A new report by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) highlights some remarkable regional success in reducing homelessness. In Fairfax County, the numbers seemed to tell a different story, but county leadership says some of that is a result of the way the survey is conducted.
The annual study sends researchers across regional localities to collect a snapshot of how many residents are experiencing homelessness, and while not a comprehensive scientific count, it’s generally seen as a look at regional trends.
While neighbors like Arlington County and the City of Alexandria reported declines in their homeless population counts by 14% and 49%, respectively, Fairfax County is one of only two out of nine jurisdictions surveyed that saw its homeless count increase.
In Fairfax County, homeless population counts went from 1,041 in 2020 to 1,222 in 2021, a 17% increase. The only other D.C.-area locality to report a year-to-year rise in its homeless population was Prince George’s County, which increased by 19%.
Fairfax County claims on its website that the increase reflects an expansion of shelter capacity and services, rather than an increase in homelessness.
“The increase is primarily attributable to the increase in the community’s capacity to provide shelter with increased federal emergency funding associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the commendable efforts of service providers to care for unstably housed community members,” the Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness said.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay similarly credited the increase in the count to an increase in accommodations for people experiencing homelessness.
“This year’s data indicates an outstanding effort by our Housing staff and our community-based partners to respond to the unprecedented impacts of 2020,” he said in a statement. “By providing safe housing accommodations and a wide variety of supportive services to assist our most vulnerable neighbors along the path toward housing stability, we have been able to help our entire community.”
However, since at least 2017, the homeless population counts for Fairfax County have been gradually increasing, which McKay says is also indicative of an inadequate affordable housing stock.
Released in two parts across 2018 and 2019, the county’s Communitywide Housing Strategic Plan set a goal of producing a minimum of 5,000 net new affordable housing units within 15 years. 1,800 units are currently in the pipeline, according to McKay.
In his statement to Tysons Reporter on the homelessness point-in-time count data, McKay said:
Most importantly, it indicates that our work on the issue of housing — including emergency housing — must and will continue to be a critical priority for this Board. This is an essential component of our community’s crisis response system for those who need help in regaining a safe, decent and stable housing situation.
Housing is a foundational component in achieving positive outcomes in nearly every aspect of our lives and having thousands of our neighbors experiencing homelessness or struggling to remain in their homes is not something that we as a community will turn a blind eye to. This could be any of us. There are too many circumstances beyond our control which can cause that stability to be shaken through no fault of our own.
Photo via MWCOG
(Updated at 10:35 a.m.) Fairfax County libraries will return to their pre-pandemic state of operations in June — with a few exceptions.
Starting on June 5, standard circulation procedures will resume, including the return of fines on overdue materials and hold expirations, and visitors won’t have to navigate time or capacity limits, Fairfax County Public Library announced yesterday (Thursday).
In addition, public computers can be used in 30-minute increments with unlimited sessions allowed, and meeting rooms will once again be available for public bookings.
In a change from its earlier operations, FCPL says it will introduce expanded hours at its 23 branches, with the eight regional branches opening from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays through Wednesdays and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays through Sundays.
The 14 community branches will open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays through Saturdays. Community branches will not be open on Sundays.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, FCPL had been in line for a funding boost to support longer, more consistent operating hours and allow branches to acquire more materials, but that plan was put on hold after the pandemic forced the county to pull back on its spending.
FCPL Communications and Marketing Director Erin Julius confirmed that the expanded hours coming next month are not the result of any new funding.
“FCPL moved around hours to provide the best service we can under existing budget constraints,” she told Tysons Reporter.
Since temporarily closing in March 2020, FCPL has been gradually transitioning back to normal, in-person operations, but library officials plan to retain some of the practices adopted during the pandemic that have proven popular.
Introduced in June to limit contact between staff and patrons, curbside services will still be an option for patrons looking to pick up materials without needing to go inside. It will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on days when branches are open.
Libraries will also continue offering “robust” virtual programming to complement the in-person programs that will be allowed to resume indoors and outdoors on June 5.
The initial response to FCPL’s announcement suggests that people “are thrilled” that curbside pickups will continue, Julius says.
FCPL Director Jessica Hudson says curbside service “has been immensely popular” and virtual programming “has been a boon” for patrons, freeing them from worrying about logistical issues like traffic and parking.
“Even as things are reopening and we’re getting back to ‘normal’, the library wants to continue to offer programs and services which the public is asking for,” Hudson said by email. “…We look forward to seeing our library users in the method that suits them best!”
