As the 2015-2016 academic year comes to an end, CCPS has a lot to celebrate. This past year, we embraced and showcased our recognition as an engaged college. Our websites, newsletters, and media coverage highlighted just a small portion of the outstanding work you have done in teaching, service, evaluation, scholarship, training, consulting, and mentoring students. I want to express my appreciation for all CCPS faculty, staff and PSS for your combined efforts to support and transform our college.

I also want to recognize and thank our student workers and GAs for all your hard work.

For our returning students, we are excited to continue this journey with you. For our graduates, we know you are prepared to create opportunities, elevate the discussion, and lead by example. Please keep us updated on your journey.

I want to thank each of you for being a Laker for a Lifetime. 

Lisa Sisson, Assistant Professor in the Hospitality and Tourism Management Department, and her team, including Melissa Harrington (Director of Fulton Street Farmers Market), Betty Mills (Graduate Assistant), and Tiffany Paige (Community Outreach Catholic Charities West Michigan), presented an idea at the 5x5 competition held by Grand Valley State University. 5 teams were given the opportunity to present their ideas in a 5 minute pitch, which were voted on by 5 judges, who awarded $5,000 to the winning team.

"The Heartside community has very high levels of food insecurity, meaning they dont have access to food that will fit their nutritional needs, Sisson said. About 76 percent of the people in the neighborhood we interviewed experience hunger and food deprivation. Its considered a food desert by the USDA, meaning there is low access to food and low income levels in the neighborhood." Sisson said the prize money will be used to help purchase a cargo van to collect and distribute food to residents in the greater Grand Rapids community, and to increase distribution throughout the year. Since 2014, Heartside Gleaning Initiative (HGI) has collected donations from farmers and provided, without charge, more than 37,000 pounds of fresh produce, which amounts to more than 50,000 servings.

Q: What influenced your idea?

A: I have always been familiar with the biblical concept of gleaning so when Marge Parmelee, Executive Director of Degage Ministries, talked about a couple who had gleaned from the Fulton Street Farmers Market, before their retirement, and provided the produce to Degage I thought this was something I could do. I was quickly overwhelmed with the amount of produce donated and decided to make it a formal program.

Q: How did you put your team together?

A: I have been doing research and service in the Heartside Community since 2007 and have developed relationships with many people in the neighborhood, as well as people interested in food access throughout Grand Rapids. The summer before I began putting the team together I attended a Strategic Doing workshop at the Johnson Center hosted by the CCPS Office of Community Engagement. I implemented many of the ideas learned at this workshop to pull together people I already knew.

Links:
— Heartside Gleaning Initiative supports Grand Rapids community. in the Grand Valley Lanthorn
— 5x5 Pitch Night on Youtube —major in HTM at Grand Valley

This past March, students from PA 380 (Community Based Learning) and Students Leaving a Mark (SLAM) traveled to Biloxi, Mississippi to participate in their annual service learning trip. SLAM is a student organization focused on providing its members service and leadership opportunities. Many members of SLAM are students pursuing degrees in Public, Nonprofit and Health Administration. This year, the group was lead by: Anne London, Senior Academic Advisor in the College of Community and Public Service Undergraduate Advising Center (CCPS-UAC); Quincy Williams, Program Coordinator for the School of Public, Nonprofit and Health Administration; Megan Coburn, CCPS-UAC Graduate Student; Jeff Sykes, Disability Support Resource Advisor; and Veda Hodges, Office Coordinator for the College of Education.

The 24 students and 5 staff who participated in the trip began their week by assisting residents at the Santa Maria del Mar Retirement Community. Many of these residents do not have consistent income and rely on assistance provided by Hands on Mississippi, a local nonprofit. Students worked with Hands on Mississippi staff to sort, box and deliver over 5,000 pounds of donated food items to 170 Santa Maria del Mar residents.

Students were then invited back the next day to sit with the residents and enjoy coffee, donuts, and good company.

In addition to working with the Santa Maria del Mar Community, students assisted with preparing a community garden for planting, cleaned out a local bayou still containing debris from Hurricane Katrina, painted at the Jefferson Davis Museum, aided a family who had experienced a home fire, and assisted RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) with construction of a clothing and food pantry. The week also included a trip to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis Tennessee, as well as sampling culinary treats from the south, nightly reflection, and teambuilding activities. In the words of Austin Hunt (SLAM President, 2016-2017), we went in with the same goals as we do every year: give as much help back to the local community as we can in that short week, broaden our cultural experiences and witness the local life at ground level, and to bond as a group of friends that are sacrificing their potential week on the beach to do something bigger and more noble than ourselves.

Links:
— SLAM on facebook
— major in public & nonprofit administration at Grand Valley

With the 2015-2016 school year coming to an end, we wanted to acknowledge some of the many students who have demonstrated excellence in various graduate programs offered within the College of Community and Public Service at Grand Valley State University.

On April 12, eight graduate students from CCPS received Citations for Academic Excellence from Graduate Dean Jeffrey Potteiger:

• Phillip Capps (MSW) received a citation for excellence in leadership and service to GVSU.
• Melanie Ball (MHA) was honored for excellence in the Health Administration program
• Daniel Cook (MHA) was honored for excellence in leadership and service to GVSU.
• Colin Cummings (MPA) was honored for excellence in service to the community
• Kari Oliver (MSCJ) was honored for excellence in the Criminal Justice program
• Carly Roach (MSW) was honored for excellence in service to the community
• Braml Roberts (MPA) was honored for excellence in leadership and service to GVSU

• Elizabeth Vallier-Booth (MSW) was honored for excellence in the Social Work program

Five graduate students from CCPS were among the 43 presenting at this year's Graduate Showcase. Held every April, the showcase offers our graduate students an opportunity to present their research. scholarship, and professional experience.

