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>View discussions about this entry Country: United States
Organization: PURPOSE BOUND
Year the initative began (yyyy) - 2007
Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions
Describe your program or new idea in one sentence. - PURPOSE BOUND provides a highly effective and innovative set of tools to help young Men at risk find their PURPOSE in life through understanding the needs of their communities and of society at large; it successfully aims to raise their self esteem and build a realistic and highly motivated plan to reach their life’s PURPOSE, as defined by their community’s needs, with the PUPORSE BOUND-enabled support and help of caring educators, mentors and case workers,
What makes your initiative uniquely positioned to create change in your community? - PURPOSE BOUND offers highly effective, proven, set of tools and steps which are innovatively designed to engage young men of a wide range of intellectual capacities and to help them, through a guided process of self-discovery, to find ways to best serve their communities by providing services they are trained and educated to perform. PURPOSE BOUND offers simple to use tools for ANY professional or volunteer working in the community with Men at risk in ANY support capacity – Probation Officers, Case workers, Counselors, etc. It solves a serious problem of lack of consistent approach, poor handoffs, lack of follow through. It equips Men at risk with their “Life Planning Work Books” which will guide their decisions and actions. Additionally the “Life Planning Work Books” will provide invaluable insight into each Men at risk, including their core competencies, and life aspirations, which will help any educator, mentor, case worker supporting them do the best possible job. The Purpose Bound program puts Men at risk THEMSELVES at the center and empowers them to use all available resources to help them reach their goals. In an innovative way, it reverses the cycle that drives their lives, creates ownership, accountability and attachment to a PURPOSE oriented path.
Describe how you organize and carry out your work? - The PURPOSE BOUND program is a stand alone legal entity which collaborates with organizations and individuals serving youths who either are at risk of dropping out of high school, failing academically, making bad choices which may lead to their detention in Juvenile Correctional Facilities, or to be serviced by County Probation Offices.
The PURPOSE BOUND program is easily transportable and offered in secure and supervised facilities. It is customized to the respective youth groups to ensure maximum effectiveness and the ability to complete the program. The typical structure of the program consists of 4 workshops, each 1.5 hour in duration. Students receive workbooks that ensure continuity of the work they do as a part of the program; the work books are theirs to keep and serve as a comprehensive and integrated Purpose/Life planning tool. The overall PURPOSE BOUND framework has the main objective to create a meaningful and relevant life plan for the Men and risk through the use of the workshop, one-on-one counseling, and the creation of an individual work book. It also offers a comprehensive, integrated planning tool that is successfully used by any person working with the youth, including case workers, teachers, mentors, parents, probation officers, etc. What is your plan to scale and expand your innovation into your community and beyond? - Purpose Bound offers a very flexible, portable and scalable program. We offer coach/instructor certification, using a strict process to ensure the right individuals deliver the program. The unique and highly innovative methodology is proprietary and research-proven, offering easy replication into new communities. The business strategy we follow is one of specialization: for example, once a new program is put in place for one youth correctional facility, we offer the same program to other correctional facilities, expanding the geographic reach, while constantly improving the delivery model based on the feedback from participants and the staff working with them. Any program offered by Purpose Bound can be easily taken outside the state and implemented nationwide. This is a particularly important feature of the Purpose Bound program – even a small grant can benefit from a “multiplier” effect, as it may allow to create a new program, which, in turn, can be easily scaled to serve a much larger community, going from local, to state, to regional, to national, and then international level of implementation.
What other resources, institutional, or policy needs would be necessary to help sustain and scale up your idea? - To successfully replicate and expand the program, a Coach/Instructor “Certification Institute” would be needed in each major geographic location, as well as a project office. This would be done in a host facility of any affiliated organization, at a low cost of sub-renting. An overall national coordinator would be needed as well. The program works well when delivered in a stand alone mode, but has the most impact when integrated into a broader framework of programs aimed at helping Men at risk with the multitude of issues they are faced with and need to deal with. Obtaining buy-in from the many educational, social, faith based, judicial, etc. groups working with the program participants to utilize the proven Purpose Bound framework would be a win-win-for all and the most desirable factor in being able to scale up the idea we are proposing.
