Falls Church Forward’s Civic Mission a Model for Local Communities

It’s hard to imagine a more community-minded, energetic and effective local civic group than Falls Church Forward (FCF) serving the City of Falls Church.
Since its inception in informal conversations around outdoor fire pits during the pandemic, the “Citizen Collective for a vibrant, sustainable and welcoming Falls Church,” has garnered more than 400 local members, a growing slate of accomplishments, and a flexible agenda of volunteer activities designed to lift the community and give voice to neighborhood residents in myriad ways.
For this article, The Falls Church Independent spoke to City of Falls Church Mayor Letty Hardi about FCF, as she is one of the influential group’s founders. The group’s “leadership team” has not yet decided whether to file for non-profit status, though its website, outreach and coordination are most polished and effective.
FCF's First Year Achievements
What's your group done lately? For FCF, it's plenty.
Candidate Questionnaires. Potlucks. A Halloween Bike Parade for the kids. Biking Food Tours. A "Leave the Leaves" Campaign. Informative Talks. Gift Wrapping fundraisers. S’Mores Fundraisers. An Appliance Expo to help “Electrify FC.” Crosswalk Painting. Community Building. Volunteer Days. Ambassador Programs to Neighborhoods. Posting residents’ messages to their website on the prompt: "What’s Your Perfect Day in Falls Church?" And there's more to come...

Falls Church Forward’s Mission and Vision for Change
“We are a coalition of Falls Church residents and civic leaders who are taking the long view to imagine, advocate, and work for a Falls Church that is welcoming, vibrant, and sustainable,” FCF’s Mission Statement proclaims. “To do so, we are coming together as an active, vocal, political base of support for city policies, projects and programs that promote the pillars of our city’s openness, vibrancy, and sustainability.”
And those pillars are five: Housing for All, Community Businesses, People-First Places, Climate Resilience, and Welcoming Culture.
FCF’s goals to improve the City are also captured in their Vision Statement.
“Every building and street, parking lot and tree, sidewalk and storefront has a profound impact on how we interact with each other," the statement says. "They together form an ecosystem that powers our Little City. When people live within walking distance of local shops, it means we can more easily support our community businesses. When we support community businesses, we diversify our tax base, which sustains Falls Church as an economically strong, independent city that provides top notch services, schools, and public places. When we walk to those public places on safe, tree-lined streets, we bump into friends and neighbors, strengthening our bonds with each other. Foundational to this ecosystem are housing options that enable us to live here."

As "a coalition to support city policies, projects, and programs that bolster these five pillars of vibrancy, sustainability, and openness,” the statement says, FCF will "need to think and act holistically, proactively, and intentionally about the design and development of our streets, green spaces, buildings, and culture. There is no standing still — regional trends (like population growth and housing costs), national trends (like remote work and inflation), and global trends (like climate change) present new challenges to our Little City each year.... This is why a group of neighbors and civic leaders have come together as Falls Church Forward — a coalition to support city policies, projects, and programs that bolster these five pillars....”
Video Premier, Discussion on Housing by Council Member Underhill
Yesterday’s FCF activities exemplify the community-based values expressed in FCF’s vision statement.
At Viget, at 105 W. Broad St., Falls Church City Council member Justine Underhill, an FCF member and co-leader, presented to interested residents Jan. 26 her YouTube video "Green vs. Grey Environmentalism" tackling some of the thorniest issues in the current debate over housing policy.

While advocates of “housing density” argue the strategy helps mitigate climate change, sprawl and deforestation, local opponents often cite “green” arguments such as neighborhood tree canopy or stormwater runoff. What do the statistics reveal? For Underhill, we need to take the more global view.
As a former Yahoo! Business reporter, Underhill knows well how to create and produce deep-dive videos that spark lively discussion, but also educate viewers with strong research, nuanced distinctions, and gripping visuals and sound. As designed, a crackling and constructive discussion followed Underhill’s screening, with attendees leaving better informed and more energized.

For more on Council member Underhill’s background and what she brings to the City Council, see our article here:

Interview with FCF Co-Founder, Mayor Hardi
“So, Falls Church Forward was actually born out of Covid. During [the pandemic] when we obviously weren’t getting together [indoors], we started getting together in people’s backyards talking about equity,” Mayor Hardi recounted. “This was post-George Floyd and the re-awakening about racial equity and social justice and we started looking inward and said, ‘How can we bring this home?’”
“And this was when housing and all the issues I really care about really became more at the forefront for me, realizing the background of how zoning came to be,” Hardi continued. “And we actually really care about racial equity and social justice and that it really starts locally at home. So it began sort of as this backyard group. We would meet every two months, kind of in someone’s backyard during Covid. And then, around 2022 or so, I said, ‘I want to turn this into a real group.’”

