December 2023

Holiday Roundup

The holidays have begun at our communities. Resident Services is hosting end-of-year and holiday events across our communities with the help of amazing partnerships. Here’s a look at some of the ways our residents are celebrating the season together.

Special thank you to Amazon, Arlington County Police Department, Arlington Rotary Club, Arlington Soccer Association, Capital One, Full Circle Montessori School, HOK, Marymount Sports Teams, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, and so many individual volunteers for helping make the holidays special for our residents.

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Residents at the Heart

AHC celebrated the dedication of our Resident Ambassadors to improving their communities this week. The committee meets monthly to propose new ideas and solutions for supporting their fellow residents.

We appreciate their continued leadership and passion in working towards bettering our communities.

It's Giving Season!

We need your help providing holiday gift bags to senior citizens and teens living in our communities. You can purchase items, assemble, and decorate the bags for our residents to enjoy during the holidays. We still need 20 bags for our teens and 70 for our seniors.

Learn more and sign up. The deadline is Monday, December 18!

REAL ESTATE RECAP

Take a Tour of Our Newest Community

AHC staff and board toured The Westerly this month. Construction is nearly finished, and the community is now leasing. The mixed-use, mixed-income development is in Southwest D.C. and will include 449 apartments, 136 of which will be affordable homes.

The 12-story, 400,000 square-foot building will include dynamic retailers, including a performing arts/theater space, D.C.-based early childhood education provider AppleTree School, and a three-meal café by Good Company Doughnuts.

Check out this short virtual tour of the community to learn more and view an affordable apartment in this brand-new building! A huge thanks to our partners for helping bring this project to life — Hoffman & Associates, CityPartners, Paramount Development, Merchants Capital, Grosvenor Americas, The Richman Group, D.C. Housing Finance Agency, and D.C. Department of Housing & Community Development. Bozzuto manages the community.

Key Milestone in Reston

David Brotman (left) and Cindy Rozon (right) with AHC and Sarah Selvaraj-Dsouza (middle) with Restonstrong, a volunteer-led community action group, recently completed an in-depth training program with the Supportive Housing Institute of Virginia.

Completing the program was a key milestone – it qualifies AHC and Restonstrong to receive a $300,000 grant to help fund the predevelopment efforts to create permanent supportive housing for chronically unhoused individuals in the Reston community. The training provided the team with significant technical assistance to develop the housing program that plans to establish 40-60 apartments in the greater Reston area to serve residents experiencing homelessness while living on extremely low incomes.

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NEWS NUGGETS

Celebrating CC

Last month, AHC Board Member Carleton "CC" Jenkins received the Fr. Augustus Tolton and Mother Lange Black Catholic Service Award from his church, Our Lady Queen of Peace, for his outstanding dedication to the Black Catholic community.

Join us in congratulating him on this amazing achievement! Read more about CC and his award.

Growing Community

A new community garden has sprouted at The Apex thanks to a NeighborWorks grant from the Community Leadership Institute. An AHC resident, College & Career Readiness program graduate, and George Mason University student spearheaded the operation with Resident Services and a group of other GMU students. They surveyed residents to gauge interest and organized the project.

Four residents helped build garden beds last month and prepped them for the winter. In 2024, we plan to grow produce, have an opening celebration event, and host educational workshops in partnership with Virginia Cooperative Extension. Stay tuned!

Heart & Sole

To celebrate the end of this season of Heart & Sole, the 6th-8th grade Girls on the Run program, participants ran a 5k. Our residents joined in the celebration and gathered to commemorate their hard work this season.

We are proud of these teens for strengthening their minds and bodies through the program with Girls on the Run of Northern Virginia.

Healing Through Art

Art with a Heart hosted a Sip & Paint event at MonteVerde, an AHC community in Baltimore for seniors and non-elderly residents with a disability. Residents enjoyed refreshments while they created their artwork.

The mission of Art with a Heart is to enhance the lives of people in need through visual art. We are grateful for this long-term partnership and the difference it’s making in the lives of our residents.

Building Stronger Bonds

Participants in our Strengthening Families Program with Edu-Futuro celebrated their successful completion of the course last month. The seven-session program taught parents and youth skills to communicate better and cope with stressors. AHC families worked together and supported each other, strengthening their relationships.

We're happy to have been able to support our families in this way. Congratulations to the program graduates!

GET INVOLVED

It's not too late! 100% of donations to Affordable Homes & Communities will help connect more residents from low-income households to vital social services and education programs. CFC#77198

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Happy Holidays from Affordable Homes & Communities!

We're so grateful for all of the support this year as we unveiled our rebranding and reaffirmed commitments to our communities. We wish everyone a great end to the year and look forward to all of the incredible work we can do together in 2024.

703-486-0626 | 2230 N Fairfax Dr.

Arlington, VA 22201

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