GrandInvolve to become a Fairfax County-run volunteer program

GrandInvolve, the all-volunteer nonprofit with a significant presence in Richmond Highway’s Title I schools, will officially become a program under the Fairfax County Department of Neighborhood and Community Services (NCS), effective Nov. 1, according to a Sept. 27 county news release.

GrandInvolve’s founder, Dot Keenan, and current acting executive director, Michelle Duell, are optimistic that the county’s assumption of administrative and programming responsibilities will enable the program to expand in coming years.

“By transitioning the GrandInvolve volunteer program into Neighborhood and Community Services, the program will benefit from the agency’s strong community connections and volunteer recruitment and coordination experience needed to train and manage hundreds of volunteers,” said Keenan, who now serves as an ambassador for the program. "Through the leveraging of NCS resources, the GrandInvolve program will get the much-needed infrastructure to expand to all 41 Title I schools in Fairfax County.”

According to Duell, who stepped in for Keenan as executive director in June, GrandInvolve presently is active in over 20 Fairfax County Public Schools’ Title I schools.

“Under NCS leadership, we expect that number to grow in early 2024,” she said.

This is GrandInvolve’s tenth year of placing older adults as volunteers in local schools, enabling them to forge intergenerational relationships with young people and share their talents with the community.

Duell will continue in her acting role until around mid-December, by which time the organization expects to complete a list of administrative tasks to close out operations due to the NCS takeover.

To learn more about volunteering at FCPS Title I schools, contact NCS-Volunteers@fairfaxcounty.gov.