In December, we heard great updates from each GRSEPN Partner on what they accomplished in our first year of the Promise Neighborhood Grant. Now, we look forward to progress on the "Promise" pipeline of initiatives for engaging and supporting the children, youth, and families of Grand Rapids' southeast neighborhood. Here are a few highlights of the work in progress:

• We look forward to visiting our neighborhood partner LINC UP as they host the next Partner Leadership meeting, giving all members a first-hand glimpse into their programs and facilities.
• Our Design and Implementation (D+I) Teams have identified strengths, growth opportunities, and a vision for what we can achieve with each of the GRSEPN pipeline initiatives. Now, they are in the process of getting feedback from GRSEPN Partners and the teams of school renewal facilitators and specialists who will be supporting the Pipeline initiatives in schools.
• Facilitators and school renewal specialists are working with principals and teachers weekly in the 14 Promise Neighborhood (PN) schools. They are helping build a current picture of strengths and growth opportunities each school can use to increase student success in the GRSEPN areas of focus. These include early childhood development, kindergarten readiness, math and literacy proficiency, student social/emotional development, career and college readiness, and successful transitions through school and to post-secondary education or careers. They also include initiatives to increase health, safety, and overall well-being for children and youth.
• In February, Grand Valley State University Johnson Center evaluation team will be wrapping up the community surveys to further inform GRSEPN Pipeline initiatives. The GVSU and WMU teams are also working with all partners to complete a comprehensive data plan around the ten Federal progress indicators and measures.
• The GRSEPN Partners are building a communications hub through which all the Partner organizations will build upon their collaboration and coordination of programs and services to children, youth, and families.
• We are also in the process of building a dedicated website for the GRSEPN Project and hope to have it go live by late spring. This will give our partners, students, families, and others a “one-stop” place for news and useful information.

Our story continues to grow and develop and we thank our partners and contributors for their tremendous efforts. 

In celebration of a great community and great community partners,

We want to take a moment to thank each one of the members for their continued engagement and collaboration. In the past four months, we have used the SOAR process to determine strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and results for each Design and Implementation (D+I) Team, which is quite an accomplishment. In January, the D+I team leaders met with Partner leaders, School Renewal Facilitators, and School Renewal Specialists to go over all of the work the teams have created to this point to get additional and varied input into the project thus far. D+I teams did not meet in January, however, will reconvene in February (see dates below). The focus of February’s D+I meetings will be to determine research-based strategies and practices that will be implemented to accomplish the desired results discussed for each team during December’s meetings. We are excited to continue collaboration with such incredibly passionate teams! 

Upcoming meetings