[Archived] Leadership Fairfax Recognizes Alexandria’s SOHO Program With 2005 Community Partnership Award

City Press Release


	For Immediate Release	For More Information, Contact
	November 21, 2005 PIO# 331-05/rdo	Steven J. Mason, Public Information Officer, or Raynard Owens, Communications Officer, at 703.838.4300 Raynard Owens, Communications Officer, at 703.838.4300

Leadership Fairfax Recognizes Alexandria’s SOHO Program
With 2005 Community Partnership Award
Program Serves At-Risk, Low-Income, Teenage Girls

Leadership Fairfax has recognized Alexandria’s Space of Her Own (SOHO) program with the
2005 Community Partnership Award. The award honors the program’s coordinators, Alice Merrill and Linda Odell, for their noteworthy examples of leadership through their contributions to the Northern Virginia region. SOHO is an arts-based mentoring program that allows local girls to attend workshops in art and design with their mentors and work with them to remodel their bedrooms.

The program serves at-risk, low-income, teenage girls between the ages of 12 and 14. It seeks to facilitate an appreciation for the arts while it develops positive, long-term relationships between girls and mentors, reduces crime, and promotes the overall success of the program’s participants in school, home, and community life. Participants and their mentors meet twice a week after school to attend sessions in team building, life skills, art, and space planning; and on weekends for painting and remodeling work. Mentors volunteer at least 200 hours of service during the project and commit to a yearlong mentorship with a teenager.

The Art League Inc. and the Alexandria Court Service Unit administer the program. Alice Merrill is the development director for the Art League Inc. and Linda Odell is a program administrator for the Alexandria Court Service Unit. Since its inception in 2003, SOHO has assisted over 27 teenage girls.

Leadership Fairfax is a nonprofit, community-leadership organization that identifies current and emerging leaders and brings them together to study community issues and to achieve positive change. The Community Partnership Award is one of several Northern Virginia Leadership Awards that the organization annually presents to individuals and groups who make a difference in the Northern Virginia region.

For more information on Alexandria’s SOHO program, call Linda Odell at 703.838.4144.

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