Belong Vienna Community Nonprofit Organization

05/27/2026

What a wonderful way to wrap up the school year! ☀️💙

At our end-of-year mentoring celebrations, mentors and mentees spent time reflecting on a year of growth, friendship, and learning. Kids and mentors exchanged signed picture cards, and each mentee received a copy of their Proud Moment story to take home and treasure.

Mentors also taught their mentees new dice games to play over the summer—helping keep math skills sharp while having fun! Each child went home with dice, game instructions, and a small gift from their mentor to encourage continued learning and play.

After recognizing our amazing students and volunteers, everyone enjoyed delicious homemade cupcakes generously provided by the bakers of Cake4Kids. Our mentors were also celebrated with Sunshine “Thank You” gift bags lovingly assembled by volunteers from Volunteer Fairfax RSVP Northern Virginia.

The day was filled with smiles, gratitude, and more than a few happy tears.

One student gave us a card that read: “Thank you for a wonderful year. I can’t wait to be part of Belong again next year!”

And one graduating mentor shared: “Mentoring with Belong has been one of my favorite parts of my time in high school. Thank you for the opportunity.”

Moments like these remind us why mentoring matters. Thank you to every mentor, volunteer, donor, family member, and community partner who helped make this year so special. We can’t wait to do it all again next year! 💙✨

05/06/2026

What an incredible STEM Night! 🚀🔬🧪

More than 60 students and mentors came together for an evening of hands-on learning, creativity, and fun. A huge thank you to One Neighborhood Foundation for sponsoring dinner and to HydroHarvest for helping lead such engaging activities for our students!

Students rotated through six STEM challenges created by the amazing teens from Marshall High School Technology Club and HydroHarvest, including:
✨ Alka-Seltzer Lava Lamps
🧬 DNA “Twisted Helix” Pipe Cleaners
🎈 Balloon Rockets
🌱 Hydroponic Leafy Plant Starters
🏗️ Toothpick Structures
🫧 Oobleck Squishies

It was inspiring to see students learning, experimenting, collaborating, and having so much fun together. Special thanks to the Marshall High School Technology Club students for sharing their time, leadership, and creativity with the next generation of innovators! 💡👏

04/24/2026

We’re looking for a Part-Time Youth Program Manager to join Belong!

Help us support youth through mentorship and keep our mission moving forward behind the scenes.

For more information, visit:

BELONG is now hiring for the position of Part-Time Youth Program Manager in Vienna. Apply today.

04/02/2026

Today was a big day for our high school and college mentees at Belong! 💼✨

We hosted our “Meet the Employer” Career Event, bringing together 24 incredible young adults, dedicated mentors, and employer partners from McDonald’s, Fairfax County Neighborhood & Community Services, Fairfax County Park Authority, and Virginia Auto & Tire.

The day was all about real-world preparation and real opportunities:
✔️ Practicing elevator pitches
✔️ Participating in mock interviews
✔️ Refining resumes
✔️ Learning how to confidently connect with employers

After a morning of skill-building, our students met directly with employers, asked thoughtful questions, and even participated in on-the-spot screening interviews.

What made today so special wasn’t just the experience - it was the growth. Watching these young adults step into their confidence, support one another, and envision their future careers was truly inspiring.

A huge thank you to our mentors who guided, encouraged, and showed up in such a meaningful way - and to our employer partners for investing in the next generation of talent.

This is what Belong is all about: opening doors, building confidence, and creating pathways to opportunity. 💙

03/19/2026

Belong is proud to share that we have achieved Platinum Transparency status with Candid, the highest level of recognition on their GuideStar platform. This designation reflects Belong's commitment to transparency, accountability, and sharing meaningful data about our programs and outcomes with our community of supporters.

Organizations that earn Platinum status provide detailed information about their goals, strategies, leadership, financials, and measurable impact. For Belong, this includes reporting on student participation, mentoring outcomes, and the ways our programs support academic growth, belonging, and future opportunity.

