Committee of 100 Monthly Meetings Are Back!

After a long summer break, Committee of 100 will resume its monthly meetings starting Wednesday, September 15.
You may or may not have heard of Committee of 100, so here's some brief information about what they do. As stated on their website:

The Committee of 100 has been Arlington's principal forum for citizen education in local and regional public affairs since its founding in 1954. The monthly dinner meetings provide an educational setting in which issues of local, regional, and state interest are discussed in an atmosphere that permits communication to replace conflict.

Indeed, Committee of 100 is one of few open forums in Arlington that provide a venue for education and discussion about a wide range of topics concerning those who live and work in Arlington. Past topics include the County's education system, Metro, community diversity dialogue, and trends affecting teenagers.

The members are long-time Arlingtonians and who genuinely care about the Arlington community as a whole. It is also important to point out that the speakers coming to their meetings are definitely leaders in the civil, political, and business community. I found myself sitting next to State Delegate Bob Brink one time! At the upcoming meeting, we will have Jay Fisette, the County Board Chairman, and Brian Coulter, chief development officer for JBG Corporation, as featured speakers. Aside from a great learning experience, the opportunity to get to network with these business and political leaders is a huge plus as well.

Like many others, the first time I attended a Committee of 100 meeting was because I was invited by someone else who was already familiar the group. Since then, I have attended several of their meetings. Each time I have either learned something interesting or made a good personal connection. So come join us at the next Committee of 100 meeting, and you might find it to be a valuable experience!

Details of each meeting are posted on CVN's Facebook page. If you are part of the CVN Facebook group, you will also get an email inviting you to the meeting.

Hope to see you on September 15th!

Sara Abramson
CVN's Committee of 100 Liaison

Arlington County Fair: More Than Fun and Games!

The Arlington County Fair kicked off yesterday at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center. With tons of food, crazy rides, and live entertainment, there's a lot to get excited about. However, there's a lesser known side of the Fair that takes place inside the gymnasium that is definitely worth a visit. In addition to arts and crafts booths and businesses, a number of local non-profits are on site to discuss their mission and upcoming volunteer opportunities. Essentially, it's a one-stop-shop to see the array of what Arlington has to offer and how we can give back.

When looking through the list of non-profits who will be at the Fair, it's great to see how many of them have welcomed CVN as volunteers in the past. There are also many organizations we have never worked with. I encourage you to go to the fair and visit all of these groups -- you never know what volunteer opportunity might arise out of a short conversation.

Here is a short list of groups CVN has helped in the past or is planning to work with soon. If you've volunteered with them before, let them know. I bet they'd be happy to see you again!

Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC): CVN has a recurring event with AFAC where we help bag rice, beans, oatmeal, produce and other items the center buys in bulk. In fact, there is an event coming up this Saturday: http://tinyurl.com/afacrec. At their booth, they will be collecting donations of non-perishable food. Donations seem to pick up in the fall and winter, but there is a great need throughout the year.

Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) of Northern Virginia: CVN will be helping children with spin art at SCAN's booth on Saturday and Sunday: http://bit.ly/aWlI83. No prior experience is necessary, just a fun attitude!

Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment: CVN has helped ACE with stream clean-ups in the past, including the well-publicized event earlier this month where volunteers found a goat head!

Arlington Committee of 100: Starting in September, the Committee of 100 will be back with its monthly dinner meetings that include discussions of local, regional, and state interest. We hope to partner with the Committee of 100 for an educational event later this year.

Arlington YMCA: This fall, CVN will team up with the Arlington YMCA for the first time. We plan to help the YMCA host a haunted house for local children around Halloween.

If you visit the Fair and learn about a new opportunity that may be a good fit for CVN, please let us know!

Hope to see you there!

Tiffany

The Social Side of CVN

Interested in a civic-minded group of 20-30 somethings in Arlington? Take a look at some pictures and videos below--both of which we'll be adding to, so please send any on if you have some!



Keep up with our social world through our Facebook page here, though you can also see upcoming events on our calendar here. Want to know more? Contact our Social Chair, Kelly Corbally, at CVN.social@gmail.com.

As with the above videos, you can scroll through those below with the arrows on either side of the player (we just have two to start from the monthly Committee of 100 meeting CVN volunteers check out--more info on that here: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=329069256849&index=1).



See more CVN videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/ArlingtonCVN.

CVN Monthly Update, Feb. 2010: Community Garden and Committee of 100

Below is our most recent email--please let us know any feedback. Also, if you aren't getting these in your inbox, sign up on the County site (be sure to check the box that you're interested in CVN and in receiving emails): http://tinyurl.com/CVN-register Dear CVN volunteer,  So we're rolling along here with CVN and excited to involve you all in some new initiatives (in addition to the big 'ol line-up of events for March--check out the list farther down). We now have a crew of around 18 of us on four committees (!!), all of whom are involved in some way in planning volunteering and social events, and communicating with you all about it--many thanks to everyone who has gotten involved. BUT, will such a big crew get much done? We think so. We're experimenting, so we'll slip up some, but we think dedicated people aiming for some worthwhile goals can do some real good.   So, we've got some things in store here and hope you'll continue to engage. For example: The first event for our new Recurring Volunteering Committee, set up by Committee Lead Brynn Slate, will center around working on working with a local school on a community garden--see sign-up details below; The upcoming launch of a CVN blog-- which we think will allow CVN volunteers to have a forum to help improve on our ideas and suggest their own; we'll also be using it to do things like highlight volunteers and start discussions on issues like civic engagement, volunteerism, and how we might do both more effectively. But we'll aim to avoid writing just to see ourselves write, so to speak, so weigh in and keep us in line! Also, we're excited that three of you answered our call for more committee leads in our last email; now we just have ONE last spot to fill (for now!)--basically, you'd be on the Monthly Volunteering Committee and in charge of planning two one-time volunteer events over the next six months. Interested? Contact Kellen MacBeth at CVN.m.volunteering@gmail.com; On our Social Committee, Sara Abramson has stepped up as our Committee of 100 Lead, and each month she's able to she'll be rallying a group of CVN folks to attend. The Comm. of 100 is a crucial example of civic engagement in Arlington--see more and RSVP below; As a last note for now, many thanks to everyone who came out to our Time Slips event and to our AFAC chicken bagging in February!