumulative efforts of Northern Virginia’s leaders in public, private, and non-profit organizations. I look forward to seeing these federal dollars put to good use addressing climate change, creating affordable housing opportunities, expanding public and mass transit infrastructure in Fairfax and Prince William Counties, and more.
“These vital investments in our region’s future are poised to meet Northern Virginians’ needs in health care, infrastructure, education, and housing,” Connolly continued. “I am grateful for the opportunity to assist in addressing some of the greatest challenges facing the 11th District of Virginia as we move on from the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for our shared future.”
The House Committee on Appropriations ultimately accepted the following funding requests from Congressman Connolly, totaling $28,343,983 in direct funds for Virginia’s 11th District.
Healthcare
Project: Prince William County (PWC) Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Center (CRSC)
Recipient: Prince William County Government
Amount: $2,000,000
Background: This project will expand the crisis resources available to those in need of 24/7 assistance. For years, the most immediate help available to someone experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis has been the emergency department of a hospital. Individuals meeting criteria for inpatient psychiatric hospitalization have frequently had to wait hours, days, or longer for a bed to become available, and many have had to travel far from home to find a program with room for them.
The Treatment Advocacy Center, a nationally recognized non-profit dedicated to advocacy of timely and efficient treatment of the serious mentally ill, recommends a minimum of 50 inpatient psychiatric beds for 100,000 people. Northern Virginia has approximately 21 inpatient psychiatric beds per 100,000 residents, including private psychiatric hospital providers. In FY 2020, our region had 855 individuals that had to be placed outside of Northern Virginia because there were no available inpatient psychiatric beds.
This project will help establish a Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Center (CRSC) in Prince William County that will provide 23-hour crisis observation and short-term crisis residential services for up to 32 adults (sixteen 23-hour observation and sixteen crisis stabilization unit (CSU) beds) and up to 16 youths (eight 23-hour observation and eight CSU beds). Phase 1 will provide eight 23-hour observation and eight short-term CSU beds for adults. Full adult and youth services will be added as ongoing funding is identified.
This will be a regional facility for Prince William, Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun. The CRSC will provide behavioral health crisis and detox services to stabilize individuals under the Crisis Now Model and connect them to ongoing community treatment services. Establishing a Crisis Receiving and Stabilization Center within Prince William County will provide immediate crisis response and treatment for individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis, decrease the number of individuals needing inpatient psychiatric beds, reduce the time spend by law enforcement providing custody, and connect individuals to community supports for ongoing treatment needs once the crisis has been addressed.
Project: Behavioral Health Care Provider Incentive Program
Recipient: Fairfax County Government
Amount: $2,000,000
Background: This program will provide eligible students and behavioral healthcare providers with financial assistance for education, contingent on recipients’ employment in a provider position for a minimum of three years at the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board (CSB). This program will allow for a variety of behavioral health and developmental disability students and practitioners to receive financial assistance for education from Fairfax County in exchange for providing service to the CSB. This program will help to address the unprecedented workforce issues being faced by the CSB and will be targeted primarily towards hard-to-fill positions that require either certificates or Associate Degrees, including positions such as registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs). There are more than 200 vacant positions at the CSB and not enough qualified candidates to meet the current workforce needs. This program will help fill these vital positions and train the next generation of healthcare providers for Fairfax County.
Project: Saving Lives and Decreasing Health Disparities
Recipient: George Mason University
Amount: $943,983
Background: This funding will help make mental health more accessible and comprehensive for those struggling in unorthodox or exceptional circumstances. Accurate assessment and identification of youth mental health difficulties is essential for reducing mental health problems. Without proper assessment, mental health conditions can be misdiagnosed or even overlooked, leading to increased suffering, a need for longer and more intensive treatments, increased emergency services and hospitalizations, and even the loss of life to suicide. This project will (a) train clinicians working with Community Service Boards in Northern Virginia who serve diverse low-income youth and families, and their clinical supervisors, using low- and no-cost, culturally sensitive, and evidence-based assessments that can be readily employed in community mental health settings; and (b) help administrators effectively implement use of these assessments across their organizations so that all clients may benefit from their use. The project’s focus on culturally sensitive assessments will also contribute to decreases in disparities in access to high quality behavioral healthcare for diverse and lowest income youth and families.
