1 By Youth in Manassas Garden’s for Good!

Impact of Keep Virginia Beautiful Grant for 1 By Youth Manassas 2011 Reaches from Richmond to Washington, DC

On May 14, 2011, in Manassas, Virginia, 800 volunteers joined in a “one day, one community, one impact” neighborhood revitalization effort called 1 By Youth.  Volunteers repaired homes, cleaned streets, parks & waterways and transformed a three-acre field in the Point of Woods 1 & 2 and 3 neighborhoods into a thriving community garden and gathering place with the help of a Keep Virginia Beautiful grant, Habitat for Humanity, the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service and many local businesses and faith-based organizations.   In September 2011 in Williamsburg, the City of Manassas and community partners won the Virginia State Neighborhood Conference’s State Neighborhood Youth Group Effort of the Year 2011 for the 1 By Youth project that Keep Virginia Beautiful helped to fund with the $1,000 grant. In October 2011, in Richmond, the City of Manassas and community partners won the prestigious Virginia Municipal League President’s Award for the city’s five years of neighborhood revitalization projects, including the 1 By Youth project that Keep Virginia Beautiful helped to fund. In December 2011, in Washington, D.C., City of Manassas Neighborhood Services Manager Kisha Wilson-Sogunro was called to the White House to participate in the President’s Champions of Change program, a weekly panel and networking discussion with ten Champions, ranging from educators to entrepreneurs to community activists from around the U.S., who were being recognized for the work they are doing to better their communities.  She took the four AmeriCorps VISTA members with her who are working in the G

eorgetown South Community, site of the city’s 2010 1 By Youth project that preceded the one in Point of Woods. The 1 By Youth project in the Point of Woods 1 & 2 and 3 neighborhoods last May has had a lasting impact.  A couple was married in the memorial gazebo that was dedicated to the city’s only fallen police officer, Sergeant John D. Conner III.  The 30-plot community garden has had fall plantings and is now being protected over the winter, thanks to a continuing relationship between residents and the Master Gardeners from the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, and plots are in the process of being rented out to residents for the 2012 spring planting season, as well as expanded.  The community also held several outdoor family movies in the gazebo area this past summer, so the project has generated much community building.  Between now and May 5, 2012, City of Manassas Neighborhood Services is recruiting community partners and volunteers for the Big Day of Serving Manassas on May 5 in the Bristoe Station neighborhood – moving the successful 1 By Youth model to the next area in need of revitalization.  For more information, contact Kisha Wilson-Sogunro at [email protected].