Healthy Community Initiative announced yesterday that Executive Director Zach Pruitt has decided to step away after 17 years at the helm.
Under Pruitt’s leadership, HCI grew from a $125,000 organization to a $3.2 million dollar one, with 41 employees, instead of the two that were there when he began. Among the organization’s accomplishments under his leadership is the launch of Northfield Promise, which is a program that brings a multitude of private and public organizations together to both supplement and support the Northfield School District and bringing in more than $20 million in grants for youth and family related purposes.
“Being HCI’s Executive Director has been one of the great joys of my life,” said Pruitt. “I am incredibly proud of the organization that we all have built together and the impact that HCI’s work has on the community.”
HCI is aiming for a smooth transition timed to the start of the school year. The executive committee of HCI’s board is setting a search plan now. Pruitt intends to stay with HCI into the transition to help make it as seamless as possible.
The statement said no other changes in staffing are expected.
District creates safe environment by earning students’ trust
Long before the tragic events in Uvalde, Texas last week, the Northfield Public School District began working to ensure the safety of every
one of its students and do as much as possible to prevent a mass shooting, which has now become a legitimate concern in every school district and community across the country.
Northfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann said the district maintains a three-pronged approach to the issue through school security, training of faculty and staff, and building relationships with every student.
Each district building is secure and can be locked down on a moment’s notice, but every bit as important are the prevention programs in place which are designed to protect the students, earn their trust, and mitigate as much as possible the sort of conditions that can breed serious problems. Each building has a threat assessment team that goes through a training regimen designed by the National Association of School Psychologists. Every member of the district staff and faculty receives anti-bullying training. Every school employs a licensed social worker and a school psychologist. Each elementary school has a behavior coach, the Middle School employs three school counselors, while the High school has four, and Hillmann said the Area learning Center now has a counselor as well.
The district takes things a step farther, too, by trying to build relationships with each individual student. Dr. Hillmann said it is very important that a student have a relationship with a trusted adult who is not their parent or caregiver, with whom they can have conversations and in whom they can confide. Hillmann asks the faculty to greet each student by name as often as possible, to make them feel valued. He said when students feel like the adults in their community care for them, the learning environment is both safer and more engaging.
“A school has to be a welcoming place, where kids not only feel safe, but also where they feel welcomed, and it is a quality learning environment. So, we are always having to balance making sure we have facilities that have the appropriate amount of security with also making it feel like it is a place of learning.”
Finally, Hillmann said, school safety is a community wide project, and many of the concepts used in the district can be used in the greater community as well. Each of us can do our part, he said, by watching, befriending, and earning the trust of the kids in the community.
City taking steps to alleviate housing shortage
Last year the City of Northfield received the results of a housing study that showed a severe housing shortage in the Northfield area. While
the results were not surprising, they were still call for great alarm. A housing shortage can stagnate an economy, as it precludes growth in the community and in the business sector. The single largest reason the Northfield Public School District has had to cut money from its budget over the next two years is because of declining enrollment, which can be tied directly to the housing shortage. This can compound the problem, because a contracting school district is less attractive to young families, the exact group of people the city wants to attract and can cause them to look for other areas to settle and raise their children.
Northfield Housing Coordinator Melissa Hanson said Northfield has been underbuilding since the housing fueled economic crash of 2008, but the city has taken steps to alleviate the issue. There are several new multi-family developments and affordable housing developments coming online. Hanson said, by the end of 2023, Northfield will have 250 new rental units that were not there at the beginning of 2021. The Kraewood development is just waiting for the site plan approval and is expected to break ground in early July. Timberfield is putting the finishing touches on a third apartment building which will open in August or September, and Heritage Lofts, which will bring 90 rental units, is in the early stages of development.
Affordable housing developments are also in the pipeline, but inflation and supply chain issues have been a problem. In fact, she said, they nearly derailed the Spring Creek II project, which caused the city and the Housing Authority to step in with extra funding.
“When you have non-profits that are trying to build affordable housing, they run very lean on their margins. So, when inflation happened and labor and material costs went up, we needed to step up and fill that gap. So, the HRA went ahead and helped [non-profit developer] Three Rivers Community Action bridge that gap. And now, we’re very excited to get that project moving again.”
Mayor Rhonda Pownell said housing was made a priority in the city’s new strategic plan last year, and that she and the city council will continue do whatever is necessary to assist Hanson and the Housing Authority in order to see the community grow.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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