Henrico County and Henrico County Public Schools earned four achievement awards from the Virginia Association of Counties (VACo) for programs focused on serving community needs.
Henrico Area Mental Health & Developmental Services (MHDS) won two VACo awards, for a family therapy program and for Regional Recovery Day, an event to promote recovery from addiction.
MHDS became the first agency in the region to offer community parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) to improve the quality of caregiver-child relationships and address behavioral problems in young children. The county has expanded its program from two PCIT-certified therapists to a team of five, with two more in training, as well as a trainer. Bilingual clinicians enable the program to offer services in English, Spanish and Lebanese Arabic.
The counties of Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover and the city of Richmond earned a VACo award for their collaboration on 2024’s Regional Recovery Day, an educational event organized to connect residents with resources on substance use treatment and prevention. As overdose rates remained high, the localities sought to equip residents with information from health experts. The second Regional Recovery Day will be held Wednesday, Sept. 3 at the Henrico Sports & Events Center.
Henrico County Public Library (HCPL) was honored by VACo for its Cook & Book series, a program launched in 2017 at Varina Area Library to connect the community through food and reading. Chefs from local businesses introduce recipes and kitchen techniques while the library provides cookbooks and other resources. Cook & Book has grown into a monthly program.
In fall 2024, Henrico County Public Schools (HCPS) asked students and faculty at R.C. Longan Elementary School to imagine their future campus. Construction is now underway. The initiative, called “If I Built a School,” developed into a schoolwide STEAM project — science, technology, engineering, arts and math — where students learned about different career paths while also sharing direct feedback on the future building. HCPS was recognized by VACo for the learning experiences that R.C. Longan students gained.
“These award-winning projects demonstrate the community-driven work that county government, schools and libraries provide every day in Henrico,” County Manager John A. Vithoulkas said. “The future of Henrico is shaped by the people who live here and their continued engagement with our staff. They tell us what their neighborhoods, schools and families need so that we can work together to improve our community’s quality of life.”
VACo awarded 57 programs across the state from a total of 155 submissions. With combined awards, Henrico is the second-highest awarded county in the program’s 23 years. A full list of the county’s VACo awards is online.
The county also earned 48 awards from the National Association of Counties for innovative programs and initiatives in 2024, which can be found online. At its meeting Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors recognized the employees behind all of the awarding-winning initiatives.
