1 Proposal for Emerging Opportunity Program Spring 2015 Submit application to EOPapplications@cityofmadison.com Deadline: 12:00 pm (noon) on Friday March 20, 2015 LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Please limit your proposal and responses to the form and space provided. Any materials submitted in addition to this application form will not be considered in the evaluation of the proposal. Do not attempt to unlock or alter this form. If you need assistance with this proposal or are unclear about how to respond to any questions please contact CDD staff at 266-6520. Agency or Group: Title of Proposal: Contact Person: NorthEast Side-Sherman Youth Basketball (NESYB) Ball to Academic Success (BAS) Dewayne Powell Amount Requested: $25,000 Address: PO Box 7751 Telephone: 608-843-0902 E-Mail: Is this Group a 501 (C) (3)? Applicant Organization founded (Year): Name of Fiscal Agent (if Applicable): Fiscal Agent Contact Person: Project Description: ( Approx. 20 Words) dlpowell1982@yahoo.com Yes or No Yes 1994 N/A N/A Aceivement Gap, using basketball and basketball incentives to motivate at-risk student's academics. 1. Emerging Need or Opportunity: (5000 characters) Please describe the emerging need or unanticipated opportunity that warrants City resources and attention at this time: The achievement gap between minorities and non-minorities in Madison has been publicized by a lot of different media means and reports. The Race to Equity project reported on Dane County and Madison s achievement gap. The Race to Equity project reported; in 2012 86.2% of black 3rd graders in Dane County were not proficient at reading and 86.01% of black 8th graders in Dane County were not proficient at math, in 2011 20.05% of black students in Dane County were habitual truants and in 2010 49.9% of black students in Dane County did not graduate high school in four years with a regular diploma. Low income at-risk minority students in Madison are academically performing lower and attending class less than other minorities in Wisconsin and in the rest of the United States.
Creating partnerships between schools and other entities that provide extra curriculum activities, including sport activities, increases the probability that a student will succeed in school. Extracurricular activities are one of the best investments to help promote achievement, student engagement, and the attitudes and habits that lead to college aspirations and ultimate success. These results are especially profound for minority and low-income students who often have difficulty bonding with others outside for their communities. In fact, student extra curriculum activities seem to have better results in reducing drop out behavior than programs that are designed specifically for at-risk students, since these programs tend to concentrate on marginal students and focus on deficits rather than providing a productive, voluntary way for students to engage with the community. At-risk youth benefits of playing basketball include but are not limited to; learning universal lessons, building confidence, building relationships, being in a safe and monitored place, and building character. Students learn the value of practice, how to apply themselves to a task, and the satisfaction that comes from achievement. Students involved in multiple activities learn how to manage and plan their time, a key skill for success. Students struggling in the classroom may begin to doubt their own abilities and skills. Success in an outside activity can create a sense of confidence that translates into more confident classroom performance. Basketball also helps struggling students earn esteem among their peers. Sports and other achievement-focused activities increase opportunities for strong adult relations, mentoring, and positive peer associations. Sports participation also helps students develop discipline, commitment, tenacity, control and a healthy respect for authority. 2. Applicant Organization or Group: (5000 Characters) Please briefly describe the history and structure of your organization. Include information about staffing, your board and/or volunteers. Please describe any successes you have had in the areas of programming or the project described in this proposal. NESYB, a 501c3, was founded in 1994 as the St Bernard s basketball program. Over the years the name changed from St. Bernard to ABC Lettering to Badger Sporting Goods and then finally to NESYB. NESYB operates with 40 plus volunteers and has a 12 member board of directors. NESYB mission is to positively influence the lives of young people through the vehicle of basketball. NESYB emphasizes respect, cooperation and good sportsmanship among participants. Participants learn the value of teamwork and the importance of discipline, hard work, and responsibility; thereby, enhancing personal fulfillment and self-esteem. The program provides an outlet by which participants channel their energy in a positive and productive manner. Our program is about the kids and not willing basketball games. We operate year round and we serve girls and boys from third grade through high school. We offer developmental basketball skills camps and team play. Our developmental skills camp introduce our youngest youth to the game of basketball teaching them the very basic fundamentals of basketball. The developmental skills camps main goal is to create an environment to grow a love for basketball for its participants. NESYB offers a wide variety of team play for our youth. We offer both competitive and developmental team play for all ages. Our competitive teams travel and play in tournaments all over the Midwest. Our developmental teams play in local leagues and tournaments and are designed to provide participants with a fun and learning team basketball experience. Our participant program fees vary because of the variety of teams/camps that we offer. Our developmental skills camps are free to third and fourth graders. The developmental/local team fees range anywhere from $125 to $300 per season. Our competitive team fees range from $250 to $600 per season. Our participant fees pay for tournament entry fees, gym space for practice, very minimum general administration fees, and coach mileage reimbursement. NESYB does not pay its coaches in order to keep participant fees as low 2
