Dear Grantee Partners:

Jenny and I hope that you all were able to get some R&R over the winter school / programming break. Even if the Omicron variant disrupted plans, fingers crossed that you were able to recharge your batteries a bit. In our households most plans went awry, but there was some good downtime. The year has started off quickly and January seems to be flying by, so I wanted to give you a couple of Foundation updates as well as two opportunities for organizations in the extracurricular space that may be of interest.

Updates:

• The new strategic plan is nearing completion and we hope to gain approval from our Board at the Foundation’s Annual Meeting in February. As soon as we have their ratification, we will send out a communication to you all with our new mission, vision, values and a synopsis of the plan.
• As most of you know, the 2022 core grantmaking process is different this year because of the time commitment needed to begin implementation of the new strategic plan. We have already been in touch with grantees who were due to re-apply in January, and shortly we will email those grantees who would have been due to re-apply in July. As a reminder, you can review your current grant end date and report due dates via the online grant portal, and you are always welcome to reach out to us if you have questions.

Opportunities:

• Greater Philadelphia Extracurricular Collaborative (GPEC) is holding two retreats, February 2 and 9, from 9:00-10:30. As you know, I have been involved in the early development of this network of out-of-school-time (OST) providers, foundations, and other stakeholders whose purpose is to strengthen the OST ecosystem in Southeast Pennsylvania through advocacy and member-services. Now that Children First (formerly Public Citizens for Children & Youth) has become the backbone agency for GPEC, it’s time to ensure that OST providers have a voice and seat at the table. On the first day of the retreat, GPEC will unveil its strategic vision for your input. The second day will be focused on developing 2022 advocacy activities. I hope that some of you will be able to participate – we need your voices! To register, please visit: GPEC Retreat.
• Sunrise Philadelphia, a community-based OST and family resource provider, is launching a new professional development program, tailored specifically to OST providers to explore Trauma-Informed Care in the out-of-school-time environment. These workshops are designed to explore concrete strategies that have emerged from research exploring neurobiology, epigenetics, adverse childhood experiences, and emotional resilience. These trainings aim to expand the Greater Philadelphia OST community’s knowledge base around trauma-informed practices to maximize benefit for children/youth and families participating in OST programs. I encourage you to visit their website to learn more about the five modules they have available. If you have staff members who would benefit in one or more of these trainings, please email me with the specific modules you are interested in and the number of staff you would like to send. If there is enough interest and availability, the Foundation will try and organize Nelson-sponsored sessions.

I hope that you, your organizations, communities and families are doing well. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me or Jenny if we can be of assistance or a thought partner.

Best Regards,
Mindy