Partnerships are integral to our organization. We couldn’t do what we do without beautiful partnerships to help with program delivery, our own ongoing education, and of course support for all the work we do. As we launch our Spring semester, I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of connecting with so many of our partners and I’d like to highlight just three of the ones I’ve been working with this past month and offer a big thank you for being part of our community. 

Villanova University
Social Impact Co-Op Program
We are thrilled to be launching our 3rd year as the highlight nonprofit of Villanova University’s Social Impact program. Thank you Prof. Theodoros Arapis for being the advisor for this program! Three wonderful students Matthew D, Lauren L. and Brendon D. are learning about Public Administration and are putting Villanova’s Augustinian values, Unitas Caritas and Veritas, Unity, Care, and Truth into action. These students will be learning Inner Strength’s curriculum and assisting our instructors in the classroom. They will also be reflecting on the state of public education, equity in education, and the history of Philadelphia’s public schools. A fourth Villanova student Lauren A. will be completing her required internship as a Communications Intern for Inner Strength. Keep watch, one of her first assignments is to write a beautiful history of how this partnership came about and how it’s grown and flourished. 

School District of Philadelphia Counselors & Creative and Performing Arts High School Emergency Preparedness

Each week Inner Strength instructors meet to deepen our teaching skills, understanding of the subtlety of mindfulness and its transformational capacity, and also to learn from professional partners. This month we hosted two important sessions, one gaining skills to be prepared for more difficult events, and the other to bring more play into the classroom.

As we all know, schools can be targets of violence and how the adults respond in those situations makes all the difference for students’ safety, calm, and sense of well being. Over the years, schools have developed important protocols to help students be safe in fires, adverse weather, or human threats. How you proceed to your nearest exits, when you shelter in place, what you do when you are protecting in the classroom are all scripted so in the heat of an emergency everyone knows what to do. Inner Strength hosted an in-person Emergency Preparedness training at our offices at Industrious (another valued partner and the provider of our office space) where together we went through the SDP’s training for partner programs. Then we invited long time friend and collaborator Karina Hirschfield, who we’ve worked with since around 2017, who is now the counselor at one of our school partners the Creative and Performing Arts High School (CAPA), along with CAPA’s Dean of Students  Joseph Ippolito to answer questions by zoom. It was a rich and informative session and we all hones our preparedness and confidence to respond in the most constructive way during emergencies. We’re so grateful to Karina and Joseph for taking time out of their very busy days to work with us.

Playworks
Games & Strategies to bring more play into the classroom
We cross pollinate and trade skills with one of our partners Playworks. In our second year of collaboration, we brought Playworks Associate Director of Pennsylvania and friend Corrie O’Neil and Program Specialist Samiyah Saunders to share indoor games and explore the powerful role play has in learning and connection. Together, we talked about ways to weave mindfulness into games, and we’re excited to add this additional set of tools to our middle school and afterschool programs. Jazman Dobson, our ISE mindfulness instructor, spent time with the Playworks team this month leading them in a much needed Mindfulness relaxation and stress reduction session to support their staff.Our reach and our mission expand because we collaborate. And we collaborate because we are all in this together to make change and bring joy and lifelong love of learning to youth. We are incredibly grateful for our partners and the care, expertise, and generosity they share.