as we can. Our program fee amounts are the most affordable basketball fee prices in the area and keeping our fees low has and will always be part of what we do as a program. We keep our prices low so that families/kids of all financial situations can have a chance to play basketball at the level they choose. NESYB also offers fundraising opportunities (when we can) to help families in need to pay off program fees. NESYB has provided thousands of at-risk youth in the Madison and its surrounding areas extra curriculum activities for over 20 years. We have provided safe and engaging activities for low income youth and also provided countless hours of positive adult to youth mentoring to our participants. Evidence to our positive influence we have on at-risk youth in the Madison community is by how many of our current volunteer coaches were once NESYB participants. About four out of every five current volunteer coaches were once NESYB participants. Every coach wants to pay the positive NESYB basketball experience forward to our current at-risk youth. 3. Intended Service Population: (2500 characters) Please describe the intended service population (e.g., where they are located, ages, ethnicities, income ranges, English language proficiency etc.). NESYB is open to any youth from the 3rd grade to seniors in high school no matter the youths; sex, ethnicity, income range, language and or anything other classification. The BAS will limit its intended recipients to at-risk middle school students in Madison that are also participants of the NESYB program. There will be no other restrictions other than mentioned above for BAS program participation. The participants of the BAS program are at-risk of; poor academic performance, missing school, dropping out of school, becoming gang/drug affiliated, and being arrested. This program primary focus will be on minimizing poor academic performance and missing school. We hope that our program will indirectly help minimize the other risk factors that our participants face. We use at risk factors of the National Center for Children in Poverty when selecting our participants to ensure that all our program participants are considered at-risk youth. 4. Innovation: (5000 characters) How does this proposal reflect a new or innovative approach to the stated problem? NESYB youth have chosen basketball as their extra curriculum activity. Getting at-risk minorities to engage into an extra curriculum activity is not an easy task. Because NESYB participants are actively engaged in basketball, an activity that they enjoy, we have the opportunity to use basketball to inspire academic success in our group of at-risk youth. NESYB has strong and unique relationships with a very large population of Madison s at-risk youth. Our participants are at-risk of and are performing poor academically. Our approach to address the achievement gap with NESYB participants, is to use our existing relationships with our at-risk youth to achieve desired incomes. Coaches and other Adult NESYB members know our youth on very personal levels. In most cases we are role models to the youth. Our youth are more likely to response to academic encouragement and guidance from NESYB coaches and NESYB members than any other persons because of the existing relationships that are already formed. All BAS staff are successful individuals and are minorities from similar low income family situations as the BAS participants. This gives our participants a first hand look at how they can also become positive members of society if they choose to and work for it. We believe that Madison (and a lot of other cities) is currently struggling on how to get available resources to the appropriate and needed populations when it comes to academic achievement for minorities. Part of the struggle is that the needed population is hard to reach. Most at-risk youth are not involved in any extra curriculum activities (sports, community centers, afterschool programs, etc.) and these are where 3
resources are sent to reach at-risk youth. Most of NESYB participant s only extra-curricular activity is playing basketball with NESYB. It is beneficial to use the NESYB program to reach a large population of at-risk youth that otherwise will not be accessible for needed academic encouragement. 