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Ways to Donate
To support OAR financially
List of Events
- --Family Support Group, 7:00 p.m.
- --Family Support Group, 7:00 p.m.
- Work Empowerment Orientation, 9:30 a.m.
- --Interviewing Skills Workshop, 9:30 a.m.; Resume Writing Tutorial, by appointment
- --Violence Intervention Program class, 6:00 p.m., prior registration required
- --Violence Intervention Program class, 6:30 p.m., prior registration required
- --Shoplifting Prevention Program Class, 3:00 p.m., prior registration required
- --Violence Intervention Program class, 6:00 p.m., prior registration required
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About OAR
Opportunities, Alternatives & Resources (OAR) of Fairfax County, Inc. is a local non-profit restorative justice organization providing human services since 1971. OAR’s mission is to rebuild lives and break the cycle of crime with opportunities, alternatives, and resources for offenders and their families to create a safer community
OAR’s history has its roots in the highest principles of human rights, and the most practical applications of a community’s enlightened self-interest and citizen action. Its origins can be traced to a 1968 prison strike at the State Penitentiary in Richmond, Virginia. In response, several local churches convened a conference on Churches and the Correctional System. Following that effort, Jay Worrall, Jr. founded the OAR movement, which at the time stood for Offender Aid and Restoration. It was his vision of citizen visitors helping jail inmates that formed the original premise for the creation of OAR organizations around the country.
In September 1970, Offender Aid and Restoration of Virginia received its articles of incorporation. In 1971, the Fairfax OAR was established, and in 1973, Worrall opened the national office. At the height of the movement there were 22 local agencies in 10 states. Today there remain eight local OAR affiliates, four of which are in Virginia, who have emerged as viable non-profit organizations with expanded missions and service delivery areas. In 1998, OAR of Fairfax County voted to change its name from Offender Aid and Restoration to do business as “Opportunities, Alternatives & Resources” in order to better reflect the organization’s mission and goals.