Attic After School Business Plan Summer 2011
P a g e 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary... 4 Organizational Background... 5 Mission Statement... 5 Current Status... 5 Free Time... 5 Talk Time... 5 Group Game Time... 5 Other Events and Activities... 5 History... 6 Management Team... 6 Executive Board... 6 Director... 7 Volunteers... 7 The Need... 8 Meeting the Need... 8 Mentoring... 8 Safe Environment... 8 Relationship Building... 9 Leadership Training... 9 Impact... 10 Students... 10 Wyoming Park Community... 10 Our Volunteers... 10 Marketing Plan... 11 Web... 11 Current... 11 Plan... 11 T-Shirts... 11 Current... 11
P a g e 3 Plan... 11 School Visits... 11 Current... 11 Plan... 11 Operational Plan... 12 Current... 12 One Year Goal... 12 3-5 Year Goals... 12 Financial Plan... 13 Overview... 13 Strategy... 13 Budgets... 13 Risk Analysis... 15 Testimonies... 17 Delando s Story... 17 Ashlee s Story... 17 Jenna s Story... 17
P a g e 4 Executive Summary Mission Statement Overview History Provide a safe, positive, and fun place for students to experience the love of Christ. Attic After School is an after school program operating twice a week, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, from 2:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. All students, grades 7-12, are invited to The Attic s fun and safe environment to eat snacks, listen to Talk Time, and play games. Attic After School was established in 2008 by Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship. The Need A majority of juvenile crime takes place after school and before parents have returned from work. Students involved in extra-curricular group activities after school tend to perform better behaviorally and academically. Meeting the Need Attic After School provides an after school program offered Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. At Attic After School, students have access to metoring, homework help, Bible teaching, team building activities, fun games, and a free snack. Our Purpose Help students make positive life choices Train students to make and maintain quality relationships Decrease juvenile crime Lead students to Christ Disciple students to become more involved in a local church Strengthen leadership, teaching, and organizational skills of our volunteers Short Term Goals Increase the number of days Attic After School meets to 3 days/week Increase the number of days our director and volunteers visit Wyoming Park schools to 2 days/week Increase the number of regularly attending students to 30 students/day Long Term Goals Increase the number of days Attic After School meets to 5 days/week Increase the number of regularly attending students to 50 students/day Expand Attic After School to provide activities on half days Expand Attic After School to provide activities for 5 th and 6 th grade students Estimated Budget Required for Short Term Goals: $15,000.00 Estimated Ideal Budget: $100,952.50
P a g e 5 Organizational Background Mission Statement Provide a safe, positive, and fun place for students to experience the love of Christ. Current Status Attic After School is an after school program operating twice a week, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, from 2:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Attic After School meets in The Attic, the second floor of Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship church. The building is located on Porter Street, less than 2 miles from Wyoming Park High School, and less than 5 miles from both of the Wyoming Park middle schools. The Attic is furnished with couches, chairs, and tables for playing games, working on homework, or hanging out with friends. The Attic also has two Foos Ball tables, a Ping Pong table, a Bumper Pool table, and an Air Hockey table. The Attic is stocked with board games, school supplies, and art supplies. Upon arriving to Attic After School, all students receive a free snack and soft drink. Free Time From the start of Attic After School (2:45 p.m.) until about 4:00 p.m., students are encouraged to work on homework, play board games, or just relax while music plays and snacks are provided. It is during this Free Time that our staff seeks to build relationships with the students and get to know them better. Talk Time At 4:00, one of the staff gives a 5-10 minute talk about their life story or a verse from the Bible. The Talk Time is given in a conversational tone, and often in discussion format. Talk Time provides practical wisdom and applications from God s Word while discussing what it means to be a believer in Christ Jesus. The best way for students to lead a successful life is to have a relationship with Jesus, and Talk Time is one of the ways we show students how they can do that. Group Game Time Following Talk Time, all of the students are organized to play a group game until 5:00 p.m. Group games are different each day and mix the students with other students they might not otherwise get to know. The games are intentionally planned to build teamwork and highlight various strengths so that every student eventually gets the opportunity to lead. Group Game Time is a favorite activity at Attic After School. Other Events and Activities Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship s youth group meets in The Attic on Wednesday nights from 7:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. and Sunday mornings from 11:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m. In addition, there are regularly scheduled special weekend events for the youth group. Attic After School students are invited to attend all youth group meetings and weekend events.
