Helping Parents Connect to Their Children

Every semester bilingual Program Officer Corrin Chambers from the Reading Connections comes to the Family Literacy classroom to teach parents how to read with their children. Every time she covers a different aspect of reading and shows the parents how to do it. The first session in October she talked about bilingual books and during the second session she talked about wordless books where parent and child can make up their own stories.

The parents love coming to these classes because they not only learn new reading techniques but receive free books for their children as well. This way they can immediately apply what they have learned in class.

I follow up on these classes by talking about what was taught and by having the parents read the books out loud in class. I make sure that everything is understood and that the parents are reading the books using the new techniques at home.

by Eugenie Ballering, M.Ed.
Family Literacy Instructor

Thanks for a Thankless Task

Every year we send out a holiday card to all of our supporters wishing them a joyous season from our staff and board members and the families who have benefited from their generosity throughout the year. Sending out over 2,000 hand addressed holiday cards is no small task. This year we were fortunate to have employees from Reed Technology, students from the Art Institute, and one member of Westminster Presbyterian Church volunteer their time to help us hand address, stamp and stuff the holiday cards. For anyone who ever participated in a large mailing, this kind of work has its own way of leaving you feeling a little drained at the end of the day. It is often a thankless act of generosity that goes unnoticed - but not this year. We are so thankful for the hours each of these groups gave to help us send out our holiday cards. Their hard work enabled program staff members to focus more of their time where it is needed most: at work with the 150+ children and families benefiting from our services.

Media Coverage in India

This past week we were contacted by Aunshuman Apte from Voice of America who, after reading the article in the Washington Post, wanted to do a story on the impact of current financial crisis on our programs. After inteviewing our senior managers, they spent time in each classroom. They asked almost every child (because the children loved to be on camera) what they wanted to be when they grow up. They got, as you can imagine, some priceless answers. My personal favorites were: "a butterfly" and "a princess who is stuck in a castle." One the mind boggling aspects of this whole story is the number of people who will view it. The news story will be broadcast in India, and the television station has a viewship of 25 million!

Reason for Thanksgiving

Recent media coverage in the Washington Post and USA Today have highlighted that this has been a particularly difficult year for CFNC. Despite the hardships that we, like many other non-profits, are facing this year, it is good to pause and recognize the numerous reasons we have for thanksgiving. I would like to share with you three recent acts of good will and generosity for which we at CFNC give thanks this holiday season.

A Call From New York

On the same day the first article highlighting the impact of the economic crisis on our organization appeared in the USA Today, Barbara received a phone call from a man in New York City. He had read the article in the USA Today and wanted to help us continue our programs that benefit young children living in poverty. He told Barbara, after what felt like a very long game of phone tag, that he would like to donate $20,000 to our programs to help out in this difficult time! Many things are remarkable about this gift, and the one that strikes me most is the distance between where this man was calling from, and where the children lived who he was reaching out to help.

Coming to the Rescue...with Turkeys

Each year, CFNC receives turkey dinners from McLean Bible Church and Westminster Presbyterian to distribute to our families the weekend before Thanksgiving. However, this year, due to the difficult economic times, there were not enough turkeys for all of the families we serve. John Herrity at Alexandria Chevrolet found out about this need and brought it to the attention of the owner Steve Niswander. They decided to buy the 60 turkeys we needed to make sure every family this Thanksgiving received one! When asked why they decided to buy the turkeys, Mr. Herrity replied, "We are very big on supporting children in this city, and we have been for the last 3 years, aggressively. Things are tight for everybody but when it comes to something like this, it is hard to say no."

Every Little Bit Helps

This last story is a reminder that the size of the gift is not what matters most--it is the spirit in which it is given. Following our most recent media coverage in The Washington Post, we received a letter in the mail from a woman who read the story, and was moved out of compassion for the children we serve to give what she could. In the letter she wrote, "I hope the enclosed small amount can be used toward your shortfall. I have a daughter who teaches 2nd grade in a Title 1 school in North Carolina and through her, know the importance of a good start for at-risk children. I hope other read the article and make a donation--every little bit helps!"

And every bit--every donation, every in-kind donatin, every hour a person volunteers--every act of love and generosity helps us provide high-quality, free preschool and family support services to children and their families living in poverty. So to all of you who have supported our programs this year and in years past, thank you! The children we serve depend upon your generosity, and for nearly 25 years now generous people have ensured that young, at-risk children have the support they need to succeed in school and life.

