Purchased by residents with support from the Federal Reserve Bank, the City of Alexandria, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the ACHC effectively removed a bloc of housing from the ravages of the market – and created a new bloc of homeowners and stakeholders in our community. From those beginnings in one neighborhood fighting for affordable housing, TWU expanded to city-wide issues such as access to healthcare and excellent public education and has now grown into a regional organization that is fighting anti-immigrant policies in Prince William County and supporting day laborers in Fairfax County.

• Unity was the childcare providers' campaign that increased access to quality childcare for low-income families and improved working conditions for childcare providers.
• Prevented the eviction of thousands of families from the Arlandria-Chirilagua neighborhood in the 1990’s.
• Founded the Arlandria-Chirilagua Housing Cooperative (ACHC), a 282-unit housing complex that is owned and operated democratically by its resident-owners. To this day, ACHC is the only home ownership opportunity available for low-income people in Northern Virginia.
• Launched Alexandria Union Cab, a worker-owned and -operated business with more than 230 drivers and a market value of $2 million.
• Won a 35% discount for uninsured patients in the Inova Health System.
• Successfully demanded that Alexandria City Public Schools hire bilingual (Spanish/English) parent liaisons to help parents communicate with teachers and to orient immigrant parents.
• TWU Youth led the College Prep for All Campaign that led to creation and institutionalization of culturally sensitive, academically rigorous educational opportunities for all students in Alexandria City Public Schools.
• Co-founded the national Right to the City Alliance (RCA), a coalition of over 40 organizations across the U.S. united in the struggle for urban rights. RCA fights for affordable housing, inclusive democracy, immigrant rights, environmental justice, etc.

Unity meeting circa 1994

Youth and parents speak at an Alexandria City Council meeting in 2021 about the need to reallocate funding from SROs to mental health resources

• Won an annual increase of $350,000 to the city’s childcare provider reimbursement budget and helped institute policies such as due process, rights to bilingual notification for service providers in the Alexandria Department of Human Services, and expanded low-income family access to subsidized childcare.
• Helped create a living wage law in Alexandria that resulted in the total wage increase of $450,000 for the lowest-paid municipal and outsourced workers in Alexandria.
• Won a living wage law in Arlington, raising the minimum wage for all Arlington municipal employees, including school board employees, as well as a majority of outsourced workers to $11.00/hr (in collaboration with the Arlington Living Wage Coalition).
• Eliminated over $1 million in medical debt for low-income residents of Alexandria.
• Recovered millions for low-wage workers in Fairfax County.
• Held 11 consecutive annual Health Fairs to provide critical services such as vision testing, cholesterol and HIV screenings to over 300 people each year.
• Won a youth-led campaign to get Restorative Practices implemented in Alexandria City High School, and later pushed to expand the program to middle schools
• Led the fights to end toxic collaboration between local law enforcement and ICE: Pressured Arlington County and Alexandria City to opt out of DHS Secure Communities in 2010; helped pressure the Fairfax County sheriff to terminate their contract with ICE in 2018; won concessions from the Alexandria Sheriff to reduce collaboration with ICE in 2019; organized a community-led fight to end the 287(g) program at the Prince-William Manassas Adult Detention Center.
• Led the push to get the Alexandria City Council to reallocate funding from the School Resource Officer program to school-based mental health services for students.