Friday, March 27, 2015

The April Alumni Challenge

A Quick Update on My Presentation:
      So we did not get the grant.  Not terribly shocking, but still disappointing.  Thanks everyone who offered words of encouragement and support.  There are some amazing organizations that were awarded the money and some amazing organizations that are on the outside looking in.  As I said last week, I had very mixed feelings about applying.  Congrats to everyone who had successful applications and thank you to the Commission who had an incredibly difficult task.

     Now, onto some really good Money News...


April Alumni Challenge!!!

   What is this?  So glad you asked.  Joel's Place has been serving teens for 15 years.  We have been here at 1890 Marika in the form of a Skate Park for a decade now.  Do you know how many kids we have served over that time?  Do you know the long-term impact that we have had on lives?

Neither do we.

One of the greatest things about Joel's Place is that is has never treated its kids like they are just part of a program.  These teens are not statistics.  They are not "The Mission."  These youth are, and always have been, family.  Loud, rambunctious, laughter-inducing, heart-breaking family.  You know what you do with family?  You love them and hold them close.  You check in with them.  You celebrate their successes and mourn their losses.  You know what you do not do with family?  Keep files on them.  Enter them into databases.  Lose track of them.

That brings us to the here and now. Joel's Place has gone through a heavy amount of turnover in the past 15 years.  I only know a small fraction of the faces and the stories that have come through our doors over this last decade and a half.  What I do know is that there are thousands of young adults whose lives have been impacted by this place and I want to find them for a number of reasons:
  • Stories:  Stories are what drive ministries.  Statistics are nice.  Pictures are fascinating.  But a story can connect us with other people from other generations in other places more powerfully than any other medium.  I would love to find more stories about Joel's Place and specifically how those experiences served to alter the trajectory of people's lives.
  • Partnership: We are always in search of partnership.  People who will give of their time, of their money, of their creativity and gifts in order to make Joel's Place a better place for kids.  The best place to look for partnership is among people who have been blessed by Joel's Place.
  • Long-term reporting: Many grants and proposals that I submit have the same question in some form.  "Does your organization make the world better?"  I truly believe that it does...but that tends to not be a sufficient answer.  I would love to be able to point to young men and women in their teens, twenties and thirties who could testify to the benefits of Joel's Place.
  • Mentoring:  I list this one last because it is the most important and needs the most space.  As an adult with some positional authority, my words carry some weight with the youth here.  I tell them to stop and they do.  I tell them the storms of life will pass and they kind of believe me.  If I bring in a 25 year old skater who grew up at Joel's Place...walked the same hallways...got yelled at by the staff in the same way...faced the same challenges and struggles...and has come out the other side with a good job and a solid social life?  Pure gold.  We have 15 years worth of mentors out there.  15 years worth of young people who have struggled through the worst that life could throw at them and made it.  15 years worth of voices of experience and compassion who have walked in the same footsteps as our current generation of youth.  To be able to bring those generations together would be like pouring hope and perseverance and passion directly into the hearts of our kids.  As I said...pure gold.
So why bring this up now?  We have a dear partner, Mr. Dennis Wise, who has offered us a challenge related to the men and women who used to frequent these halls.  He has pledged to match any donation that Joel's Place Alumni make in April, up to a total of $10,000.  Anyone who was a kid here or had a kid here.  Anyone who was on staff here.  Anyone who was on the Board or in AmeriCorps or played shows at Joel's Place over the past decade and a half...if you are older than 18, all of you are considered alumni.  Your gift could be $10 or your gift could be $1,000 and he will double it in the month of April.

This is an exciting proposition for me.  I have been talking to the Board about connecting with alumni for a couple of years now.  The money will help us get back on track after a rough first quarter, but the connections and relationships are the true prize here.  How many mentors and partners are there who could help turn around the lives of these kids?  I am eager to find out.

If you have been connected with Joel's Place over the years and want to participate in this April Alumni Challenge, check back here in a couple of days (when it is actually April) and I will have a link embedded so you can give towards our $10,000 goal or feel free to call Joel's Place, visit our website or just swing by the Youth Center at your convenience.

