The Prince William Board of County Supervisors marked a slate of September awareness dates at its Sept. 1 meeting, highlighting recovery, preparedness, voting access, kinship care and forensic work ahead of events later this month.
Recovery Month centers on the third annual Recovery is Real gathering Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the AJ Ferlazzo Building. The free-lunch event carries the theme “Recovery is Real, Restoring Every Aspect of Life.” Community Services Behavioral Health Program Manager Tanya invited the public to attend.
Disability Voting Rights Week runs Sept. 14–18. Adam Rizzoli of RevUp Virginia addressed the Board on disability voting access.
Find the Good Day is Sept. 17. Karen Kennedy of the Junior League of Northern Virginia spoke for that proclamation.
Forensic Science Week is Sept. 20–26. Capt. Heather McClain said that in July alone, forensic staff evaluated more than 1,500 latent fingerprints, provided photos for more than 200 prosecution cases, handled 49 CSI evidence cases and 240 hours of processing, and analyzed more than 13 terabytes of digital evidence.
September is also Preparedness Month. Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Misner urged residents to prepare for 72 hours of self-sufficiency and pointed people to Ready Prince William at pwcva.gov/ready. He announced a flood-resilience comment window on PWC Works, presentations for homeowners associations and houses of worship, and neighbor-to-neighbor skill sharing.
Kinship Care Awareness Month drew numbers from Social Services Director Phyllis Jennings-Holt: 27 kinship families caring for 44 children in the county.
Cassie Manchester spoke on behalf of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness. Separately, the Board also heard childhood cancer and sickle cell awareness remarks that are being covered in other stories.
The proclamations were ceremonial. The dated events and preparedness tools are available for residents to use now through late September.