Infrastructure
Project: North Woodbridge Pedestrian Bridge
Recipient: Prince William County Government
Amount: $4,000,000
Background: This project consists of designing and constructing a pedestrian bridge across a busy six-lane section of US Route 1 to connect the planned North Woodbridge Town Center to transit, bus and rail options at the Woodbridge VRE Station. North Woodbridge is a Metropolitan Planning Organization designated Regional Activity Center located along the Route 1 and I-95 corridors in a Transit Access Focus Area. This project is part of a larger effort to create safely walkable mixed-use communities and serves as a key connection between Equity Emphasis Areas (those with high concentrations of low-income and minority populations) and development on the east and west sides of Route 1. Additionally, the new pedestrian bridge will comply with the American with Disability Act standards for accessibility. This project will help pedestrians avoid dangerous intersections, bolster the Woodbridge economy, and save lives in the process.
Project: Sunrise Valley Cycle Track Innovation to Herndon
Recipient: Fairfax County Government
Amount: $4,000,000
Background: The project will complete several bicycle and pedestrian improvements to increase mobility and enhance accessibility to the Metrorail Silver Line stations. This includes creating protected intersections and reconstructing Sunrise Valley Drive from Innovation Station to the Fairfax County Parkway to provide a cycle track. The project will substantially improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians alike within Herndon and Reston, a growing center of economic activity projected to provide approximately 220,000 jobs in the Reston Transit Station Area by 2050. Further, those living, working, and visiting in the area will be able to better access the Metro, enhancing connectivity to the entire Metro service area.
Project: Envision Route 7 Bus Rapid Transit.
Recipient: Northern Virginia Transportation Commission
Amount: $2,000,000
Background: This funding will help complete all planning and environmental studies necessary to start design and construction of the Envision Route 7 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a project that will connect the diverse communities along the VA Route 7 corridor with high-quality, frequent transit service from Alexandria to Tysons, Virginia. Route 7 is already the second-busiest bus transit corridor in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This BRT project will provide a reliable and affordable transportation option for communities along this corridor; provide a green transportation option that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help in the battle against climate change; reduce congestion along a key transportation corridor in Northern Virginia already benefitting from significant economic development and investment; leverage a range of federal, Commonwealth, regional, and local transportation funds; connect major employment centers (U.S. Department of Defense Mark Center, Bailey’s Crossroads, Seven Corners, West Falls Church and Tysons); and further enhance a robust and growing transit system in Northern Virginia.
Project: Renovations/Improvements to the Little River Glen Senior Center
Recipient: Fairfax County Government
Amount: $1,500,000
Background: The Little River Glen Senior Center provides recreational activities for adults ages 50 and over. The programs and activities are as diverse as the needs and interests of the community they serve. Meals and transportation options are provided as well as access and referrals to both government and community-based resources for residents in need. The Little River Glen Senior Center already sees heavy use by the adjacent senior affordable housing and surrounding community. This project will fund hard construction costs to assist with renovations and to replace and improve outdated systems. The project will update the space to meet the current needs of the senior community. Senior centers are one of the most important resources for our aging community. They are more than just a space for seniors to meet. Senior centers promote healthy aging by helping seniors stay active and independent and serve as a meeting center for older adults.
