Project EXCEL | Changemakers

País: United States

Organization: Goodwill Industries of Greater NY and NJ

Year the initative began (yyyy) - 2005

Main barrier addressed: Culture/environment of conflict exposes and enlists young men in violence
Main insight addressed: Create credible choices and opportunities

Describe your program or new idea in one sentence. - Project EXCEL is designed to help its participants succeed in life through academic achievement and awareness of social responsibility.

What makes your initiative uniquely positioned to create change in your community? - Project EXCEL has components that touch the lives of the youth at many levels. Our program touches them through their day at school through consistent follow-up with their teachers and evaluating their academic progress. We then conduct after-school workshops, tutoring and mentoring activities until the evening hours. One of the most important relationships we build, though, is with their parents. We make certain that we are in tune with their home lives by keeping their parents actively involved in their child's development.

Describe how you organize and carry out your work? - Initial correspondence is sent out to relevant community stakeholders and institutions to solicit input and cooperation. The staff conducts outreach at Queens Family court, NYC Police Stations, Dept. of Probation, and Educational Departments and also sets up a referral process with these organizations. We, then, conduct a comprehensive assessment of the participant and establish short-term and long-term goals for each participant. Quarterly meetings are done with parents and program staff to inform and update any progress and/or challenges.

What is your plan to scale and expand your innovation into your community and beyond? - It is imperative that children have the opportunity to have different positive experiences to learn and grow from. Our program allows them the opportunities to exhibit and sustain personal growth through artistic creativity, athletic competition, employment skill development, conflict resolution, leadership development and other components. We will have a massive community outreach in the borough of Queens. It will encompass the program's ideals, mission and also a questionnaire that will provide feedback to the agency on the needs of the youth of the community. Those youth who successfully grow through this program will have the opportunity to become peer mentors and be able to identify and recruit potential participants. They may even be hired as program staff and continue to build the capacity of the program.

What other resources, institutional, or policy needs would be necessary to help sustain and scale up your idea? - The help and support of the entire community is necessary in sustaining a program of this potential. The program would need access to community facilities (e.g. school gymnasium, meeting space for special events), volunteers for mentoring programs and help with facilitating workshops. Policymakers would be a great help in establishing policies that are geared toward the development and not the detriment of the youth of the community. Particularly because we are serving the juvenile population, less-harsh penalty for minor violent and/or drug related acts would allow the offenders a "2nd chance" at success as opposed to being "lost in the system". Setting up a referral system with the courts and the probation department would allow a great opportunity to engage and reach those who at highest-risk for repeat juvenile offense.

Describe your impact in one sentence, commenting on both the individual and community levels. - This program helps the youth of this community to make informed choices about their lives.

What impact has your work achieved to date? - It has had a tremendous impact on the lives of not only the youth of this community, but also their families. Last year, we've had 40 teens who were at risk of juvenile delinquency and/or PINS petition (person in need of supervision) participate in this program. Their change has been monitored and their growth has been noted. Their incidence of violent behavior and acting out has decreased while their academic progress has been improving. Their truancy has also declined and their self-confidence has increased. A lot of them attribute the program directly for their improvements and many of them have recommended this program to their friends who may have had some trouble focusing on their own lives. They strongly believe that the program has helped them to make informed decisions about their lives.

Number of individuals served: We've been able to serve 40 individuals directly through our efforts with the justice system and community outreach. While this number varies on a day-to-day basis, we've been able to consistently have a good amount of participants who attend workshops and skill-building activities.
Community impact: The individuals have had less incidence of violent behaviors and truancy. They become closer to their families and the community as a whole becomes stronger. Also, they perform different community service acts, including mentoring those younger than them in positive ways. The property value of homes in the most affected areas increase and businesses become more attracted to the area.
Society at large: With less criminals to prosecute and "put through the system" society becomes a better place to live in. The strong impact on the youth's development that this program provides allows them to become productive members of society AND allows them to contribute back to it through service and trade. If we are able to produce these results on a massive scale, then we are saving communities a lot of money for things such as court fees, group homes, police overtime, etc.

