Growing Up Healthy

Connecting the families of Rice County, Minnesota

  • Home
  • Our Programs
  • COVID-19 Food Response
  • Reserve Community Trailer
  • Contact
  • News
  • en English
    en Englishso Somalies Spanish

Give to the Max day is November 16th!

November 15, 2011 By Growing Up Healthy

Ever hear the song about the magic penny?  The one that says if you give it away you’ll have more, but if you hold it tight you won’t have any?  Well, I can’t verify that giving away money will bring more, but by citing someone else’s work I can verify that giving it away will make you happy.  Elizabeth Dunn and her colleagues (Aknin & Norton) have done research on money and happiness for years.  In a study that I read recently, they were able to show that how people choose to spend their money is at least as important as how much money they make.  AND (and here’s the kicker), spending money on someone else – a friend, a charity, etc. – promotes happiness more than spending money on oneself.

Here’s the link to the article so you can read it yourself:

“Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness”

How lucky that I came across this article just in time for the Give MN Give to the Max day!  That’s right – this is a poorly veiled attempt to encourage you all to make yourselves happy by giving to Growing Up Healthy through the Give to the Max day.  Just click and give on Wednesday, November 16th.

http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Growinguphealthy

Filed Under: Neighborhood Blog Tagged With: charitable giving, Give MN, Give to the Max, giving, Growing Up Healthy, happiness, money

February 2011 GUH Talking Points

February 10, 2011 By Growing Up Healthy

Check out the February 2011 Growing Up Healthy newsletter, Talking Points, here!

Many thanks to Carleton students Emily and Terry for their wonderful contributions to this month’s conversation about affordable housing. There are lots of interesting resources and information, so be sure to check it out!

Filed Under: Neighborhood Blog Tagged With: 2011, affordable housing, February, Growing Up Healthy, newsletter, talking points

Apply for a LINK Center Desk Staff position!

January 14, 2011 By Growing Up Healthy

As was discussed in our August Newsletter, how to make Northfield a more welcoming community has been an important and ongoing discussion over the last several months.

On December 14, 2010, the Northfield City Council approved a contract to work with Growing Up Healthy to create the LINK Center, a center located at the Human Services entrance of the Northfield Community Resource Center (NCRC) which will serve to welcome all community members, new and established, by linking people with resources and opportunities they might need throughout Northfield.

Work on the development of the LINK Center has already begun, and now we are looking for people who can staff the LINK Center Desk during the week!

Please apply to be a part of this exciting initiative by clicking here. Below is some additional information about the position, and If you have any more questions about the position, please contact Mary Ho at mkmho@hotmail.com.

——————–

Hours of work:  LINK Center resource desk staff will work several three to four hour shifts per week, for a total of not more than 20 hours per week.  Most work hours will be between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., weekdays and Saturday.

Primary duties and responsibilities:

  • Answer questions from the public regarding local resources and how to access services, using print and internet-based materials
  • Record information regarding contacts and referrals
  • As requested, maintain communication with LINK Center Coordinator and other GUH partners
  • Follow GUH requirements for confidentiality and data privacy

Required experience and abilities:

  • Experience working with the public in person and by phone
  • Ability to interact positively with members of the public
  • Knowledge of Northfield/Rice County resources, especially health and social service
  • Computer skills sufficient to send and receive electronic mail, find information on the internet, and print documents
  • Experience working a multicultural environment
  • Preference will be given to candidates who can speak, understand, and read both Spanish and English

Reimbursement:  $9.00/hour

Filed Under: Neighborhood Blog Tagged With: Growing Up Healthy, LINK Center, LINK Center Desk, NCRC, Northfield, Staff

December 2010 Newsletter

December 23, 2010 By Growing Up Healthy

Check out the December GUH newsletter about collaboration here!

Filed Under: Neighborhood Blog Tagged With: collaboration, Growing Up Healthy, newsletter

The Idea of Collaboration

December 16, 2010 By Growing Up Healthy

Collaborations come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and sectors. The most commonly cited definition of collaboration comes from Professor Barbara Gray of Penn State from her well-discussed text Collaborating: Finding Common Ground for Multiparty Problems. Collaboration is defined as “a process through which parties who see different aspects of a problem can constructively explore their differences and search for solutions that go beyond their own limited vision of what is possible.” Collaboration is distinct from other forms of cooperation in that collaboration is based on a “collectively articulated goal or vision.”