Project: Securing the Nation’s Cyberinfrastructure
Recipient: George Mason University
Amount: $1,000,000
Background: The funding will help establish a first-in-the-nation Center of Excellence in Government Cybersecurity Risk Management and Resilience. The Center will directly support and advance cybersecurity leadership and governance across the U.S. federal government by developing and providing career-long cybersecurity and IT modernization learning opportunities for federal government IT and cyber executives and middle managers; acting as a strategic partner in federal government cybersecurity and IT modernization efforts; translating state-of-the-art research on technology modernization and cybersecurity into federal government practice; collating and disseminating best practices on federal government agency cybersecurity; and fostering U.S. government cybersecurity organizational capacity. George Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing, School of Business, and Institute of Digital InnovAtion (IDIA) will develop and operate the Center of Excellence. The Center’s objective will be to support federal government cybersecurity efforts by strengthening and fostering current best practices in IT and cybersecurity leadership and governance. These activities leverage Mason’s leadership of the Northern Virginia Regional Node of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative and a rich cyber infrastructure at Mason’s IDIA that integrates transdisciplinary centers and living labs with broad and deep interdisciplinary expertise across all facets of cybersecurity research, governance, policy, and education.
Project: I-66 Trail/Vienna Metrorail Station Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvements
Recipient: Fairfax County Government
Amount: $1,000,000
Background: This project will construct bicycle and pedestrian improvements from Blake Lane to near the entrance of the Vienna Metro I-66 westbound ramp. Improvements include a shared-use path along the south side of Sutton Road and a two-way cycle track and sidewalk along the south side of Country Creek Road and Virginia Center Boulevard. This project will improve access for pedestrians and bicyclists to the Vienna Metrorail Station and Oakton High School. It is in the heart of a regional activity center, is part of an equity emphasis area, and represents a link in the National Capital Trail Network. The Vienna Metro Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvements project, when finished, will provide a key connection to the larger planned I-66 parallel trail network, which will provide more than 11 miles of connectivity from Gallows Road, Dunn Loring to Centreville in Fairfax County; connect to some of the area’s major regional trails, such as the W&OD Trail, to provide improved mobility and travel choices; and create additional connections along new bridges over I-66 that will better serve cyclists and pedestrians.
Education
Project: Career Readiness and Job Training for Fairfax County Youth
Recipient: Fairfax County Government
Amount: $2,100,000
Background: This funding will enable Fairfax County, through the Department of Neighborhood and Community Services (NCS), to create neighborhood job and entrepreneurship technology and research centers for teens and young adults at the County’s community centers, teen centers, and Neighborhood Initiative Sites. These centers will provide teens and young adults with career readiness skills, job training, and leadership programs, as well as access to an increased range of technology and non-traditional careers and in-demand programs. These training programs will target underserved communities in Fairfax County, many of which have been affected by generational poverty exacerbated by the pandemic.
In partnership with the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court (JDRDC), the County will provide enhanced workforce development services to youth who have been mandated by the courts to pay restitution, generally for offenses such as shoplifting and destruction of property. Often, these youth have never been employed and do not have the skills needed to make themselves employable. Without these skills, they remain unemployed and unable to make these payments, in turn defaulting on their judgements. Consequently, their time involved with the juvenile justice system is extended, often with additional judgements filed against them. This program will provide young people with the training to not only make healthier choices for themselves and their careers, but to acquire the skills they need to begin their journey into the adult workforce.
This investment will also strategically integrate social innovation programs that support inclusive prosperity for youth through economic mobility strategies, leadership, civic engagement, mental health, and mentorship, with the goal of interrupting the cycle of generational poverty by prioritizing economic mobility and inclusive prosperity for all. This program will focus on a continuum of services that increases young people’s ability to create equitable pathways to individual and community success. Circumstances beyond one’s control can disrupt or limit youths’ ability to explore and pursue different careers, and this program seeks to help put the power to shape their futures back in our children’s hands.
Project: Increasing the Number and Diversity of Nursing Graduates and Equipping them for Success
Recipient: Northern Virginia Community College
Amount: $2,200,000
Background: This project will provide Northern Virginia Community College’s Medical Education Campus (MEC) with $2,200,000 to expand the growth of their nursing program, with the goal of increasing the number of registered nurses (RNs) entering the workforce annually, and to acquire computerized mannequins and other technology to support or supplement required clinical training for nursing, respiratory therapy, and EMS students. This project will immediately increase the capacity of the nursing program and will hopefully yield an as many as 50 graduates annually to the region’s healthcare workforce, helping to address Northern Virginia’s growing nursing shortage, which was exacerbated by the pandemic.