P a g e 6 History In 2008, Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship remodeled their second floor youth room in order to use the facility to its fullest potential. Subsequently, Tim Bos involvement in the Wyoming City Youth Coalition and a city-wide project known as ACTION (Assisting Challenged Teens In Our Neighborhood) led the church to consider hosting an after school program for Wyoming Park High School students. In August of 2008, Blair Compston and John Dubois met with Oogie La Mar, the principal of Newhall Middle School at that time. After presenting their idea to Mr. La Mar, his response was overwhelmingly positive: the school would allow Attic After School leaders to visit students during lunch, provide background checks for all Attic After School volunteers, and even provide a bus to deliver students to The Attic. Energized with God s strong leading for Attic After School, Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship s team started Attic After School on September 24, 2008. For the first year of operation, Attic After School was open one day a week, on Wednesdays. In the Fall of 2009, Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship took another step of faith and expanded the ministry to two days a week and hired Katie Dubois as the Director of Attic After School. With Ms Dubois increased ability to visit the school for lunches and the addition of the second day, the weekly attendance for Attic After School jumped from ten regularly attending students to twenty regularly attending students per week (approximately 10 students on Tuesday, and 20 students on Wednesday). Later that school year, on Wednesday, April 21, 2010, Attic After School had its biggest attendance of 30 students. The winter of 2010 brought some unexpected financial burdens to Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship. A malfunctioning boiler forced the church to alter its total budget significantly. The resulting drop in financial resources forced Attic After School to delay its start date, postponed the planned expansion to 3 days a week, and limited the director s hours so that she was not able to visit the schools. Nevertheless, during the 2010-2011 school year, Attic After School attendance remained steady. On average, 12 students attended on Tuesday and 20 attended on Wednesday. The Attic After School team is now looking forward to regaining their funding so that they can get in the schools, and market Attic After School more effectively. Management Team Executive Board Attic After School is overseen by a executive board consisting of leaders from Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship. This board includes: John Dubois, Pastor Steve Kopp, Pastor
P a g e 7 Blair Compston, Student Ministries Director Tim Bos, Director of Outreach Steve Persenaire, Deacon (Study Groups, Student Ministries, and Children s Ministries) Mart Timmer, Deacon (Global Missions, Local Missions, and Attic After School) Director The Director of Attic After School is Katie Dubois. She meets with and reports to the Executive Board of Attic After School. She has extensive experience in camp and youth ministry. The duties of the Attic After School Director include overseeing marketing, planning, operations, and volunteer management and training. Volunteers The rest of the staff at Attic After School is comprised of college students and older adult volunteers that have submitted to a background check and have shared their testimony as a believer in the Lord Jesus. Volunteers are trained and monitored to provide healthy role model relationships and wise counsel to the students that attend Attic After School. Volunteers enthusiastically participate in Attic After School activities, share at Talk Time, serve as positive role models, and stay current with the each of the students lives.
P a g e 8 The Need It is reported that a majority of juvenile crime takes place after school and before parents have returned from work. In response to needs expressed by city officials and the Wyoming Park school district, Attic After School endeavors to provide a safe positive environment for students during this time. Furthermore, Wyoming Park school district officials have data that indicates that students involved in extra-curricular group activities after school tend to perform better in both behavioral and academic areas 1. It is also true that Wyoming Park is a uniquely diverse neighborhood. It is reported that there are peoples from 57 different language groups within the Wyoming Park area 2. It is important that positive relationships are encouraged and supported between students from these varied ethnic groups. Meeting the Need Mentoring High cost programming or an entertainment driven focus will not impact students in the long run. Students need real relationships with trusted role models, relationships that are stable and authentic beyond a particular moment or the climax of a special program event. The students that attend Attic After School build relationships with responsible, caring adults. These adults are long term friends and resources when the students have questions or problems about schoolwork, friendships, life, and their future. Furthermore, a relationship with Jesus Christ is important to the social and spiritual development of each person. Jesus teaches us to love God and neighbor, so Attic After School volunteers take the opportunity to share the gospel with the students that attend Attic After School. In this manner, Attic After School continues to provide an environment where both leaders and students grow personally and spiritually. Safe Environment Instead of spending the after school hours at an empty house, students can interact with their peers in a safe environment, monitored by qualified adult leaders. Attic After School is a positive alternative to boredom, loneliness, excessive entertainment (internet, video games, television), and by definition prevents students from exposure to negative or criminal activities. And, while cross gender interactions occur as part of Free Time and Group Games during Attic After School sessions, any other communications outside of the context of Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship or Attic After School between a male leader and a female student or a female leader and a male student 1 Oogie Lamar, in conversations with Blair Compston and John Dubois in 2008. 2 Research conducted by David Drake, Pastor, Crosswinds Community Church.