In accordance with Virginia’s guidelines, some public health protocols will remain in place even when FCPL resumes full services:
Due to capacity restraints, branches cannot yet accept donations.
Plexiglas shields at customer service desks will remain in place at this time.
FCPL continues to follow Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and local Health Department guidance on mask wearing and social distancing. All visitors are welcome to continue to wear masks, if they choose, and caregivers are expected to ensure that their children ages 5 through 12 follow current masking guidance.
Please do not visit a branch if you have COVID-19 symptoms, have been exposed to someone who tested positive or are awaiting COVID-19 test results.
Correction: The name of Fairfax County Public Library’s director has been corrected. Her name is Jessica Hudson, not Jennifer as originally stated.
Photo via Fairfax County
Fairfax County School Board Adopts Budget — The Fairfax County Public Schools fiscal year 2022 budget includes funding for 50 new positions for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students, school-based technology specialists, and 18 new social worker and psychologist positions to meet state requirements. It also covers technology support fees previously charged to families and a 2% market rate adjustment for all employees. [FCPS]
Bike to Work Day Is Here — The D.C. area’s annual initiative to encourage people to ride their bicycles to work marks its 20th anniversary today. The Tysons area has pit stops at Tysons Corner Center, the Mosaic District, and the MITRE Corporation headquarters in McLean, where cyclists can pick up a complimentary T-shirt, win giveaways, and in some cases, get a free bicycle tune-up. [Bike to Work Day]
Park Police Chief Calls Ghaisar Shooting “Tragic” — Park Police Chief Pamela Smith called the 2017 shooting of McLean resident Bijan Ghaisar “tragic” yesterday (Thursday) when announcing that the agency will outfit all officers with body-worn cameras by the end of this year. She didn’t comment on Fairfax County and Virginia prosecutors’ recent request that the Justice Department take up the case against the Park Police officers, which is now in federal court. [WTOP]
Scott’s Run Security to Intensify on Memorial Day — The Fairfax County Park Authority will increase the presence of security at Scott’s Run Nature Preserve in McLean starting on Memorial Day (May 31). Security personnel will be on site throughout the week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to enforce park rules, including the prohibition of alcohol and glass bottles and safety measures in the waterfall area. [Patch]
Mill Street Building Sold for $5 Million — The 23,000 square-foot building at 319 Mill Street in Vienna was sold last week to a local businessman identified as MITCO Mill Street LLC. Zoned for retail or industrial use and occupied by three long-term tenants, the property is part of an effort to revive Mill Street with new retail businesses, including a Cubesmart that’s now under construction. [Vienna Business Association]
McLean American Legion Post Honored — “It took an extra year because of pandemic-related delays, but American Legion Post 270 in McLean and its former commander, W. Glenn Yarborough, on May 19 finally received ceremonial copies of honorary resolutions passed last year by the General Assembly.” [Sun Gazette]
A crepe restaurant in Vienna and other businesses are easing into changes as Virginia lifts public health restrictions prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issuing new mask guidance for fully vaccinated people, Virginia has eased its mask mandate, and major retailers like Starbucks and Walmart have also lifted restrictions in stores, but businesses can still impose restrictions.
For the safety of customers and staff, Crepe Amour (407 Maple Ave. E.) in Vienna is still requiring people to mask up.
“You can’t declare a victory before you get to the finish line,” the restaurant’s owner, Sri Suku, told Tysons Reporter.
His business shut down in late March 2020 and reopened in June.
Suku says grants have helped businesses like his survive during the pandemic.
Crepe Amour is one of nine Fairfax County restaurants that recently received a $3,500 grant from the food ordering app DoorDash and the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association, which represents the state’s hospitality industry.
The VRLTA’s 2021 DoorDash Restaurant Operator Relief Grant program gave a total of $450,000 in grants to 128 businesses after over 690 restaurants in the state applied for relief.
The initiative is part of the tech company’s Main Street Strong Pledge philanthropy effort and did not require businesses to be a DoorDash partner to be eligible, the association said.
The grants were intended for restaurants that had their operations disrupted, saw reduced revenue, or experienced financial stress between March and December 2020. To be eligible, businesses had to have no more than three locations with 50 or fewer employees and annual gross revenue of $3 million or less for the specific location that was applying.
