FInal-Oralee+Watkins

Oralee Watkins 2011-07-12 Final Paper

The neighborhood based- school that is desired to be built to serve the children who live in the Kansas City Missouri School District area should be structured to fit all needs of the people who actually live in the neighborhood. The people whom work near by institutions and large businesses might want to enroll their children in the school conveniently. There are a group of parents that actually formed a nonprofit organization with this mission: To create an effective and sustainable neighborhood-based grade school near 45th and Troost in Kansas City and serve both neighborhood children and the children of nearby businesses and institutions. The parents that came up with this idea know for sure that they will be enrolling their children in the school, but they are unfamiliar with the area in regards to knowing what the other businesses and institutes reactions would be. These parents know that they need to swap analysis so they formed a meeting without experience in knowing how to run a community meeting or even how to actually start achieving their mission. During the meeting the parents learned that they need to talk to others about the project, such as neighbors, so that engagement will come about in regards to advancing the mission. The role that I had in community engagement in this activity is that I had to help the group set a goal in a way that the residents and community members in the area could understand. It’s not out of the ordinary for a goal to change as work progresses, but the goal is the starting point for accomplishing the mission of the parents group. The goal was not to get the school running, but it was to actually engage the community so that could lead to a specific outcome. Ideas from different persons can create to a specific outcome variable. The high level of community engagement is necessary for several reasons. In order for a business or institution to succeed, it is necessary that the community is involved for ideas and improvement. Most customers or in this case, children, live in the neighborhood they attend school, work and shop. These people near know what the needs and wants are within the community so when the community has the opportunity to engage it allows them to list the issues. The issues are evaluated in such a way that the community involved will be able to point out their important issue, and issues are listed and the most important issues are voted most important. The goal is to find out what the neighborhood thinks about the new school being created. If they agree with the idea it is necessary to find out what they believe the school needs in regards to education, athletics, technology and other outside source of working in education. It is also necessary to find out exactly who might enroll their children in the program and what their specific needs are as far as academic levels. Vocational skills should be introduced so that it can be listed what they want their children to learn so they can have the academic level skill to work in any job. Also, scholar programs should be mentioned so that ideas can be enriched. Teaching life skills and having mentors and volunteers that are willing to help guide and priorities their strengths and weaknesses is important. It’s also necessary to know how to live and service after receiving money. Time management is important. I chose the goal of finding out what the neighbors wants so that their ideas could enforce the new school-based program mission. If the goal is established by the community, the idea should not be a waste. The statistics that actually total the amount of students and type of students are estimated at the meeting. The needs and wants for their children are listed and their ideas and future plans are listed. In order for any business to succeed they have to evaluate the consumer. In this case, the consumer is the neighborhood, businesses and institutes. They will help engage the new school- based program because it involves them. Before having the opportunity for engagement I had conducted enough research to move ahead with the goal I selected. What I would propose to the community is a list of ground rules and a strategic plan. The ground rules I will implement are as follows: 1) All technical devices should be shut off for confidential purposes. 2) Allow facilitators to lead group sessions. 3) Everyone should be able to speak without being interrupted. 4) All thoughts, opinions and issues are expected to be mapped out on a poster, written by the facilitator only. 5) Every person should chose a group and their specific concerns and opinions and concerns and main issues will be included with the consensus. 6) All participants are respectful to others opinions, values and concerns. 7) All members are asked to take the evaluation seriously and try to advice their most valuable information or network connection if feasible. 8) Facilitators are responsible for conducting and prioritizing ideas and issues concerning the new school-based program. 9) If there are any additional concerns or ideas that were not mentioned, we ask that you write your issue or idea on a flip card that will be provide at the end of the session. 10) Every person that attends the meeting should be the age of 18 and older and they have to be able to physically and mentally participate. The Troostwood area has a lot of business and a couple of institutions. Before having the meeting I would have interviewed a person attended to represent their business that is in the Troostwood neighborhood area. I will interview the following: Rockhurst University, Troostwoods Garden Market, Bob’s lounge, Troostwood townhomes, Troostwood Banquet Hall, Troostwood garden and body shop, Brookside Junior Highschool, 4531 Troost (CVS) ,4630 Troost Walgreens and University of Missouri of Kansas City. I will interviewRockhurstUniversityand UMKC because their involvement is education. I need to know if they will be able to help provide volunteers. Their students could student teach, mentor and help bring new ideas for improvement and change. I will interview Troostwood gardern Market because they also have a personal relationship with Erica Wright (Business owner before passing) and family. Their ideas and knowledge could help bring the goal for the mission to a conclusion because they have experience working with the neighborhood community. I chose Bob’s lounge to interview because they seem to be the entertainment in the neighborhood. All types of people from the neighborhood that live near come through their venue with