Featured Image: SLATE mentor with a CAN student at the pumpkin carving event
Hello Friends,

We are so grateful for the many ways you continue to step up and support our community! We are now seven months into this pandemic and our clients are still experiencing increased need for rent/utility assistance, food security, and other basic need items. Thanks to our amazing donors, volunteers, and partners we have been able to continually adapt our programs to meet the needs of our clients. New equipment such as outdoor awnings and heavy-duty carts have been added to our food programs to ensure smoother and safer operations in the winter months (thank you Food Gatherers!). Outdoor educational activities are transitioning to more virtual engagement and take-home kits to provide continued support for students in their out-of-school time. We are committed to the success of all CAN students and their families regardless of the new challenges we all face. Your continued support is greatly appreciated and we look forward to a wonderful end of the year!

Thank you,
Your Friends at CAN
What Is Happening at CAN?
Voter Registration Events at CAN
Above: Community member receiving voting information from UUCiv volunteers
This month CAN has been working to educate and engage voters for the upcoming election in November. To make sure members in our communities are registered to vote, CAN hosted two voter registration events at Bryant and Arrowwood Community Centers. At these events, CAN clients learned how to obtain and return absentee ballots, how to find their polling location, and where to get information about local candidates. In collaboration with UUCiv and longtime CAN partners, Amanda Shutko and Joan Parker, we engaged over 100 potential and committed voters. At Arrowwood, we were even able to register a first-time voter! Thank you to our staff and volunteers for making these events a success.
Above: A newly registered first-time voter at Arrowwood Community Center
Pumpkin Carving with Mentors
Our kiddos at Bryant had their first event of the semester with their SLATE mentors (U of M’s Service Learning And Trans-Disciplinary Education cohort). This group is an all-volunteer campus organization that fundraises to help facilitate trips and hangouts with their CAN mentees. This month there was a welcome event for returning members who we haven’t seen since February, and to introduce new Fall 2020 members to their mentees. At this event, the kids got to hang out with their mentors and spend time outside carving pumpkins. Some of the kids are first-time mentees while others are continuing with their previous mentors. There are about 13 mentor and mentee pairs so far with more to come. Thank you for this fun event!
Above: SLATE volunteer with kids at Bryant
After School Program Updates
This month, Hikone got into the fall spirit by painting pumpkins! Pumpkin crafts are a great way to celebrate autumn, and painting them is a great, creative alternative to carving. Some students painted galaxy-themed pumpkins with a multicolored background and white splatters to represent stars. Others got really creative with lots of colors or zig zag designs to decorate their front porches.
Hikone is also showing our support for the things that matter most to us by making posters with CAN Art and Design. Amelia and Colette created a "Black Lives Matter" poster to proudly hang in the community center's window!

Above: Pumpkin painting, tie-dying masks, and voter posters
CAN Art & Design Collaboration
We are excited to announce that CAN received a $21,000 grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs! This will support CAN Art & Design's HOMEState curriculum through 2021. Creative outlets are more important now than ever, and we are excited to continue providing a quality art and design program to our students. We are thankful for the opportunity to continue this program with MCACA and are looking forward to another amazing year together! Follow @canartdesign on Instagram for daily updates on our HOMEState projects!
Above: Students working on a CAN Art & Design project outdoors at Bryant Community Center
Campaign Posters
The CAN Art & Design team helped engage students in the "voting" process by having them pretend they were running for office and creating campaign posters that expressed what values they most cared about. We had all sorts of creative and powerful posters, some that are even hung in the centers to remind voting-age community members what the kids care about most.
P.S. Don't forget to vote tomorrow, November 3rd!
Above: Posters designed by students at Bryant Community Center
CAN Spotlight
Athletes Unlimited Softball Player: Haylie Wagner
We want to send a special shout out and congrats to one of our former MSW Interns, Haylie Wagner, who participated in the inaugural season of professional softball through Athletes Unlimited. In an effort to promote civic leadership, each player chose a nonprofit that would receive 50% of their bonus check at the end of their season. Haylie ranked 10th in the league and as a result CAN will receive a donation of $4,850!
We are so proud of you Haylie!
Looking for Ways to Get Involved?
Donate to our Thanksgiving Drive
Just $15 Feeds a Family of Four
Your donation will help provide Thankgiving meals for local children and their families. This is part of Community Action Network's housing stabilization program that aims to ensure each child has access to their most basic needs.
Sponsor A Child This Holiday Season
You can help relieve some of the holiday stress by providing gifts for families who are under-resourced. Learn more about this program or sign up to receive a wishlist at the link below. Thank you for helping to bring so much joy to a child this holiday season!
As always, please consult your tax advisers or the IRS to determine if a contribution is tax-deductible.
Community Action Network
PO Box 130076, Ann Arbor, MI 48113
Community Action Network partners with children, youth, and families from under-resourced Washtenaw County neighborhoods to create better futures for themselves and improve the communities in which they live.
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