At Community Lodgings, we are always inspired by the resilience and adaptability of our students as they navigate important transitions in their academic journeys. Recently, we spoke with Joshua, who shared his candid thoughts on moving into middle school and the challenges and surprises he has encountered along the way. “Middle school is not boring. […]
Meet Paola, who is in the 7th grade and a student in our out-of-school time programming at New Brookside Learning Center. Paola is an English Language Learner (ELL). When she began school in this summer, her English speaking and comprehension skills were limited. She didn’t feel confident and initially became resistant to speaking English. The […]
Thanks to our supporters, 120 under-resourced students were provided much-needed educational and supportive services in the past year! Every donor, volunteer, event attendee, or social media follower, made a contribution to help us ensure that our Affordable Housing, Transitional Housing, and Youth Education Programs continue to make an impact on Alexandria’s youth and families in […]
Meet 13-year-old Darwin, an 8th grade student attending George Washington Middle School and a participant in our Youth Education Program since the 1st grade. Over the years, Darwin has greatly improved academically and has become a leader amongst his peers. We were thrilled to learn that he founded and won the presidential election for his […]
After her husband left, Candi and her kids had to move in with her Mom and sleep on the floor. “That was so hard,” she says. “I had to eat my pride.” Fast forward 6 years: Candi entered CLI’s Transitional Housing Program, so she and her kids have a clean and safe apartment with comfortable […]
Jim came into the program with three daughters. Due to the loss of employment, he became homeless and ended up in a community shelter. In the beginning, he struggles with finding a job that would provide for the family due to his background. The mother of the daughters left him to raise them alone. After […]
When YB first moved to the United States six years ago with no job, no home, and no help, he faced a seemingly impossible task: to achieve self-sufficiency while raising his high school daughter on his own. After six months at a local shelter, he enrolled in our Transitional Housing Program. Just two months after […]
Naydelin, a first grader at George Mason Elementary School, enrolled in Community Lodgings’ after-school programming in the start of the 2016-2017 academic year. At registration, we learned she had been in public school system for less than a year after moving from Honduras, and was an English Language Learner with a Special Education Plan to […]
Ama and her husband came to America in hopes of a better life and greater opportunities. But for Ama, it was a frightening time in which she found herself totally dependent on her husband. Ama spoke very little English, had no friends or family in her new country and often found herself on the bad […]
By Stephanie Hemmert, Girls’ Mentor A little over five years ago, I walked into an Alexandria City Volunteer Information Session knowing I wanted to help in some way and do something, but I wasn’t sure what. I had participated in some literacy tutoring a few years before that, and was looking to get back to […]
