Foncannon's Office

Foncannon’s office is where the former principal’s office of Clarkville Elementary School used to be. On her desk sits artwork that children have made her. 

“I was on vacation and I got back and there was you know, a hand-drawn thing, that said ‘I miss you,’” she said. “It’s very fulfilling. I love my job. I’ve always loved my job.”

The Lake

If you drive up the hill to MPW headquarters, you’ll probably see the city lake, and the little gazebo that adjoins it. 

The lake is stocked with fish like largemouth bass and catfish, and Foncannon said fishing began there recently. 

“Two weeks ago, a kid caught his first-ever fish and it was huge,” she said. “And that kid was actually here today and came through our office here to go grab a fishing pole to go back down and do it again.”

The Gymnasium

Workers use this space to work directly with children in recreational activities. 

“[One of the workers] was in there, week after week, practicing with a girl who wanted to try out for a softball team,” Foncannon said. “And you know, whose family wasn’t engaged. And so she’s in there practicing softball with her and building up her self-esteem in that way.”

The Family Room

If you step into the family room, you’ll set a mural, colored with images from various families and budding artists. Foncannon helped a local woman discover her artistic talent through the creation of this mural and a similar painted rock project. 

"I had these women whose children are in state care that are working to get their children back that have painted some amazing rocks, and put all these kinds of cool fun information on them,” Foncannon said. “One of those ladies, I’m like, ‘You’re an artist.’ And she’s like, ‘What?’ And I’m like, ‘You’re an artist.’ You know, I would have never known that if we didn’t have this project for her to do community service.”

Community Garden and Natural Park

Foncannon said her creativity thrives in her role as executive director — she gets to call the shots on fun projects. One of the emerging projects is dedicated to a late board member: A natural park with big logs and stumps that children can climb on and engage with outside the center. 

“One of our board members passed away just less than a month ago,” Foncannon said. “And years ago she was the park director. And so we wanted to combine something that she loved, you know, and do something to honor her.”

Commercial Kitchen and Food Pantry

Two weekly dinners — one Wednesday, one Friday — are provided to the community via a commercial kitchen and food pantry here. (MPW has intervened with the Friday dinner this week).

Homeless and Foster Closet

These are spaces that are poured into with love from volunteers and board members. Foncannon is especially proud of this space. 

“We have a homeless closet that has, you know, blankets and hygiene bags,” Foncannon said. “A lady that we’ve worked with before and came to our offices just said, I need some food and can I get one of those hygiene bags? All right, no problem. It’s like no questions asked.”

Narcan Vending Machines and Plan B 

This space was a no-brainer for the resource center, and is especially helpful for harm reduction in the community.

“We have a Narcan vending machine out back so people can come by, get some Narcan if they need it, or if they think they’re going to need it,” Foncannon said. “We have Plan B that we can give out for free.” 

Within the MPW headquarters Monday evening, photographers and faculty watched as picture stories and presentations lit up on the screen. Crew members received their crew hats, a sense of pride at their work so far. Just down the hall, Foncannon sat proud in her own office, surrounded by local artwork and community space she helped create.

It feels good for Alyssa Goodman to be on the faculty side of MPW operations this year.  A 12 year photo editor at the Associated Press on the environmental team, she led a presentation Tuesday night on sequencing stories.  

“It’s so easy to be caught up in the stories that are going to be published now,” Goodman said. “We should be telling stories that matter tomorrow.”

Goodman segments photo stories as races- with a beginning, middle, and end. There are key things to look for; an attention grabbing lead, the need for a character, a sequence that furthers the story, a sense of place, detail, and an ender. 

This relates to her work and helping audiences understand what they are looking at. 

“Climate change is such a huge topic and it can be really hard to comprehend,” Goodman said. “Give your audience a ‘who’ to care about.”

Surprising viewers helps with this, as well as editing as you go. This is something MPW photographers can understand, as their full RAW takes are evaluated. 

"Narrow the content as you go,” Goodman said. “I call it a waterfall, I’m constantly saying, ‘This is in, this is out.’ The most important thing is you have conversations with photographers. I take it very seriously because my name is not on the work, it’s the photographer’s name.” 

The images Goodman displays on screen show subjects interacting with a frayed, often volatile environment around them. 

“You can see how fragile these places are,” Goodman said. “They’re one climate disaster away from being destroyed,”

Goodman says you need to end the viewer with something profound to think about, that relates to the issue but asks them to think in terms of action. The race at MPW has already begun, and we appear to be somewhere near the middle.