Volunteer Spotlight: Katherine Milliner

We are finding that one of the main reasons why parents stop attending our ESL program is because they find the class too challenging or not advanced enough to meet their needs. To deal address this issue we have changed the structure of our ESL program from 4 days of classes per week (with 2 beginner classes and 1 intermediate class per day) to 3 days of classes and 2 days of small group tutoring per week. This allows us not only to offer 5 full days of literacy programming as opposed to 4, but also to meet our parents where they are at in terms of their literacy level. We are hopeful that these changes will help us increase our retention rate with parents by up to 50% so that more parents improve their literacy levels by year’s end than anticipated. We currently have 105 parents participating in our classes!

This change in the structure of our ESL/Family Literacy program depends upon talented volunteers to lead our small group tutoring sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. One woman who has been giving her time and talents each week to help us better serve our families literacy needs is Katherine Milliner (pictured above).

What brought you to volunteer at CFNC?

Katherine: I came here from Idaho. My husband is working with the President's Malaria Initiative for a couple of years. So here I was with time on my hands and looking for something useful to do. I went on the Internet, found your organization, and you welcomed me with open arms. I called and was invited to come in.

Education is my background, so this was a good fit for me. It was an amazing thing because I was able to step right in. In terms of you being open to receiving me into the fold and letting me help in a way that I could was lovely.

Tell me about your experience so far volunteering with our ESL program.

Katherine: It has been delightful...I was also taking Spanish classes, which was a really humbling experience, and that was one of the reasons I felt I need to do something to help those on the other side of this because I know how much I am struggling. I have support, and I have books, and I have everything at my disposal...I have also lived over seas so I know what it is like not to be able to communicate.

My experience has been I come here for an hour and a half on Thursdays to a room full of eager, enthusiastic, happy women, whose needs are met. They have deposited their children with you, and they are anxious to learn. Their camaraderie is great. Their reception of me has been phenomenal...We just have a good time.

Has there been any one moment so far that stands out in your mind?

Katherine: I think for me the most touching thing is if I am asking a woman to speak who doesn't even have a strong voice for herself in her native language, and she is brave enough to try and say the words in a foreign language. If we can create an atmosphere where she is willing to try it, it is a beautiful moment. And there are lots of those little beautiful moments.

Old Presbyterian Meeting House Donates Clothes

Each year, Old Presbyterian Meeting House in Alexandria donates clothes and coats for our children and families. This month they donated more than 20 bags of clothes for our families! Pictured to the left is one of our preschool students who benefited from the donation. She is sporting her new coat which could not have come at better time as it turned much cooler this week and this young girl needed a jacket to play on the playground. Special thanks goes to Lisa McGonigle who coordinated the event for the Old Presbyterian Meeting House. You can learn more about OPMH here.

USA TODAY Features CFNC: It's a tough time to be a charity

The Monday cover story of USA TODAY's Money section (read here) described the economic crisis as setting off "tremors among non-profits" as foundations and corporations cut back their philanthropic giving. These tremors have already reached us in so many ways, most notably and currently with our pending $350,000 grant from the Freddie Mac Foundation, as highlighted in the article.

We are so grateful for the generous support Freddie Mac has consistently shown CFNC each year since the foundation's inception, and we count on this yearly support to sustain us until winter revenue streams arrive from our holiday mailings and other grants. However, without these funds (or if they are drastically reduced), it will likely mean that we will have to close two classrooms, serving 32 families. This means that 32 children will lose their access to free early childhood education, will have to enter kindergarten unprepared and behind from the start, and that their parents will be forced to make the difficult decision between work and leaving their child in situations that are likely not in the child's best interest.

What you can do to help. All children in this community need and deserve high-quality early childhood education. Here are two ways you can help us to meet this urgent community need:

1. Invest in a Child's Education. With the current state of our economy, investing in our children through early childhood education is perhaps the soundest, surest investment you can make. Studies have shown that the return on investment is actually higher than the stock market (even in the best of times). Supporting our free preschool today means lower rates of violent crime, poverty, and incarceration, and higher rates of home ownership and high school graduation, which benefit us all as this generation reaches adulthood. To make an investment in CFNC, just click on the link at the start of this paragraph.

