United Community Ministries Inc

Sacramento Neighborhood Center and Creekside Village Community Center serve as hubs for 15 local neighborhoods to meet, learn, and grow as neighbors and as a larger community. These centers are places where residents connect with their neighbors, learn to lead, and make changes that strengthen their community, developed by and for local residents. Our SPARK program (Success through Purpose, Achievement, Respect and Knowledge) is a multifaceted youth development program for students in grades 1-12. SPARK provides a safe after-school and summer environment where at-risk youth can receive homework help, learn new skills, and engage in activities that promote leadership and intervention/prevention of negative behaviors. Working with Fairfax County, we provide resources for learning, mentorship, and health screenings to community residents of all ages.United Community sponsors two Community School programs at Walt Whitman Middle School and Mount Vernon Woods Elementary School. We work with teachers to provide students and their families with direct access to the health and social services they need to succeed in and outside of the classroom. We provide students and their families with access to youth and community development programs and community engagement opportunities that promote stronger families and healthier communities.

United Community's Healthy Families Fairfax program provides home-based parenting education, health information, community support, and school readiness for parents from pregnancy until the child reaches age three. Family Support Specialists works with families to promote positive parenting, improve child health and development, encourage school readiness, and prevent child abuse and neglect. Early Learning Center (ELC) provides high-quality daycare and childhood education for children ages six weeks to 5 years. All children receive positive classroom experiences that naturally stimulate children's curiosity and development. Children 3 years and older receive free medical, dental and vision screenings. Four- and five-year-olds work in curriculum-based classrooms focused on kindergarten readiness. Parents are supported with parenting education and referrals to appropriate resources.

United Community's collective impact initiative, COMMUN1TY+, strives to bring people together in a structured way to achieve social change. Working closely with the Fairfax County Opportunity Neighborhood program, COMMUN1TY+ aligns resources and efforts to support communities based on the needs expressed by Mount Vernon residents in order to improve equity and reduce disparities in health, safety, economic strength, child and youth well-being, and neighborhood livability. Residents become leaders by bringing community voice to the forefront of policy and system development impacting Mount Vernon neighborhoods along the Route 1 corridor.

Progreso Literacy and Citizenship Center empowers immigrants through education, citizenship services, and immigration assistance services. At Progreso, we open doors for our fellow community members by helping them acquire the skills and resources they need to succeed. We provide semester-long English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for adult learners of all language levels. Progreso is also dedicated to helping those on the path to obtaining US Citizenship, offering citizenship classes that are designed to prepare students for the US Citizenship Exam and Oral Interview. We have an immigration consultant on staff to help clients with immigration-related legal issues including asylum, green cards, temporary protective status, family petitions, and citizenship applications.