The Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William

By Dominique McIndoe

With recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic still underway, a volatile economy, and a nationwide recession looming on the horizon, the Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William stands as a refreshing slice of stability for Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park. They exist purely to assist people and enhance their quality of life.

History

Though the Alliance began in 2019 as a nonprofit association comprised of traditional and nontraditional human services providers, the organization is actually an extension of the legacy of the Prince William Coalition for Human Services, which operated successfully for more than 30 years prior to the Alliance’s inception. The Alliance acts as a catalyst for greater partnerships and collaboration among its network of human service organizations, the faith community, other community organizations, and interested citizens to enhance the lives of the people they support. Their role is to be the glue that holds all of these organizations together and meet the diverse needs of the Greater Prince William citizens.

“The mission of the Alliance is essentially to equip and empower traditional and nontraditional service providers to work most effectively and to collaborate with one another better,” said Chelsi Conaway, the previous executive director at the Alliance.

Among its founding board members were Abi Foerster from St. Thomas United Methodist Church, Karen Smith from The Arc of Greater Prince William, and Steve Pierce, Open Arms & Outreach Pastor from Park Valley Church. They, along with several other prominent leaders and board members in the community, wanted to create an entity that would provide various forms of support like its predecessor organization.

When the organization officially formed in 2019, passion and enthusiasm propelled the Alliance and created a sturdy foundation for all of the work that was to come. The COVID-19 pandemic and its shutdowns began just one week after the Alliance had its kickoff meeting in March 2020. The Alliance had to pivot to set up communication platforms so that service providers could communicate their quickly changing program offerings. The

Alliance spent the first month of the pandemic developing and setting up the Prince William Area Disaster Fund in partnership with the City of Manassas, the City of Manassas Park, and Prince William County Government so that private citizens and businesses could pool financial resources that were then granted out to organizations providing COVID-19 relief in the earliest days of the pandemic when state and federal resources had not yet been set up.

Impact

To clarify a common misconception, the Alliance does not, in and of itself, provide human services to the Greater Prince William community.

“Our tagline is ‘We serve those who serve our community,’” explains Peggy Kimmey, the interim Executive Director for the Alliance. “Our platform of service provides educational offerings from subject matter experts, organizes networking events to develop partnerships, communicates important information like grant opportunities, and provides other resources to support the community.”

The Alliance’s main funder since its inception has been the Prince William County Government. That relationship evolved into a partnership for the administration of funds providing assistance to underserved households impacted by COVID-19 in Prince William. The first grant was for $3 million dollars in mid-2020, with the CARES Act Community grant, awarded to 26 nonprofit partners who provided rent and utility assistance, employment services, medication payments, childcare, and more.

The second administrative partnership began in January 2022, with $10 million dollars from the Americans Rescue Plan Act grant. Thirty-three non-profit organizations were selected to provide employment support, childcare, utility assistance, hunger relief, emergency shelter, mental and behavioral health support, and navigation and application assistance for public benefits. In January of 2023 rent/eviction assistance was added to the services available.

“With so many different services offered, it is hard to quantify the impact these organizations have made with their awarded funds. I am in awe as I share with you that between April and December of 2022, the ARPA partners provided 15,732 boxes/bags of food, 2,715,295 meals, 383,561 pounds of food, and served 16,788 families/households and 119,081 individuals,” explains Kimmey.

Providers and Recipients

The numbers are impressive, but it’s really the stories, one household at a time, that truly reflect the difference the funding has made.

One such household was the Huntingtons who received financial assistance from the CARES Act Community grant, as they were facing hardships. The Kuma Foundation — who’d been funded by the Alliance — assisted them after their child was diagnosed with Mucopolysaccharidosis 1, also known as MPS 1 or Hurler syndrome.

“I went to an orthopedic surgeon appointment with Wesley to have his hands looked at and that appointment changed our lives forever,” says Whitney Huntington. “Within about a month of that appointment, we had a diagnosis that he had a rare — very rare — 1 in 100,000 genetic disease… On March 17 [2020] I was furloughed from my job. Alex [my husband] was furloughed from his job. The medical bills were hefty. And that’s where the Kuma Foundation and the Alliance came in. They sort of rescued Christmas [2020] for us. They really made the end of the year [2020] manageable through a very generous financial gift. And they were able to pay our entire December [2020] mortgage and a vast majority of all of our utilities.”

The partners receiving funding through the ARPA grant began changing people’s lives in April of 2022, exemplified by this story shared by Jinnae Monroe, Managing Principal of HireGround.

“Leaving a domestic violence marriage and secretly locating to Prince William County was the hardest thing I ever did,” says M. Brown, a recipient of HireGround’s generosity. “I needed my husband’s income. While working two part-time jobs, I prayed that somehow, I could get qualified in a way that would allow me to earn a decent salary while working one full-time job. Someone told me about a free certification from the local nonprofit and I reached out to HireGround.”

HireGround helped her pay her electric bill and cover car repairs while she finished Certified Nursing School and got back on her feet.

The rent assistance program has only been in place since January, but it has made a tremendous impact on our community.

Madlin Edmonds, Senior Pastor for New Creatures in Christ Community Church shared one such story about a community member named Sara (name changed to protect privacy). Sara went to the hospital with COVID-19-like symptoms, and while she tested positive, she also found she had stage four cancer. Her sister contacted the church for help with paying her rent, as she was worried about having a home to return to after cancer treatment.

“With the Alliance’s rent assistance funding, we were able to pay Sara’s rent arrears down to a zero balance. Sara left the hospital to go to hospice in her own home. The same home that she would have been evicted from had it not been for this funding. Sara transitioned from this life in her own home. She will never have to worry about being evicted again,” she said.

The Alliance is constantly seeking more ways to recruit additional human service providers to join them. To support these connections, the Alliance hosts in-person and virtual events to engage, empower, and educate area service providers.

“It is rewarding for the Alliance to connect organizations who can provide different services to the same clients,” says Kimmey, “but it’s even more satisfying to see the collaborations between community organizations emerging naturally when they meet at events. This includes the speakers who provide the training at our events. We are always looking for organizations and individuals to offer their expertise and resources to help our community thrive.”

The most challenging part of working at the Alliance, for Kimmey, is identifying the organizations that are not already connected with them.

“I don’t know who I don’t know,” Kimmey says. “I welcome introductions so I can learn what the organizations do and better understand how the Alliance can help them.”

For those interested in working with the Alliance or making a donation, they can contact Kimmey at executivedirector@ alliancegpw.org. For more information about the Alliance, visit alliancegpw.org.