News and Information
November 24, 2025
More than 200 early childhood sites in the Ready Region Capital Area (RRCA) have been named to the 2024-25 Virginia Quality Birth to Five (VQB5) Honor Roll by the Virginia Department of Education (DOE), recognizing them among the 10% in statewide VQB5 ratings for excellence and improvement.
These child care centers, public schools and family child care homes, earned a spot on the 2024-25 VQB5 Honor Roll announced by VDOE in October 2025.
The Commonwealth also announced VQB5 Quality Ratings for 3,293 early childhood sites statewide. The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), in partnership with the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation and the nine Ready Regions, administers VQB5..
VQB5 uses Classroom Assessment Scoring System observation scores and use of an approved curriculum to determine the ratings. VQB5 measures and helps improve the quality of all publicly-funded birth-to-five classrooms and support families to choose quality programming across program types.
VQB5 Quality Ratings are based on results from teacher-child interactions and curriculum measurements gathered from every birth-to-five classroom. These measures are predictive of school readiness; children in classrooms that score higher will likely learn more.
In the 2024-25 school year, Virginia introduced three Honor Rolls to recognize 494 early childhood sites across the Commonwealth. Impressively, 201 of these sites - 41% of the statewide total - are located in the Ready Region Capital Area, encompassing Arlington, the City of Alexandria, the City of Falls Church, the City of Fairfax and Fairfax County. Among the recognized sites are 18 public schools, 51 centers and 132 family child care homes with several earning recognition across multiple categories.
Excellence Honor Roll – These 38 sites earned Exceeds Expectations, the highest possible rating in VQB5. The sites include center based, family child care home, Head Start and public school sites.
Infant-Toddler Quality Honor Roll – These 101 sites demonstrated top performance in infant/toddler classrooms (top 10% in the state).
Improvement Honor Roll – These 118 sites showed significant year-over-year gains in teacher-child interactions (top 10% in the state).
Honorees will receive Honor Roll certificates and be recognized on their online VQB5 Quality Profiles.
See the full list of Ready Region Capital Area honorees.
NCS' Early Childhood Programs and Services is the lead agency for Capital Area. RRCA ensures all components are in place to coordinate quality measurement and guide improvement in publicly funded classrooms as part of the Unified Virginia Quality Birth to Five System (VQB5). For more information on the Ready Region Capital Area, visit Ready Region Capital Area.
November 20, 2025
Fairfax County has developed a new tool to help people support food distributions in their communities.
The Emergency Food Access Providers Application has added a “donate” geolocation tool to allow users to see which food distribution sites need donations and the types of donations they are accepting.
“This will help specialized products such as baby formula or large donations of perishables get to places in the county where they are most needed,” said NCS Food Access Program Manager Alisa Brooks.
“If a home gardener has an abundance of peppers, they can filter the map to find organizations accepting large amounts of produce. Similarly, if someone in the community is looking for where to donate canned goods, they can click ‘non-perishables’ and see where they can take them,” she said. “We'd like to encourage people to reach out to the sites directly in case there are specific times of day they are accepting donations or needs have changed.”
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors proclaimed Nov. 16-22, 2025, Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. The most recent Capital Area Food Bank statistics say 26% of residents are food insecure. NCS supports a variety of programs to aid people in the county who are experiencing food insecurity.
More information:
Food Access Program Information
Fairfax County Hunger Resources
Fairfax County Homelessness Resources
November 19, 2025
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors proclaimed November 2025 as Veterans and Military Families Month. Neighborhood and Community Services is proud to support this effort through the Veterans and Military Families Commission, created by the Board in 2024 to identify challenges faced by county veterans, active-duty military and their families.
At the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, Commission Chair Penny Gross, the former Mason District Supervisor, gave a report summarizing the state of veterans’ affairs in Fairfax County and the commission’s work since it was created by the Board in July 2024.
The commission, supported by NCS staff, is comprised of 20 Board-appointed community representatives. The commission connects veterans and active-duty military members with services and supports, addresses gaps in services and opportunities, improves access to service systems, and enhances the institutional structures across the continuum of care for the military community.
According to the report, the commission:
Adopted principles for its work, including a commitment to dignity and security, being strategic and disciplines in research and recommendations.
Identified five key issues – economics, education, family, health and housing.
Will undertake an online needs assessment survey in early January 2026. This survey will provide more insight into the needs and experiences of veterans and military families in the county.
Is planning an online central hub linking veterans to more resources.
“Fairfax County is home to 65,000 veterans, and an estimated 14,000 military-connected students are enrolled in Fairfax County Public Schools,” said NCS Veterans Coordinator Chris Pulley. “But we have identified continuing challenges these men and women face living here. The cost of living remains troublesome, and homeownership is out of reach for many. We are experiencing a military ‘brain drain’ as too many transitioning service members leave the area as the cost of living is so high. Families also struggle with high child care costs and challenges with spousal employment.”
For a listing of County veterans’ services, please visit Fairfax County’s Military and Veterans resource page.
View the proclamation.
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