Simply put, “to collaborate” means, “to work with another person or group in order to achieve or do something.” In school we are made to collaborate on group projects. You may collaborate with your neighbors to clear the sidewalk of snow or successfully bring forward an issue to a local governing body. Working together—as coworkers, as friends, as organizations, as countries—maximizes assets while ensuring sustainability of a project. If everyone is collaborating around a commonly-valued issue, how can you abandon the effort? All participants in a collaboration have something important to offer, and, as the Bridges Out of Poverty Model from aha! Process Inc. states it, “once people form relationships of mutual respect, they are much less likely to abandon each other.”

In 2005, Paul Mattessich of The Amherst H. Wilder Research Foundation of Saint Paul presented on his text Collaboration: What Makes it Work. Based on a research review of collaboration, Mattessich presents 6 categories of “ingredients for successful collaboration”:

  • Environment: a history of collaboration; community-legitimized collaboration participants; favorable political and social climate
  • Membership: mutual respect, understanding and trust; broad representation across the community of those affected by an issue; understood self-interest in participation; ability to compromise
  • Process and Structure: shared stake in process and outcomes; participation throughout an organization; flexibility; development of clear roles and policy guidelines; adaptability; appropriate pace of development
  • Communications: open and frequent communication; established informal relationships and communication links
  • Purpose: concrete, attainable goals and objectives; shared vision; unique purpose;
  • Resources: sufficient funds, staff, materials, and time; skilled leadership

Collaboration works because it is a tool for bringing together different people with different relationships to an issue in order to address a community concern. There are limitations of collaborations—they are time-consuming, there is potential for power inequalities to derail the work, compromise can be challenging, they often work best in small groups, and without an ability to affect change, they are not useful—but if these limitations can be recognized and overcome, a collaboration can be a strong force for change.

What has been your experience with collaborations? Do you think they are an effective method for change? Are there other limitations or criteria for effective collaboration that you would want to add? How would you like to see collaboration in your own life and/or career?

Please explore these and other thoughts/questions here!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Barbara Gray, Bridges Out of Poverty, collaboration, Growing Up Healthy

Zoom out: the achievement gap

July 11, 2010 By Growing Up Healthy

The summertime achievements we are highlighting in the July 2010 GUH Newsletter offer fun, engaging ways for kids to stay active during the otherwise lazy summer months. These programs are a reaction to the unfortunate reality of the U.S. “achievement gap.”

The National Center for Education Statistics defines the educational achievement gap as a statistically significant difference in scores between any two groups of students. Andy Porter, Dean of the Penn Graduate School of Education, emphasizes the reality that disparities in children’s “opportunit[ies] to learn” before and during schooling are a primary contributing factor to the achievement gap. Exciting research from Johns Hopkins University highlights the idea that “achievement gaps by family SES (socioeconomic status) and race/ethnicity widen more during the summer months than during the school year.” That’s where enrichment-focused, affordable summer programs, like those Rice County programs presented in this GUH video, programs from other parts of the country, and national efforts, can make a difference!

While it is wonderful that there are a variety of programs available for youth this summer, closing the achievement gap (and keeping it closed) will not happen overnight. Programs that have existed need to continue, and new programs may need to be created to keep providing sufficient innovative programming for all of the communities of Rice County.

How can we sustain the good work that is being done and still needs to be done? With whom does the responsibility lie to keep these programs going and breathe life into new efforts? What other programs are doing exciting work in the summer? What sorts of programs should exist that don’t to address the summer achievement gap issue, and who needs to take the lead on maintaining them?

Brainstorm your ideas and contribute to the dialogue below!

Filed Under: Neighborhood Blog Tagged With: acheivement gap, Andy Porter, Growing Up Healthy, Johns Hopkins, National Center for Education Statistics, newsletter, Penn Graduate School of Education, Rice County, summerimte

Copyright © 2021 · Genesis Sample Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in