The other Fairfax County recipients were Pho 2000, Sully’s Pour House, and Herndon Donuts in Herndon, Reston’s Sprout Cafe, Mazadar Restaurant in Fairfax, and DC Steakholders and Meaza Ethiopian Restaurant in Falls Church.
Eight of the county recipients, including Crepe Amour, also got money from the Fairfax Relief Initiative to Support Employers that the Board of Supervisors established last year to give financial assistance to local businesses and nonprofits.
Suku has used the money for rent, marketing, and other expenses. He says the money is great to help stay afloat and especially helped the catering side of his operations with letting people know they’re back in business.
Under Gov. Ralph Northam’s current public health order, restaurants and other food service venues are limited to 100 people indoors and 250 people outdoors, and different groups of patrons must be kept at least six feet apart. However, the state will end those and other capacity and distancing restrictions on May 28.
While Suku says mask requirements will remain in place, Crepe Amour currently allows outdoor seating, and he plans to reopen indoor seating when Virginia’s capacity and social distancing restrictions end on May 28.
Photo courtesy Sri Suku
The preliminary results are in for the 2021 McLean Community Center Governing Board election, which concluded voting this past Saturday (May 15).
Shared yesterday (Wednesday) in a newsletter, the newly elected board members are Shivani Saboo (329 votes), Lisa Mariam (302 votes), and Rasheq Rahman (288 votes) for the three open adult seats.
“I’m thrilled to be elected to the Governing Board of McLean Community Center and excited to begin working with Shivani Saboo, Rasheq Rahman, and the leadership and staff to reach our goals to serve all our residents,” Mariam said in a Facebook post celebrating the results. “Thank you to everyone who encouraged me and voted!”
For the two youth positions, Ivy Chen will represent the Langley High School boundary area, edging out fellow contenders Rowan Johns and Charlotte Loving with 45 votes. Max Blacksten sailed to victory for the McLean High School boundary area with 48 votes — almost three times as many as the runner-up in the five-candidate race.
According to full preliminary results provided by MCC, 606 voters — including 501 adults and 105 teenagers — cast ballots in the election, which held open voting for Dranesville District 1A residents from March 17 through May 15.
A total of 1,158 votes were cast for the five adult candidates, 87 votes in the Langley High School race, and 96 votes in the McLean High School contest. The votes were tabulated on May 15 by the League of Women Voters of the Fairfax Area.
Background and personal statements from each of the candidates can still be found on the MCC website.
The election results are considered preliminary for now, because they need to be verified by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, which will formally appoint the new governing board members at its next meeting on June 8.
Made up of nine adults and two high school students, all of them volunteers, the MCC Governing Board is responsible for setting policies, overseeing programs and facilities, and reviewing and adopting the annual budget for the community center, which is supported by a 2.3-cent real estate tax surcharge on district residents.
The new board will be tasked with working with new MCC Executive Director Daniel Singh to guide the center’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced officials to cancel, downsize, or adapt all of its events and activities.
After holding a drive-thru version of its annual McLean Day festival on Saturday, MCC’s upcoming event slate is still mostly filled with virtual and drive-thru offerings, such as an online poetry reading on May 27 to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
There will be an in-person teen open mic night for LGBTQ+ Pride Month on June 4, but MCC has already announced that its July 4 celebration will be conducted as a drive-thru event with attendees required to register for a time slot.
“I look forward to working with new director Daniel Singh and the dedicated team at McLean Community Center to help the center continue to resliently [sic] and inclusively innovate as Mclean re-emerges from the panedmic [sic],” Rahman said on Facebook.
Inch by inch, memo by memo, plans for Tysons’ street grid are coming together.
A new memorandum of understanding (MOU) approved at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday (May 18) could help clear one hurdle that’s been a thorn in the side of infrastructure plans.
As a follow-up to the June 2010 Tysons Corner Comprehensive Plan, Dominion Energy is entering an MOU with Fairfax County that will streamline a complicated part of the development process for new projects.
According to the staff report, Fairfax County has had a memorandum of agreement with the Virginia Department of Transportation since 2011 that commits VDOT to including all streets in the Tysons grid in its maintenance program.
At the same time, Dominion Energy has been working to update its electric distribution infrastructure in Tysons, a process that has been happening in conjunction with the arrival of new development.
“Developers agree to install new distribution duct banks and related equipment connecting to their proposed buildings, consistent with Dominion’s updated infrastructure,” county staff said in a report. “The facilities run parallel to existing streets, streets with modified cross-sections, or newly built streets, typically underneath sidewalk areas or parking lanes.”
