We have much to be thankful for as we continue to make progress on the "Promise" pipeline of initiatives for engaging and supporting the children, youth, and families of Grand Rapids' southeast neighborhoods.   

• Our neighborhood partner Baxter Community Center hosted the October Partner Leadership meeting, giving all members a first-hand glimpse into their programs and facilities.

• All of our neighborhood partners are making tremendous progress, as you will see in their quarterly progress reports linked below.

• Our Design and Implementation (D+I)  Teams continue to meet monthly to operationalize the GRSEPN pipeline of initiatives. 

• Facilitators and school renewal specialists are working with principals and teachers weekly in the 14 Promise Neighborhood (PN) schools. This work focuses on supporting each school in achieving high priority targets for student success and preparing school leadership teams to implement and sustain PN Grant initiatives.

• Our evaluation/data team at Grand Valley State University recently submitted our GRSEPN data plan to the Promise Neighborhood program officers at the US Department of Education. This plan provides a baseline and growth targets for each of ten Federal progress indicators and measures.

• Our management team continues to learn from other Promise Neighborhoods across the United States via webinars sponsored by the PN program.

Our story continues to grow and develop and we thank our partners and contributors for their tremendous efforts. Every week, we learn new ways to leverage the great work already in progress, build upon the strengths of existing programs and services, and explore ways to enhance those programs and services with high impact practices and strategies.  

In December, we will participate in the 12th Annual Promise Neighborhoods National Conference where we will engage with and learn from experts in each of the PN Grant areas of focus and with PN Projects from all over the U.S. GRSEPN partners will also start receiving recommendations from the D+I Teams to inform their work plans for 2023.   

Sincerely,

• Considering our strengths, opportunities, and aspirations, what meaningful measures would indicate that we are achieving our goals?
• What are 3–5 Indicators for a dashboard that could help monitor progress in real time?
• What resources are needed to implement our chosen strategies?
• What are the best ways to celebrate and support implementation?

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