It’s been a quick and busy month at Tree Street with lots going on! Staff is currently wrapping up February Break and will be back at it for the March stretch on Monday!

Development/Fundraising

• We have been working hard closing out 2021 ensuring proper thank yous and stewarding of all end of year gifts.
• We have been inspired by all of the “one word” activities across the organization that has led us to the theme of this year’s annual appeal/development activities to be: “Unfurl: Open Up, Open Out!” Alli is working on some visuals to accompany this and will begin to incorporate it into our messaging.
• Check out the latest mailchimp:

Basement

• Phase 1 is complete!!! Phase 2 will take place this coming week where they will put in the new concrete for the floor!
• There was a few additional unforeseen circumstances that emerged that resulted in needing a bit more funds from CDBG so I had to do an additional application and gathering of quotes…bit more work, but worth the savings!

Maintenance Contract

• I have drafted a contract to do maintenance work at Tree Street with Recovery Builders of Maine, this is an offshoot of Recovery Connections of Maine one of the leading substance use recovery groups in Maine. They are located in downtown on Middle Street and we have partnered in the past on a few things. Work will be done by individuals in recovery in their programs with skilled lead staff during weekends or nights/early mornings at the center. Hoping to have this in place to begin in March.

Programming

• Staff have been working hard on some minor new programming iteration/pilots including:
  • Basketball teams will begin to play in March vs. the rec and boys and girls club teams! Tuesdays and Thursday from 5-6
  • MAPLE workshops are taking place each monday from 5-6. This months workshops include some leadership exercises, guest speakers from Recovery Connections of Maine talking about addiction and recovery, and a collaborative session with parents on opening bank accounts!
  • Lastly, but maybe most exciting we have been working collaboratively with Hebert construction to pilot a program we are calling PINE (Peer Inspired Navigation of Employment). PINE-Construction is a program working with approximately 10-12 teens who will begin working on some of the downtown Lewiston construction sites (mostly apartment buildings related to the CHOICE grant). Hebert is desperate for laborer/workers so we have put together a framework where some teens from Tree will work for them in “mini-shifts” accompanied by CEDAR interns/staff. They will get paid through Hebert directly. Kids are very excited about the opportunity! CEDAR interns: Dylon and Anthony are heading this initiative up.

Kid Dynamics

• There has been a lot of dynamics across the community lately. Lost of fights, drama, suspensions/expulsions, school threats, substance usage (vaping) etc. Staff is taking things in stride, but are looking critically at our programming and approaches to the “drop in” aspect of after school to ensure kids have enough support and structure to stay focused. We are okay, but I personally have never seen some of the way these dynamics are playing out before.

Samara

• I have been presented with an opportunity to do some consistent coaching with leadership at Trekkers. They are willing to pay a monthly rate for this support!
• We are currently searching for a fellow to work collaborative with The Nature Conservancy and Tree Street to create opportunities to get more kids outside!

Mural

• 10 year anniversary Mural got installed this February Break! Finishing touches are being put on it and I will have a picture for everyone at the meeting on Tuesday!

• Staff have been very busy jumping back into 2022. We have had a few staff transitions as Anna, Taha and Kevin (all part time mentors) moved on to go back to school. We have been busy hiring and have rehired Zach Knight (used to work as a Cedar Intern and PT staff in the past), we will have Aliyah (Jordan’s younger sister) joining us, as well as Tree Alumni Abshir aka Jama will both begin this week to finally bring the staff to full capacity. It has been an exhausting month covering for people out and keeping up with COVID etc but we are hanging in there and excited to have new teammates join!
• CEDAR (Community Engagement for Developing Abilities and Readiness) is starting to rebuild after being shut down during COVID shutdown times. We currently have 3 new CEDAR interns all alumni of the center and all being paid through the career center work experience program. Current CEDARs Are:
  • Dylon-former sequoia from early years! 2016-17 working on the big kids side and sequoia
  • J’Quita-Next STEP graduate 2021 will be switch hitting on littles/bigs
  • Anthony-former Sequoia who will be a CEDAR intern as part of his re-entry after spending most of his teen years in Long Creek. He has graduated high school. And this is a new pilot to see how CEDAR might be able to support reentey experiences for others in Lewiston
• Sequoia/Adriana (Diversion/family support) have been managing a number of very complex cases the past few months. Winter is hard on kids and families who are trapped inside a lot with their restrictions and families having housing instability. We currently have 4 current and 2 pending sequoia referrals. With the potential of 4 more after recent incidents at the high school.
• Kid/community drama-there has been multiple fights lately across the community in schools and at Tree. It wears on the staff a lot bc it’s hard to keep up with all the drama and we tend to inherit situations that haven’t been fully resolved elsewhere. We have restorative processes in place for a number of those involved. Majority are teen boys, but we have headed off a few potential fights with girls in the community recently also.
• Next STEP has added a handful of new students at the LMS trimester and LHS semester shifts. The middle school now serves 20 youth and high school serves 50. We also have brought on a few new teachers on including former Tree/BRANCHES staff members
• Basement Update-Step 1 of Clearing out the basement is complete! It was an unbelievable effort by Obrien’s Property Services! Here is a summary of their work. The job took three 8-10 hour days with a 3-4 person crew. From the job we carried and hauled 29,180 pounds of junk. That’s 14.6 tons of junk! From the 29,180 pounds; 21,800 pounds of wood, metal and other material was sent for reuse, recycling and donation. We only sent 26% of the total haul to a landfill. Still in process of electrical work and TC Hafford is set to begin their work next week if all continues to go to plan!
• Tree Street staff completed their “word of the year” exercise. Staff’s word this year is “unfurl” with the visual being a fern unfolding as it grows. The MAPLE leaders also did the exercise and struggled a bit narrowing but all agreed to land on “conscience bond to trust.” It had multiple meanings first of staying bonded to ones conscience, while also bonding until trust is created, while also staying connected to leaning into trust regardless of what is happening. Both were incredibly rich discussions. Next STEP staff landed on Adaptability as their word! 
• Staff has begun to do some strategic visioning exercises that will parallel processes we will have in the board spaces and with the MAPLE leaders. The goal will be to weave these visions together to help inform our strategic plan work this first part of the year.
• COVID remains a challenge. We had one staff test positive who is back at work now. Multiple exposures but everyone is remaining vigilant and healthy to the best of our abilities.

Click here to download the message

Click here to view and download the January minutes

Agenda:

• 5:30-5:45 Intro
• 5:45-6:15 Power and Equity Intro/Grounding
• 6:15-6:35 Your Charge!
• 6:35-7:05 Break Out Rooms
• 7:05-7:20 Share Out
• 7:20-7:30 Close out
  • Next meeting: Dec 7 from 5:30 – 7:30PM
  • Reminder – orientation Nov 5 9-10AM
  • Survey Options!  (Select all you want to be apart of!)
    • Ed Eval design space
    • Fundraising event meeting space
    • Policy design space
    • Finance meeting

Link to meeting slide deck

Link to closing survey

Agenda:

• 5:30 – 5:35PM – Landing and arriving
• 5:35 – 6:00PM – Breakout 1:1’s – Getting to know each other
• 6:00 – 6:15PM – Design challenge intro
• 6:15 – 6:55PM – Design Challenge (breakout rooms)
• 6:55 – 7:15PM – Group share out (3-5 min per group)
• 7:15 – 7:25PM – Where do you land activity
• 7:25 – 7:30PM – Close out/next steps

Link Miro Board: TSY Design Meeting Group 1

Link Miro Board: TSY Design Meeting Group 2

Link Miro Board: TSY Design Meeting Group 3

Link Miro Board: Where do you land?