HAPPENINGS
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Dec. 8, 6:30pm
Parent Training Institute at East Silver Spring Elementary School
Dec. 13, TBD
Action Planning Session on Youth Violence (Tentative)
Jan. 13, 7:00pm
Third Annual Silver Spring Action
at Discovery Communications
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Click here to request information about these events |
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FEATURED
IMPACT Silver Spring featured in the Gazette
IMPACT Silver Spring was featured in the December issue of The Washingtonian
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Learn more about IMPACT
Watch our VIDEO
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Greetings!
We are living out a moment in history together. It is important to stay in touch and work together as we embrace change and confront serious economic challenges.
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We'd love to hear from you, so please send us your opinions and comments. And watch your mailbox for our next Snapshots.
Sincerely,
Frankie Blackburn
Executive Director
IMPACT Silver Spring
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Answering Obama's Call to Local Communities
Only ten days after the election,
85 community members came together on a Saturday morning to celebrate a new
awakening and sense of common purpose within our communities. Invited by IMPACT
Silver Spring to take
the first step in helping to fulfill President-Elect Obama's vision of "local communities where people come together to
create a new way of collective behavior and action - locally," individuals of all ages and
backgrounds participated in facilitated dialogue and small group conversations.
Participants focused on their vision for the communities they live in, and what
personal steps they would take to stay engaged and connected with others in an
effort to ensure that our common vision for our community is realized. At the
end of the event, there was a strong consensus to continue the dialogue and
build on this new network of
community relationships.
The dialogue was also joined by
community leaders such as Senator Jamie Raskin;
State Delegate Tom Hucker; Bruce Adams, Director of the Office of Community
Partnership; and Hans Riemer, the National
Youth Vote Director for the Obama Campaign. |
IMPACT Hosts its First Annual IMPACT Now! Event
 IMPACT successfully launched its first IMPACT Now! event - a business community conversation on leading a diverse workforce with an
emphasis on shared value for business and community. The event highlighted
practical strategies that business owners and community leaders can use to build
a thriving and successful multicultural workplace and community. It provided a
forum for sharing and learning about the effects and advantages of leading a
diverse workforce. The program included presentations on:
- Diversity: A
Business Advantage - David A. Hill, Associate General Counsel,
Verizon.
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Beyond Basics:
The Unconscious Bias Model - Leslie Traub, President/CEO, Cook
Ross
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Theory to
Reality: Practical Tips in Silver Spring- Debbie Smith Rayford, Vice President, Diversity for Discovery
Communications, LLC
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Open Forum: Our
Lessons and Strategies - Mary McCurty, Partner and Facilitator for
the Verizon Black Manager Leadership Program and Lead Facilitator for IMPACT
Silver Spring's Neighborhood IMPACT Program.
The event was attended by over 120 business and community leaders and honored our County Executive, Ike Leggett
for being a visible role model who offers tangible and inspirational examples of
leading in a diverse environment.
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Coming Together in Crisis
 On November 8, 2008, Tai Lam, a Blair High School freshman honor student, was killed on a Ride-On Bus, as he returned home from Downtown Silver Spring. The incident deeply affected many in our community. IMPACT Silver Spring was gratified to be able to use our network of diverse relationships to bring together community, school, business and government partners in the days immediately following the incident.
Convened by IMPACT, a group of 14 Latina mothers, including the mother of one of the injured friends of Tai Lam, and 10 high school youth met at IMPACT's office to offer each other support and connections to other resources. This group joined the youth-led vigil in Downtown Silver Spring and was the catalyst for a gathering after the vigil in space provided by the Peterson Group, managers of Downtown Silver Spring. Calling on relationships with the Department of Recreation, Identity, DHHS Youth Violence Prevention, MMYC, County Executive's Office and the Gandhi Brigade, Ray Moreno, Director of IMPACT in the Schools and Hoan Dang, President of the Maryland Vietnamese Mutual Association (and former IMPACT Board member) worked with Blair High School to plan and facilitate a community meeting on Monday, November 10th for over 250 people that included reports by county agencies, a poetry reading by Blair students, a video produced by the Gandhi Brigade, reflections and prayers. This event has sparked a number of follow up meetings including a youth led initiative and an adult gathering rescheduled for December 13.
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