View the Children and Youth Community Plan.

In 2021, Alexandria celebrated the release of its second Children and Youth Community Plan (CYCP), a blueprint for improving outcomes for children who call Alexandria home. The Plan envisions a city where “All of Alexandria’s children and youth can thrive today and tomorrow” and sets three cradle-to-career goals. But how do we know if we’re successful in reaching those goals? How do we know if all the work we’re doing is paying off? 

Every month, the City’s Department of Community and Human Services publishes a “Children and Youth Community Plan Report Card” that engages the public on the progress of the CYCP. Each Report Card helps tell the unique story about Alexandria’s children and youth. It  includes a result that we are trying to achieve with the CYCP, data that illustrate how we are currently doing in a particular area, specific actions our community is taking to improve the trend, the players involved, and what we are measuring to know if we are making a positive impact. The Report Card also celebrates youth and caring adults who are making a difference in our community. 

We will use these Report Cards as an opportunity to:

• Increase transparency and accountability
• Shine a light on the key issues that this Plan aims to improve
• Visualize current data and trends
• Lift up Alexandria’s youth serving programs and the work they do to “turn the curve” (improve trends)
• Highlight our progress with implementation
• Report out on performance measurements

Our goal is that the report card will provide the Alexandria community with information on the well-being of our children and youth in each of the key indicators examined.  With such information, community members, policymakers, civic leaders, and philanthropists can be more fully educated about the needs of our young people and what’s being done to meet those needs.

The population-level data come from public records, including the 2010 U.S. Census, the Virginia Department of Health, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), the Alexandria Resident Survey, the ACPS Scorecard, and the Search Institute’s Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors. To measure our performance and progress implementing actions, the data will come from program providers across the city. There are over 70 providers across our city who are contributing their data to this performance measurement system. 

While these Reports highlight our community's contributions to improving children's outcomes, they also focus our attention on the racial, economic, and social disparities that continue to persist, showing us where there is clearly more work to be done. When disaggregated data is available, the Report Card will include data that allow us to examine trends across various demographics, including race and ethnicity, income, ability, sexuality, and/or gender. 

Below is the collection of CYCP Report Cards made to date:

• Increasing Participation in Alexandria's Early Care & Education System | 2023
• Promoting Healthy Eating | 2022
• Promoting Positive Youth Mental Health | 2023
• Preventing Youth Substance Use | 2022
• Ensuring Sex Ed for All | 2022 | 2023 |2024
• Preventing Youth Violence | 2024
• Preventing Dating & Relationship Violence | 2022| 2023 |2024
• Preserving & Expanding Housing Affordability |2024
• Promoting Reading for Pleasure | 2022
• Creating Safe Homes, Schools, and Communities | 2024
• Creating a More Trauma-Informed & Resilient Alexandria | 2023 | 2024
• Promoting Youth Empowerment | 2024
• Connecting Youth to Caring Adults | 2022 | 2023 |2024
• Connecting Youth to Volunteer Opportunities | 2022 | 2023
• Strengthening Out of School Time Programs |2024
• Annual CYCP Progress Reports | 2022 |2023

• Children and Youth Community Plan Annual Progress Report 2022-2023 (published August 2024)
• Children and Youth Community Plan Progress Report 2021-2022 (published November 2022)
• CYCP Strategic Map
• Who Owns How Much of the CYCP?