IMPACT Welcomes New Deputy Director!

In mid-February, Ronnie Galvin, Jr. joined the IMPACT team as our new Deputy Director. Ronnie is relocating with his family from Atlanta, where he had been working with the Annie E. Casey Foundation as a Senior Network Organizer. He brings a deep understanding of community-building from first-hand experience and an ability to genuinely relate to people across lines of race, class, and culture. Ronnie's role is to oversee IMPACT's work in the community, with an emphasis on the county-wide Neighbors Campaign, and to support the staff and network members who make it happen. 
 
"The newly-created position signals IMPACT Silver Spring's growth and underscores our commitment to expanded accountability to network members, partners, and the larger community," said Executive Director Frankie Blackburn.

"All over this nation, when people refer to developing communities, emphasis has been given to concrete, bricks, and mortar," Galvin said. "I am excited to join a team that affirms that healthy, whole, and sustainable communities are built on the bedrock of meaningful and mutually-beneficial relationships."

Silver Spring Action - Re-imagining

Community Space in Silver Spring

200 residents and community partners of our wide and vibrant Silver Spring network gathered at our annual Silver Spring Action event to collectively re-imagine the use of new and existing community space in Silver Spring.  This year's call to action challenged community leaders, youth and government partners to tap into their creativity and  engage in a robust dialogue to identify all the know and unknown community spaces that exist in Silver Spring and come up with a collective vision for how they can:

• Maximize the use of existing spaces
• Suggest creative alternatives for resourcing and paying for space, and
• Build a sense of collective ownership and leverage the Silver Spring network to make our vibrant community feel welcomed and engaged in these community spaces.

For community members who want to continue taking action on this subject, they can come to a Network Action Support Night hosted by IMPACT Silver Spring on April 1^st or/and join the community gathering hosted by the Silver Spring Town Center Inc on the Civic Building (for more information on this gathering, please contact Jon Lourie).  

Read what others are saying about this event, visit our Facebook page to see event pictures, and watch a video of 10 residents talking about 10 great places in Silver Spring.

On February 24^th Takoma Park's Piney Branch Elementary School held its first MSA Night, a project developed and implemented by members of the Piney Branch Action Team.  More than 100 parents and children attended the event suggesting that there was a high level of interest in the topic.  The parent-child event brought out diverse families, with representation from just about every demographic group at the school, the MSA event embodied many of the Multicultural Criteria developed by the Team. 

The highlight of the evening was a segment called "Taste of the Test."  Ken Allen, a 5^th grade science teacher and Action Team member, led the interactive session that had parents and kids working together to answer sample test questions.  The room was quiet as parents helped children work through the questions.Ken commented, as he looked around, that "This is how my classrooms should look--parents and children sitting together to learn." 

The evening ended on a fun note as ESOL teacher Rachna Rikhye (also an Action Team member) raffled off prizes that parents could use at home to help children learn math skills.  Kids enjoyed coming up front to receive clocks, measuring cups, tape measures, and cake pans.  Action Team members hope that this event represents the first of what will become an annual school gathering. The Maryland State Assessment will be given at the school in the month of March. 

Follow the Piney Branch Action Team blog.

We had our first 2010 Property Manager Luncheon on February 21. After the great success of the six luncheons that were held in 2008, a new series was put together with similar goals: building healthy and positive tenant-management relations and helping property managers get connected to various resource partners to support their residents.

The property managers attended the luncheon with great energy and eagerness to talk about issues that they and their residents face. Just as we have heard from 5,500 door knocks in the Neighbors Campaign, they too agreed that unemployment is by far the greatest challenge for residents. In addition, they expressed how difficult it is to be aware of the real needs of their tenants while running the challenging business of property management. But in order for their business to survive, tenants must continue to pay their rent.

A couple of the property managers including Larry and Antoinette from Park Montgomery agreed that hosting a Neighbors Exchange at their apartments gave them an opportunity to come face to face with their residents -- and direct them toward available county and community resources.  But in the end, the conversation returned to the fact that people are really struggling right now and, sadly, their tenants' stories are constantly revealing that accessing social services is an ongoing challenge.

Fortunately, this is exactly what the Campaign is trying to achieve: not only helping residents navigate the complicated social service system, but also connecting with the human resources in their own communities -- their neighbors and community partners -- who will provide a more sustainable safety net in the long term.