P a g e 9 are prohibited. Attic After School is committed to assuring the safety of all persons involved with this ministries - both leaders and students alike. Never are any of the leaders ever entirely alone with any students, nor is a student to leader ratio ever greater than 8 to 1. In addition, every volunteer submits to extensive background checks. And, as with any ministry connected with Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship, Child Protection Policies are communicated and enforced 3. Relationship Building Attic After School attracts a wide variety of students. Students have the opportunity to interact with other students who are not already their friends at school. Therefore, a student not skilled in making new friends gains opportunities to practice meeting and interacting with new people. Since Attic After School is a safe environment for all, ridicule or other anti-social behaviors are addressed quickly and students are encouraged to treat others with respect and tolerance. Students that attend Attic After School learn social skills and thus learn how to build relationships with other students. The relationships built at Attic After School carry over into relationships at school. Leadership Training The Attic After School volunteers learn leadership skills through serving at Attic After School. Individuals pursuing a career in youth ministry gain valuable experience working with students, planning activities, and observing the operation of Attic After School. 3 See Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship Child Protection Policies documentation.
P a g e 10 Impact Students The goal is that the students that regularly attend Attic After School will become strong leaders and successful adults. Students that attend Attic After School learn social skills and thus learn how to build relationships with other students. The relationships built at Attic After School carry over into relationships at school. Attic After School is thankful for its strong connection to Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship. To date, through the ministry of Attic After School, six students have made professions of faith, and many of the students have begun attending youth group activities in The Attic and even weekly worship services at Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship on a weekly basis. We want more students to accept Christ and become involved in a local church. Wyoming Park Community Attic After School has a profoundly positive impact on the students involved, and by extension on the community of Wyoming Park itself. Attic After School seeks to cooperate with other community organizations to decrease juvenile crime, and minister to students when they need it most. We also hope that the students that attend Attic After School will grow to be strong leaders, even further impacting our community. Attic After School has a great opportunity to love and minister to the Wyoming Park neighborhood in an accessible, tangible way. We want to make the most of this opportunity by providing the best quality after school program possible. So, our goal is to minister to the students that attend Attic After School holistically we want to meet their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. We believe this is best accomplished through the consistent relationships with caring adult leaders they encounter at Attic After School. Our Volunteers While serving at Attic After School, we hope that our volunteers become better teachers, organizers, and counselors.
P a g e 11 Marketing Plan Web Current Attic After School understands that web-based marketing will be extremely effective in reaching junior and senior high school students. For this reason, Attic After School plans to continue to grow an already strong social-media presence. Attic After School has an established following on both Facebook (Attic After School) and Twitter (@AtticAfterSkool), and does a majority of its communication with students in this fashion. The Attic After School website (www.atticafterschool.org) is also an effective resource. Plan Attic After School will expand its web presence by providing more interactive marketing campaigns via social media. The target audience will be more engaged with Attic After School if they are interacting with Attic After School on a regular basis and it becomes a part of their daily life. T-Shirts Current Attic After School T-shirts have been made available for students in the fall of 2008 and 2009, but were cut from the budget in 2010. The power of T-shirt marketing is powerful for three reasons. First, T-shirts provide a way for Attic After School to welcome new students into the group, and for those students to feel included immediately. Second, when students wear their Attic After School T-shirts to school, they are spreading word-of-mouth advertising to other students. Third, T-shirts allow students to personally identify with Attic After School, which in turn increases their connection to Attic After School. Plan Attic After School T-shirts are available to all students. T-shirts will be in a variety of colors and styles, but maintain the branding and image that has been established by past Attic After School marketing. School Visits Current Currently, no Attic After School representative visits Wyoming Park s high schools or middle schools. Attic After School understands this on campus presence and activity is crucial. Personally visiting the schools builds an relationship of goodwill between students and Attic After School. It also gives students that already attend Attic After School an opportunity to identify themselves with Attic After School leaders who visit them at school. And, frequent visits to the schools keeps the communication lines open with school officials. Plan An Attic After School representative will visit Wyoming Park schools at least twice a week.
P a g e 12 Operational Plan Current Attic After School currently runs two afternoons a week (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) from 2:45p.m. 5:00 p.m. On average, there are 15 regularly attending students. One Year Goal By September 2011, Attic After School would like to expand its operation to three days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday). In addition, Attic After School leadership plans to visit the Wyoming Park Schools two days per week. We anticipate that these steps will result in an increased attendance at Attic After School, up to an average of 30 students regularly attending students per day. These expansions would require an additional 10-20 volunteers per week, and related budget increases. 3-5 Year Goals In the next 3-5 years, Attic After School would increase the number of days Attic After School is open to all five days of the school week, with a target attendance number of 50 regularly attending students per day. These increases would translate to an additional 30 volunteers, and again related budget increases. Additionally, Attic After School would like to expand to include activities on days when the school district has half days and also begin to provide accommodations for a separate after school program for 5 th and 6 th grade students. These expansions would more labor intensive, requiring 20 volunteers per day, and proportionate increases in operating budget.