Differences between VDOT’s conditions for its street maintenance program and requirements imposed by Dominion Energy for the installation of new distribution facilities has created some uncertainty for developers, the staff report says:
VDOT will not accept new streetscape areas that include easements, and Dominion requires easements where distribution ductbanks and related equipment are installed outside of vehicular lanes. Dominion is not a signatory to the 2011 MOA. Thus, there is uncertainty for developers about Dominion permitting their installations and VDOT accepting the streetscape areas above those installations for maintenance.
The newly approved MOU is intended to alleviate some of that uncertainty over where developers can and can’t build new streetscapes without stepping on the tangled web of local easements.
Under the MOU, Fairfax County will pay for future relocations of electric distribution ductbanks and related equipment that are needed by the county or VDOT, while Dominion will cover any relocations that it needs. Private developers will still pay for new ductbanks and relocations necessitated by their projects.
“This arrangement prevents Dominion from requiring easements in streetscape areas intended as county right-of-way, thereby ensuring ultimate acceptance by VDOT into its secondary street system, pursuant to the 2011 MOA,” county staff explained in its report.
VDOT has not officially signed the MOU, but the agency has endorsed it and committed to continuing to honor the 2011 agreement with Fairfax County, according to county staff.
The board of supervisors unanimously approved the motion, but at the meeting, Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said there have been frustrations with Dominion failing to meet its timelines and obligations.
“One of the ways that we make sure we’re managing cost going through this is proper planning,” Fairfax County Director of Land Development Services Bill Hicks said. “We’re working close, hand in hand, with VDOT and their long-running plans and Dominion Energy with their long-range plans.”
William Marsh, Tysons coordinator for Land Development Services, said the MOU will hopefully help to streamline permitting.
“Developers will continue to pay for development in Tysons, but [we] want to provide them permitting efficiency,” Marsh said.
Photo via Dominion Energy/Facebook
Residents will have a new opportunity this summer to express their thoughts on Dominion Energy’s long-delayed effort to rebuild the Idylwood Substation at Shreve Road in Falls Church.
The State Corporation Commission has scheduled a hearing for June 10 at 7 p.m. after Fairfax County requested one in response to a new construction schedule that Dominion proposed earlier this year.
“My office and Fairfax County have strongly advocated for a new public hearing due to Dominion’s substantially delayed construction schedule,” Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said in a newsletter. “This will be an opportunity for the community to convey concerns and frustrations.”
Dominion will replace the existing substation that was built in the 1950s with a new “gas insulated substation” that accommodates growth in the area without expanding the substation’s footprint, a Dominion Energy spokeswoman said during a community meeting earlier this year.
The project dates back to 2014, but the timeline for completion has kept getting pushed out.
“The length of construction time estimated by the company has tripled — from three years in 2017 to now almost nine years in total,” the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors said in a response to Dominion’s application to the SCC for a new in-service date. “The ‘end date’ that the residents were looking forward to — the date by which the daily disruption to their lives would be over — has jumped from mid-2020 to the end of 2026.”
During the virtual community meeting on Jan. 27, the Dominion spokesperson attributed the project delays to the permitting process, as well as an adjustment in scope and staffing changes. It is also a complex project, she said.
“Since Idylwood Substation is in an important area, it is necessary we keep most of the equipment energized while we work to keep reliable power in the Northern Virginia area,” her presentation said. “To perform this safely, we must work in limited space and even temporarily relocate certain equipment at times to install new equipment.”
This year, Dominion plans to tackle updating the building and begin construction on the first phase of a permanent brick wall along Shreve Road.
In its response submitted to the SCC on Feb. 23, the Board of Supervisors expressed appreciation for the status updates over the last eight months but said maintains its concerns “about the lack of urgency in the company’s commitment to actually completing this project.”
“The disruption and uncertainty of this process has taken a daily toll on the Idylwood community for years in the past and is now projected to continue for years in the future,” the board said. “The community deserves another chance to be heard publicly, especially given the radically different construction estimation that the company is now requesting this Commission approve.”
Here are the details for participating in the upcoming public hearing :
Telephonic Public Hearing Details:
Date: June 10, 2021 at 7 p.m.
To submit testimony:
To register to speak as a public witness in the proceeding, please submit the online Public Witness Form directly, OR complete and email PDF for PUR-2017-00002. Deadline to sign up is June 8.
