Amanda Andere, the executive director of FACETS, a nonprofit that opens doors by helping parents, their children, and individuals who suffer the effects of poverty in Fairfax County, was selected by Northern Virginia Magazine as a 2012 Northern Virginian of the Year for her outstanding leadership that is helping FACETS grow its efforts to end homelessness as well as her community commitment.
"I am so humbled and honored to be recognized in this way. Northern Virginia is my home, and I’m committed to making it a better place to live and work for all of our residents. In a county that has more than 1,700 people who are homeless, FACETS’s work is critically important. Accolades such as this provide a way for us to help the community understand that poverty is a real and serious issue in our very wealthy county," explained Andere, who started with FACETS in 2009.
Andere is on one of six to be honored in the story, which runs in the June edition of the magazine. The piece notes her accomplishments in leading FACETS’ efforts in reducing Fairfax County’s shelter wait list and in helping lessen the impact of poverty on county residents.
The story also cites Andere’s extraordinary volunteer commitment as a reason for the recognition. Her involvement includes serving on the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance Advisory Committee; the Nonprofit Roundtable’s Future Executive Director Fellowship Advisory
Committee; as co-chair of the Fairfax County Region Four Human Service Network Group; and as chair of Nonprofit NoVA’s Program Committee. She also serves on the board of the Fairfax County Alliance for Human Services and Take Heart Association Project, and teaches Sunday school at Martin Luther King Christian Church in Reston. In addition, Amanda serves on the Reston Association Board, representing the Apartment Owners, a majority of which provide affordable housing to Reston’s diverse community of 60,000 residents. She is also adjunct professor at George Mason University, teaching nonprofit management.
With the second largest homeless population in the region, homelessness is a real problem in the Fairfax County-Falls Church community. A majority of the homeless are in working families with children. With critical help from volunteers and partnerships with the faith and business communities, FACETS works to prevent and end homelessness throughout Fairfax County by offering a full spectrum of services, such as basic needs and financial assistance, counseling and outreach, educational enrichment programs and permanent housing.