stories that involve community based issues, concerns and needs. Their information is necessary and valuable. Troostwood townhomes is a good resource because a lot of their attendees work near and their children attend near where the new school-based program will be created. We need to know how many of the children that live in the area will attend the school and what their special needs are. The Banquet Hall is a great network connection as far as grants. They could be a good resource because this is a large corporation that knows the loop holes in regards to how to start a program. They are also familiar with the areas needs.Brooksidejunior Highschool is a great resource because they are also an educational institute in the neighborhood that works with children a little older. Their program could be similar to the program that will be created so ideas can be swapped and they can be partners. The Troostwood body shop is a great resource because they could give an estimate on who has a car in the area. They might have records that could help us see what budgeting should be considered as far as transportation to and from school. Lastly, CVS and Walgreens are great candidates to interview because they usually have school supplies. They might be able to give us information in regards to discounts. Everyone in the community is a great asset as far as gathering information to form a business in the area. This is because everyone in the community work with one another, this is called collaboration. The ten things that I will do to recruit these engagers are as follows: 1) I will send them by mail, or email when and where the meeting will take place. 2) The new based school program that will be created needs enhancement. A list of ideas and concerns are needed to help build a vision so that the mission of the educational program can be accomplished. 3) A list of ideas will be submitted through email or mail along with the questioner attached. 4) We ask that the questioner is returned so that it can be tallied how many persons will be attending the meeting. 5) If available, I will contact these persons by phone or person to remind them of the meeting. 6) I will post flyers in the areas were I believe people would want to be involved with this community engagement activity. 7) I will also try to contact Mayor Sylvester James so that he could help me with ideas on how to engage the community if all fails. 8) Contacting Bridging the Gap could give ideas on non- profiting. Non profit deals a lot with recruitment and community engagement. 9) It would also be necessary to provide updates, ideas and list of needs and wants to City Hall. They might be able to give advice or assist. 10) Lastly, it could be helpful to gather as many volunteers as possible to help recruit involvement. I will recruit stakeholders and I will address the concerns I think they may have:RockhurstUniversityand UMKC might be concerned about what type of students will be attending the school. The children could be of harm to the community. Troostwood Garden Market would probably look at the new based school program as competition and they might not want to give any insite. Troostwood town homes probably wouldn’t want the children that live in their neighborhood to attend school as close. The traffic of children walking to and from school could be dangerous. Brookside Junior Highschool could also look at this new school based program as competition and they might not want to partner or share ideas. CVS and Walgreen’s might not have any discount information and they might not be interested in investing into discounts. All these negatives could be brought up, so it is necessary to have enough positive information to out way the bad.
 * This community engagement activity will be held at the Troostwood Banquet Hall. The size of the room should be able to hold about 200 people. There will be 10 groups of 20 and 10 facilitators. These groups will sit in their own circle at a table with chairs and a facilitator will help guide the discussion. Each group will have their own cookies, water jugs and plastic cups placed in the middle of their table. The meeting will be held on a Saturday morning and it should only last for about two hours. The facilitators will record ideas and issues. At the end of the discussion each member of each group will be given three stickers. They will place these stickers on the three most important ideas and three most important concerns. After all 10 groups have completed this method. Three more stickers are given to the 200 people total and again it is documented what is the three most important. The documentation submitted on poster paper will be saved into a computer based system and used as a guide to gather together what is needed and not needed to create the new school-based program.**
 * Before a meeting is conducted it is necessary to be able to deliver ground rules. This should only take 2 minutes to read aloud and ground rules should be posted around the room that the meeting will be facilitated in. The ground rules that I proposed to the community involved with the engagement rules are as follows: 1) Share all relevant information that pertains to the new school-based program. 2) No idea is a bad idea. 3) All ideas and opinions will be encouraged to survive relevant test. 4) State reason behind opinion or idea, giving specific examples and share personal intentions and benefits to self, other businesses and institutes. 5) All participants are welcome to ask questions and state points of view. 6) The focus is on goals and not solutions. 7) Before the meeting ends the group will jointly line out steps that will demonstrate commitments so that the goal can be of success.**
 * At this meeting I hope to have accomplished a concrete vision. I would like the community neighborhood associates to have positive input so that a positive outcome will come about. I want the parents, businesses and officials that attend to be aware of the new idea and they understand what is needed and wanted from them. The community should be prepared and have questions and suggestions for development. The three key questions that I will ask the persons that attend the meeting are as follows: 1) What do you think about the new-school based program being created, and what negatives and positive feedback can you give? 2) Need to know exactly who would actually enroll their children in the program and need to know specific needs of children. 3) It is also necessary to know the children’s educational needs and life skills. These three questions will help start a discussion.**