Headlines

Whether or not we are making headlines, we impact the lives of young girls and women every day. Keep in touch and stay up to date on what is happening at SOHO.

 

2019

SOHO wins 2019 NBC Universal’s Project Innovation Grant
SOHO is now officially an award-winning STEM program for girls!

“This year’s grant winners comprise a variety of programs that are introducing children to STEM-related fields to help develop the next generation of STEM leaders, non-profits that are mobilizing underrepresented communities by empowering them to take an active role in political elections and the upcoming 2020 Census, and groups that provide adults with market-ready skills to obtain successful and high-paying jobs in technology fields to help them secure a brighter economic future for their families.” Read More

 

Angie Goff, broadcast journalist from DC FOX5 showcases Space of Her Own on her weekly podcast “Oh My Goff” 
Watch here

 

SOHO’s Cynthia Chin Receives 2019 Virginia Mentoring Partnership Outstanding Community Mentor Award
“We had a wonderful time at our 2019 Power of Mentoring event on October 10th, where we celebrated the power that mentoring has to transform the lives of young people and honored outstanding corporate and community mentors throughout Virginia. Congratulations again to our Outstanding Corporate Mentor, Lora Loftis, and our two Outstanding Community Mentors, Cynthia Chin and Stan Davis!” Read more

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2018

Alexandria Living: Giving Local Girls a Space of Their Own
Alexandria nonprofit Space of Her Own transforms lives and spaces through mentoring.
“Mentoring has been proven to lead to beneficial changes in youth and to positively affect their academic achievement and to reduce engagement in risky behavior and depressive symptoms. It costs roughly $1,500 per week for a child to be in the juvenile detention center, a price that could provide a year’s worth of mentorship in the SOHO program, which has a 98 percent success rate.” Read More

 

Alexandria Gazette Packet: Commending Mentorship: Youths and adults connect through variety of programs.
“Ten organizations participating in the Alexandria Mentoring Partnership (AMP), a coalition begun in 2006, oversees the mentorship programs. AMP’s mission: ‘To provide a quality mentor to every child in Alexandria who needs one’ — particularly those considered at-risk.” (page 7) Read More

 

WUSA9: Young photographers on display at Space Of Her Own
The ‘Space Of Her Own’ (SOHO Old Town) motivates young girls’ creativity through photography and other artistic media. Watch the video here

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2017

SOHO Mentor Featured on  The Connection
Mentor of The Week: A Cross-Cultural Connection
“Rebecca has brought so much more to my life than I had ever imagined. We have a very strong bond that I plan to cherish for life.” Read More

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2016

SOHO Featured on Daily Do Good
SOHO Goes Full Steam Ahead: Imagine a year filled with fun arts and crafts, yummy food, community service, and individual support from a friendly mentor, all culminating in—drumroll please—a room makeover to create a new space just for you in your very own home! Read More

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 2015

SOHO featured in Partners in Action with Arlington Public schools
In this episode, Partners in Action features the partnership between the Space of Her Own program and Hoffman-Boston and Randolph Elementary School students. It is a year-long arts-based mentoring program that provides students with creative art opportunities which make use of their imaginations. The projects that they work on throughout the year lead to an exciting renovation of their bedrooms, where each girl can feel safe in a Space of Her Own. Watch here

 

SOHO featured on local blog: HerBearings.com
I have always wanted to volunteer.  Specifically, I wanted to become a mentor, because mentoring works.  I greatly believe in the power of mentor-ship, and have personally benefited exponentially from others who have taken the time to support me, encourage me, and offer me guidance, both in a personal and professional sense.  I spent several days pouring over volunteer websites like Volunteer Match  and Idealist until I finally stumbled upon the perfect match for me. SOHO.  Read More

 

Space of Her Own & Space of His Own featured on The Arlandrian
Transform a Space and Transform a Life: Mentor with Space of Her Own and Space of His Own. Read More

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 2014

SOHO featured on Old Town Alexandria Patch
Discovering Passions, Building On Strengths: Mentoring program Space of Her Own teaches youth to build relationships, explore talents and open up to a future of possibility. Read More

 

Space of His Own featured in Alexandria Times
Navigating Boyhood: Space of His Own teach fifth-graders life lessons. Read More (Page 6)

