Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRNB7XplfOE
Hello, my name is Melissa Hicks and I'm the Director of the Albina-Rockwood Promise Neighborhood at Self Enhancement Inc. here in Portland Oregon.
The Promise Neighborhood is a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education that funds cradle-to-career continuum of services. The Albina-Rockwood promise is one of 20 across the country. Here in Portland we are working in two distinct neighborhoods in Multnomah County, the Albina neighborhood in North Portland and the Rockwood neighborhood in east county.
The partners include IRCO, Latino Network, Metropolitan Family Service, Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), Self Enhancement Inc., United Way and nine schools in the Reynolds and Portland Public School districts. Through this grant, partners have been able to expand or increase the amount of children and families served in the plethora of programs and services we each provide.
Dedicated resourceful and trusted staff work each day at each organization to bring culturally specific and culturally responsive services to the families that have been most impacted by systemic inequities and the intentional exclusion from our economy. Services range from preschool reading groups and parenting classes to FAFSA and career-readiness workshops and everything in between.
Part of this work is conducting surveys. A school climate survey at the middle and high school levels and a community survey in both neighborhoods. Both surveys help us identify the gaps and barriers in achieving positive outcomes and which will help us better continue doing what works and identify new strategies to better meet the needs and wants of our community.
United Way has been an integral part in the survey components of this grant tasked with an enormous responsibility of creating and managing all aspects of the survey, we could not have done it without United Way.
I look forward to engaging in this work to ensure that we as “Promise” partners are providing the right supports to those that want and need it most, so that all children and families can not only succeed but thrive, we're stronger together.