2. Share this newsletter. During these tough times, it is going to take a whole village of donors giving what they can to make up for the loss of larger philanthropic gifts from corporations and foundations hit hard by this crisis. Take a moment to think of people you know who might be interested in learning more about CFNC, and share this article with them or encourage them to learn more about us on our website.

CFNC Opens New Classroom in Arlington

In November, CFNC will be opening a new classroom in Arlington that will provide 16 children with free, accredited preschool. The classroom will be located at AHC, Inc.'s new affordable housing complex, The Gates of Ballston. AHC is a private, nonprofit developer of affordable housing in the mid-Atlantic region that provides quality homes for low- and moderate-income families. AHC is providing the classroom space rent-free for the first year.

As the cost of living continues to rise and wages continue to decline during these difficult economic times, many low and moderate income families simply cannot afford to own a home. By partnering with AHC, CFNC is able to provide low-income residents with a safe, nurturing environment for their young children. Many low-income families do not own cars, so providing high-quality preschool and family support services where they live reduces the barriers these families face.

Our expansion into The Gates of Ballston is part of a growing partnership with AHC. In 2005, we opened our first AHC-based classroom at Virginia Gardens in South Arlington, which will also serve 16 families this year. This past weekend, The Gates of Ballston celebrated the opening of their new community center in which our classroom is located (pictured above). Our Executive Director, Barbara Mason, and our board member, Barbara Favola, were part of the ribbon cutting ceremony.

You can learn more about AHC,Inc. here.

Boeing Employees Give Back

This past Saturday, Boeing employees braved the rain and wind in order to help us paint our family resource room and build a shed on the playground at our Birchmere center. Undeterred by the weather conditions, they labored for five hours to improve the facilities of our Birchmere center which this year serves 54 families living in poverty. When asked what brought them out on a cool, wet day to paint and build, each of the volunteers, in their own way, cited the same reason: a desire "to give back."

The shed Boeing employees helped construct will be used to store playground equipment and outdoor toys, such as tricycles, easels, and hulahoops. The family resource room will serve as a place where parents can gain information about community resources and access the internet to search for jobs, etc.

Boeing has been a true champion for early childhood education in this region, and has been one of our major supporters over the past decade. This year, they have awarded CFNC two grants: one to purchase fundraising software that will increase the capacity of our development team, and another to fund our early childhood education programming. You can learn more about Boeing's philanthropic activities here.

Special thanks goes to Oris Davis, Joe Fore, and Dale Rainville.

Moms with Cancer

We currently serve two children whose mothers have recently been diagnosed with cancer. Both mothers are single parents and are currently hospitalized. Neither woman has health insurance. One of women was informed at hospital that had she waited much longer she would have died. The other woman was told that following her treatments she would need to take a medication that costs $2,000 for one prescription. Joint efforts have found funds for one prescription, but the woman worries what will happen if she needs additional prescriptions. Both will unlikely be able to return to work anytime in the near future.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can help these mothers in their battle against cancer, please contact our Director of Family Support Services, Blanca Leyva at 703-836-0214.

Reports from the Field

The following reports come from CFNC's Family Support Services team that includes three social workers, an ESL instructor, and a Nurse Practitioner:

I recently visited a family of recent immigrants whose child is enrolled in one of our preschool programs. The parents have two young girls, both of whom were born in the US. During my visit, the father expressed concern about the feasibility of remaining in Virginia given the current anti-immigrant climate. After expressing interest in participating in one of our immigration information workshops, and while talking about ways to support their children’s education, I asked them what they saw in their daughters’ futures; what did they see their girls’ doing 15 years from now? Both parents looked at me dumbfounded. They had not thought that many years ahead. After thinking hard, the father sadly stated that they had been so concerned with their everyday struggles that they had not taken the time to consider their daughters’ futures. With tears in his eyes he said he wanted to see them with a career, living a better life. I pointed out to him that his daughters could achieve that because as American citizens they could attend college through scholarships. Neither parent thought that could be a possibility for their children. I encouraged them that it was not too early to begin speaking with their daughters about the importance of education, so that they could begin fostering a belief and expectation in their daughters that college was a part of their future. I also encouraged them to attend our immigration workshops in order to keep informed on what they could do to resolve their immigration status.

