diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d787b52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+0.3.1 (unreleased)
+==================
+
+- Bug fix relating to the SVM predict.py Classification Report which mistakenly assumed all categorical types are represented in the data (not necessarily the case for prediction inputs). Fixing the encoder resolves the issue (see below)
+
+- A custom encoder class `PairEncoder` was created, allowing a user to pass in explicit key-pair values (a dictionary) for categorical features and `SvmEncoder` was updated to use this for encoding “category" (scene/field), "detector" and "wcs".
+
+- Additional tests added to test_encode.py for the above case
+
+- Minor enhancements to SVM classification report for better readability.
+
+
+0.3.0 (2022-02-16)
+==================
+
+- SVM module added to `skopes` for evaluating the alignment of HST Single Visit Mosaic images using an "ensembled" 4D image classifier and MLP model.
+- CAL dashboard enhancements
+- new feature SVM dashboard for model evaluation and data analysis
+- enhancements to SVM prep, predict and training modules
+- significant additions made to pytest test suite for primary svm-related modules
+- minor bug fixes and enhancements
+- ability to load/save image arrays as compressed numpy files (single .npz file instead of individual pngs).
+- load dataset module added for calcloud dashboard
+- Read the Docs documentation and API
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index a7c9d48..6d7efde 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [metadata]
 name = spacekit
-version = 0.3.0
+version = 0.3.1rc1
 author = Ru Keïn
 author_email = rkein@stsci.edu
 license = MIT
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 420f5f3..b1b5bae 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -35,4 +35,4 @@
 
 
 # setup(use_scm_version={'write_to': 'spacekit/_version.py'})
-setup(version="0.3.0")
+setup(version="0.3.1rc1")