City captures state award for youth project

Manassas keeps on winning.

The city captured the “State Neighborhood Youth Effort of the Year” for its national pilot “1 By Youth” project that took place on April 24 in the Georgetown South neighborhood.

Christen Zenich, Manassas neighborhood coordinator, accepted the award on behalf of a community partnership at the 11th annual Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Conference in Roanoke on Sept. 25.

The partnership included Colorado-based Group Cares, Mike Garcia Construction, Habitat for Humanity of Prince William County, The Carteret Boys & Girls Club, Manassas Assembly of God and United in the Community.

More than 1,000 teen and adult volunteers from three states participated in the massive one day, one community, one impact neighborhood revitalization project.

Nearly 60 Manassas area sponsored contributed to the project, including Lowe’s, 84 Lumber, Summit Construction, Sherwin-Williams, Tru-Green LandCare, Virginia Contractors Supply, Vulcan Materials-Manassas Quarry, J. E. Rice True Value Hardware and Walgreens.
Volunteers painted fences, built soft-fill pathways and re-mulched playgrounds in the 45-year-old neighborhood of 860 townhouses, one of several walkable communities that surround Old Town Manassas.

The community has continued to engage residents by training Neighborhood Watch members, strengthening alternatives for youth and working with volunteers to paint front fences and rebuild the L Green playground.

On Nov. 6, the subdivision plans to cut the ribbon on a new outdoor pavilion on the H Green, thanks to donations from Mike Garcia Construction, Summit Construction and Lazlo Concrete.

“Without ‘1 By Youth Manassas,’ I have no doubt these results would not have been possible,” said Christie Strader, community manager of Georgetown South Community Council Inc. “The intense preparation for that day and the community meetings that Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement facilitated to bring residents out in support of the revitalization took us all from zero to 60 mph in terms of networking, making connections and going beyond cosmetic changes to build community and set new standards.”

The city has already begun to work with Group Cares to bring “1 by Youth” back again next year. The Point of Woods 1 and 2, and Point of Woods 3 neighborhoods have been selected as the site of the youth group on May 14.

The 1 by Youth  award is the 10th award the Neighborhood Services Department has garnered in the past three years at the state and national level.
The city will conduct its own neighborhood conference on Nov. 13 at the Boys & Girls Club.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707