Meeting Ourselves Coming and Going

Written by Arlinda McKeen August 18, 2016

There are no lazy days of summer around SPPG.

Have you ever heard someone say they are so busy they are meeting themselves coming and going? While some may think that’s being too busy, the SPPG crew sees it a bit differently. We work on a lot of issues – direct care workforce, out-of-school time, economic well-being, planning supports in a half-dozen issue areas, and more. Some we’ve been involved with for more than 15 years, and some will be for one week.

What we see is our issues meeting themselves in a web of connectedness. Those issues meet themselves coming and going – demonstrating that there is a lot of work to be done to engage those impacted by policy in its development.

Consider how direct care workforce connects with the regional offices training people for jobs, which connects with economic well-being, which intersects with issues of bias and racism, which connects with challenges in education and securing a job, which with intersects with poverty, which can tie in with youth violence, that can lead to girls in the juvenile justice system, which ties to mental and physical health, bringing us to access to health care of all kinds, meaning we need a strong direct care workforce.

Those are just some of the issues we are working on right now! Over 32 years, we’ve hit just about every area from foster care to built infrastructure. It’s no wonder SPPG is a mystery company to some. The connections we make, the wide array of issues we have worked on over 32 years, and our eagerness to foster those connections for the benefit of all – that’s what we do. And, as we like to say, “We do a lot of it!”