Describe your impact in one sentence, commenting on both the individual and community levels. - At PURPOSE BOUND, we hold a firm belief that every young person, and particularly Men at risk, needs support in finding their life’s PURPOSE, and building a realistic plan to achieve it and be bound by it. We change lives one at a time, creating motivation for academic achievement, making right choices, ‘staying out of trouble”, being accountable, and making positive contributions to the communities. We are seeing the impact of our program even on the highest-risk young Men we work with. We also see the positive impact our program has on the many people who touch and positively affect the lives of Men at risk: their coaches, mentors, teachers, case workers – all of whom benefit from using the framework of the program.
What impact has your work achieved to date? - When the objectives of PURPOSE BOUND program are met, the impact of the program is immediate. The main objective of the program is to give Men at risk a strong sense of self, and a clear sense of direction. We help them to recognize that they are significant and valued members of their community. Once we help them to accept the notion that they can be positive and contributing members of their community, we help them to create a vision, and life goals for their lives. Their goals are based upon meeting a real-world need that they are passionate to address. We take them away from their Me-Myself-and-I perspective, to a totally external perspective (looking at themselves from the community’s point of view, so they are able to answer the question: Who am I? What is my purpose in life? How will I serve my community, and reap all the rewards that this brings: a safe and nice place to live, ability to form and support a family, etc.? Once they make this intellectual and emotional transformation, the students are filled with a sense of self-worth, and their lives gain significance. They become very motivated and inspired to excel in and finish school. They have a strong desire to make a significant and positive contribution to their/our world.
Along this process and the personal journey, we have been able to achieve the following changes in our students: • Increased Self-Belief There are several new skills that graduates of PURPOSE BOUND are able to demonstrate. • Articulate what they intend to accomplish with their lives, and how their accomplishment will benefit society. We’ve worked with youths who were on the verge of flunking out of high school, and with no desire to attend college to turn them into straight A students who were college bound. A typical sentiment is expressed by a student who wrote: “I want to learn everything that you teach, because I want to make something of my life”. Others read: “I now have a good feel of knowing that I am somebody and I can do more with my life. Thank you for showing me that there is a way.” “It has helped me think about my life and changes I need to make for a better life.” “You learn that you can succeed.” “I understand how education can help me succeed in life and make it in the real world.” In general, the at-risk youths that PURPOSE BOUND works with gain a strong commitment to staying out of trouble. Through our process that recognize their value to the community, they create a positive vision of their future, one in which they are making a difference, and we help them to create a plan/roadmap that gets them to living their vision. The plan makes sense and is achievable. They become empowered, inspired, and lifted. After going through our process, a young woman at the verge of dropping out, in her subsequent year of high school enrolled in Advance Placement English, and received straight A’s throughout the school year. Another young person came to us after dropping out of college, stating it was pointless to waste the time and money while aimlessly pursuing a degree. After our process, the student re-enrolled, and received straight A’. When asked the difference, we heard: “It’s easy because I know what I want to accomplish and I love the subject.”
What measure do you use to gauge your impact and why? - The measurements we use are custom tailored to the groups and institutions we are collaborating with. For Probation Officers, it is the non-recurrence, for educators and magistrates working with at-risk youths, the key measurement is high school graduation rates and reduced truancy rates.
How is your initiative currently being financed and how would you finance further expansion and/or replication? - All the projects we are currently delivering are paid for by either grants (e.g. Gilliam Juvenile Detention Center in Denver is financed by the Department of Human Services via a collaborative grant) or out of operating budgets (e.g. Boulder County Probation Office). We have a large, currently un-served youth population in the state of Colorado and we would like to offer our program to a much larger group of youths than we are currently able to reach.
