'Thrive' is definitely thriving!

The other day we received a update from Jane Ellison, project manager for the Greater St. Cloud Area Thrive group.  (If you haven't heard about Thrive, you can either read about it on our website or browse through the Winter 2008 issue of IQ to learn more.

Since she describes everything so well, I thought I'd just share a clip directly from her email...

"As you know the Access project, developed by our Leadership Team, received a grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation.  While working on our planning year, that grant - along with our StayStrong grant [from the Initiative Foundation] - have given us an absolutely amazing opportunity to develop relationships between members of our Thrive Leadership Team and immigrant and refugee populations in the community.  I have attached a great picture of our Access planning team.  We are conducting forums and interviews with immigrant/refugee families and bringing the results back to share with our Leadership Team.  A final report of the forums and interviews will be presented in July to our Thrive Coalition team."

Jane goes on to describe a few other projects they're working on - home visitations, childcare provider trainings, 'playdates' between local legislators and kids, integrating services in area school districts and a variety of presentations and resource sharing.  

Thank you, Jane, for sending us the update and thank you, Greater St. Cloud Area Thrive, for doing such amazing work to support our area's youngest citizens!!

One Way to Beat the Winter Doldrums

Although April is National Volunteer Month I thought this would be a nice piece to share now. Getting out of the house and helping others might be just the thing for beating those mid-winter blues!

The Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA) recently released results from their November 2009 survey: The Status of Minnesota’s Volunteer Programs in a Shifting Environment.

The survey found that:

• nearly 60% of organizations reported an increased reliance on volunteers compared to a year ago.
• over 50% reported an increase in volunteer hours of service.
• 44% of respondents reported increased numbers of inquires from potential new volunteers.
  
• 52% reported volunteers were more likely to have strong work skills.
  

Respondents shared hundreds of strategies for volunteer programs to respond to the current times. The survey included responses of 280 Minnesota nonprofit and governmental organizations. For the full survey report go to: www.MAVANetwork.org/shiftingenv.

Are you looking for volunteering opportunities in central Minnesota? Contact one of our HOP participants or check the United Way's website for more ways to get involved in your community!

Pomp and Circumstance...

This afternoon we just graduated our 14th group of nonprofits from the Healthy Organizations Partnership program. And this round of HOP was special because all of the groups were area Community Action Programs - aka. CAP/CAA agencies. It was great to have a round of training and capacity-building where everyone had similar goals, challenges and interests!

Best of luck to our recent grads:

• BiCAP, Bemidji
• Lakes and Pines CAC, Mora
• Ottertail-Wadena CAC, New York Mills
• Tri-County Action Program (TriCAP), St. Cloud
• Tri-County Community Action (TCC), Little Falls
• Wright County Community Action, Maple Lake

Take a look at all of the group photos on Facebook!