Fairfax County launches an Opportunity Youth Network
Fairfax County has launched an Opportunity Youth Network, an initiative focused on empowering young people ages 16-24 who are not in school and not working.
The network is a collaborative effort involving several agencies to drive equity, elevate youth voices, and strengthen support systems for more than 9,300 young people facing disconnection in Fairfax County, Fairfax City, and Falls Church.
These young people, referred to as “opportunity youth,” often face systemic barriers, including economic hardship, disabilities, or lack of access to supportive services. The network aims to build stronger pathways to employment, education, mentorship, and personal growth by uniting local agencies, nonprofits, schools, and businesses.
“We’re not simply talking about programs – we’re building a movement grounded in partnership across systems and communities,” said Tony Humphrey, youth innovation manager at the Fairfax County Department of Neighborhood and Community Services (NCS).
A launch event for the Opportunity Youth Network on July 15 brought over 60 community partners together to “start putting our ideas into action, putting strategies in place, and building community and connection,” said Sallyann Rodriguez-Sawao, executive director of Fairfax Futures.
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“The impressive turnout highlights our community’s shared commitment to creating a more connected and responsive system—one that truly sees, supports, and empowers every young person,” Rodriguez-Sawao said.
Other partners in the effort include the Fairfax County Department of Family Services, the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, Fairfax County Public Schools, the Capital Youth Empowerment Program, and Northern Virginia Family Services.
Participants at the event heard from youths who’ve been helped by NCS’s Re-Engagement Centers, an initiative based at community centers across the county, including the James Lee Community Center in Falls Church, the Minnie Peyton Community Center in Bailey’s Crossroads, and the Willston Community Center in Seven Corners.
Re-Engagement Centers provide disconnected youths, ages 14-24, with mentorship, skills training, leadership development, career guidance, and help accessing an array of services.
I find this program and this article to be woke newspeak drivel. If you want a job, go to Wendy’s and ask to clean the floors.
Crazy how reading news works the same way! IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. There are plenty of “non-woke” sites for you to troll, loser.
If you don’t like the comments, go somewhere else, loser.
Mr. Marbleton’s advice has worked for generations. It certainly worked for me when I started my first job at age 11 and then my first w2 with a work permit at 15 earning less than $4/hr.
On the other hand, woke programs don’t have quite the success rate, let alone a net positive cost/benefit.
I think relying on programs in lieu of bootstrapping is ill advised. Or maybe you know something that others don’t. Maybe young people shouldn’t start working young and should wait for get-rich-quick schemes in their 20s?
Yes, the nerve of some people reaching out to help young people create a better future for themselves AND the community around them through better training, education, and work when they could all go out and get a low-skill, crap-paying job that will help most of them stay exactly where they are now! (But you like it that way, don’t you?)
I find your comment to be bitter, ignorant, self-centered regurgitation. Jesus must be so proud.