This project will also help close the racial and ethnic diversity gap that exists in the healthcare workforce by graduating more People of Color from the License Practical Nursing to Registered Nursing program. According to labor force statistics, Woman of Color are disproportionately represented in LPN jobs compared to RNs and healthcare occupations in general (2x) and the labor force overall (5-6x), a disparity this program seeks to address head-on, ensuring the graduation of highly competent healthcare providers by securing the best learning resources for use during their training.
Project: Early Childhood Development and Learning
Recipient: Fairfax County Government
Amount: $1,500,000
Background: This project will expand Fairfax County’s Early Childhood Development and Learning Program (ECDLP) by providing access to early childhood education services for approximately 72 additional young children, ages birth to five years, in programs located in community-based settings (the number of children is dependent upon the care level – infant, toddler and preschool). In addition, these funds will be used to hire two additional staff members who will determine eligibility, process enrollment, and provide case management for participating families. Access to affordable, quality early childhood programs is a key strategy for supporting parents who are struggling to engage in the economy and take part in the workforce. This program helps address the current labor shortage across most employment sectors by extending parents who would otherwise have to stay at home the opportunity to participate in the workforce while their children receive the benefits of an early education. In turn, the program prepares young children for school and future workforce success, which provides long-term returns for Fairfax County and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Housing
Project: Homeless Navigation Center – Eastern Prince William County
Recipient: Prince William County Government
Amount: $2,000,000
Background: This project will help establish a Homeless Navigation Center in eastern Prince William County, which will provide overnight, temporary, emergency sheltering and wrap-around services for up to 50 adults experiencing homelessness. Providing drop-in opportunities, emergency shelter, meals, showers, laundry facilities, educational opportunities, hypothermia sheltering, case management, behavioral therapy, job training, medical assessments and other support needed on an individualized basis can make the difference between persistent homelessness and moving to permanent housing and, ultimately, self-sufficiency. Access to Rapid Re-Housing, Permanent Supportive Housing and Long-Term Care will be made available, as will access to public benefits. A homeless drop-in center will also be part of the programming. The new 30,000 square-foot facility will provide for increased cooperation and coordination between community partners to address individuals’ needs. This center will be a critical resource in our community’s effort to end homelessness.
Project: The Lamb Center Permanent Supportive Housing Initiative
Recipient: City of Fairfax
Amount: $1,900,000
Background: The Lamb Center (TLC) Permanent Supportive Housing Initiative will be unique to the central Fairfax County and Fairfax City region. Fairfax City will work with TLC to build a facility that includes 54 efficiency-style living units within one block of the current TLC day shelter. Residents will receive on-site case management and other wrap-around support. Case managers will help each tenant formulate and achieve individual goals such as securing veterans’ benefits, earning income from work, improving physical and mental health conditions, and maintaining housing. Case managers will also provide skills training to improve individuals’ abilities to budget, manage medication, maintain employment, and develop positive social supports. Because the new facility will be in close proximity to The Lamb Center day shelter, current services will be leveraged with additional services at the new housing facility. More than 1,000 people experience homelessness every day in Fairfax County and Fairfax City. Over 60,000 people in Fairfax County and Fairfax City live below the poverty level, and more than 10,000 people per year need emergency housing assistance to prevent them from becoming homeless. Individuals in our community rely on The Lamb Center for the support they need to get back on their feet and this new center will be a critical resource for helping more people who could not otherwise find stable housing.
Project: Housing Program Participant Information Digitization/Imaging
Recipient: Fairfax County Government
Amount: $200,000
Background: Currently, much of the data related to participants in the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s (FCRHA) federal housing programs is maintained in hard copy. This project will help FCRHA digitize/image hard copy housing program client files in order to provide more efficient access to client information, improving customer service, and allow for more robust telework options for staff, in keeping with the FCRHA’s obligations under the federal Privacy Act. The project will improve customer service and protect data privacy for the more than 5,000 participating Fairfax County families in the federal Housing Choice Voucher program.