From Summer 2025 InRoads Newsletter
Many changes are occurring at the state and national levels, and some of them may affect our work and the people we serve. As the summer comes to a close, we remain focused on our mission and future goals and will address the challenges and changes as they come.
Every year, we look to the future at our Annual Steps to Pathways Breakfast, which will take place on October 3 this year, at the Fairview Marriott. This important and uplifting fundraiser also gives us a chance to share our story and celebrate the leaders who help propel our work and improve the lives of those we serve. We hope you will be able to join us as we honor Delegate David Bulova, Virginia Housing Alliance Leader Brian Koziol, and Virginia Housing.
This event follows our amazing 12th Annual Summer of the Arts Exhibition, which was held at the Fairfax County Government Center. Throughout July, Pathway Homes’ residents showcased and sold their own art, poetry, and crafts at this popup gallery. During the kickoff reception, Michele Bryant, a featured artist, spoke eloquently about her mental health journey and the importance of Pathways and art to her healing process. A touching moment was when she pointed out that both her attendance at the event and ability to address the crowd are indicators of her significant progress towards health and recovery.
Our future is also looking bright as we adapt our newly acquired future headquarters to meet the region’s needs. Plans for renovating our new headquarters in Fairfax City, an innovative, mixed-use hub, are moving forward. Our space will house Pathways’ offices while also providing homes for more than a dozen people with behavioral health challenges, who are working to recover their lives. The building will also have a Community Hub that will include a food pantry, a supply storage area, a training center, and parking for our newest service offering, the Mobile Outreach Unit (MOU).
With generous grants from Virginia Housing, Potomac Health Foundation, Cafritz Foundation, and Amazon, totaling close to $300K, we will be on the road next quarter with the MOU, a retrofitted trailer that will bring support services, including access to showers, directly to people experiencing homelessness in Northern Virginia and DC. Currently, only two of Northern Virginia’s 41 shelters offer shower drop-in services. Providing a mobile response to those facing homelessness will help us meet the needs of the unsheltered and provide direct access to case managers whose focus is to help people move off the streets. By bringing services directly to those in need, we can build trust and restore dignity to those experiencing homelessness who otherwise may not seek services on their own. This will become another important and collaborative tool to help prevent and end homelessness in our community.
As social innovators, we continue to see obstacles as opportunities. While we may have concerns about recent policy shifts, we remain steadfast in our commitment to help those whose voices have no home. Housing brings safety, health, and hope; and we face this fall determined to protect and nurture the future for those in our community whose dream is a fixed address and a life reclaimed.
Dr. Sylisa Lambert-Woodard
President and CEO
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About Pathway Homes
For more than 45 years, Pathway Homes has enabled tens of thousands of people in the National Capital region with serious mental illnesses and other co-occurring disabilities to access affordable housing and critical supportive services to help them recover their lives. Following a housing-focused model, Pathway Homes is a partner in preventing and ending homelessness, touching nearly 2,000 lives each year and ensuring access to affordable stable homes in permanent supportive housing units.