We are honored to receive this recognition and grateful to our mentors, volunteers, donors, and partners who make our work possible. Their support allows us to continue building pathways of belonging and opportunity for the young people in our community.

03/15/2026

In February 2026, Belong launched an exciting new partnership with Compass Pro Bono DC. This partnership brings together a team of experienced business professionals who are volunteering their expertise to help strengthen Belong’s long-term strategy and organizational capacity. Specifically, this 8-member team of experienced professionals is volunteering their expertise to support Belong in a Technology, Data, and AI Strategy project focused on strengthening how we manage and use data for our elementary school mentoring program.
Over the coming months, the Compass team will work with Belong’s leadership to assess our current systems and design smarter, more efficient ways to track student participation, mentoring relationships, and program outcomes. The project will explore how improved technology, data systems, and emerging AI tools can help Belong better understand student progress, streamline reporting, and deepen the impact of our mentoring work.

This partnership represents an important investment in Belong’s long-term capacity. By strengthening our data infrastructure, we will be better equipped to support mentors, measure student growth, and ensure that every child in our programs is receiving the encouragement and opportunities they deserve.

03/14/2026

In January, Belong elementary school mentees and their mentors kicked off the new year with a creative and confidence-building activity: making personal affirmation boards. Each student decorated a board with positive statements about themselves, goals for the year, and words that reflect who they want to become—such as “brave,” “kind,” “smart,” and “leader.” Mentors helped guide conversations about strengths, perseverance, and the power of believing in oneself.

The activity sparked meaningful conversations between mentors and students about identity, confidence, and growth. Many students proudly shared affirmations like “I can solve hard problems,” “I am a good friend,” and “I will keep trying.” The finished boards now serve as daily reminders that their voices matter and that they have a community of adults and peers cheering them on.

For our mentors, the experience was equally powerful. Creating the boards together allowed mentors to reinforce Belong’s core message: every child deserves to feel seen, valued, and capable of success.

01/12/2026

A sincere thanks to Bards Alley Bookshop for their generous donation of 37 books—including 25 copies of The Snowy Day and 12 copies of The Voice in the Hollow.

Because of this incredible gift, every Belong student was able to go home with a book for the holidays. Their generosity helped make the season brighter for our students while encouraging a love of reading that will continue long after the holidays are over.

We are truly grateful for Bards Alleys partnership and for the meaningful impact you have made on our students and their families. Thank you for helping us put books—and joy—into the hands of young readers.

01/10/2026

On December 20, Belong hosted an end-of-semester celebration for our College Career program participants and their mentors. It was a fun afternoon with games, connectivity, and reflection activities.

We are so thankful to those who provided support for this event:

-Vienna Business Association Foundation
-The many individual donors who donated stocking stuffer items for the students!!
-Vienna Presbyterian Church for allowing us to use their space for the event

Program participants highlighted several major themes:
-Feeling seen and supported matters more than achievements. For example, their memorable moments from fall 2025 weren’t events – instead,they were relational moments.
-The challenge is not motivation; it’s navigating systems along with adult responsibilities. Specific challenges mentioned: college systems; balancing school, work and family; and cultural adjustment.
-The students place strong emphasis on purpose, faith, and values.

We are planning some new strategies for 2026, including more focus on resumes and job-seeking skills. (We find that nearly all of our program participants must work and help support their families.) We also will be developing a “College Systems 101” resource for the program participants and their mentors to use – with a focus on how to ask for help, how to access free tutoring, how to communicate with teachers/professors/instructors, and how to recover from academic setbacks. That said, for 2026, we will continue to “keep relationships at our center.”

And one more call for volunteers: We have a critical need for more female mentors for the College Career Program. Reach out to [email protected], if you can help.

01/07/2026

Our elementary school mentoring sessions are well underway, and our students need snacks to fuel their bodies and minds. Help us stock the snack pantry to keep our learners energized and ready to learn!

Sign up to donate here: https://m.signupgenius.com/ #!/showSignUp/10C0E4CABA62BA2F4C16-belong1

Thank you!