Fall In Love with the Highway: Teens Lead Youth Photovoice Project in Alexandria

Alexandria, VA – More than a dozen members of the Fairfax Prevention Coalition Youth Team, a teen leadership group focused on substance misuse prevention and community change, recently conducted a Youth Photovoice project called Fall in Love with the Highway. The objective for the teen photographers was to capture life along Richmond Highway and incorporate a vision for positive change.

Sponsored by the Fairfax Prevention Coalition in partnership with the local nonprofit Lazera Ministries ad their program 1 Brotherhood Empowered, Youth Photovoice Gallery: Fall in Love with the Highway was an event to showcase the teen’s photography and encourage community members to engage in important conversations on the beauty of Richmond Highway as well as opportunities for change. At the event, the teen leaders were gracious and professional as they welcomed attendees, discussed their photographic interpretations, and offered their opinions, experiences, ideas, and hopes in a Q&A panel.

These photovoice projects use photography to document important issues – think mental health, safety, and environmental conditions. The goal is to empower teens to advocate for change in their community, to reduce stigma, and to inform policy.

As seen through the teens’ eyes, the photographs depicted life in the Richmond Highway corridor in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County and captured poorly designed public parks, an abandoned vacant lot, a high-accident thoroughfare. The teens wrote captions describing the images and also included ideas for improvement. Some photos showed their community efforts, like shoveling after the snowstorm, and their pride in meeting together as leaders trying to make a difference.

Fairfax Supervisor Rodney Lusk addressed the group, admiring their vision and leadership. Lusk said, “It’s not where you start. It’s where you end. Circumstances can be difficult, can be hard, but we are not defined by the place that we start, right?” Lusk invited the panel to follow up with his office about incorporating some of their ideas for improvement.

The teens shared their stories and opinions during the Q&A panel at the event.

• “I want to look back in 10 years and know that a 17-year-old kid believed in himself to start a change on Richmond Highway and keep on going.”
• “My main reason for doing this was I knew that I would have a voice, and I want to make a change in my community.”
• “It’s stepping out of your comfort zones and trying something new, like photography, using your voice to make a change. You know, like, not everybody on the highway is doing this, and I just have some pride in what I’m doing.”

One of the teen leaders summed up the overall attitude of this impressive and dedicated group: “Oh, me personally, I feel like, if we don’t speak for ourselves, I mean, who’s gonna?”

Lazera Ministries founded 1 Brotherhood Empowered in 2023, a youth leadership program for male teens, addressing the trauma of living in a marginalized community. The Fairfax Prevention Coalition works with families, schools, and multiple organizations to combat substance misuse, including youth-led projects through their Youth Team. Realizing their shared objectives, the two groups partner on youth-led programs for civic engagement. Learn more at https://www.lazeracommunity.org/ and https://www.fairfaxpreventioncoalition.com/