Over 900 citizens volunteer on more than 75 Council-appointed boards and commissions. Council honored these volunteers at a reception last fall. Also recognized were volunteers from the Alexandria Volunteer Bureau.

Notices about board and commission vacancies are distributed to newspapers, posted on the City’s web site and posted on Government Access Channel 11. The Citizen Assistance Office also distributes a listing of all board and commission vacancies.

Interested citizens may contact the Citizen Assistance Office at 703-838-4800 or the Office of Human Rights at 703-838-6390.

By the end of FY 1999, all new City employees completed diversity training, which provides employees with a better understanding of the many cultures represented in the City’s diverse population.

The City Manager’s Affirmative Action Committee sponsored the first annual Festival of Cultures in October, at which City employees enjoyed food, artwork and performances from various cultures represented within the City’s workforce.

The Office on Women’s Domestic Violence Program was selected in FY 1999 as one of only 10 programs in the State certified by Virginians Against Domestic Violence, the State’s domestic violence coalition.

The Fourth Annual Walk to Fight Breast Cancer, held last October at Cameron Run Regional Park, raised more than $60,000 for the Alexandria Breast Cancer Fund and included more than 700 participants. Administered by the Inova Alexandria Hospital, the fund provided mammograms for more than 350 women who could not afford the cost of regular mammography screenings. The fund also provided educational materials for more than 3,500 women to increase awareness of the importance of early detection and treatment of breast cancer. The Walk, coordinated by City Manager Vola Lawson’s Breast Cancer Awareness Committee, is sponsored by the Office of the City Manager, the Office on Women, the Alexandria Commission for Women, the Alexandria Commission on Aging, the Alexandria Health Department, the Alexandria Volunteer Bureau, the Agency on Aging and the Inova Alexandria Hospital Foundation.

The Fifth Annual Walk to Fight Breast Cancer will be held on Saturday, October 23, 1999, at Cameron Run Regional Park. Jan Smith, of WTTG-TV Fox 5 News, will be the special guest emcee. More than 1,000 children and adults are expected to participate in the Walk this year. For more information, call the Office on Women at 703-838-5030.

At the end of March 2000, the United States Census questionnaire will arrive in every home. All residents, permanent or temporary, must complete this form and mail it back. Census questionnaire responses are confidential. To ensure an accurate count of the City’s population, in September 1998, City Council appointed a Complete Count Committee, which includes representatives from a wide range of civic, school, business, religious, neighborhood and non-profit groups. This Committee will work to ensure that all Alexandria residents are counted, especially those groups that have a high likelihood of being undercounted. For more information about the Alexandria census, call the U.S. Office of the Census at 703-274-2062.

In May 1999, City Council voted to build a new animal shelter on City-owned land on Eisenhower Avenue, adjacent to Cameron Run Regional Park. The shelter replaces the current 49-year old shelter on South Payne Street. Approximately 25,000 citizens visit the shelter each year, with the shelter returning an average of 322 animals to their owners. The new shelter will conform to public health, safety and welfare laws and regulations. To aid in the construction of the estimated $2.5 million project, the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria (AWLA) will contribute $500,000. Construction is scheduled to begin in March 2000.