About Us
50+ Years of Serving Our Community
Founded in 1969 by several faith-based groups and a handful of dedicated volunteers, our United Community has grown from a small grassroots effort to what is now the leading human services non-profit agency in southeastern Fairfax County.
Our Timeline
1969
UCM is Incorporated
UCM begins under the leadership of Pat Berg, the first executive director.
The Basic Needs program and the first Back Porch Thrift Store opened to offer residents affordable clothing and utilize income to support program cost.
1976
Growing Programs
Basic Needs program, with funding from Fairfax County, added medical, nutrition, employment, housing counseling, and community outreach.
1984
Presidential Support
Second Lady Barbara Bush is Honorary Chair of UCM’s annual gala.
1986
Early Learning Center
Bryant Early Learning Center opened to provide our residents a high-quality learning environment for children age two to pre-K in partnership with Fairfax County Schools, Office for Children, and Fairfax County government.
1999
Community Centers
UCM began managing Sacramento Neighborhood Center & Janna Lee Apt.’s Community Center, (now the Creekside Village Community Center) in partnership with Fairfax County Neighborhood & Community Services.
2012
Opportunity Neighborhood
UCM became the lead partner for Opportunity Neighborhood Mount Vernon, a collective impact initiative designed to break the cycle of poverty in partnership with Fairfax County Neighborhood Community Services.
2014
Stepping Stones
Basic Needs is renamed Stepping Stones.
Our Story
In the early 1960s, a group of women attending the Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church decided to organize a clothing drive to help families in Gum Springs, a largely neglected community with widespread poverty.
We were particularly distressed that our own closets were overflowing while children in Gum Springs were sometimes not attending schools for lack of clothing,” noted Pat Berg, one of the lead organizers.
The women bought a beat up trailer for $700 and parked it on the church property of what is now Bethlehem Baptist Church on Sherwood Hall and Fordson Roads. They called it the Trailer Store. The women enlisted other churches to collect clothes and recruited volunteers from congregants to help with distribution. People came in droves to help.
Each Saturday morning, the trailer was a beehive of activity. In addition to handing out clothes, volunteers offered a variety of classes to young and old, and provided additional emergency help to families in need. In 1969, United Community Ministries was officially organized, with Pat Berg as its first Executive Director.
The organization started with one employee and less than $8,000 the first year. By 1971, it had attracted more than 700 volunteers and gained funding from the Fairfax County Department of Social Services, which declared that the agency had “helped bridge the communication between the advantaged and disadvantaged in the community.”
We have big dreams for our community.
For more than 50 years, United Community Ministries empowered neighbors in need to transform their lives by providing services and programs that meet their most basic needs – food, clothing, and shelter. With this mission in mind — and with the help of countless individuals, corporations, foundations, individual donors, the faith community, and the Fairfax County Government — the agency quickly became the anchor institution for human services in southeast Fairfax County.
By the organization’s 50th Anniversary in 2019, with a $5.0 million budget and 71 employees, United Community Ministries served approximately 9,000 unique individuals annually.
However, after five decades of providing basic needs to impoverished families, the agency recognized that more needed to be done. A recent study by the Northern Virginia Health Foundation identified the Route 1 Corridor as a community where multi-generational poverty thrives due to systemic inequities in education, employment, housing, and opportunity. As an agency, we realized that in order to truly empower the community we serve, we needed to do more to help them overcome these obstacles.
So in 2019, we broadened our vision — to empower our neighbors in need to transform their lives and end multi-generational poverty by harnessing the power of community to create systemic change.
We also changed our name to United Community — emphasizing our commitment to collaborate with community members, faith groups, corporate partners and local and state government to end multi-generational poverty. Together, we have launched a “Community of Opportunity” initiative to elevate the voice of the community and enable change with the community, and not just for the community.
United, our community will achieve big dreams. United, our community will empower our neighbors in need to transform their lives. Together, we will create a community where everyone can thrive!