5. Project/Program Goals: (5000 characters) Please describe the specific goals, objectives and intended measurable impacts of this program/project. Include the number of people you expect will benefit from this project. The BAS program main goal is to encourage at-risk youth to achieve academic success. Our success measurements will include; on time class attendance, on time assignment percentage, and course grades of participants. Course grades will be evaluated on an improvement basis because of the various participant academic abilities. While course grade expectations may vary for participants, class attendance does not. Regular on-time class attendance is a must for all BAS program participants. The BAS program is also attempting to achieve two long term goals. BAS's first long term goal is to inspire a lifelong desire to succeed in academics for its at-risk youth participants. It is our belief that if we provide a structure environment for program participants to succeed they will. Attending one or two study sessions a week with the BAS staff and volunteers (NESYB coaches, NESYB directors, and student coordinators) will help participants succeed in the classroom. After participants have realized that they are able to achieve academic success then, they will continue their academic success after the BAS program. BAS's second long term goal is to create a blueprint of how to use athletic programs (with athletic incentives) to encourage academic success in at-risk youth. We want to create a program blueprint so that BAS can expand to other sports and other athletic programs. With the requested funds we would be able to provide this program to 60 at-risk youth over the course of a calendar year. 6. Program/Project design: (5000 characters) Please describe structure of proposed program or project, hours of service/schedule, staffing, curriculum or project/service structure, etc. The BAS program uses basketball incentives to encourage academic success. As mentioned above a lot participants in the NESYB program are low income families and because they are a lot of families struggle paying their team fees. BAS offers to pay part of participant team fees. Other incentives that we offer our participants include; raffles (basketball shorts, shirts, and socks) at every study sessions, basketball camps/workouts, program graduation gifts and other chances to win basketball related incentives. Paying team fees help relieve parents financial burdens and the daily raffles are great incentives that motivate the participants to attend, activity work during, and enjoy the structured study sessions. In return participants are required to attendance study sessions and meet school attendance and course grade requirements. At the study sessions participants are provided with help with their school work. Participants also learn how to balance their academic and sport lives. Each participant is required to have a calendar that shows basketball and school schedules. Making time to get academics done is a great skill for at-risk youth. During the BAS program, BAS staff are activity monitoring participant s school attendance and class performance. Through our monitoring process we are able to stop problems before they are too late. When a participant is not meeting requirements we are able to make several attempts to get them within our requirements. One of the most effective tools that BAS have is contacting coaches. Most participants comply with the threat of their coach being brought into the situation. 7. Community Engagement: (2500 characters) Please describe how community, residents and program and/ or project participants were engaged in the development of this proposal. 4
The BAS program was created because of the achievement gap between minorities and non-minorities in Madison. Our organization has always wanted to mix our basketball program with academic achievement. High school athletes and East High personal have expressed that a lot of student athletes feel that they were unprepared for the academic and attendance requirements for playing high school basketball. They also expressed interest in a program that combined basketball and academics. Our program currently relies on parents to report adverse school performance by NESYB participants. We consulted with area Community Centers, Madison Metropolitan School District and potential participants when designing this program. We determined that there were other homework help clubs around but also that there were no homework help clubs that offered the type of incentives that our program is offering in order to attract and motivate the number and type of at-risk youth that we are attempting to reach. Our incentive based focus has and will continue to attract participants that otherwise would not have been engaged with community resources with the purpose of academic success. Through our consultations we also determined the best modes of monitoring middle school age students. We are able to monitor and response to participants academic performance instantly. This is important because if we had to wait for report cards then we would be a reactive program instead of a proactive program. 8. Collaboration: (2500 characters) Please describe the level of involvement with other service providers, schools, funders, government bodies, or other public or private stakeholders in the development of this proposal and its expected implementation. The BAS program was created through a collaboration between NESYB and The Goodman Community Center. If we were not partnered with the Goodman Center, we would not be able to offer the amount of incentives to participants that we are offering. Goodman is currently providing; space for our study hall sessions and basketabll camps, volunteer tutors, and federal reimbursed meals for our participants. Our program is working on finalizing a file sharing agreement with the Madison Metropolitan School District. We are currently able to track participant attendance and school assignments. After our file sharing agreement is finalized we will be able to get more statistics that will enable us to better track progress and also better evaluate the effectiveness of our program. Our last current collaboration is with one of our current funders. This collaboration will help to recruit skilled volunteers and also to help rise future funds for this program. 9. Proposed Timeline for Implementation: Activity Recruit for Summer School program participants Summer study program Recruit for Fall program participant Fall study program Estimated Start and Completion Dates May 18 th - June 12th June 22 nd - July 31st Sept 28 th - Oct 9th Mid Oct - Mid Jan Recruit for Spring program participant Feb 1 st - Feb 12 th 2016 Fall study program Mid Feb - Mid May 2016 10. Funding: (500 characters each) 5
