general information - yfc web viewthe services of yfc parent life can best be summarized in several...

Fond du Lac Area United Way2014 Program Application

Instructions: Submit one original hard copy and an e-copy, to United Way by October 31, 2014. United Way will not accept applications delivered in person, by fax, or by email after this date. Contact Tina Potter or Amber Kilawee at 920-921-7010, or email to [email protected].

GENERAL INFORMATIONCheck which United Way community impact

goal you are addressing. Building Healthy Communities

Building Supportive Communities

Building Educated Communities

Identify United Way Priority Area Increased support for child development and parenting

Fiscal Year (if requesting funds for a two-year project check both boxes)

2015

2016

Name of Program YFC - Parent Life (formerly known as Teen Parents)Applicant Name Badgerland Youth for ChristApplicant Address 303 E. 9th Street

Fond du Lac WI 54935Primary Contact Ron Riemersma Phone 920-923-1416Email [email protected] Fax

Total Cost of Program 26400

Cost Per Participant 352

United Way Funds Requested 16000

Number of People Served 75

AUTHORIZING SIGNATUREBy signing below, I certify that the information contained within this application complies with application guidelines.

Ron Riemersma 10/31/2014Agency Director Name Signature

Check here if submitted electronicallyDate

10/31/2014Board Member Designee Name Signature

Check here if submitted electronicallyDate

mailto:[email protected]


FOND DU LAC AREA UNITED WAY USE ONLY:Board Approval Date Recommended Award $

Approved Approved with Technical Revisions Revisions Required Before Approval Disapproved

Revisions required or reason for disapproval:

Funding Timeline:

September 22 and 29, 2014 - Grant Writing Training October 31, 2014 - Grant applications completed by organization November and December, 2014 - Grant Application Reviews January, 22, 2015 – Board Meeting and Allocation Decisions January 25, 2015 - Notification of funding status to organizations February 27, 2015 Partner Agency Agreements signed and returned


1. State how the organization’s mission corresponds to one of the three United Way Community Impact Goals, i.e., Supportive, Health, Education. 150 word maximum (10 points)

The mission of Badgerland YFC Parent Life is to reach expectant and parenting teens and their children through intentional relationships with trained adults and community partnerships, empowering the teens to make good choices and encouraging them to further their education and move toward independent living. This corresponds to the United Way Community impact goal of "Building supportive communities", especially in the area of supporting child development and parenting, as many of them find themselves in a season of crisis. This captures our strategy and our focus very well-- we are seeking to build a supportive community around these parenting teens, providing them with mentoring and community resources and helping them break the cycle of poverty and dysfunction that is common among them.

2. Summarize the program services proposed and how they address the chosen United Way priority. 200 word maximum (10 points)

The services of YFC Parent Life can best be summarized in several key strategies- our weekly meetings, our mentoring program, and our Facebook support page. Although each strategy differs in their implementation, they each have the same purpose: we are striving to improve access to opportunities that allow these young families to grow in healthy ways, and especially to serve them and guide their families through crisis (family crisis management), including helping those who have become homeless or have suffered from domestic violence. Our weekly meetings offer love and support, a group where many find encouragement to help them through this difficult season. These meetings focus on parenting skills and life skills to help them grow with healthy balance and position them for long-term success. Our adult team offers ongoing mentoring and more personalized attention, support, and advice throughout the week. Finally, our private Facebook group offers this same support at all hours of the day and night to a larger population of teens who are unable to attend our weekly group -- as our adult team makes themselves intentionally available for support or in the event of crisis or need.

3. Explain why there is a local need for this program and how the local target population is helped and how your organization is uniquely qualified to provide the service. Cite local data to support the need for this program and population being helped. 600 word maximum (25 points)Parenting and pregnant teens are a reality in today's culture. According to the National Center for Health statistics at the CDC, the birth rate among young women ages 15-19 is 29.4 births per thousand. (2013). Despite declines in teen pregancy thanks to increased use and effectiveness of contraception, the United States still has some of the highest teen pregnancy and birth rates in the industrialized world. One in three teenage girls becomes pregnant at least once before the age of 20.