• Jasmine Ahuja (MHA): Rural Hospital Swing Beds: Just as Effective and Closer to Home.
• Kate Behrens (MSW): The Perspective of Human Services Professionals on the Inclusion of Dogs in Service
• Kristen Daniels (MSW): Student Opinion Surveys: What's the Use.
• Ouen Hunter, with Mallory McFarren and Ken Ford, (MSW): Tough Times? A Little Social Work Simulation Might Help.
• Hannah Rogers (MPA): Tulip Time Spending Trends

Links:
— Graduate Showcase from the Graduate School
— Graduate Dean's Citations for Academic Excellence from the Graduate School

Through the School of Public, Nonprofit and Health Administration (SPNHA)Student Consulting Center (Center), student consultants Blake Ferris and Mary Jo Beeby worked with Professor Stephen Borders also of SPNHA to identify areas likely to suffer from food insecurity for Feeding America West Michigan (FAWM)." The Center is a faculty led, student centered program designed to provide healthcare and nonprofit organizations in Michigan the opportunity to work together in solving real-life challenges.

In the Winter 2016 semester, FAWM entered into an agreement with the Center to provide analytical and Geographic Information Services (GIS) services of the 40 county service area. Using data from the American Community Survey, the student consultants analyzed

potential indicators of food insecurity, such as poverty, households without a vehicle, unemployment and those with limited English proficiency. Analyzing data at the Census Tract level permitted the two to drill down within each county to identify areas with particularly acute needs. A Census Tract has between 1,200 and 8,000 people. In Kent County, there are 128 Census Tracts. In addition, the student consultants also geocoded the location and amount of food FAWM distributed to local food pantries over the past year.

The student consultants analysis resulted in a series of online maps, such as this map of Kent County depicting the poverty rate by each Census Tract and the pounds of food distributed to each pantry during 2015. Their analysis identified several areas throughout Kent County where potential

needs are high (high levels of poverty that are shaded in darker blue) and where FAWM has low levels of distribution (few and smaller orange circles). The efforts of the student consultants are being utilized by FAWM to work more effectively with local food pantries within the 40 county service area to distribute more food in these areas, and to better target locations where needs exist for FAWMs fleet of mobile pantries. The student consultants will conclude their work in the coming weeks with a presentation on their findings to FAWM executive staff.

Links:
— SPNHA Student Consulting Center 
— major in public & nonprofit administration at Grand Valley

GVSU's Police Academy is leading the way in Michigan! The Police Academy has been asked to pilot a program called Blue Courage during 2016 - 2017. This isn't a change or addition to the curriculum, but rather a change in the "way" the curriculum will be delivered. A philosophical change. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Blue Courage is a way of being, a philosophy that inspires one to embody the noblest of character and unquestioned devotion. To act with practical wisdom, to exude vitality, and to hearten human connections.

Blue Courage is a transformational process focused on the human development of a police officer. It draws on relevant, proven literature and research on human effectiveness, positive psychology, leadership development and neuroscience. The goal is personal and cultural

transformation through institutionalizing the heartset, mindset, skillset, and toolset of our police officers.

It is a blend of many disciplines drawn upon to address the "Whole Person" development, engaging the heart, mind, body, and sprit. The process is designed to address many of the personal challenges police officers face such as: cynicism, relationships, identity, integrity, health, and stress issues.

• Takes officer survival far beyond tactical and critical incident survival and ensures the "readiness" of officers to both prevent and survive the incidents and the aftermath.
• Develops a mental toughness, allowing for the essential "resilience" officers and leaders must have.
• Develops leaders from initial academy orientation and continues throughout an officer's career.

• Instills a sense of, and commitment to, the purpose and nobility of the policing profession to ensure an absolute service and guardian heart-set.
• Develops a culture of learning, critical thinking, open mindedness, respect and intellectual curiosity.
• Develops a moral compass and the requisite courage to do the hard and right thing in any circumstance that ensures justice, fairness and ensuring legitimacy and procedural justice.
• Ensures that officers understand, embrace and embody the trusting interdependence that is essential for effective partnerships with the community and the justice system.

Links:
— Blue Courage 
— Police Academy at Grand Valley

Collective Impact is the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem. Collective impact initiative involves a centralized infrastructure, dedicated staff, and a structured process that leads to a common agenda, shared measurement, continuous communication, and mutually reinforcing activities among all participants (Kania, J., and Kramer, M., 2011).

Embracing Emergence: How Collective Impact Addresses Complexity. Under conditions of complexity, predetermined solutions can neither be reliably ascertained nor implemented. Instead, the rules of interaction that govern collective impact lead to changes in individual and organizational behavior that create an ongoing progression of alignment, discovery, learning, and emergence. (Kania, J., and Kramer, M., 2013, p. 2).

In support of our efforts to spread the word about all the great engagement work done in CCPS, we now have a regular feature on the WGVU Shelley Irwin Morning Show. On May 2nd at 10 a.m. Shelley Irwin featured Dr. Brandon Youker Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work.

Got a good story to share? Contact us at [email protected]