On Friday afternoon, members of Marymount University’s graduating class will celebrate their accomplishments through a Graduation Parade, with faculty and staff cheering them on along a four-mile route that loops between Main Campus and the Ballston Center.
Graduates are encouraged to bring posters with them for the procession and decorate their vehicles. In order to ensure everyone’s safety, participants are required to stay in their vehicles for the duration of the program.
The Armed Forces Cycling Classic (AFCC), presented by The Boeing Company, will be offering free AFCC Virtual Ride options this year, as the overall event had to cancel due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual rides will be hosted on Strava and Zwift and a free rebroadcast of the 2019 AFCC will be available thanks to our media partner Monumental Sports Network.
“We hope that we can inspire cyclists to get out and either enjoy the great routes that we have to offer in our Strava Club or join us on our Zwift ride.” said Robert Laybourn, President of Arlington Sports and the Founder and Event Director of the Armed Forces Cycling Classic. “We look forward to seeing everyone in person when we return in 2021.”
Today, the Rosslyn BID announced the launch of Rosslyn Ready, a multifaceted program to support and organize businesses in promoting proper safety measures when people are welcomed back into the neighborhood. Rosslyn Ready will provide customized digital resources and access to industry experts to help Rosslyn businesses create individualized strategies for reentry. In just under a week since launch, 90 businesses and restaurants have signed up to be part of the program.
As a part of Rosslyn Ready, businesses can sign up to join the Ready for Reentry program, where they will receive specific guidance in the form of digital resources and a webinar series where they can ask questions of renowned experts, including:
For the last several years, Northern Virginia has taken dozens of promising tech start-ups to the Collision conference, granting them access to programming, investors, mentors and networking opportunities. This year, the Collision organizers have moved everything online, so instead of traveling to the conference in Toronto this year, eighteen lucky start-ups from Northern Virginia will get an all-access pass to the Collision from Home tech conference.
Founders and C-Suite executives from companies like Facebook, Microsoft, Uber, Spotify, YouTube, Netflix and more are already confirmed to speak. In addition, it is expected that over 1,000 angels, VCs and LPs will be joining the conference from home.
The Arlington Education Association Political Action Committee (AEA-PAC) recently announced its endorsement of Cristina Diaz-Torres, a teacher and education policy specialist, in the Arlington Public School Board Democratic Caucus, stating that teachers believe “Cristina’s hands-on experience as a teacher and an education policy specialist, combined with her deep commitment to equity and transparency, is just what we need now to help steer APS through the present crisis.”
The school board caucus was previously scheduled to take place, in-person, on May 7th & 9th. However, when Virginia instituted its recent stay-at-home order, the local Democratic party that manages the process adopted a vote-by-mail alternative.
U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Cory Booker have announced their official endorsements for Arlington Virginia School Board candidate Terron Sims II.
Terron Sims II is a military veteran and former County Board candidate who played an instrumental role in Senator Tim Kaine, Governor Terry McAuliffe, Congressman Don Beyer, and Governor Ralph Northam’s campaigns, where he assisted in standing up their VMF apparatus, served as an official surrogate, edited policy, organized events, and raised funds.
Sixty-five Arlington nonprofits have received a total of nearly $800,000 in emergency response support from the Arlington Community Foundation COVID-19 Prompt Response Fund. On Giving Tuesday Now and throughout the week of May 4, the Community Foundation hopes Arlington residents and businesses will help replenish the fund to meet continuing urgent, crisis-related needs.
Giving Tuesday Now is a new global day of giving and unity that will take place on May 5 as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19. This is in addition to the regularly scheduled Giving Tuesday, which takes place the Tuesday after Thanksgiving each year. The Community Foundation is asking that everyone in the Arlington community who has a little extra to give provide support to this fund or any other nonprofit that is helping those in crisis.
Transportation Security Administration employees at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) have established a free food and toiletries pantry to assist employees in the airport community who have been laid off or seen their work hours and paychecks reduced due to the significant decrease in travelers as a result of the pandemic.
“It’s a one-stop shop for airport employees who are in need,” said Shanita Wylie, a TSA program analyst who assisted the TSA’s employee morale group at DCA coordinate the opening of the pantry. “Just over a year ago federal employees were furloughed and were provided so much support by the entire airport community and now we are here continuing the trend of support and showing them our appreciation.”
Marymount University faculty member William Allen, an award-winning fashion designer, is using his creative talents and those of his students to help boost the amount of crucial PPE available at the Arlington Free Clinic.
On Monday afternoon, Allen will deliver about 120 protective “fashion masks” that can be used by patients, volunteers, staff and visitors. Created by students in Marymount’s Fashion Design and Merchandising program as well as Allen himself, these masks are made of breathable cotton and are washable and reversible, and contain a nonwoven polypropylene filter inside.
The Dream Project, a nonprofit organization offering educational assistance to immigrants in Northern Virginia through scholarships and mentoring, has established an emergency relief fund to help immigrant students and families who are struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Immigrants — especially those who are undocumented, have DACA or TPS statuses, or are asylum seekers — work in fields that have been hardest hit by COVID-19 job losses. Due to their immigration status, many students the Dream Project works with have been unable to file for unemployment, receive emergency relief checks, utilize paid sick leave, or continue working remotely, leaving them financially vulnerable.
The Ballston BID is collaborating with local organizations to coordinate free accommodations at the Holiday Inn Arlington at Ballston for essential healthcare workers in the community. Chesapeake Hospitality, which manages the Ballston-based Holiday Inn on North Fairfax, is donating a complimentary block of 50 rooms per day inclusive of cleaning services to provide a safe, comfortable and close-by ‘home base’ to frontline medical staff, their families, and those most vulnerable within the community. First to benefit are Capital Caring Health and Sunrise Senior Living with discussions continuing for MedStar Health and Inova to receive rooms for their medical staff as well.
The Ballston BID and Chesapeake Hospitality recognize that many essential workers in Ballston’s medical community live in cities that are oftentimes over an hour’s drive from Arlington. The Holiday Inn room block was created to lessen the commuting burden and offer a local respite, which allows those working who might be exposed at home to the coronavirus to stay at a safe distance to continue their invaluable work.
