By Missy Schrott | mschrott@alextimes.com

At city council’s legislative session on Tuesday evening, the North End Quality of Life Work Group presented a community action plan for bettering the neighborhood. Alexandria’s North End community generally encompasses the areas south of First Street, east of the Braddock Metro, West of North Washington Street and North of Oronoco Street.

The group was established in 2016 as an ad hoc work group that would meet during the course of a year to identify problems that impact the safety and overall quality of life for residents and businesses in the North End.

“The group developed an action plan focused on creating a cohesive sense of community,” Hillary Orr, special assistant to the city manager, told council.

“The goals and strategies outlined in this report are designed to create a unified neighborhood with the knowledge of and access to services that support every member of this community, allowing them to thrive and excel,” she said.

Group members, including chair and former mayor Bill Euille, outlined the goals they hoped to achieve in creating a cohesive sense of community in the North End, along with suggested strategies to reach those goals. The work group also touched on the processes they had gone through to reach these conclusions, financing and criteria to evaluate the goals in the future.

The action plan is detailed on the city’s website. It includes goals such as enhancing trust between the community and the police, providing positive role models for young people in the neighborhood and ensuring residents have access to existing community services and programs.

“I’d like us to be sure to work towards making sure that some of these suggestions are … brought forward through civic associations and various departments so we can work together to make sure that we’re moving forward,” Mayor Allison Silberberg said.

One full year after the plan takes effect, staff will provide updates on each of the action items based on the group’s established evaluation criteria.

“The outreach to those that are young as well as seniors and everyone in between, I love that,” Silberberg said. “This effort’s going to need to continue, but not just in this particular neighborhood … it’s a great model for across the city.”