More Happening Than You Know
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Fresno’s a city that has many exciting moving parts. We have 2 strong health initiatives focused on making our community an overall healthier place to live. We have 2 vibrant youth and education initiatives that are working on developing ways to help our schools better serve our students and work with community based organizations to help our youth thrive on and off our campuses. There’s a lot of work in building community and developing leadership with our residents. Workforce and Economic Development are high in the minds of those wanting to elevate those areas in our community.
I’m proud to say that ENP is woven into each of these conversations because of the work we’ve been doing through our partnerships the last 11 years. We not only play a role in the strategic conversations within these initiatives, but we also serve as a platform of access for these collaborations to engage with our youth and adults so they can learn through learning conversations and in return, be more informed on the decisions they are making at an institutional level.
Life is complex, communities are complex, thus the need to work together is vital as we address these issues and come up with complex solutions. We’re proud that ENP is a part of these important conversations. We’ve built deep relationships over the years, built social equity and trust with the community and now we’re in a great place to help speak into the well being of our kids, families and neighborhoods.
This newsletter will give you a snapshot of some of the great work that our team has been doing over the last few months! Enjoy!
All of this is because of your volunteer and financial support. We greatly appreciate you.
We invite you to join our work today as a financial partner. We need your help!
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters."
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Artie Padilla

*ENP IS HIRING someone passionate about kids and coaching/mentoring college students. This is a new initiative with Fresno Sta
te where we will train and oversee 40-50 Read Fresno Mentors through their Federal Work Study Program.
Job Description Here.