Finally, I am so grateful to all of you who have come before me that helped to create this amazing place.  Blessings upon you all.

James

Friday, March 20, 2015

The Presentation

I have a big presentation this weekend.  Remember that big grant that I wrote about last month?  Well it has been read and dissected and the commission would now like to speak with me for 15 minutes about the proposal and the flaws and omissions from my application.  I feel pretty calm about the interview...although I seem to not be getting very much accomplished today.  Hmmm.

I had mixed feelings about applying for this grant.  First off, it is a lot of work.  I know that writing a 30 page document and including another 35 pages of support may simply sound like a fun afternoon for you, but this took a good chunk of my time.  This is also a competitive process.  There are 18 really high quality organizations that are applying and only around 8 will receive funding.  That means a couple of things.  First, I am going up against several very experienced and accomplished grant writers which means there is no faking this.  Second, if we do happen to be one of the 8 chosen, it will come at the expense of someone else in our community who is doing outstanding work.  I wrestled with the pros and cons for quite a while.  Did I really want to invest a large amount of my time...trying to do something that did not have overwhelming odds of success...that might hurt another organization...just for $50,000?  That is a nice chunk of change, but was it worth it?

My Board of Directors thought we should apply.  My staff were not excited about me being wrapped up in another project, but they thought it was probably a good idea.  What actually swayed me was the Joel's Place kids.  Our Ride Team is comprised of 8-12 teens who have both immense amounts of skill and high character.  They teach lessons, perform demos, help promote Joel's Place and get to ride for free as a perk.  What they have been talking with Kelli about is what they can do in order to raise money for the other riders at Joel's Place to be able to ride for free also.  Instead of gloating and reveling in their elevated status, they are trying to find ways to serve the other kids at Joel's Place.  If they can sacrifice their time, resources and energy to serve then so can I....and I actually may have the skills and experience to make their vision a reality.

I made the grant out for 10 months of free skating.  We already have sponsors that can fill the other two.  This proposal would allow us to offer an entire year of free riding to our members.  When we offered that last summer our attendance tripled, our meals served went through the roof and the number of kids who attended development programs increased somewhere near tenfold.  We don't charge much through the year, but when we can remove the cost barrier for our high risk population, Joel's Place blossoms into what it is intended to be.  Kids come because it is safe.  They stay because it is fun.  They receive mentoring and training and we see both their skills and their characters develop over the year/ 2 years/ 5 years/ 10 years that they stay with us.

A funny thing happened as I worked on the grant proposal.  The process was not just time consuming and hard...it was also really good.  It led to finding an outcomes-based system that does a great job of highlighting what we do and how we can measure that.  It led to conversations among the staff about what we value and where our priorities are.  It led to implementing systems and structures that will both allow us to gauge our effectiveness in transforming lives as well as focus our programs and our staff trainings.  It led to identifying our major barriers in growth and effectiveness and developing strategies to overcoming them.  We are in a significantly better place as an organization than we were a month ago, and it is completely unexpected.

I don't know if we will get this grant this weekend.  I still have mixed feelings about it.  However I can talk to my Board and my staff and the Ride Team with integrity about realizing the vision of year-long free riding.  I can look at the progress of our organization and the tremendous course that we are on and I can honestly tell the commission that Joel's Place, and the 1,100 kids that we serve, would be an excellent investment of their resources.  I can't ask for much more than that.

Friday, March 13, 2015

We have a Snake Jar

Allow me to explain:  Joel's Place keeps a glass jar that is filled with coins, not reptiles.  When a rider cuts in line it is called "Snaking" and they have to pay a fine in order to keep peace among their peers.  Snaking is one of the worst offenses in the Skate Park.  It is selfish and disruptive and completely flies in the face of the communal nature of riding.  Skating, Biking and Scooting are all individual pursuits, but they are best experienced within a community where there is constant collaboration.  The other riders may offer feedback on how to land a trick or they may be the videographer for the run.  They may have a level of skill that you aspire to or they may be a beginner that you can train.  They may simply be an understanding presence when you wipe out, having been on the concrete floor themselves.

