With Arlington in the middle of an electricity-draining heat wave, one local nonprofit is helping residents in need pay off electric bills.
Since July 2013, Arlington Thrive has provided more than $180,000 in utility assistance. In the month of June alone, it has helped almost 150 people nearly three dozen families different households.
Almost half of Americans couldn’t afford an emergency expense of $400 without selling something or borrowing money, according to a report from the federal reserve on American households.
Schneider’s organization aims to change that.
“Arlington Thrive provides emergency same-day financial assistance to Arlingtonians in crisis working in partnership with social workers from the County and our social services partners like A-SPAN and Doorways for Women and Families,” he said. “Our largest areas of assistance are with rental assistance to help people avoid eviction and medical costs,” including doctor’s bills, prescriptions and dental assistance.
The organization provided nearly $475,000 in rent payments in fiscal 2015 between July 2014 and June 2015, helping prevent the eviction of almost 425 households, many of which had children.
Along with its daily emergency fund, Arlington Thrive also sponsors other programs.
Its Carter-Jenkinson Memorial Homeless Prevention Fund provides long-term assistance that the daily fund is unable to cover. Another initiative is its Dress for Work Success Program, which gives new professional work attire for clients who have completed Arlington County’s Arlington Works job readiness program.
In fiscal 2015, the organization received half of its income from Arlington County, with individuals providing 34 percent. The remaining 16 percent came from various businesses, civic organizations, foundations and faith groups.
“Arlington Thrive is a great example of a successful public-private community partnership that provides a financial safety net for our residents,” state Sen. Barbara Favola (D) said on the organization’s website. “I hope that successful model will continue for many decades to come.”
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St. Charles offers a play-based curriculum in a welcoming, Christ-centered environment.
Our program focuses on socio-emotional development and kindergarten readiness through hands-on and engaging activities. Our programs offer different schedules ranging from 7:30 am-5:30 pm for students, ages 2-5. We feature a full-day Jr. kindergarten class for older 4’s/5’s. Our facility includes a full-sized gymnasium, school chapel, and library. All of our students enjoy music and physical education weekly. Children have an opportunity to participate in enrichment classes such as soccer, basketball, ballet, and science.
We offer Summer Camp with weekly themes and twice a week water play, including Fun Friday moon bounce. Please join us for our Open House Feb. 3 at 9:30 am and 11:00 am. Click here to sign-up.
For more information or to schedule a tour, visit us at www.stcharlesarlington.org or call (703) 527-0608.

If you are a lifelong learner over 50+ who wants to make new friends, power up your brain, and enjoy a wide-variety college-level courses, Encore Learning is for you. An Arlington based nonprofit, Encore Learning offers courses in the arts, theater, literature, history, technology and more. This semester we offer our most popular course, Global Hot Spots as well as 25 new courses. Courses are presented either online or in-person at George Mason University at Virginia Square and other Arlington locations.
Join the free presentation to learn about courses and meet the instructors. This is Encore Learning’s signature event to highlight the upcoming semester with brief presentations by each instructor.
The Spring Course Preview event is Thursday, February 2nd at 9:30 AM via Zoom:
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