Locally, Fond du Lac county statistics from 2012 indicate that there were 57 births to teens 18-19, and 12 births to teens aged 15-17, and some births to teens as young as 13 in recent years. At Fond du Lac High School, they see the teen pregnancy rate vary from year to year. They recorded 16 pregnancies in 2012, 6 in 2013, and 9 in 2014. In conversation with local school officials, they see a strong need for mentors for these students. (Source, Fond du Lac High School, 2014)


Research closely links teen parenthood to many negative consequences for mothers, fathers, and their children. For example, compared to those who delay childbearing, teen mothers are more likely to drop out of school, remain unmarried, and live in poverty; their children are more likely to be born at a low birth rate, grow up poor, live in single parent homes, experience abuse and neglect, and enter the child welfare system. Daughters of teen mothers are more likely to become teen parents themselves and sons of teen moms are more likely to be incarcerated. (Hoffman SD, By the Numbers: The public costs of Teen childbearing. The National Campaign to prevent teen pregnancy: Washington, D.C.)

Our program strives to address these consequences and reverse those trends. As we have learned through our community assessment and through building relationships with our local high school and other service agencies, there are some excellent programs in place to help address these needs. Through these conversations, we have sought to fill in the gap in existing services, which we have discovered to be group support and mentoring for parenting teens. Through collaboration with the local high school, we have learned that officials there strive to help teen parents in their education, but they see a strong need for mentoring. They speak very highly of our program, and point out its uniqueness in that teens feel strong support and want to attend. We have been encouraged by the referalls from high schools and FDL County DSS, giving us the opportunity to invest in these lives.

We feel there are several things that position us to be uniquely qualified. Youth for Christ around the nation, has identified "Parent Life" as one of their core ministries, with an emphasis on mentoring. Therefore, we are provided with training and resources to develop a strong mentoring program. And as school officials have pointed out, instead of being "required", our program is based on totally volunteer involvement, including engaging, relevant material in a loving, supportive atmosphere.

Additionally, YFC has developed strong relationships with schools, churches, and other agencies, and are encouraged that the local High School health nurse has volunteered with our program. Our ecumencial, non-denominational position has connected us with a network of people who are interested in serving the community. With our national-based material, we can offer quality training to these individuals.

Finally, our unique postion of trust and connection with these young parents, allows us to make needed referalls to partnering agencies where through our mentors, we can provide them support and accountablity to take these steps as needed.

4. Write a maximum of three goals and their linkage to your agency’s mission. 300 word maximum (10 points)

Goal #1 To manage the crisis of pregnant and parenting teens and their children, in Fond du Lac County.

The mission of Parent Life is to empower these teens, provide them with relationships and partnerships for a healthy, successful future. However, while working towards that, often these teens need support and guidance to get them through the current crisis, SO THAT they can begin to take steps towards success. Many of these teens come from difficult circumstances, find themselves lacking adequate food and clothing and even have become homeless, and need support in setting healthy relationship boundaries. Our first goal is to manage these needs so we can move forward with them.

Goal #2 To help position pregnant and parenting teens for long term success, giving them access


to opportunities to grow in healthy ways.

After meeting immediate crisis-type needs, we want to encourage and support teens to grow in healthy ways and take steps towards independence and success, as stated in our mission. Graduation, continuing their education, and avoiding repeat pregnancies are all tracked and strongly encouraged.

Goal #3 To increase parental support to aid in the development of the children of teen parents.

Finally, as stated in our mission explanation, we want to help break the cycle of poverty and dysfunction that is common among many of these teens. To do that, we want to help these teen parents to parent well, positioning their children for success as well. Many of these young parents have absent or poor role models as parents, so providing them with parenting resources and mentoring them helps break the destructive cycle.

5. Write the SMART objectives linked to the goals above, i.e., Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. 500 word maximum (25 points)

Goal 1: To manage the crisis of pregnant and parenting teens.

Objective: Provide 100% of the teens that become involved in our program each semester, with their immediate needs of safe shelter, food, and clothing for them and their children.

Objective: Recruit, screen, and train 10 additional parenting mentors by January 1, 2016.

A top priority and first step in our program, is to take care of immediate needs, and safety is our first concern. Providing this for 100% of participants is a high goal, and is connected to the next objective of increasing our mentors, and then is reachable with the connections and systems we have in place. Reaching this first provides a foundation to position young parents for further success.

Our staff also feels that adding 10 mentors is a healthy stretch goal. We currently have more connections and referals than we can fully serve, and this will help expand our impact.

Goal 2: To help position pregnant and parenting teens for long-term success, giving them access to opportunities to grow in health ways.