To access audio for the hearing:
Revisit Original Tysons Corner Apple Store via AR — “On May 19, 2001, Apple opened its first two retail stores in Tysons Corner, Virginia and Glendale, California. Now you can revisit the world’s first Apple Store exactly as it appeared twenty years ago on grand opening day through an interactive augmented reality experience.” [9 to 5 Mac]
Apple Anniversary at Tysons Corner Center — “Twenty years ago today, Steve Jobs opened the first @Apple store in Tysons Corner, VA, a suburb of D.C. Here I am talking to him during his press walkthrough of the store.” [Walt Mossberg/Twitter]
Falls Church School Vaccine Clinics Coming — In addition to bringing COVID-19 vaccine sites to Fairfax County high schools, the Fairfax County Health Department will provide school-based clinics to Falls Church City Public Schools students on Friday (May 21) and June 11. The deadline to register for the clinics is today (Thursday) at 8 p.m. [FCHD]
Civilian Review Panel to Hold Public Forum for Police Chief — The Fairfax County Police Civilian Review Panel will host a virtual public forum on WebEx at 7 p.m. on May 26 to discuss civilian oversight of law enforcement with new Police Chief Kevin Davis. This is the second opportunity that community members will get to question Davis, whose appointment was met with skepticism from local civil rights advocates. [Supervisor Dan Storck/Twitter]
Retired MCC Executive Director Gets Sendoff — “State and local officials, along with past and present members of the McLean Community Center Governing Board, gave a final send-off to the center’s departing executive director, George Sachs, during a May 2 gathering at McLean Central Park…Sachs retired May 7 after 11 years at the center. His successor, Daniel Phoenix Singh…assumed his new post April 12.” [Sun Gazette]
New Maintenance Facility Opens at Pimmit Run — “The Fairfax County Park Authority has opened a new Area 1 Maintenance Facility at Pimmit Run Stream Valley Park to better meet current and future maintenance needs. The project involved the demolition of three aging maintenance buildings, the relocation of two storage sheds on site, and construction of a new one-story 7,500-square-foot maintenance building.” [FCPA]
McLean Leads Virginia in Billionaires — “McLean has two billionaires with a collective net worth of $4.7 billion, making it the top locale in Virginia in terms of billionaire wealth, according to a new analysis from the financial news website 24/7 Wall St.” [The Center Square/Inside NoVA]
The cicadas are here, along with a new rap about the insects from local hip-hop artist MC Bugg-Z.
“Brood X-cellence” is a deep rhyming dive into the entomology, science, and emergence of Brood X, the periodical cicadas that are just now surfacing from their 17-year slumber underground.
Lines like “I have been chilling underground with my friends sippin on root juices” and “It’s a fitness thing, you’re witnessing predator satiation” will certainly have wings flapping and red eyes darting.
The song is written and performed by MC Bugg-Z, who isn’t just any old bug-loving underground hip-hop artist. He’s an entomologist and biologist who works for Fairfax County.
“I’m part of the Fairfax County Health Department’s Division of Environmental Health and, inside the Division of Environmental Health, we have the disease-carrying insects program,” Andy Lima said. “That’s my normal, real-life job.”
Lima has been writing and recording underground hip-hop since his college days in the mid-2000s with a focus on intelligent lyric writing.
“It’s more about the rhymes than the beats,” Lima said. “I love to convey the knowledge about the things I love and the world I know…by putting it into hip-hop song form.”
In Lima’s case, that’s bugs, and this isn’t his first foray into the emerging genre of insect rap.
In 2016, he released “Zika 101” about protecting oneself from disease-carrying mosquitoes. In 2018, there was “Tick-Check 1-2” about checking for ticks and avoiding Lyme Disease, followed a year later by “West Nile Story.”
While cicadas are not known to carry disease, Lima couldn’t skip the opportunity for a new song about a bug.
“Brood X-cellence” is a remix or sequel of sorts to a cicada rap he wrote back in 2004, when the brood last emerged. He was a student at Indiana University back then, and the din of the cicadas could actually be heard in the background of the recording.
“I was going to just re-release that one this year and just felt like there were things about the song that I wanted to change, new information that I wanted to include and, also, some errors,” Lima said. “I’ve learned some stuff over the past 17 years…Now, the focus is much more on the biology of it as opposed to the spectacle itself.”