What measure do you use to gauge your impact and why? - We track the progress of our participants through many different facets. We stay informed with the academic progress of our participants through their report cards and help them to improve in areas that they may struggle in, such as math and English. We document their progress weekly and keep files on each of the participant. Quarterly, the staff meets with the participant and also their parent(s) and get a better feel of how the participant has been at home.

How is your initiative currently being financed and how would you finance further expansion and/or replication? - We are currently being funded through the Office of Children and Family Services. Considering the support given by our current funder, I would want them to increase the funding opportunity and continue to foster a positive relationship with the community through programming.

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) We operate on an annual budget of $92,500 funded by New York State Office of Children and Family Services. We are a not-for-profit agency so there is not any revenue. We certainly accept in-kind donations from community partners and private citizens who take a interest in our program.

We currently have 3 full-time staff and 2 part-time employees.
The program is run by the Program Director, who is supervised by the Senior VP of Youth and Community Development;

The Program Director supervises the full-time Case Managers and the part-time staff. The Program Director is also responsible for building and cultivating relationships with community partners and stakeholders of the program.

Who are your potential partners and allies? - Potential partners include all those who have similar goals and aspirations in increasing the capacity of the youth within the community. We will continue to work closely with NYC Department of Education, Police Athletic League, Office of Probation, NYC Housing Authority, Elmhurst and Jamaica Hospital, Steinway Mental Health Services, Phoenix House for substance abuse services, St. John's University, and other local colleges and universities in the surrounding areas.

Who are your potential investors? - Our investors would consist of community stakeholders including, but, not limited to local businesses, local educational institutions and agencies, parents of the participants, and corporations that take a valued interest in the social and academic development of the youth in this community.

What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story. - Project EXCEL was born out of a community need for a youth-based program geared towards the improving the quality of life of the youth who come from low-income, single parent homes. There was overwhelming evidence gathered from scientific-based research that delinquency and violence had a strong correlation with those who come from low-income neighborhoods and single parent homes. Goodwill of NY/NJ decided that it was time to make a change and Project EXCEL was born. It was initially designed for those ages 13-18, but, by the suggestion of the participants, was extended to ages 12-21. The older participants serve as peer mentors and mediators and learn how to plan program activities for the younger participants in the program. They also learn how to conduct formal workshops and presentations on various topics that the participants may deal with on a regular and/or semi-regular basis.

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material. - I've served as the Program Director here at Goodwill for only a short while. Before this, I served at Mercyfirst, a residential treatment facility for boys ages 11-19. I served in a direct care capacity for 2 years. Prior to that experience, I was the Assistant Program Director/Health Educator for Economic Opportunity Commission of Nassau County, Inc. located in Hempstead, NY for two years. I am a graduate of Hofstra University in Long Island, New York.

Contact Information:

Nathaniel Davis
Program Director
Goodwill Industries of Greater NY and NJ
(CBO)
ndavis@goodwillny.org
4-21 27th Avenue
Astoria, NY 11102
United States
Tel: 718-278-9667
Fax: 718-278-9691
Website: www.goodwillny.org

Submitted by: ndavis

Discussions about this entry

Importance of Parents

by International MSW on Enero 23, 2008 - 15:48

As an undergraduate Social Work student, I spent a year interning with the Even Start Family Literacy Program in my county. From the perspective I gained working at Even Start, I second your statement: "One of the most important relationships we build, though, is with their parents". Even Start was based on the concept that "Parents are the best teachers". I realize the program objectives are different, but there is a lot of great research out there to support education models that incorporate family members. I've pasted a link to the National Center for Family Literacy in case you have a need for such an example:

http://www.famlit.org/site/c.gtJWJdMQIsE/b.2009009/k.E93C/Family_Literacy_Research_and_Statistics/apps/nl/newsletter2.asp

I also have a question about your program. If the resources were available to your case managers, would Goodwill make an effort to conduct home visits?

Thanks and Great Entry!!!

Todd Hoskins

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE PARTICIPANT
University of Georgia, School of Social Work

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