Nonprofits had many questions at a recent forum on new county funding to support placemaking initiatives in Green Valley.
The County Board set aside $80,000 in the fiscal year 2026 budget for the Green Valley Neighborhood Partnership Initiative. The deadline for applications from nonprofits seeking all or part of the funding is Nov. 14, with a final decision expected in January.
The initiative “will not fund a lot, but the ideas generated could be helpful looking forward,” said Elizabeth Matlock, an official in the county manager’s office who is coordinating the grant effort.
At a mid-October online session with prospective funding applicants, however, some expressed confusion about exactly what kind of programming County Board members were seeking.
“Did they have any idea what they were looking for, outside community engagement? Did they have a vision where they wanted this to go?” asked Callie Gass, a consultant for nonprofits and small businesses.
Matlock acknowledged “there was not a lot to go off of” in the notification for funding that was put out, beyond “things that can benefit the whole [Green Valley] community.”
From the notice of funding availability:
“The funding is intended to support community engagement which could include pilots of place-making, community building, programming, economic development, and housing. Proposals resulting from this process may help the county understand how to successfully engage with the community in the future. Proposals should respond to an identified need in Green Valley and should directly and uniquely work within the Green Valley neighborhood to help residents and the community thrive. The county is looking for novel programming, seeking to limit redundancy with opportunities already available within the community.”
Kelvin Manurs of the mentoring and training group Arm & Arm was among participants posing questions about what would constitute a winning application.
“It sounds like it’s going to allow room for innovation,” Manurs said, while voicing concern about several aspects of the grant process.
Alice Hogan, representing the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance, said it would be hard to tailor effective applications without more information from the Green Valley community itself.
“It feels a little bit out of context,” she said of the somewhat open-ended criteria put out by county officials.
Hogan said it would be better “to have a little bit of background of what has been tried and hasn’t worked, or what has been tried and ran out of money.”
Absent help from the county, organizations “might need to do their own [investigation]” before the deadline, she said.
Applications for funding will be reviewed by a panel of county staff, which will make recommendations to the Board. The $80,000 will be available any time after a final decision is made.
“We’re looking for programming to have some level of readiness. Ideally, programming would begin in July,” Matlock said.
Organizations will be able to go it alone or collaborate with one another in submitting applications, and will be able to seek the full $80,000 or just a portion of it.
With roots dating to before the Civil War, Green Valley — known before 2019 as Nauck — was one of the few places Black residents could live during an era of rigid segregation in Virginia.
More recently, the community has seen extensive gentrification as longtime residents have opted to sell out and move away. Today, only about 20% of Green Valley residents are Black, based on 2023 estimates.
Leaders of the community have voiced ongoing concerns that the county government does not listen to the community on issues ranging from crime to redevelopment.
