The Rest of the Rhino’s Story:
HARMONY PURCHASES RHINO’S PROPERTY
The move of Rhino’s into larger space along South Walnut Street last summer solved a space problem, but it left unaddressed a much bigger one. As long as Harmony Education Center was renting space for Rhino’s its long-term future was always in jeopardy.

“We knew that Rhino’s had special requirements for space,” says Steve “Roc” Bonchek, Executive Director of Harmony Education Center.

“As renters we were vulnerable to being forced to move and we didn’t know where else Rhino’s might go,” Bonchek says. “There were no good alternative spaces downtown so our Capital Campaign leaders urged us to embark upon a bold plan.”

The plan involved renting the bigger space as quickly as possible, and finding some way to purchase the property outright. The best way to secure the long-range future of Rhino’s was to have control of the space.

A major issue was how to do this with a Capital Campaign already in progress aimed at a multi-million dollar renovation of HEC’s home, plus establishment of two new endowments for building maintenance and student scholarships. The answer was a plan to purchase the complex while postponing major fund raising for Rhino’s until later in the Campaign.

“Our financial plan involved using our rental payments, coupled with rent from other tenants, to service a mortgage on the property,” Bonchek says.

Behind the scenes negotiations optioned the strip mall for a fair price, located a civic-minded lender in United Commerce Bank, secured helpful business development funds from the City of Bloomington for facade renovation, and lined up some tenants for the vacant space. The purchase may have surprised many people, and it may have looked easy from the outside, but it took months of careful hard work.

“We are so grateful for the trust and confidence people have placed in Rhino’s and the important services we perform there for the youth of our community,” Bonchek says. “Thanks to a lot of people, we think we are a lot more secure now than we were just a few months ago.”


NSRF Annual Winter Meeting Focus is on Equity in Schools
One of Harmony Education Center’s divisions is the National School Reform Faculty, an organization dedicated to professional development of leaders and the establishment of collaborative learning environments in schools.

Each year the NSRF hosts a gathering of professionals for additional training, sharing, and motivation. The theme this year is on achieving equity in schools. The Winter Meeting will run January 12-14 in Denver, Colorado.

These gatherings bring together Coaches and Facilitators trained in NSRF’s technique of using Critical Friends Groups (CFGs) from across the nation. The program will provide a forum for essential, sustained, focused conversations on this year’s theme of equity.

The aim of the meeting is to help these educators move equity from talk into action.

Meetings and clinics will provide multiple opportunities to develop collective knowledge and think deeply about challenges, new ideas, projects, and protocols.

This year’s program will also include a celebration of NSRF's 10th Anniversary, and it is expected that many of the early CFG coaches and principals will be able to join the assembled group.

NSRF has over 14,000 trained coaches and facilitators serving throughout the country who work to build collaborative learning communities.


Institute for Research Plans National Conference
Jesse Goodman, director of HEC’s Institute for Research, has announced details of an upcoming national conference designed to begin research to document successes and challenges in school reform efforts in the United States.

The First Annual National School Reform Faculty Research Forum will be held in Denver, Colorado, on January 11, 2006. It will explore research involving NSRF work, critical friends groups, and the building of learning communities in schools.

The forum will bring together teaching professionals who are interested in these topics with those conducting research in these areas.


NSRF Continues Coaches Training in Monroe County
NSRF trainers don’t just work in distant locales. For the third summer in a row, a professional development conference has been conducted in Monroe County. Last summer 80 MCCSC and IU participants acquired NSRF coaching techniques. This followed a group of 40 last year, and another 20 from 2003.

Attendees included teachers and administrators working from kindergarten through college levels.

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