Objective: Provide 60% of the teens in our program each semester, with the opportunity to be mentored through our Parent Life Growth Grid. (Enclosed)

Objective: After 12 months in our program, repeat pregancies among teens in our program will be lower than the Wisconsin state average of 19%.

The growth grid is a powerful tool that helps teens set goals and track progress with a mentor, such as guiding them through the challenge of completing their education. Setting this goal at 60% is a healthy stretch from our current 45% level. Our plan is to focus on further engaging marginally involved participants, such as many in our facebook group, through this tool.

Repeat pregnancies are common and can create additional barriers to success. This objective is easy to measure, but encouraging and seeing the change in behaviors can take time.

Goal 3: To increase parental support to aid in the development of the children of teen parents.

Objective: Provide 100% of parenting teens with a "Mommy Manual" and orientation within 1 month of starting our program.


Objective: Provide 60% of young parents in our program with monthly assessment tools to monitor their child's development each semester.

The "Mommy Manual" is a powerful tool that was developed by our local staff to teach organizational habits and preparedness skills as well as record information and celebrate achievements, and has been recognized and adopted by our national curriculum team. Putting this in the hands of new parents early helps build confidence and success. A downloadable version of this curriculum is available at: www.yfc.net/resources/mom-manual/

Finally, we strive to increase our current reach from 45% to 60%, in helping young parents recognize their children's growth stages and guide them to healthy development.

6. Describe how this program would stand on its own if United Way funding is decreased or discontinued. 100 word maximum (5 points)

We seek to continue to build a source of funding and volunteers so that the needs of teen parents in our community can continue, through contributions from businesses, individuals, churches, service clubs, and foundations. We have been encouraged by the variety of funding sources, striving for the sustainability and growth that is possible with these multiple sources of income.

Although we feel this support base will enable the program to maintain a minimal level of service if funding were not made available from the United Way, additional funds allow us to expand staff hours and serve more people.

7. Describe how community partnerships strengthens program services, ie; shared resources. 200 word maximum (5 points)

We work with the Family Resource Center, Advocap, Fond du Lac High School, and Fond du Lac County Social Services. As each of these groups does address some of the needs of teen parents, we learned what services each of these programs offered, sought input on any identified gap in services, and offered to work together to serve these students. Fond du Lac and North Fond du Lac High Schools have made some referrals to our program.

As part of our weekly programming, we have speakers and trainers sharing from Solutions Center and the St. Agnes Hospital domestic abuse center. Finally, we continue to work with and refer clients to other community resources such as ADVOCAP and WIC, for health, nutrition, and housing needs.

Through networking with these various agencies, we have found that the focus our program has on mentoring offers a personal coaching connection to the services the community has to offer, providing direction and accountability to our students. Instead of being a duplication of services, we see these relationships as complimentary, helping clients to be well informed, well connected, and well coached to make the best possible use of available resources.

8. Provide a budget summary supporting the program costs requested. 500 word maximum (10 points)

Staffing Expenses


The majority of our budget consists of staff expenses. This cost is closely linked with our program goals and objectives, as our staff provides the leadership for our mentors team and all the objectives they are working towards. Currently we have one part time staff working with a committed group of volunteers and with surrounding YFC support staff. We are underserving our client population and are hopeful that additional staff time can be allotted through increased United Way funding and other community fundraising. Our budgeted amount reflects this vision of meeting the growing needs of this program.

Employee Benefits At this time, anticipated costs are minimal.

Other related employees costs: FICA and Workers Comp.

Non-personnel Expenses

Professional Fees = These are the administrative fees for the implemenation of this program.

Supplies: This covers weekly ministry expenses, healthy snacks for participants, and emergency financial assistance for teens in crisis.

Rent/Lease -- This will fund allocated rent for use and maintainence of the facility for staff, volunteers, programming, and child care.

Postage and Telephone- these costs have been absorbed by the parent organization of Badgerland Youth for Christ.

Printing - For printing newsletters, brochures, and training resources.

Training: To provide for training resources and leadership conferences, such as the Global Leadership summit and regional YFC training.

Travel -- This is given as a monthly car allowance, to help cover costs associated with providing transportation for teen parents as well as mentoring and training visits. This amount is evaluated seasonally based on useage and need.

Insurance: To provide for liability insurance for clients, staff, and volunteers, through our National office.

National Service Fees: Fees charged from our National Office for annual support.