 

SOHO featured on Act for Alexandria
Stories of Impact: Space of Her Own.
Spring2ACTion in one word, is amazing. No, I take that back. It’s inspiring. Thrilling. Motivational. Moving. Unique. Where else will you find friends and strangers alike who rally together to support local organizations like our small, (but growing!) non-profit, Space of Her Own (SOHO)? In one word, Alexandria.” Read More

 

99.1 FM WNEW’s Kimberly Suiters interviews SOHO about Arlington expansion

 

SOHO featured by ARLnow.com as SOHO heads to Arlington! 
The “Space of Her Own” art-based mentoring program will partner with two Arlington elementary schools for the 2014-2015 school year. SOHO’s Arlington program will operate like its predecessors in Alexandria, Snyder said. Twelve girls, selected from Hoffman-Boston Elementary and Randolph Elementary, will have a “life-skills session” at the beginning of each meeting to discuss problems they encounter in school or at home. Afterward, they will journal about the session with their mentor before eating dinner and beginning an art project. Read More

 

Space of His Own featured in Alexandria Gazette
“Great Commitment, Greater Outcome” 
As Space of His Own wraps up its initial year, Ryan Touhill and Walter’s relationship is off to a strong start. Read More (Page 11)

 

Amy Creed, SOHO President receives 34th Annual Salute to Women Awards Making a Difference Award
Creed, who received the Making a Difference Award, and Martinez, who received the Youth Community Services Award, are among 10 honorees whom the Alexandria Commission for Women recognized “for their accomplishments in civic life and for the improvements they have brought about to the well-being of Alexandria women and girls.” Read More

 

SOHO featured on Fox5 DC Mentoring Monday
Watch Here

 

ACPS Students Honor Their Mentors with Award-Winning Essays
Jenny, who participates in the Space of Her Own (SOHO) program for pre-teen girls, honored her SOHO mentor, Erika Strattman. Read More

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2013

SOHO Annual Report FY13
A message from our President, Amy Creed, our updated mission, a SOHO spotlight, and our financials. Check out what SOHO has been up to in the past year!
Click here to download and read more!

 

SOHO now a member of the Virginia Mentoring Partnership
SOHO has been accepted as a member of the Virginia Mentoring Partnership and has been selected to participate in a statewide cohort designed to recognize program strengths and create a plans to improve program practices.

 

Alexandria Lifestyle features SOHO “BECAUSE EVERY GIRL DESERVES A SPACE OF HER OWN”
My hope is to stay in Jasmine’s life and see her off to college one day. She’s a great girl and has a lot of potential, but just like every girl in this program, they’re there for a reason and sometimes need a strong female to rely on. Read More

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2012

America’s Promise Alliance has announced Alexandria, Virginia on the 2012 list of 100 Best Communities for Young People.
This year, winners were chosen from a pool of more than 320 nominees from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They hail from 42 states, which is a record for the competition. Alexandria is an America’s Promise Alliance five-time 100 Best Communities for Young People winner! And guess who made the highlighted list for innovative community programs? SOHO! Read More

 

Washington Post Article: In mentor program, interiors get a makeover – Decorating bedrooms forges a bond to guide at-risk girls to college
When her fellow middle school students were more focused on the latest fashions, Mirinda Haynes faced a more life-changing issue: her mother’s death. In 2006, a year after her mother died of breast cancer, Haynes was saddled with grief, depression, resentment an’d no clear plan for her future. Today, she’s heading to college with an academic scholarship, thanks in part to Space of Her OWn, or SOHO, an Alexandria-based crime-prevention program that uses art and bedroom decorating to teach girls life skills and set them on a college track…  Click here to download and read more!

 

AD2DC Selects SOHO for free marketing campaign!

