Three weeks in, and 2022 is proving to be a year to be reckoned with. This omicron variant has us all on edge. I will admit, I was spooked by it. But Monday – MLK Day – I had some time to reflect on the Rev. Dr. King's legacy and wisdom, and I was refortified in our mission. We're taking COVID seriously at Goodman. We have since Day 1. We're also going to keep working every day to strengthen lives and secure futures.

Many of you will receive a letter from me in the coming weeks outlining the amazing things we accomplished in 2021, thanks to support from our community. (Read a sneak peek of it here.) And I hope that you will find the same amount of hope in those accomplishments as I did.

Next week, I celebrate a year with the Goodman Center, and I can hardly believe that 365 days have passed since I first walked through GCC's doors. And then I think about all the things we did in 2021, and I can hardly believe more time hasn't passed. It's truly amazing to see what a group of committed people in our community – I'm talking about staff, volunteers, donors and neighbors like you – can accomplish when we set out to work together.

That's a big part of Dr. King's legacy, so let's keep moving forward into 2022. I know we can accomplish great things once again – together.

Take care,

If you've been over to goodmancenter.org in the last few days, you probably noticed that things are looking a little different there. We launched a refreshed version of our website on Monday, and we couldn't be happier to bring you a more user-friendly and intuitive way to see all the Goodman Center has to offer. In addition to updated homes for our key programs like preschool and 4K, elementary after-school, teen center and older adults, we also have introduced a few new features that we think are pretty cool.

We hope you'll take some time to click around and get acquainted with the new Goodman website.

Big shoutout to Cricket Design Works, who helped us design and build this great new experience.

Before the holiday break, we hosted our last family fun night of the year. Normally this is a chance to gather with our kids and their families in person before the holidays. But with COVID cases on the rise, we shifted to a take-home event, and Fire Fighters Local 311 and Gino's Italian Deli came through to make it extra special!

Together, they donated 100 pans of Gino's take-and-bake lasagna to go with our wooden ornaments and paint kit, as well as sugar cookies and frosting to be decorated at home. Fire fighters helped distribute all the holiday goodies, but the real highlight for many of our kiddos was the chance to check out Engines 3 and 8!

We are only a few weeks into 2022, but our Girls Inc. of Greater Madison team is already making waves!

Last week, Outreach Coordinator Jade returned to in-person programming with her students at O'Keeffe Middle School and East High School. Jade has also started a new Girls Inc. Adventure Club at East, which will begin this week. This adventure club will offer Girls Inc. members exposure to outdoor activities they may have never tried before, like cross-country skiing and ice skating. Even though it's cold outside, we can still have fun and learn!

On the elementary side of things, STEM Coordinator Rachel is busy planning for her spring STEM programming and is excited to continue to help our Girls Inc. members envision themselves in the STEM field one day. This spring, Rachel will continue working with various STEM-focused groups around the Dane County area, such as the Ice Age Trail Alliance and the UW Physics Lab.

We have to send a HUGE congrats to our CEO Letesha Nelson for being named to Madison365's 48 Most Influential Black Leaders. She was surprised by the honor, but we're not. She's already accomplished so much in just one year. We can't wait to keep strengthening lives and securing futures in 2022 and beyond under her leadership! Read more here.

In case you haven't already seen it, check out our CEO Letesha's profile in the December issue of In Business magazine! There are a lot of gems, but this line from Letesha about leading youth stands out: "They are always watching you. They will see if you are a person of your word and the promises you've made with them are real. Read the full article.

Interested in even more proof that our CEO is someone truly special? Check out this conversation she had with Black Oxygen podcast host Angela Russell back in September. They covered everything from Letesha's background to her vision for Goodman, and there were plenty of laughs and even a few tears (she wears her heart on her sleeve, our Letesha). Thank you to Big Dreamers United for filming and editing the video. Watch it here.

Our event spaces are truly as unique as the events we host in them. We love this photo, taken at Emma and Daniel's wedding this fall by Dutcher Photography, of a groomsman warming up to play during the wedding processional.

Our Bea and Lau rooms combine to form our largest rental space and feature a double-barreled ceiling with skylights, a colorful glass wall, exposed brick, steel beams and columns. The rooms blend the contemporary with the historic portion of our Brassworks building. You'll love the contemporary accents, modern lighting, two built-in bars and two dance floors.

Current open positions: 

The Goodman Center has been selected as the beneficiary of the Hy-Vee Reusable Bag Program that supports local nonprofits! Each time a $2.50 red "My Heart" Reusable Bag is purchased at the Hy-Vee on East Washington during the month of January we will receive a $1 donation. We can all use more reusable grocery bags, right?

Hours:   

Questions? Contact Francesca at francesca@goodmancenter.org or 608.204.8049.  

Every home in the United States is now eligible to order four free at-home COVID-19 tests.

These are great tests to have on hand to get a quick result if you start experiencing symptoms.

Are you ready to move forward together? We are. Thanks for being in our corner for all these years. We look forward to doing great things together for years to come. 

608.241.1574 | info@goodmancenter.org | goodmancenter.org

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