P a g e 13 Financial Plan Overview The Attic After School budget will be overseen by the Executive Committee. Individual line item decisions will be managed by the Director. Because of the uncertainty of fund raising levels the Executive Committee has proposed multiple levels of budgets based on how much money is raised. Strategy The budgets below represent the strategy of Attic After School. Funds will be directed in order to give the Director more hours to run Attic After School more days/week and to spend more time working directly in and with the schools. Funds will also be directed to improve the overall quality of the After School experience including more appealing facilities, better snacks, and decorations. Finally, funds will be directed toward promotional material that will allow us to inform more students about Attic After School. Budgets The budget below represents a budget that will enable Attic After School to achieve its short term goals of providing a quality After School experience three days a week. Director 8,600.00 Snacks 3,000.00 Promotion and Advertising 1,334.70 Facility Improvement & Supplies 957.40 FICA/Medicare 657.90 Administrative Assistant 450.00 Total 15,000.00
P a g e 14 The budget below represents an ideal operating budget and it will enable After School to have its maximum impact. The budget includes enough funds for a full-time Director, for significant facilities improvements, and funding for other important programs. If Attic After School receives funds between the $15,000 budget and the budget below the Executive Team will make a budget based on the actual funds present in alignment with the overall Attic After School strategy. Director 30,000.00 Administrative Assistant 15,000.00 Assistant/Intern 3,000.00 Snacks 7,000.00 Building Use 6,510.00 Promotion and Advertising 10,000.00 Facility Improvement & Supplies 20,000.00 Camp Scholarship Fund 4,000.00 Bibles and Devotional Materials 2,000.00 FICA/Medicare 3,442.50 Total 100,952.50
P a g e 15 Risk Analysis Every organization faces an element of risk. This section identifies potential risks to Attic After School s success, and the plan for managing such risks. Risk Attic After School does not receive additional funding through donors. Wyoming Park School District Ceases to Support Attic After School Attic After School Fails to Obtain Adequate Number of Volunteers. Director / leader turnover A Leader is Accused of Abuse Management Plan Currently, Wyoming Park Bible Fellowship has committed funding for Attic After School needed to sustain the minimum cost of running Attic After School at its current capacity (i.e. two days a week, limited payroll hours, facility costs, etc.). In the event that Attic After School is unable to obtain additional donated funding needed to meet its 3-5 year goals, Attic After School will continue as it is currently and postpone expansion to when the adequate funding has been raised. If the Wyoming Park School District does not continue to allow Attic After School the freedom to visit the school buildings, the marketing of Attic After School will be at a disadvantage. For this reason, other avenues of promotion are important for Attic After School to invest in. Attic After School hopes to recruit volunteers from area colleges especially Grace Bible College, a nearby Bible school. Attic After School holds the safety and quality of each student s experience very highly. For this reason, Attic After School will not exceed an 8:1 student-leader ratio. If an inadequate number of volunteers can be procured, Attic After School will not proceed with expansion until the minimum volunteers are met. Additionally, it may be beneficial to consider hiring additional paid staff as Attic After School continues to grow. A key role of the Attic After School Executive Committee is to establish procedures and policies with the intent of maintaining a long term presence in the community and a consistent set of operating values. Part of this activity involves continually recruiting and training leaders and volunteers to deal with a growing ministry. Attic After School s plan for guarding against abuse from volunteers is two-fold. First, all volunteers must submit to a background check, and are screened and trained for fostering safe, healthy relationships with students. Second, strict conduct guidelines prevent students to being vulnerable to abuse. Interactions between students and volunteers are always public and monitored. In the event that an accusation or incident does occur, there is an Incident Management Procedure (See Attic After School Policy &
P a g e 16 Procedures Handbook ) Severe weather - building destruction or loss We would just say "no attic after school" today. If it happened while students were here, we would dial 911 Practice fire drills, assure that we do not exceed building capacity, etc. Students active with gangs begin attending or other unsafe or dangerous situations occur. We would immediately contact local law enforcement officials for counsel and support. Our purpose would be to at the same time provide an alternative for students prone to or already involved in negative anti-social behaviors, while at the same time protecting the entire group of students from any known dangers.
P a g e 17 Testimonies Delando s Story I love The Attic After School because I love knowing that I can t be made fun of there like at school. Some of my best friends go there and hang out with me. Plus I ve made new friends that I really come to care for. (March, 2011) Ashlee s Story I love the attic because it is a place where you can have fun and just about be able to walk right into Narnia! (Jenna came up with this). Lol. Also, I love The Attic because of all the *awesome* people that go there. It is also a place I can go to be my really random and crazy self. Another thing is that the snacks are totally off the hook! But then again, how could you not love The Attic!! (March, 2011) Jenna s Story I love the Attic because I get to hang with friends and be completely crazy and random! I ve been going since Day Uno (one). Plus the snacks? Dude they re awesome. Of course, what s not to love? (March, 2011)