News

City Council looks to continue funding Alexandria Health Department’s Healthy Homes Action Plan

By James Cullum
Alexandria Health Department (staff photo by Vernon Miles)

The Alexandria Health Department lost dedicated federal COVID-19 grant funding earlier this year, and now the City Council will vote on a proposal for various health initiatives.

AHD is requesting one-time funding of $120,510 from the city to support the city’s Healthy Homes Action Plan for the current fiscal year, in addition to community health outreach, continued resource funding for immigrant and refugee programs, and expansion of the ALX Breathes program. The Healthy Homes program brings together dozens of city organizations to recommend home improvements.

City Council will consider the request at its meeting on Tuesday, July 1.

According to the city:

In consideration of the challenges identified, staff proposes that the City Council release $120,510 to AHD to maintain departmental capabilities that will be otherwise unfunded for FY 2026: community health outreach, engagement, and resource coordination with the city’s immigrant and refugee communities.

This work will include, as part of the implementation of the 2025 Healthy Homes Action Plan, the expansion of the department’s ALX Breathes program (providing home-based education, referrals, and green cleaning supplies to those with asthma or COPD) to the Amharic-speaking immigrant community, as well as direct service navigation and other community-based health and social drivers of health education efforts. The department is also seeing an increasing need for resource coordination for newcomer/refugee residents due to the loss of federal support for community refugee services. AHD resource coordination staff conduct needs assessments for newcomers, respond to those and the universal social need screens conducted in all AHD clinics since 2024, and provide warm linkages for needs such as primary medical care, cancer screenings, workforce development, and financial and rental assistance. The maintenance of these activities will support the health department’s mission to improve the social conditions that impact all our communities’ capacities to achieve their best state of health and well-being.

About the Author

  • Reporter James Cullum has spent nearly 20 years covering Northern Virginia. He began working with ALXnow in 2020, and has covered every story under the sun for the publication, from investigative stories to features and photo galleries. His work includes coverage of national and international situations, as well as from the White House, Capitol, Pentagon, Supreme Court and State Department. He's covered protests and riots throughout the U.S. (including the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol), in addition to earthquake-ridden Haiti, Western Sahara in North Africa and war-torn South Sudan. He has photographed presidents and other world leaders, celebrities and famous musicians, and excels under pressure.