“When we got together around fire pits in people’s backyards – we were socially distanced back then – I looked around and thought, ‘These are all people who are really active in the community. They’re heads of boards and commissions, they were on the School Board, they were my friends on the Council. – And it was all legal, there were no more than two of us per [governmental] body! We were very careful about that! [Laughs]. – But, I was like, ‘These are all people who’re making decisions in the City who care about this too,” the mayor recalled. “‘So, can we turn this into a real thing and become an actual civic group?’”
“So, in 2023, I asked Peter Davis at the time, ‘Can you help me turn this into a thing?’ He was working on his ‘Join or Die’ film, and he was all about civic engagement and how to improve it. And he said, ‘Great! Let’s make this a real thing in Falls Church!’ So, we wrote this manifesto in the News-Press, I think it was probably in the spring.”
“So we launched our first meetings,” Hardi continued. “And, over time, the leadership has actually grown. So, it’s me, Andrea Conant, Ross Litkenhous, Justine Underhill, and Pete Davis…. It’s on our website, who we are and what we care about. And there are our "5 Pillars," and housing is a big part of that….”
Launching a Civics Boot Camp
Hardi is committed to cultivating leaders and civically-active members of the community. “Now, what do we want this to be?,” Hardi asked, looking ahead. “My hope is that it’s all the certainly progressive policies I care about, but also a really good place to kind of breed the next generation of leaders. Because I know there are more of us out there who also believe these things and I want them to have an active voice and to know that you can make a difference in Falls Church. So we organized ourselves with quarterly meetings and fun events, some social and some service activities as well.”
“And we really do it as a volunteer side civic gig,” Hardi said. “The leadership team gets together every couple of weeks and kind of plans out what our priorities are. And for this coming year, one of the things I’m really excited about is a Civics Boot Camp, to help people understand how local government works, and how to get involved. Because obviously, in the face of the national election and worries about what happens on the federal level, I think a lot of people are hungry to make a difference locally. And in local and state government you can make a difference. Especially in a place like Falls Church.”
“Hopefully the Civics Boot Camp will really take shape and teach people, ‘Here’s how you can make a public comment, here’s what the Boards and Commissions might do, here’s how you can run for office.’ Because it should not be me forever in local government. And I really want the next generation to step up. And hopefully Falls Church Forward can be a great vehicle to kind of breed the next generation of leaders who share all these same values and priorities that I do.”
Asked if FCF is a non-profit, Hardi described the group as still in the “launch phase” or “fledgling stage." “We are figuring all that out. We’re debating pros and cons of whether you want to organize as a nonprofit and all of those things. But, we’ve been kind of a fledgling civics group…. I would say [we're] definitely in the launch phase."
But, clearly, Hardi is proud of all that FCF has accomplished so far. “This past year we were quite proud of the Leave the Leaves effort. It was a really good way to get our name out there. Because we thought this would be a fun thing to do, one, and two, it’s something I care about. When I was the liaison to the Urban Forestry Commission, my eyes were open to that, ‘Actually, you don’t need to sweep your leaves to the curb.’ And, what if we just promoted a "Leave the Leaves" campaign effort? But City Hall didn’t have the resources to do it. So, I was like, ‘Great! Falls Church Forward, can we take this on? Can we get flyers out to everyone in the neighborhoods about the pros of actually ‘leaving your leaves,’ saving all that labor of sweeping your leaves, and get the yard signs out to promote it?’”

When she first heard about it, Hardi didn’t believe “leaving the leaves” would actually work, but now she describes herself as a “total convert.” The first year, we left our leaves and mulch-mowed everything. And we have a lot of trees in our yard. And we did not notice a single leaf after the first three days. And my kids were certainly grateful to ‘leave the leaves’, because they no longer had the chore of raking so much. So that was a really fun effort.”
The mayor is also proud of how FCF has organized to welcome new neighbors and residents. “The Welcoming Project we’ve done has also been really great,” she said. “We have these Welcome Kits to welcome new people to the community. It really builds community. So we distribute them to all of our new buildings.”
Asked what Hardi thought about Council member Underhill’s video premier and Q&A on Housing a few minutes earlier, the mayor effused, “I’m so proud of her. Obviously, with her journalist background, I think she certainly has an eye for how to explain complicated issues and do it really well in an easy-to-understand and compelling way.”
And what are the mayor’s views on the housing debate discussed? “I’m certainly on the side of density is better for the environment because of the big picture,” she affirmed. “I absolutely believe, yes, we care about trees, we care about the quality of life, we care about the heat island effect locally, but I always try to take a step back and help people literally see the 'forest for the trees.' That having some density is important for the big picture.”
Density “protects against sprawl,” the mayor agreed. “And cars and buildings are the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, so if you can let people live where the jobs are and where there are already services and infrastructure, then you can reduce those and really bring down your overall greenhouse gas emissions for the region.”
Obviously, Mayor Hardi was pleased to see Underhill elected to the Council last January. “I’m really glad we found her,” Hardi said. “When she was an advocate for bike things, I asked her, ‘Can you come join Falls Church Forward and help us run this?’ Because she has so much energy. And I think the bug kind of bit her and she decided she wanted to run for Council last year and so we’re glad to have her on both Council and at Falls Church Forward.”
Finally, the mayor encouraged folks to check out FCF. “Join us anytime,” she encouraged. “We would love more members. I think we’re at maybe 400 members and growing. So stay in touch. You can do as little or as much as you want…. There’s no barrier to entry [i.e., no membership dues]. Join us for happy hour, join us for a fun event, or join us for a screening!... We’re neighbors and friends.... Andres grew up in the City like my husband did and we’re also all just friends who like each other and like to hang out and are kind of nerdy and like to talk about housing policy.”
By Christopher Jones
Member discussion