A mother, whose daughter was enrolled in our program last year, came into the office to ask for assistance with her daughter’s Kindergarten homework assignment. As we provided her with assistance, she informed us that her daughter’s Kindergarten teacher was very pleased with her daughter’s performance in school. The teacher asked her about her childcare prior to entering Kindergarten. The mother informed the teacher that her daughter had been attending CFNC. The teacher went on to tell the mother that she was very impressed with her daughter and that she was very impressed with CFNC and how well they prepared children for Kindergarten.

When I met recently with a single mother of one of our students, she expressed excitement about her son’s opportunity to attend preschool. As a low-income, single mother who receives no assistance from her son’s father, high-quality preschool would have been impossible for her son without CFNC. During my visit, she said she was concerned about her son’s speech development, and that he was supposed to have been evaluated but she had never been able to set up the appointment for him. She was also concerned about not working enough hours to support her son and wanted to find a full-time job that would allow her to drop off and pick up her son from school. Based on her two major concerns, we set two goals: one, to get her son the help he needed regarding speech development, and two, to find a full-time job. Together we listed ideas of where she could look for a job, and how best to seek employment. Following my visit, she met me at my office and filled out the required forms for her son to be evaluated for developmental delays. She also brought job applications in and we filled them out together. Now, just three weeks into the school year, she has completed her first two goals: Her son has been referred to a speech therapist and she has a new, full-time job that is very close to her home and allows her to drop off and pick up her son each day.

18-year-old A. came to CFNC’s Family Literacy class in the fall of 2005 and stayed for one year. She was an eager student and loved communicating with others. She found a job in the summer of 2006 at a Travel Agency and a catering service and wasn't able to attend classes the next fall. This past week, two years after I had last seen her, she came in to register herself and her sister-in-law for our ESL classes. She told me that she really wants to improve her English and that this was a good time to do it. She is four months pregnant and she quit her two jobs. I tested her and found that she had maintained most of the gain she made two years ago as a participant in our program. In fact, I noticed that she was using the present tense correctly when I asked her about her daily schedule. I was thrilled to hear that because teaching the different verb tenses is a continuous challenge in my classes. Most of my students typically use only one verb tense when they describe their actions in the past, future and present. She had remembered my lessons on daily schedules and other present tense applications.
She also told me that she had tutored her sister-in-law, and now wants to learn English so she can get a better job. Her goal is to get her GED in English and go to a community college to learn a profession. I am sure she'll learn a lot in the coming four months before her baby arrives. She might even come back after the delivery. Maria Lara, the CFNC babysitter, is fantastic and A. should have no problem leaving her little one with her. I feel confident that she will be ready to raise her child in America and will find a good job to support her family. -

Shop for Groceries and Help Children in Poverty

SAFEWAY

The “Safeway 10% Back to Schools” promotion shopping period starts on August 6th and ends on September 9th. Your participation can mean hundreds of dollars for our group. Last year, the top group in the nation earned over $20,000 in just 6 weeks!

Sign up today!
1)Have your Safeway card available.
2)Visit Escrip website by clicking on the title above
3)Click on “1-Sign Up”
4)Choose “Child and Family Network” or Group ID 500004246
5)Present your Club Card every time you shop and our group earns!

It’s Easy to Renew! If you participated last year, don’t forget to renew to continue earning Safeway contributions.

1)Have your Safeway card available
2)Visit Escrip website by clicking on the title above
3)Click on “YES RENEW”

HARRIS TEETER

Help get our new school year off to a good start by enrolling in the Harris Teeter and the Together in Education program. Starting Aug. 1, 2008 it is time to RELINK your VIC card or link it to CFNC for the first time! Re-linking is easy with one of the following methods:
(1) Call Customer Service at 1-800-423-6111
(2) The register at checkout
(3) Visit harristeeter.com, click on Together in Education Select The Child and Family Network Centers (#6467) to earn money for our programs serving children and their families living in poverty. Thanks!

