Operation Shoestring Inc

Parent and family initiatives:shoestring's parent and family initiatives included workshops designed to help the 133 households in our 2023-2024 programming develop tools and resources that can best help their families realize their own self-determined potential and achieve their goals. Our workshops primarily focused on stress management, health and wellness, and advocacy. These topics are determined by self-described needs of participating parents. We also provided limited resources in support of families in crisis.

Mississippi statewide afterschool network:operation shoestring (os) served as the fiscal agent and administrative support organization for the ms statewide afterschool network (msan), an initiative focused on creating more high-quality afterschool and summer programs in mississippi. Msan's initial work included creating quality standards and providing technical assistance and training for school- and community-based afterschool providers. In 2023, os determined that msan needed to become its own organization for both os and msan to fulfill their respective missions most effectively and to avoid any potential conflicts of interest with funders of os's work that had received technical assistance from msan about their public grant programs. In the spring of 2024, the community foundation for mississippi became msan's fiscal agent.

Community outreach:operation shoestring depends on partnerships with people and organizations across our community to offer resources and expertise, including those focused on mental and physical health, nutrition, education, community engagement, and more. Our work this past year involved 265 volunteers and 32 organizations.