Provide information on your current finances and organization: - a. annual budget
b. annual revenue c. sources of revenue (please provide percentages if known) d. number of staff (full-time, part-time, and volunteers) The PURPOSE BOUND has a full-time staff of 2, a part-time staff of 2. We are also relying on certified coaches who are selected from the collaborating organizations, trained and certified by Purpose Bound. Who are your potential partners and allies? - • Paramount Youth Services
• Legacy of Learning • WAIT Training • Road Called STRAIT • Friends for Youth • Denver District Attorney’s Office • District Attorney’s Offices across the country • Boulder County Probations • All Colorado counties’ Probation Offices • Juvenile Detention Centers • others Who are your potential investors? - We are actively seeking private foundations to help finance our work.
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story. - The Founder of Purpose Bound, Reggie Kellum, grew up in the inner city neighborhood in Denver, Colorado. He attended Manual High School in Denver, a school struggling with academic achievement of its students. Reggie, an African American man, witnessed many of his peers who he viewed as smart and capable, make choices leading to a life of low income, and often, gang membership and loss of life. The stories of unfulfilled promises left a profound impact on him, and created a strong desire to find a solution to a problem which was clearly individual and personal, but also societal. Reggie was able to lift himself to go to Stanford, a highly regarded university, graduated with impressive credentials, and went on to pursue a career of an Electrical Engineer with a major multinational high-technology company. He achieved success at his job, complete with multiple promotions, three US patents, manager’s title, etc. Yet, throughout the years, he never abandoned the dream to help others find their purpose, just as he was seeking his. Trying various paths of coaching and mentoring, and exploring available tools, he found a program that aimed at making successful transitions for professionals developed a leading career consultant, Samuel Kirk. Reggie knew he was close, so he approached Samuel and told him of his desire to adapt the program to a totally different audience, and launched Purpose Bound. Through several years of trial and error, feedback gathering, and experimentation, Reggie developed the “secret formula”, guaranteed to help the young people whose lives were so important to him. Reggie has relentlessly pursued his goal of changing young people’s lives, and particularly those at risk, Men in particular, deeply convinced that each of them will become a STAR citizen, will discover their PURPOSE, take accountability for their life, and for the lives of their families, contributing to the community and to society. Abandoning his corporate career, Reggie is relentlessly PURPOSE BOUND.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material. - Reggie Kellum grew up in Denver, Colorado, where he attended Manual High School. Upon graduation Reggie attended Stanford University where he received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, followed by a M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arizona.
Reggie has had a successful career in the the high tech industry for over 18 years. He spent 16 years working as an electrical design engineer, R&D project manager, and college recruiter for Hewlett Packard and Agilent technologies. He has also worked as a sales representative, where he sold electronics for companies like Intel, Xilinx, Fairchild Semiconductor, and others. In his spare time Reggie has spent many years coaching children through programs like Junior Achievement, the Boys and Girls Club, and several youth sports. He has served on the steering committee for School To Careers, a non-for-profit organization. • Upon leaving the electronics industry Reggie decided to devote the remainder of his career to pursuing his purpose in life, hence the creation of Purpose Bound. One of Reggie’s top three personal mission statements reads, “Improve the lives of children”. Driven by the belief that a tremendous amount of potential is lost in our youths through the aimless and self-centered existence that so many young adults live, and his long term frustration by the fact that most high school and college kids do not know what they will do after high school or college, Reggie has partnered with Samuel Kirk & Associates and developed one-of-a-kind program he named PURPOSE BOUND aimed at helping young people from all walks of life discover their core competencies, identify how they will make a contribution to their communities, and articulate a plan for making it all happen. Contact Information:
Reggie Kellum
President PURPOSE BOUND (business) Discussions about this entry |
PURPOSE BOUND (Your community needs you, and will help you live your dream; find your PURPOSE NOW, and, forever be PURPOSE BOUND
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Hi, Dana,
Thanks for your interest in Purpose Bound. The easiest way to introduce you to our method would be to show you the materials we use (which I cannot do on the site). Each participant gets a set of workbooks. A “Purpose Discovery Guide”, and a “Discovery Database”. The program was developed by psychologists, originally for adults going through career transitions. Purpose Bound sought out the best method available, and selected this one which we licensed from Sam Kirk & Associates. We then worked for several years with youths, to modify the content, language and positioning, in order to make it relevant to teenagers and very young adults. As a result, we have a unique process, tested and proven by those who use it.