Steps for Life

This past Spring CFNC experimented with a 6-week pilot pedometer walking program for parents called, Steps For Life, or Pasos Para Vivir. Eugenie Ballering, the Family Literacy Instructor, and I decided to offer the program first to those parents who were enrolled in our English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classes. I received a mini-grant from a professional organization I belong to, the Northern Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners, to purchase anything needed to implement the program. Fortunately, Pfizer, Inc. donated pedometers, and the mini-grant funds were then able to be used for wonderful incentives. At the suggestion of a volunteer who was originally from a Latin American country, Eugenie and I chose incentives that would be culturally acceptable, and also would encourage the parents to be active with their families, such as kits containing outdoor games such as badminton, tether-ball and volleyball, DVD’s teaching dance as exercise, jump ropes, chalk for sidewalk games such as hopscotch, and more…

With the help of a bilingual English-Spanish volunteer interpreter, I was able to cover many more sophisticated concepts during class time than I could have if I had to do it all only in English. Many of our ESL students are at the beginner’s level in English. We covered such concepts as “SMART” (specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic and time-bound) goals and goal setting, activity level (sedentary vs. various levels of activity), motivation, incentives (personal/internal vs. tangible/external), self-confidence, determination, and readiness to change. We spent a lot of time understanding the connections between personal behaviors, such as being more active, and health status, such as blood pressure level, weight, chronic illness, etc.

During our pedometer program, 24 parents used a pedometer as a wellness tool; 16 parents consistently kept track of their steps per day, formulated personal and/or family fitness and wellness goals, and began making progress toward those goals over the course of the 6 weeks. All received incentives and rewards throughout the program to help keep them motivated and active.

Some amazing outcomes resulted from this pilot program. One parent, who’d been experiencing daily headaches, was found to have very high blood pressure, and I referred her to a local clinic for further evaluation and treatment. She was immediately given medication to treat high blood pressure, and I counseled her about healthy lifestyle choices that would further help her to decrease her blood pressure, and might reduce her dependence on medication over time. Her involvement in Steps for Life directly resulted in this positive change for her life. Other parents began to lose weight, changed their eating habits to match their more healthy activity level, increased the amount of time they stretch and/or the number of steps they walk each day and drank more water. All participants set new fitness and wellness goals for themselves and/or their children. It was very exciting to see these healthy changes and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of this with them. Our parents are very inspiring!

by Donna Bain, Manager of Health Services

A Story 25 Years In The Making

In their September issue, Real Simple Magazine will highlight the story of Barbara Mason's 25 year journey helping thousands of children living in poverty and the one board member, Dagobert Soergel, who has been with her from the start. In fact, Dagobert not only has been a board member from day one, he also wrote the newspaper ad that Barbara answered 25 years ago that offered a chance to make a difference in the life of a child. The story focuses on how together Barbara and Dagobert grew a nationally accredited organization that now provides nearly 200 children from low income families with free preschool every year. It is quite a story. Check it out when it hits news stands later this month. What a great way to kick off our 25th Anniversary which begins this spring!

ESL Student's Leadership Makes A Difference

On Monday, April 14th at 6:00 pm a contingent of CFNC children, parents, ESL students and staff, converged on City Hall to ask the City Council to allocate surplus money to the Children’s Fund so that CFNC could continue to provide much needed services to Alexandria's low-income residents.

Approximately 25 children and parents met at our main office to show their support of CFNC's commitment to children and families. CFNC staff planned to use taxicabs to transport everyone; however, Andrea Sierra Aguilar rallied everyone to carpool so that CFNC would not have to incur any expenses. Her leadership was a success, and parents who had cars transported others to and from the event.

Andrea Sierra Aguilar is one of my oldest continuing clients. I first met her in 2001 when I started working here. She had started ESL classes at the old Presidential Greens site. Through the years, she attended English classes, as she was able per her work schedule. At present, she has gained enough command of the English language to get a better position in her job, and to be able to volunteer at our Birchmere center in our preschool classes. Andrea is so proud of being able to give back that she even designed and wears a CFNC volunteer badge. Andrea is a perfect example of an immigrant woman’s desire to better herself and attain the American Dream.

by Blanca Leyva, Director of Family Support Services

Magic Moments

On Monday, May 12th 5th grade students from St. Stephens/St. Agnes performed a magic show for children at CFNC's Birchmere center. Enjoy the video of the American Flag trick and please forgive my shaky hands. Next time I will film from a steadier surface. For a small photo gallery of the magic show click here. The children absolutely loved the magic show, evident at the end of the short video! Thank you very much to all of the students. What a show!