 

SOHO awarded grant from Westminster Presbyterian Church through their Community Grant Program.
Westminster Presbyterian Church, through its Local Mission Committee, offers grants through its annual grant program to help Northern Virginia charitable organizations. Westminster focuses its local mission efforts around Children, Hunger, Education, Shelter and Self-Sufficiency. Read More

 

SOHO Awarded Strategic Planning Grant from ACT for Alexandria
ACT for Alexandria has just announced the recipients of its 2012 Capacity Building Grant Awards. Totaling almost $70,000, the grants will strengthen eight local nonprofit organizations serving children, youth and families in Alexandria. These grants invest in… Read More

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2011

SOHO Featured in National Education Association Magazine
Soon after seventh-grader Martha Turcios learned that floorcloths were hand-painted canvas floor coverings made by women in Colonial times, she set out to make one of her own. Floorcloths are one of many art projects Martha has taken… Read More

 

Amy Cable Accepts Alexandria City Public School’s New Partner in Education Award for SOHO

 

SOHO recognized by The American Independent as an after-school program that adds stability in lives of low-income students
Many after-school programs focus on low-income students who need a safe haven from their poverty-stricken and often chaotic neighborhoods. The troubles that plague these kids can be gritty, and the hours between when a child gets out of school to when the parents come home are called Prime Time for Juvenile Crime for a reason. Read More

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2010

SOHO Wins NAACP Community Service Award 

 

Alice Merrill and Linda Odell named Living Legends of Alexandria
ALEXANDRIA, VA. – Seven years ago, Alice Merrill and Linda Odell began “SOHO: A Space of Her Own,” a partnership between The Art League of Alexandria and the City of Alexandria’s Court Services Unit. Their vision, commitment and collaborative fundraising efforts created an alternative arts program that touches the lives of at-risk… Read More

 

SOHO selected for Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Bright Ideas program
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, announced 173 government programs selected for its newly-created Bright Ideas program. In its inaugural year, Bright Ideas is designed to recognize and share creative government initiatives around the country with interested public sector, nonprofit, and academic communities. This year’s cohort of Bright Ideas was chosen by a team of expert evaluators made up of academics, practitioners, and former public servants. Selected from a pool of nearly 600 applicants including smaller-scale pilots, 2010 Bright Ideas address a range of pressing issues including poverty reduction, environmental conservation, and emergency management. Read More

 

SOHO featured by WELOVEDC
I had the fortunate opportunity to serve as a mentor two years ago and truly can’t encourage your attendance and support enough. Read more

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2009

SOHO Semifinalist for President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities Coming Up Taller 
The President’s Committee announces the 50 Coming Up Taller award semifinalists selected from more than 400 applications submitted from across the country. These annual awards focus national attention on outstanding programs across the country that are promote the creativity of America’s young people, providing them learning opportunities and the chance to contribute to their communities. Read More

 

SOHO featured by Shauna Lee Lange Studios
As a result of a citywide survey of Alexandria’s teens and parents, and community focus groups, it was concluded that at-risk girls would be most successful in avoiding juvenile criminal activity and improving social skills and self-esteem, through engagement in long-term mentoring involving art activities. Consequently, a partnership between the local Court Service Unit and the non-profit Art League was developed and a “Space Of Her Own” was conceived. Read More

Washington Post Article: “Space of Her Own, an Alexandria Mentoring Program, Gives Girls Room Makeovers”
Even before the first coat of paint covered the pocked, discolored walls of the bedroom Tajá Roberts shares with her two sisters, the 11-year-old envisioned the decorating possibilities. Read More

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2008

SOHO recognized in The United States Conference of Mayors Best Practices series – Best Practices on At-Risk Youth and High School Dropout Prevention.
This publication examines successful approaches mayors, school superintendents, police chiefs, workforce development professionals and human services officials are implementing across the country to promote high school retention, increase graduation rates, and improve job readiness; as well as successful efforts to proactively prevent gang development and combat gang violence in our cities. Read More 

 

Alexandria Times Article: Space of Her Own program seeks volunteer mentors
Read More

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2005

Washington Post Article: “Using Arts to Craft Higher Self-Esteem”
An Innovative Program In Alexandria Gives Troubled Girls a Chance To Improve Their Lives And Living Quarters. Known as Space of Her Own or SOHO, the program was designed to serve low-income girls considered “at risk” — a term officials use to describe myriad troubles, including delinquency and habitually running away from home. Officials say about half the program’s participants are on court-ordered probation for crimes that include shoplifting and assault. Read More

 

The Chronicle of Philanthropy Article: “Making Sure Girls Have a Room of Their Own”
Read More