a) What other funding have you sought and/or received to support this project? We have received funds from Madison Area Sports Commission and Door Creek Church for our program. We have applied to The Evjue Foundation and we will apply to the Madison Community Foundation for funds for this program. b) Do you anticipate future funding needs from City sources associated with this proposal? Please describe. We would anticipate requesting funding from the City for this program in the future. We believe that the BAS program is a program that will really help at-risk youth improve academic performance. Continue funding for this program will really support at-risk youth academics in Madison. c) Has your organization received funding from the City of Madison Community Development Division, City of Madison CDBG office, Community Services, the Emerging Opportunities Program or the former Emerging Neighborhoods Program in the last 5 years? Yes No 11. Budget: Summarize your project budget by estimated costs, revenue, and fund source. BUDGET EXPENDITURES A. Personnel Costs (Complete Personnel chart below) TOTAL PROJECT COSTS AMOUNT OF CITY $ REQUESTED 1. Salaries/Wages (show detail below) 9,860 9,860 2. Fringe Benefits and Payroll Taxes 1,740 1,740 B. Program Costs AMOUNT OF NON- CITY REVENUES 1. Program supplies and equipment 4,400 3,400 1,000 2. Office Supplies 3. Transportation 4. Other (explain) 14,000 10,000 4,000 C. Space Costs 5. Rent/Utilities/Telephone 6. Other (explain): D. TOTAL (A + B + C) 30,000 25,000 5,000 SOURCE OF NON- City FUNDED PORTION Door Creek Chruch Door Creek Chruch Explanation of Other expenses: (500 characters) Participant team fee payment incentives; 25 fall youth and 25 spring youth @ $250 each = $12,500 10 summer you @ $150 = $1,500 6
12. Personnel Chart: Please list all paid staff that will be working on the proposed program/project. Title of Staff Position F.T.E.* Proposed Hourly Wage* BAS Coordinator.4 $20.00 Support Staff.25 $15.00 Support Staff.25 $15.00 TOTAL *FTE = Full Time Equivalent (1.00,.75,.50, etc.) 2080 hours = 1.00 FTE Please identify FTE that will be spent in this project. *Note: All employees involved in programs receiving City of Madison funds must be paid the established Living Wage as required under City of Madison Ordinance 4.20. Effective January 1, 2015 December 31, 2015, the Living Wage will be $12.62 per hour. $ $ 13. Fiscal Agent Relationship (if applicable): If applicant organization is not a 501c (3) this section must be completed. If applicant is a 501c (3) please skip to the Signature Page. Fundamental expectations of the Fiscal Agent and Applicant relationship: The Fiscal Agent should read the EOP application and have some confidence that the applicant agency will be able to successfully implement the proposed project or program. The Fiscal Agent will accept allocated funds from the City of Madison for the identified program or project and reimburse the applicant for expenses incurred performing the work of the contracted program. The Fiscal Agent and the applicant agency will decide who will provide and purchase the necessary insurance coverage for the identified program. The Fiscal Agent will ensure that the funded project or program is in compliance with City of Madison Purchase of Service Contact requirements, including but not limited to Living Wage requirements, Non Discrimination and Affirmative Action, and equal benefits protections. Applicant is expected to provide the Fiscal Agent with the Fiscal Agent Commitment Form. Please indicate date and staff person that received this form. Date: Staff person: Position: Telephone Number: 7
-SIGNATURE PAGE- 1. Affirmative Action: If funded, applicant hereby agrees to comply with City of Madison Ordinance 39.02 and file either an exemption or an Affirmative Action Plan with the Department of Civil Rights. A model Affirmative Action Plan and instructions are available at http://www.cityofmadison.com/dcr/aaplans.cfm. 2. Living Wage Ordinance: All employees involved in programs supported by City of Madison funds must be paid the established Living Wage as required under City of Madison Ordinance 4.20. Effective January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015 the Living Wage will be $12.62 per hour. For more information on Living Wage requirements, go to http://www.cityofmadison.com/finance/wage/. 3. City of Madison Contracts: If funded, applicant agrees to comply with all applicable local, State and Federal provisions. A sample contract that includes standard provisions may be obtained by contacting the Community Development Division at (608) 266-6520. If funded, the City of Madison reserves the right to negotiate the final terms of a contract with the selected agency. 4. Signature: (Any applications submitted without a signature will be considered incomplete and will not be considered for funding.) Applicant Signature: Enter Name: By entering your initials in the box, You are electronically signing your name and agreeing to the terms above. Date: 8