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It has been a huge year for Every Neighborhood Partnership (ENP). Fresno’s a city that has many exciting moving parts.
This year our Neighborhood Development team launched a leadership cohort in Southwest Fresno. Each district selected two representatives from their neighborhood to attend the cohort. The cohort met over eight times, and leaders were given resources and tools on how to be an active voice in the community. For one of the sessions, ABC30 newscaster, Graciela Moreno, ran a session where each member took part in learning how they can use their voice in the city hall to catalyze change in their neighborhood. Watching the women in this cohort learn how to be active leaders in the community is inspiring. The example they set will pave the way for their families and neighbors for generations.
Our Literacy Mentors also had a great year! We were at 17 local elementary schools, with 201 Literacy Mentors impacting 768 students' learning on a weekly basis! At the end of April our literacy mentor staff hosted the first English/Spanish bilingual literacy training. This training equipped moms with new ideas on how to work with their kids. Some of those moms 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.
Recreational Resilience had a full year with 22 Saturday Sports sites, 450 drum circles, and 30,325 lunches distributed. Our volunteers effortlessly clocked in many hours over the course of the year to keep the program running. The recreation team partnered with Fresno State in 20 classrooms to work with teachers in structuring lesson plans for PE. In the classroom, our team and volunteers ran drumming (Beat the Odds) and yoga ed. Beat the Odds and yoga ed are researched-based activities that help students' mental, cultural, and academic awareness. Students engaging in these activities are more likely to reduce stress and boost self-confidence.
Generational change is happening in the Fresno community, because of nonprofits like ENP. Each branch is designed to partner with youth through adults. From academic learning, recreation, and training, families are given more opportunities to build a better life. ENP is truly fulfilling the vision to connect every neighborhood, school, and resident with the local church and other community-based organizations. The beautiful Fresno community is becoming connected one step at a time through the opportunities each resident, staff and volunteer have through building relationships with one another. It is through true relationships that we as a Fresno community can continue to meet the needs of our city.
ENP is grateful to be a strategic partner of the local church. We want to thank The Well for being a faithful partner with ENP as a whole, and being invested in Susan B. Anthony and Powers-Ginsburg Elementary. If you attend the North Campus and want to get plugged in at Susan B. Anthony Elementary in Saturday Sports or Literacy Mentoring, contact Carol Young at carolyoung3a@gmail.com. If you attend the Fig Garden Campus and want to get plugged in at Powers-Ginsburg in Saturday Sports, contact Ludie Olenchalk at mikeyo@mail.fresnostate.edu, or for Literacy Mentoring, contact Darilyn King at darilynking@hotmail.com.