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Recreational
Resilience

Play and recreation are relational activities that provide the building blocks for creating resilient communities. Thru programming such as
Saturday Sports
,
yoga
,
drumming
, and
dance
ENP provides youth the opportunity for new experiences and new relationships that help to build their individual capacity to be resilient in the face of trauma.
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Literacy Mentoring
Our
Literacy Mentors
are trained and equipped to work one-on-one with students on their foundational reading skills. Volunteers build real relationships and see progress throughout the year.
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Neighborhood Development
We create place-based strategies that lead to self-sustainability, empowerment, and leadership development with residents and strategic partners to positively impact their communities. This includes connecting volunteers to serve existing non-profits at
servefresno.org
.
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City-Wide Equipping
ENP provides uniquely crafted training for churches and community partners to expand their vision and knowledge to increase their impact. This includes
workshops
,
drive tours
, and small group studies. We also update a community
calendar
.
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This year, we have been facilitating a social emotional hand-drumming program with Olmos and Kirk elementary 5th and 6th graders. First semester we laid the foundation for drum circle as well as social emotional skills and sharing through the Beat the Odds curriculum, a Social Emotional Hand Drumming curriculum. This second semester we have been expanding on those foundations and working on building organic group rhythms and sharing. Now, however, we are not the only ones doing drum circles with our students. Teachers are getting involved, and our community is getting involved.
Just a few weeks ago, a couple of the Kirk teachers, along with their master drummer friends and our very own Brian Semsem, led out a community drum circle at their school. The result was a time of fun and connection.
Check out some of the footage and interviews taken by FUSD by watching the video above.
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Latin Dance fitness is currently leading 10 classes per week at 9 different school/community Centers. We currently have 6 active instructors- 3 of which recently became Licensed Zumba Instructors. We will have our New Instructor training in May which we plan to have them lead at the new sites and housing authority sites. All of the instructors have developed friendships and a support system that keeps them involved in all the classes around the community. Even though one is assigned to a specific site, they all show up to support each other and help each other out.
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Literacy Mentors are rocking! We are currently at 17 local elementary schools with 193 Literacy Mentors impacting 768 students' learning on a weekly basis!
And it's truly helping... already
students' sight word knowledge has grown an average of 344%
and we can't wait to see end of year results.
One of our more unique stories is happening at Winchell Elementary... where just last month we hosted our first English/Spanish bilingual literacy training and equipped seven moms with new ideas on how to work with their kids. Some of those moms have started Literacy Mentoring in the classroom as well! We know that it takes a village (with parents as the key role!) to help our children succeed. We are excited to be a small part of that village.
Mark, member of Well Fig Garden and Literacy Mentor at Powers- Ginsburg summed up his mentoring experience well when he said "What a joy! And to think that I was pretty sure that this wasn’t my age group strength...and yet God takes our humble efforts at his request and factors them beyond our abilities...I’m so glad I listened to his request to move outside my comfort zone."
If you'd like to step outside of your comfort zone as well, our schools would love to have you!
Learn more here
.
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Resident Leadership Cohort
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In the spring of 2019, ENP conducted our first Resident Leadership Training Program. This program is designed to support and develop local residents’ engagement, leadership, and participation in their communities. This philosophy of engaging residents to establish positive relationships allows the community to solve its own problems, obtain resources and influence change.
The Resident Leadership Training Program is made up of eight 2 hour classes and participants are required to attend all 8 classes in order to receive their Resident Leader Graduate Certificate.
Training sessions focus on topics such as community leadership, social equality vs social equity, asset-based community development, using your voice to affect policy and much more.
We are excited for residents to learn skills and best practices to address the issues that most affect their communities, and they work alongside their neighbors to help improve the quality of life where they live. The cohort consists of nine neighborhoods with two residents per neighborhood in attendance. Upon graduation, attendees have new knowledge and access to a support network to help them lead community improvement projects and convene neighborhood meetings.
Love your support of this work!
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Serve Fresno & Spring Break - BUSSSYYYYY!
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Each year ENP works with local churches to get out and serve in our Valley. This past Serve Fresno was a huge success. Here is a snapshot:
Volunteers
: 930
Projects
: 74 Unique Projects
Hours
: Volunteer hours: 2,790
Churches
: 23
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ENP helped facilitate youth camps and work projects for students from 18 Fresno/Clovis churches (and a couple from Sacramento). These students served over 3 days putting on camps for kids in the morning and work projects in the afternoon.
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Trauma-Informed Certification Training
Brian Semsem, our Recreational Resilience Director, recently flew to Washington to attend the Trauma-Informed Certification training. The goal is to role out a certification program that organizations, schools, and community members could go through to be Trauma Informed.
Here is what Brian said about the training, "Trauma and Resilience are not new ideas, nor is being compassionate and effective in the way we care for those who are hurting. Throughout our human history, we see so many examples of both Trauma and Resilience.
For me, what is new is the ever-deepening understanding of just how fearfully and wonderfully we are made! The human mind is so delicately sensitive to relational connections to other humans that its presence or absence is the single most important determinate as to whether a tragic event is a source of trauma or a building block towards resilience."
Over the next several months ENP will provide several opportunities to participate in a Trauma Informed Certification that we hope will be a catalyst to an ever-deepening understanding of God’s amazing creation, you! Schedule coming soon.
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Lions, Paper Tigers, and Bears Oh My! - Every...
Well, maybe it was just Paper Tigers! Paper Tigers is a documentary that follows a year in the life of an alternative high school in Walla Walla, Washington. The high school radically changed its approach to disciplining its students. It even...
Read more
everyneighborhood.org
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From Volunteer to Staff - Every Neighborhood Partnership
"This is Amy, the Saturday Sports Coordinator for ENP." You've probably read that if you've ever gotten an email from me. Since I am relatively new here (hired in August '18), I would bet that a majority of those reading have no idea who I am.
Read more
everyneighborhood.org
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College and Elementary Students Working Together - ENP...
ENP was birthed out of a church-school partnership which is why most people only know of ENP through church connections. But did you know that ENP also has the unique opportunity to impact our next generation of leaders through partnerships with...
Read more
everyneighborhood.org
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Relationships Through Dance Fitness - Every Neighborhood ...
Music, movement, fitness, and fun! When you go into a Latin Dance Fitness class you can expect to have fun and break a good sweat. What you don't expect are the relationships that are built through time spent in the class.
Read more
everyneighborhood.org
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Give One Time or Monthly!
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