The pace of construction of our latest Building Futures house is heating up. 

The foundation of the 4,000-square-foot home on Billings Dr. in Annandale was laid earlier this winter and the rough-in plumbing recently passed inspection. This month, the concrete floor of the basement was poured. Soon our students will begin the framing process by installing the sill plate and joists for the first floor.  

It’s an exciting time as we head into spring and the students can start to imagine what this luxurious house will look like when it’s finished. It will feature three bedrooms and three baths, a main-level sunroom, a media room in the basement, a porch and a two-car garage.

This is our third Building Futures house. The previous one on Holyoke Dr. turned out beautifully and quickly sold for more than $800,000 in 2021.

Building Futures students split their school day between classroom instruction in academic subjects and hands-on learning of building trade skills at construction sites. As this video shows, they also develop the interpersonal skills and work ethic that will help them make the transition from school to employment. 

This school year, we have 19 students involved in Building Futures; 11 in our Fairfax program and eight in Loudoun County.  

A few years ago, our students were so fed up with the food served at our schools that they organized a petition drive to demand improvements. 

At the time, there wasn’t much we could do to make our meals more appetizing. We invited the kids to complete surveys about what they wanted to eat. But our options were limited, given budgetary constraints and government nutritional requirements for school food. 

Things are very different now. Instead of prompting protests, the food we serve is getting rave reviews from students. One note summed it up concisely: “1000,000% better then the old lunch.” 

Thanks to the expansion of the commercial kitchen at our Annandale campus and our new partnership with Brigaid, which added Chef Ben Pflaumer to our culinary team, we have joined the growing number of schools that are scrapping the standard heat-and-serve institutional fare and replacing it with scratch-cooked homestyle food made with fresh, healthy ingredients.   

A recent Associated Press article makes clear how fortunate PHILLIPS is to now have the facility, resources and expertise to be part of the movement to reimagine school food. It notes that rising costs and declining government funding make it impossible for most school systems to do what we are doing. 

The article also reminds us that the impact of school food goes beyond meeting a child’s physical needs. 

A 16-year-old student at Mount Diablo High School in Concord, California, which overhauled its meals several years ago, told the AP: “This food makes me feel more important. It makes you feel good not to eat trash food.” 

The food we serve our students is a reflection of how much we care for them. It makes us feel good to give them food that makes them feel good. We’ll be providing regular updates in future newsletters about the transformation of our school cuisine and what it’s doing for our students.

A Month Full of Celebrations

The shortest month of the year is long on reasons for celebration at PHILLIPS. 

Our schools had a wide variety of presentations during Black History Month to help students learn about the accomplishments of Black American leaders, innovators, educators, artists, athletes and more. There was even a scavenger hunt through the dozens of displays created by students and staff at the Annandale campus.

The 100th day of school also fell in early February. To celebrate, students posted uplifting messages such as “People are cool at this school” and “I appreciate you.”

February, with Valentine’s Day right in the middle, is also Kindness Month. Our staff and students got into the spirit by sharing messages of love and performing lots of random acts of kindness. For example, students assembled hygiene kits that included encouraging notes to be distributed to individuals who are homeless. There was a friendship lunch and special treats with messages of kindness for students and staff. 

On top of all that, we made sure to let all of our counselors know how much they are appreciated during National School Counselors Week.

In short, there was lots of love being spread around our campuses in February. And the best part is that this spirit of kindness and caring continues all year long at PHILLIPS.

Community Foundation Boosts PHILLIPS

We’re honored to have the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia shine a spotlight on PHILLIPS Programs this month. Their “impact stories” article recounts how an idea presented at a CFNOVA event six years ago inspired us to put employee ownership at the heart of our concept for SpringForward Ventures, our new nonprofit that is creating high-quality jobs and building community wealth.   

Six Years of PHILLIPS Programs Impact

Feb. 14, 2023 

In May of 2017, the Community Foundation held an Innovation Breakfast at which the Democracy Collaborative presented on the burgeoning concept of community wealth building. In short, the discussion was around “using the economic leverage of local anchor organizations like local government, hospitals, universities, housing associations, or large local private sector employers, to tackle longstanding systematic challenges and structural inequities within communities,” as defined here. In the United States, that might look like employee ownership of a small business, or community-run funds for mutual aid. 

In that audience were representatives from the PHILLIPS Programs, who saw the opportunity in the plan, and launched immediately a feasibility study, looking at how community wealth building could address issues for people with emotional and behavioral health needs. Eventually, the PHILLIPS Programs settled on the multi-stakeholder cooperative approach - using the model set up by the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western, and others. "We had been doing hydroponic farming for some time - the idea that really jelled at that conversation was the business model for the scaling of the farm, and most imporantly, the employee ownership." said Piper Phillips, President and CEO of the PHILLIPS Programs. 

The Community Foundation partnered with the PHILLIPS Programs through the years to advance social and economic mobility in Northern Virginia. The PHILLIPS Programs were awarded our Innovation Fund grant in 2019 to bring its urban vertical farming program to its Annandale location. CFNOVA’s relationship to the PHILLIPS Programs has grown and evolved over time. Add these experiences to that conversation almost six years ago, the PHILLIPS Programs have expanded, and founded a new nonprofit, SpringForward Ventures. SpringForward Ventures’ mission is to incubate employment social enterprises for individuals who encounter barriers to employment, anchoring themselves in different communities by funding and seeding actual businesses and organizations around human centered design. The focus for SpringForward Ventures is on fair wages and building wealth through employee ownership. With the nonprofit funding, businesses are supported financially, and ownership shifts to its employees when it becomes possible. 

The PHILLIPS Programs’ SpringForward Ventures initiative will move into constructing a high-tech four-bay greenhouse in Baltimore, Maryland, with the goal of selling produce to distributors, hospitals, restaurants, and similar organizations. They've partnered with the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health on a project to make hydroponic produce available in Baltimore's corner markets. The Community Foundation’s mission is to advance equity by advancing social and economic mobility, and this ongoing partnership with the PHILLIPS Programs is an example of this. Helping to ensure stability and opportunity for community members with disabilities or behavioral differences creates more equitable, more inclusive, and better-functioning communities for all.

PHILLIPS Programs for Children and Families
7010 Braddock Rd | Annandale, Virginia 22003
703-941-8810 | piper.phillips@phillipsprograms.org

PHILLIPS Programs for Children and Families is a private, non-profit organization serving the complex needs of children and youth living with cognitive, emotional and/or behavioral challenges in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. Through excellence in specialized education, community programs and individualized support services, we provide our children and families every advantage to ensure they develop to achieve their greatest individual success. Their potential is our commitment.