Comments: One of the values we emphasize is the work ethic, giving back, and having long-term employment goals. Therefore, we have an internal work program, where teens can earn some of their needs such as diapers and baby clothing. This is in the supplies segment of our budget.

We feel this budget represents good stewardship of funds entrusted to us. Thanks to a strong volunteer team, we are able to serve a large number of students, in a cost effective program.

2014 Reviewer Grant Application Rubric

Reviewer Initials: __________________________ Total Points Awarded: ________________Rating scores can be between zero and the maximum points assigned to each question. INCLUDE BRIEF comments on the scores given to each question. Reviewer comments assist organizations with improving their grant writing.

1. Agency mission and how it corresponds to a United Way Community Impact Goal, i.e., Supportive, Healthy, Education. 150 word maximum. (10 point maximum)

10 points 5 points 0 points Clear explanation of how agency mission

directly corresponds to the United Way community impact goal.

Clear direct connections stated.

Unclear explanation of how agency mission directly corresponds to the United Way community impact goal.

Unclear connections stated.

Agency mission does not correspond to a United Way community impact goal.

No direct connections stated.

Points Awarded: Reviewer Comments:

2. Program services summarized and priority area addressed. 200 word maximum (10 point maximum)

10 points 5 points 0 points Program services clearly linked to priority

area chosen. Clear direct connections stated.

Program services somewhat linked to priority area chosen.

Unclear connections stated.

Program services poorly linked to priority area chosen.

No direct connections stated.

Points Awarded: Reviewer comments:

3. Local community need for the program, how the local target population benefits, how the organization is uniquely qualified to provide the service. 600 word maximum (25 points maximum)

25 points 12 points 0 points Need is clearly defined How target population is helped is clearly

defined Local data supports identified need and

sources cited. Clearly defined how organization is

uniquely qualified to deliver program service.

Need is somewhat defined. How target population benefit defined

somewhat. Local data somewhat supports identified

need. Unique qualities of the program somewhat

defined.

Need is poorly defined. Target population poorly identified. No local data provided in support of need. Unique qualities of program poorly defined.


4. Program goals linked to mission statement. 300 word maximum (10 points maximum)

25 points 13 points 0 points Program goals clearly defined. Program goals clearly linked to mission

statement.

Program goals somewhat defined. Program goals somewhat linked to mission

statement.

Program goals poorly defined. Program goals poorly linked to mission

statement.


5. SMART objectives linked to goals. 500 word maximum (25 points maximum)

10 points 5 points 0 points Objectives are specific. Objectives are measurable. Objectives are achievable. Objectives are relevant. Objectives are time-bound.

Objectives are somewhat specific. Objectives are somewhat measured. Objectives are somewhat achievable. Objectives are somewhat relevant. Objectives are somewhat time-bound.

Objectives vaguely defined. Objectives not measured. Objectives are not achievable. Objectives are not relevant. Objectives are not time-bound.


6. Describes program sustainability if United Way funding is reduced or discontinued. 100 word maximum (5 points maximum)

5 points 3 points 0 points Program clearly defines streams of funding

to sustain the program. Program clearly defines impact on

program

Program somewhat defines streams of funding to sustain the program.

Program somewhat defines impact on program

Program poorly defines streams of funding to sustain the program.

Program poorly defines impact on program.


7. Demonstrates how community partnerships strengthen program services. 200 word maximum (5 points maximum)

5 points 3 points 0 points Relationships/partnerships with other

community organizations clearly defined. Resources clearly defined Impact on partnerships and resources

clearly defined.

Relationships/partnerships with community organizations are somewhat defined.

Resources somewhat defined. Impact on community partnerships and

resources somewhat defined.

Relationships/partnerships with community organizations poorly defined.

Resources poorly defined.

Impact of community partnership poorly defied.


8. Provide a budget summary per year that supports the program costs proposed. 500 word maximum (10 points)

10 points 5 points 0 points Budget clearly defined and linked to

program goals and objectives. Rationale for personnel/staffing clearly

defined Rationale for non-personnel expenses

clearly defined. In-kind value well defined.

Budget somewhat linked to program goals and objectives.

Rationale for personnel/staffing somewhat defined.

Rational for non-personnel expenses somewhat defined.

In-kind value somewhat defined.

Budget poorly linked to program goals and objectives

Rationale for personnel/staffing poorly defined.

Rationale for non-personnel expenses poorly defined.

In-kind value poorly defined.


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