Last Thursday, on July 17, 2025, two of our own United4Hope program managers got to present at Alignment Nashville’s Positive Schools Conference.  

Pictured above: Left – Dr. Mike Hidalgo, United4Hope Program Manager for Metro Nashville Public Schools, Right – Marian Whitney, United4Hope Program Manager for the Franklin Special District

The Positive Schools Conference, which was hosted at James Lawson High School, sought to bring diverse community partners, mental health providers, and leading experts together to provide powerful experiential learning that can transform school culture, strengthen support systems, and improve the overall success and wellness of students. The conference focused on various ways social-emotional learning strategies could be implemented to help staff, faculty and contractors throughout Metro Nashville Public Schools.  

Dr. Mike Hidalgo, MNPS program manager, and Marian Whitney, FSD program manager, got to represent United4Hope by presenting two back-to-back workshops entitled “Quick to Listen, Slow to Speak: How Active Listening Can Transform Community Partnerships.” The workshop defined active listening as “seeking to understand, rather seeking to reply” and through this lens, broke down the why and how of actively listening. The body of the workshop was largely based on the United4Hope coordinator and volunteer orientation.  

Mike and Marian had an amazing time getting to engage with so many MNPS staff & faculty and were also both blown away by the autobiography of keynote speaker, Jonathan Grant Brown. The entire day was exciting, encouraging and special.  

If you would like one of our United4Hope team members to speak at your conference or event about the same or similar topic, please reach out at united4hope@operationandrew.org.