A Normal Day at the Playground

We focus a lot on the educational benefits of quality preschool programming for children living in poverty (e.g. that kids from low-income families with preschool experience do better in school and ultimately in life than those who do not have the opportunity to attend preschool). However, it is also important to take time to highlight that children love preschool. They love learning. They love playing in a safe environment where they run around with abunch of children their age and scream! This is one of the things we provide to children on a daily basis that they may not othewise be able to partake in with the same sense of safety and adult supervision. Now that it is spring, we couldn't resist sharing with you how cute these kids are on our playground. For a web album with more pictures from a normal day at the playground click here. Enjoy!

Mom's Learning Too!

Ana Paniagua from El Salvador joined our ESL classes in September 2007. She has one daughter, Yosselyn, who is in one of CFNC's preschool classes. Anna tested as a beginning ESL Literacy student when she started ESL. That means that she could only understand a few isolated words, and extremely simple learned phrases. Her vocabulary was limited to a few isolated words and she had no control of grammar.

Anna has been coming to the ESL classes regularly after she drops her daughter off in the morning. She has gradually become more comfortable in English. She has started helping other students in the class. She has told me how she uses learned vocabulary with her daughter. She reads the books she has read in class with her. She sings nursery rhymes with her and she volunteers in her daughter’s class.

She volunteered to read an English children’s book in her daughter’s class. She had received the book through the Reading Connection which had given a reading workshop in our ESL class. She had learned how to use rhyming words when reading to a child. She did exactly that when she read the book in her daughter’s class. She also acted the story out and she asked the preschoolers questions. The children loved it and her daughter was beaming with pride (they are both pictured above).

After 60 hours of ESL instruction she took a post ESL test. She became a High Intermediate ESL which means that she can now understand simple learned phrases easily, and can participate in basic conversations in a few very routine social situations. She has now some control of basic grammar.

By Eugenie Ballering, ESL Instructor

What Does Success Smell Like?

Peggy Ashbrook, who developed our Preschool Science! program, recently taught CFNC kids to explore their sense of smell. She writes of this picture, "Children and teachers [are] gathering and recording the data from their activity: using their sense of smell to understand that people have different favorite smells."

For more pictures from our Preschool Science! program, click here.

It is an unfortunate truth that children living in poverty – particularly minority children – are less likely to excel in the fields of math and science and thus are less likely to have careers in math, science and technology. Early childhood programs must effectively engage children in math and science in order to close this achievement gap because, as the President of Chicago’s Erickson Institute argues, “the roots of later competence [in math and science] are established long before school age.”

Our Preschool Science! program ensures that our children have the pre-math and pre-science skills they will need. Preschool Science!, taught twice a month in every classroom, is designed to encourage our children to observe the details of the natural world, laying the foundation for their excitement of the discovery process and perception of themselves as young scientists. By participating in the Preschool Science! curriculum, the nearly 200 children who attend our programs will be prepared to succeed in the science education programs they will encounter in elementary school and beyond.

Our New Website

Some of you hopefully noticed that we recently overhauled our website. The new website was made possible by Pixels and Ink's generous in-kind donation of their time, talents and resources through their Gift of Design. We are thankful that we live and labor in a community with businesses like Pixels and Ink that are committed to giving their time and talents in service to those most in need. I am confident you will all agree that their design team did an excellent job and hope you will join with me in congratulating and thanking them for their hard work!

A couple of notes on the website: I would like to point your attention to the home page: when you refresh the page or return to it, you will see that the photos, quotes, and key supporters change. Also, you will notice that several sections remain under construction and for the next couple of weeks we will be working to finalize each section of the website. I encourage you to reply to this post if you notice any problems with the site's functionality, typos in website text, important information that is missing, etc. We will also be accepting praise for a job well done! I hope you will take the time to explore the website. On a final note, more names will be added to the supporters and partners sub pages in the upcoming days. I do not want anyone to feel that we have forgotten them or fail to appreciate their generous support. These next couple of weeks will be used to iron all of that out.

Posted By: Ryan Smith, Grantwriter

WELCOME

Welcome to the Child and Family Network Centers' new blog! The purpose of this blog is to share on a regular basis the stories and successes of our children, families, teachers and staff with our friends, partners, and supporters. We want you to have a better sense of the amazing things that occur here on a weekly basis. So I hope you will check back often.

Posted By: Ryan Smith, Grantwriter