Thank you for your post. I think that this idea is a terrific one - perhaps because I am developing a very similar initiative myself (I have created something of a "Young Professionals Group" to link young urban professionals who are looking to get involved in the community to one of our programs that gets urban youth physical activity opportunities; the group also acts as a social forum for this age group to network and have a good time doing various activities outside of our work).
I think that there is an untapped population of young people who sincerely wish to help make social change, but also want to make a decent pay check. Further, so many individuals (especially in AUS where you are!) are current/former athletes themselves and delight in an opportunity to make that change through sport and to also connect with like-minded people who share their background and interests. By creating this kind of a group, you are both creating a means for effecting change, as well as easing the burden these busy people have of finding service opportunities or even making friends who do not work with them.
You mused at whether the model would be attractive to your target audience and I would have to say that, from experience, it is! In fact, I have found that I have unleashed a beast! I have a massive amount of people who want to participate in our work - knowing that they want to help positively impact youth through sport in the way that they reaped its benefits - and now we have to find out how to best utilize them!
I think a key thing to remember is to make those participating in your events key participants in the organizations development - deciding what projects to perform, what issues to target and using their unique skills to build collateral, design a website, etc.
I also wonder what your funding will primarily be used for? It seems that if you engage people from all walks of society to join the organization as participants and planners, you have a skill set to market and promote and plan your strategy at a volunteer level. Plus, there are certainly a number of grass roots level, less costly activities that you could perform. So beyond what are you going to use funding for, could you also go into more details about specific organizational activities?
Charles,
Thank you for your post. I think that this idea is a terrific one - perhaps because I am developing a very similar initiative myself (I have created something of a "Young Professionals Group" to link young urban professionals who are looking to get involved in the community to one of our programs that gets urban youth physical activity opportunities; the group also acts as a social forum for this age group to network and have a good time doing various activities outside of our work).
I think that there is an untapped population of young people who sincerely wish to help make social change, but also want to make a decent pay check. Further, so many individuals (especially in AUS where you are!) are current/former athletes themselves and delight in an opportunity to make that change through sport and to also connect with like-minded people who share their background and interests. By creating this kind of a group, you are both creating a means for effecting change, as well as easing the burden these busy people have of finding service opportunities or even making friends who do not work with them.
You mused at whether the model would be attractive to your target audience and I would have to say that, from experience, it is! In fact, I have found that I have unleashed a beast! I have a massive amount of people who want to participate in our work - knowing that they want to help positively impact youth through sport in the way that they reaped its benefits - and now we have to find out how to best utilize them!
I think a key thing to remember is to make those participating in your events key participants in the organizations development - deciding what projects to perform, what issues to target and using their unique skills to build collateral, design a website, etc.
I also wonder what your funding will primarily be used for? It seems that if you engage people from all walks of society to join the organization as participants and planners, you have a skill set to market and promote and plan your strategy at a volunteer level. Plus, there are certainly a number of grass roots level, less costly activities that you could perform. So beyond what are you going to use funding for, could you also go into more details about specific organizational activities?
Thanks and I look forward to learning more!