For 50 years, OAR of Arlington, Alexandria and Falls Church has been journeying with those impacted by the criminal legal system while advocating for racial and economic justice.
OAR is a community-based nonprofit organization that envisions a safe and thriving community where those impacted by the legal system enjoy equal civil and human rights. Through its work, OAR also confronts and endeavors to dismantle individual and systemic racism.
Services for individuals impacted by the criminal legal system and their families include two main efforts: the Alternative Sentencing and Diversion Program and the Reentry Program.
The Alternative Sentencing Program works with adults and youth who are ordered by the Arlington and Falls Church Courts to perform community service in lieu of incarceration, penalties, court costs and fines. The Diversion Program works with adults and was created to reduce racial disparities in sentencing.
OAR’s Reentry Program offers intensive and highly individualized services to adults of all genders who are incarcerated in the Arlington County Detention Facility, Alexandria’s William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center, and other correctional facilities or who have returned to Arlington County and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church after release. It also supports their families.
“When OAR began fifty years ago, we hoped we would not have to exist at this point,” says Executive Director Elizabeth Jones Valderrama. “Unfortunately, due to continued racial and economic injustices, justice, joy and liberation remain elusive for many. The people we journey with struggle daily, so we must remain in the fight.”