When he writes songs, Lima takes a reverse-engineered approach. He thinks about how he wants to end a line and then finds a rhyme to match it.
“I don’t shy away from the scientific words because they are multi-syllables,” Lima said. “You can often find a way to rhyme them or, even, define some of these terms [in the rhyme]…like predator satiation.”
It took about two weeks to write, re-work, and record “Brood X-cellence.” The beat was provided by Kelton Williams, another Fairfax County employee who Lima met while helping with COVID-19 emergency response.
“He’s a great musician,” said Lima. “As soon as I heard [his beat], I thought ‘Oh man, this is going down.'”
The main takeaway that Lima wants folks to get from the song is that this cicada takeover is an incredibly rare and amazing occurrence.
“It’s a fleeting event, a miracle of nature,” he said. “It really only occurs in the eastern half of the United States and nowhere else in the world…It’s just so rare that the public is kind of overrun with insects.”
He hopes his bug rap educates, entertains, and allows folks to have a little fun after a difficult year.
With the temperatures warming, particularly in the evening, the cicadas are expected to come out of the ground en masse within a matter of days, looking to play their own song.
“We’re really going to see the surge that’s just beyond,” Lima said. “So, hopefully my song is well-timed.”
A Vienna-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting young wrestlers is encouraging residents to take a self-guided walking tour of the town this week for Mental Health Action Day.
The Eric Monday Foundation announced yesterday (Tuesday) that it has partnered with the Falls Church marketing agency Focused Image and the construction technology company RPG Squarefoot Solutions to create a walking map of the Town of Vienna for a “Take It to the Streets Walking Challenge.”
Starting Friday (May 21), community members will be able to pick up the poster-sized maps from Vienna Inn (120 Maple Ave. E), Greenheart Juice Shop (208 Dominion Rd NE), and Social Burger (350 Maple Ave. W).
“Walking can do wonders for your mental health. It improves your self-perception, sleep and helps to reduce stress and anxiety,” the foundation said in a press release. “We challenge you to get out with your family and friends and on each walk highlight the streets on the map until you have walked every street in this town!”
The challenge is part of the Eric Monday Foundation’s plans to participate in the first-ever Mental Health Action Day, which will be tomorrow (Thursday).
Boasting more than 500 nonprofits, companies, government agencies, and other organizations as partners, Mental Health Action Day is a nationwide campaign organized by MTV Entertainment Group as part of its new “Mental Health Is Health” initiative, which launched in April to promote the destigmatization of mental health conditions.
Spurred by reports of more people experiencing psychological challenges like anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mental Health Action Day encourages people to take action to address mental health issues, whether by seeking counseling or other services for themselves or by advocating for systemic changes to make it easier for people get access to mental health resources.
In a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released in August, 40.9% of respondents said they had symptoms of at least one mental or behavioral health condition, including anxiety or depressive disorders, increased substance use, and trauma or stress related to the pandemic.
10.7% of respondents reported seriously considering suicide within the 30 days prior to completing the survey, with rates especially high among young adults, Hispanic and Black individuals, caregivers, and essential workers.
“Though more people than ever are comfortable discussing mental health, finding effective resources, and knowing how to get help remains a challenge,” the Eric Monday Foundation said.
In addition to organizing the “Take It to the Streets” Walking Challenge, the foundation is participating in Mental Health Action Day by urging people to sign its Take Down the Stigma pledge, a commitment to talk openly about mental health, get educated, and show compassion by listening to people’s stories and paying attention to the language people use.
The foundation also marked Mental Health Awareness Month by hosting a parent education seminar and raising a Take Down the Stigma banner over Maple Avenue that includes the PRS CrisisLink hotline (800-273-TALK) and textline numbers (“CONNECT” to 855-11).
“We are honored to have our Town and its businesses participating in Mental Health Action Day by highlighting and bringing awareness to #takedownthestigma,” Vienna Mayor Linda Colbert said. “The Town of Vienna is a welcoming place for all people and the Take to the Streets Challenge encourages us to come together, get some exercise with friends and family and support the mission of the Eric Monday Foundation.”
Vienna Inn owner Marty Volk says he was glad his business could do its part to support the foundation, which is named after a former James Madison High School wrestler who died in 2009 at 21.
“We are all about supporting the community and happy to be able to play a role in the important efforts of the Eric Monday Foundation and their mental health mission,” Volk said.
Photo courtesy Eric Monday Foundation
