Harlem Grown Proposal

SEEDS Project the Spreading the Word and Growing the Network of Harlem Grown Contents executive summary the context the organization the schools the current challenge SWOT analysis the solution strategic technology the plan: the SEEDS Project step 1: simplify the message step 2: get the message out ► SEEDS Packet ► website ► social media ► distribution step 3: get the people to act making it happen the impact fulfilling ST criteria the next steps references 4 6 12 14 15 17 18 19 22 24 28 29 31 35 37 39 41 44 45 48 49 CHUNG FUJII GILLEN MYER SHI 2 executive summary 4 Harlem Grown is a rapidly developing organization that fosters healthy choices in urban communities. The organization was founded in 2010 by Tony Hillery, a man who recognized the need to address the lack of nutritional education and unhealthy lifestyle choices in low income neighborhoods. For the last three years, the organization has worked closely with Public School 175 in Central Harlem to educate youth with nutritional information and resources. Currently, the organization has expanded its outreach to include PS 197, also in Harlem, and offers both groups of students a variety of different programs. Harlem Grown presents a wide range of services to these schools ranging from gardening, mentoring, physical fitness, dance classes, care and maintenance of a hydroponic greenhouse and general awareness of resources needed to make healthy decisions. Harlem Grown provides an abundance of programs but its success factor lies in the focus on attitude and action, and creating a positive culture at the school. Harlem Grown aims its offerings at urban and at-risk students and the community that surrounds them, whereas the donors and patrons of Harlem Grown range from celebrities, to corporate funders such as Whole Foods, to neighbors. On December 11, 2012 Harlem Grown had their first fundraiser, in hopes to raise funds for the development of the greenhouse that is being built near PS 175, and raise awareness for the organization throughout Harlem. Currently, the organization has some outside competition from larger, federally funded health and food organizations such as GrowNYC; however, Harlem Grown offers more personal and unique services that these organizations cannot provide. When we first met with Hillery about a month ago, we noticed that this is an organization that does so much good, not only for PS 175 and Harlem, but for the public school system in its entirety. It is evident that Hillery is extremely goal oriented and passionate about Harlem Grown, nonetheless, there is a sense of complexity and lack of structure to the organization. Our findings indicated that Harlem Grown played a crucial role in the promotion of healthy choices and nutritional education that contributed to the wellbeing of the community; but Harlem Grown is currently positioned to move from a start-up, flexible organization to a more established and sustainable one. This will involve broadening their audience base to ensure they have a heightened awareness, potential donors, and potential volunteers. This document presents the SEEDS Project, a proposal for Harlem Grown that will help them establish an innovative outreach and awareness campaign. The SEEDS Project uses a three-step process, and includes both in-person and online/social media strategies, that is intended to expand Harlem Grown’s outreach. We found that The SEEDS Project would touch on a variety of criteria for strategic technology, namely environmental sustainability, purposeful application, informed comprehension, lifestyle longevity and inherent value to others. The SEEDS Project will address the challenges that are currently facing the organization, through clarifying the message, distributing that message, and then empowering people to act and become involved with Harlem Grown. Harlem Grown is a high-impact inspirational organization with big dreams for Harlem and for students across the nation and we believe this proposal will help them attain some of those dreams. CHUNG FUJII GILLEN MYER SHI the context In New York City, “hundreds of cash-strapped city schools have had to slash services for students, leading to ballooning class sizes and a drastic reduction in key extracurricular activities;” as teacher union representatives said, “we’re being cut to the bone” (Chapman, 2011). In Harlem, the story gets even more complicated. The neighborhood, historically lacking in quality education for its youth, has become a new hub for city charter schools and education reform, with 24 of them now operating in the neighborhood as noted by New York Times writer Javier Hernandez. Charter schools, such as those operated by a group called Harlem Success Academy, are defined as “better” than traditional public schools due to greater financial flexibility and benefits like chefs in the schools or modern technology in the classrooms. Supporters praise them for their ability for to raise test scores and give students the vision, drive, and capability to pursue college education. They are praised for breaking the learning gap for low-income students and ultimately breaking the cycle of poverty. There is just one catch. Most charter schools operate their admittance on a lottery system, with thousands more applicants than available spots. This leaves neighborhoods like Harlem in a situation where some students are getting a more privileged education than others in the public school system, with parents arguing that their non-charter school children are treated like second-class citizens in their own neighborhood (Schuppe, 2011). While many charter schools, like Harlem Success Academy, have proven to be widely successful, an extensive portion of the student population in Harlem is still struggling against limited resources, limited staff, and large class sizes. 6 In 2010 Central Harlem’s main school district, District 5, ranked lowest in the borough of Manhattan for students meeting state standards for mathematics and language arts (Jean-Louis, 2010). So, what happens to the students not selected by the lottery? What happens to the students whose only choice is the traditional public school? In addition, students in Harlem are facing challenges outside of their school walls. In Central Harlem, the population is 63% African American, 22% Hispanic, 10% White and 2% Asian with a median income of $25,800 (City of New York & Nielson Company, 2011). 37% of the population lives below the poverty line, and over 72% of youth are born into families living in poverty (Jean-Louis, 2010). Families in Harlem also have some of the highest percentages of single-parent households, with over 68% of births in Harlem being to single mothers which has lead to a severe lack for many youth of a positive, constant male presence and role model in their lives (Jean-Louis, 2010). The neighborhood has historically been plagued by drugs and crime, and while these numbers have been decreasing since the 1990s, Central Harlem still has high death rates for drug-related deaths and HIV, and was rated 54th in terms of overall safety for New York neighborhoods, ranking among the worst in the city for serious crimes like rape and murder (DNAinfo.com, 2010). the context 8CHUNG FUJII GILLEN MYER SHI �� �� %HORZ 3RYHUW\ $ERYH 3RYHUW\ +$5/(0�329(57