The program guides the student through three phases of personal discovery.
1. Know Yourself
2. Articulate your societal contribution
3. Create a plan for bringing your contribution to fruition
The first phase of the program is fundamentally built on a working assumption that each young person needs to develop an ability to see themselves as highly valued members of their communities, that each of them has something to offer, and it is through focusing on their unique assets, and strengthening them through education and personal development that they can provide services to communities which, in turn, will give them a sense of value, a sense of accomplishments, money and means to live a respectable meaningful, and satisfying life.
It is in the second phase that we utilize the “secret ingredient”. In this phase
we guide each student through the development of a personal mission statement. One that is founded upon meeting a need of someone other than themselves. This is the “secret ingredient” of the program. As you may attest it is through the service of others that we as individuals find our true significance and fulfillment. In writing their mission statement the student goes through a paradigm shift in their thinking. They leave the old, and commonplace mindset of, “how will my efforts benefit me”, “what will be fun for me”, etc. . To a mindset of “how will my efforts make a difference in the world around me”, “who’s life will I improve as a result of my efforts.” This transformation and new way of thinking is significant and very powerful. For many of these young men it is the first time that they have realized that they have the capacity to make a real, significant, and positive difference in the world. For many it is the first time that their lives have meaning and significance. The light bulb goes on, the enthusiasm goes up, hope returns, a positive outlook bound by determination emerges. It is beautiful to watch.
Finally a very specific plan is developed to make their mission/goals/vision real and tangible, and to guarantee successful implementation. The plan becomes the glue that ties many people who help guide the young men on their journey: sometimes it's their probation officer, case worker, perhaps a parent or guardian, a counselor, or anyone else they engage with. Their "Discovery Database" helps them articulate what they stand for and what they aspire to, and what they set out to accomplish. This information, which most kids are unable to articulate on their own, is invaluable in aiding those who work to guide the young men toward success.
Our program has served incarcerated youths, youths on probation, youths at risk of dropping out of school, as well as youths who otherwise suffer from lack of focus leading to at risk behavior.
Again Dana I really appreciate your in-depth questions.
You also asked “you list a huge number of changes that you are working towards - which one do you think is the most important? What is the focus of Purpose Bound?”
Please recall that we state that these are some of the changes that we have witnessed in the youth that we have worked with. It is not our direct intention to work towards all of these outcomes. In fact, very often when I discuss the outcomes that we work to achieve I often talk about the tangible and the intangible outcomes. Some of what you read in our list represents the intangible outcomes. Our primary objectives, and the focus of Purpose Bound are as follows.
1. To help young men to recognize that they are significant and valued members of their community. ?Increase their self-image.
2. To create a paradigm shift in their thinking which results in a mindset of service. Helping them to center their life’s efforts on meeting one of the many needs in the world around them. ? Inspire them towards accomplish, including academic achievement.
3. Aid them in the creation of a tangible and achievable plan that they feel they can execute, and one that clearly guides them to living the purposeful life they have invisioned. ?Empower them to live a life of Purpose.
Again I greatly appreciate your interest and your questions. If you would like further clarification, please do not hesitate to to write.
Sincerely,
Reggie Kellum
can you make it shorter
Hi Reggie, You mention that Purpose Bound offers highly effective proven set of tools and steps to engage young men. Could you expand upon that and share with us what those "proven" set of tools are that you use to engage people in your program? What is this secret formula that you talk about? Also, you list a huge number of changes that you are working towards - which one do you think is the most important? What is the focus of Purpose Bound? Thanks!
Dana Frasz
Changemakers
thank you
thank you