Tracy Viselli's Blog

Alexandria Is a Playful City!

 

This year, ACTion Alexandria and our community has been all about Project Play, an effort to ensure that every child in Alexandria has a quality space to play. Working with our partners, Alexandria Childhood Obesity Action Network and Alexandria/Arlington Smart Beginnings, we've been able to accomplished a lot!

So you can imagine how excited we were to hear that Project Play has acheived yet another goal. Alexandria has been named a Playful City by KaBOOM!

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Thank You Alexandria for Astonishing Spring2ACTion 2012 Results!

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After adding on the almost $700 in cash donation made at Alexandria branches of Virginia Commerce Bank, our presenting sponsor, Spring2ACTion 2012 raised more than $320,000 for Alexandria nonprofits in just 24 hours! Spring2ACTion is the biggest Alexandria fundraising event ever thanks to you!

What your contributions mean for local nonprofits
  • Casa Chirilagua can now start an after-school middle school program for kids living in the Chirilagua area of Arlandria.
  • The Art League can build a new art facility to continue to provide affordable art education.
  • YMCA Alexandria can provide 21 more kids scholarships to summer camp.
  • Friends of Guest House can continue parenting classes for women coming out of incarceration to help them transition successfully back into community and family life.   
  • Senior Services of Alexandria is able to extend its Meals on Wheels Program to serve seniors on more Saturdays and Sundays.

 

And the winners are…

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Arts & Culture, Education, Environment, Food & Shelter, Health, Neighborhoods 2012, Alexandria, prize, results, spring2action, virginia, winners

Spring2ACTion 2012, Our Biggest ACTion of the Year!

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One City.  One Day.  One Opportunity.

What if we all gave one one day?

ACTion Alexandria's biggest action of the year, Spring2ACTion, begins at midnight on May 2, and we urge you to help us make it a record breaker. Last year, we all worked together to raise $104,000. This year, our goal is to help local nonprofits raise $200,000 in just 24 hours!

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Arts & Culture, Education, Environment, Food & Shelter, Health, Neighborhoods 2012, action, action alexandria, Alexandria, donate, donation, nonprofit, spring2action, virginia

It's Your Turn to Ask the City Council Candidates!

What would you ask the City Council candidates?ask_the_candidates_2012

Civic engagement is what ACTion Alexandria is all about and what's more civic than voting?  It's been a boisterous year in city politics, and with more than a baker's dozen worth of candidates running for City Council, it's hard for a lot of us to figure out which candidates best represent our vision for our community.

So, we are turning the tables on traditional political debates by giving YOU the starring role in our online forum.

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Arts & Culture, Education, Environment, Food & Shelter, Health, Neighborhoods ask, candidates, citizens, city council, city of alexandria, election, forum, online

Announcing the Alexandria Green Ideas Challenge Winners!

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How would you make Alexandria a greener, more sustainable community?

On February 29, 2012, Eco-City Alexandria, Alexandria Environmental Policy Commission, and ACTion Alexandria teamed up to launch the Alexandria Green Ideas Challenge. We asked Alexandria to submit their ideas for making Alexandria a greener, more sustainable community. Our goal was to harness the incredible talent, intelligence and creativity of Alexandria citizens to generate and prioritize ideas for sustainability and serve as a community catalyst to move our city closer to being a true eco-city! 

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Environment Alexandria, alexandria green ideas challenge, enivronment, green, ideas, Sustainability, virginia, winners

Get Ready for Spring2ACTion 2012!

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One City.  One Day.  One Opportunity.

What if we all gave one one day?

On Wednesday, May 2nd, our community will come together for 24 hours of unprecedented giving.

Spring2ACTion is one extraordinary day to support the organizations that make Alexandria amazing. ACT and ACTion Alexandria, in partnership with our sponsors, are offering up to $30,000 in cash and prizes to help increase fundraising efforts by participating organizations and individual fundraisers.  Real-time tracking will be displayed on the leader board at www.Spring2ACTion.org on May 2.

Be Generous.  Be Alexandria.

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Arts & Culture, Education, Environment, Food & Shelter, Health, Neighborhoods Alexandria, charity, donate, event, giving, nonprofit, online, spring2act, spring2action

Project Play City-wide Playground Assessment Results

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They're finally here!  Below you'll find the final report on Project Play's city-wide playground assessment by Design Concepts.But first, a little background on how we got here.

The Project Play partners and taskforce have been working to learn more about how well the playgrounds in Alexandria address the play needs of Alexandria's toddlers and preschoolers. With funding from a Kaiser Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) grant, Project Play hired Design Concepts, a group of playground experts, to gain a better understanding of the

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Health, Neighborhoods Alexandria, assessment, city, play, playground, playspace, project play, report, study

Announcing the Alexandria Green Ideas Challenge

eco-city_alexandria_logoaction_alexandria

dominion_power_logo

How would you make Alexandria a greener, more sustainable community?

Eco-City Alexandria, Alexandria Environmental Policy Commission, and ACTion Alexandria have teamed up to launch the Alexandria Green Ideas Challenge. We asked Alexandria citizens to share their ideas for creating a greener, more sustainable community.

All the ideas have been submitted and now it's time to vote for the winners!

Prizes

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The best three citizen ideas will win a total of $500 in cash prizes and a chance at $2,000 in mini grants to turn their Green Idea into a reality.

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Environment, Neighborhoods community, environment, environmental, grants, green, ideas, prizes, Sustainability, sustainable

Play in Alexandria Video

We know you've been waiting to see the Project Play Playground assessment results for a while, so have we.  The good news is that the Project Play Playground Assessment results will be posted on Childhood Obesity Action Network's webpage later today.  In the meantime, watch their video about play in Alexandria.

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Health, Neighborhoods Alexandria, assessment, childhood obesity, playground, project play, results, video

Happy 1st Anniversary to You!

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It's time to celebrate. One year ago today, we launched ACTion Alexandria as a way to build a community that would connect neighbors and organizations to share ideas, take action and make an positive impact on our city.  With the support of ACT for Alexandria, the Knight Foundation, the City of Alexandria, the Bruhn-Morris Foundation, and you, we've been able to make this happen.

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Education, Food & Shelter, Health, Neighborhoods action alexandria, anniversary, first, gift, pinterest