Side Note: Working at Joel's Place is loud and chaotic as I have written several times.  I can judge how bad someone's wreck was by the ambient noise.  If the noise level is consistent, the crash was minor.  If there is a sudden spike in sound and everyone starts yelling, "Whoa!!!" then it was a substantial spill.  If the park goes silent...as everyone stops to see if the rider is dead...then I know I need to run down to check on the situation.
Riders share a passion that is maximized when in community.  They have their own tools.  They have their own attire.  They have their own language.  Know someone who really likes to scoot?  Ask them to tell you about "Buttercupping."  Not kidding.  One of their tricks is known as a "Buttercup."  And they wonder why skaters don't take them seriously.  Our riders are a fascinating blend of fierce independence and devoted community.  There is something powerful about knowing that there are others who share the same passions and priorities that you hold. 

Positive Peer Role Models is actually one of the best things that Joel's Place promotes.  Adults can preach the rules, post the rules, lecture about the rules and discipline young people who break the rules with limited success.  But if your peers yell at you for snaking and point you to the Snake Jar...that sticks.  All of the sudden you are invested in that piece of the culture and will call out the next rider who snakes you, because that is how the Joel's Place community treats each other with respect and accountability.

I have always been bad at community.  My inner narrative is one of the Outsider and Loner.  However this bunch of loud and ragged teenagers is showing me that even loners can be a part of a mutually beneficial community if they are united together with a similar passion and are willing to treat each other with respect and accountability.

It is a good lesson to learn.

Friday, March 6, 2015

Running with Stuffies

I used to have Dignity...a certain gravitas and seriousness when I entered the room.  I worked hard.  I played to win.  I dove into deep conversations about the nature of existence and grappled with God's work in our lives. 

Then I had children.

I found myself playing with my two year old a couple of days ago.  Playing, in this case, meant running up and down our hallway in a convoluted game of chase/tag/giggle while I carried my daughter's Care Bear Stuffy Friends with a large metal bowl on my head and chirped, "We're running! We're running! Oooh, we're running!" in a melodic falsetto.  Stuffies, in case you have no children in your life, are stuffed animals that are soft and cuddly and never leave your house once they enter.  They come in all shapes and sizes and my daughter loves every single one of them more than life itself...until she doesn't (2 year olds are fickle)...but she might love them again tomorrow, so they need to be accessible and available. 

How did I get here?  How did I go from dignified and intense to a master of the ridiculous who cannot remember my grocery list but can give you a dissertation of the merits of season 3 of Curious George versus Thomas the Tank Engine's original run?

Kids.  They have totally warped me and reshaped my existence.  I laugh more, I cry more, I worry more, I celebrate more...I care more about these little people than I ever used to care about anything before.  I can't shut the transformation off, either.  Everywhere I go, I am a dad.  The playground is a place to watch for injuries and imagine which kid would enjoy which element the most.  The sidewalk is no longer a patch of concrete leading to the Farmer's Market, it is a small stretch of sanctuary that runs perilously close to the roaring deathtrap that is the road.  Movies, video games, books, comic strips, facebook feeds, and television shows are all run through the "Is this appropriate for the kids?" filter.  My faith has been reshaped as much as anything else.

God is described over and over again as a father in the Bible with humanity as His children.  His anger over his kids doing stupid things over and over again makes so much more sense now.  His willingness to sacrifice himself for His children is now a no-brainer.  When you read Scripture as a parent, you see God's heartfelt struggle over His kids.  You see His love for them, His desire for them to mature into happy, healthy and well-adjusted men and women.  You see Him patiently correcting them over and over as they forget to shower again...oops, that part is mine.  Personally, I think thunder is God slapping His forehead over some particularly dumb thing that we are doing down here.  I have understood more about God by being a parent than I ever did before...including Divine Play.


God plays with His kids.  Just like I run through the house with stuffies in my arms and bowls on my head, I think God sets up the world with things for his children to play with.  He marvels with the builders at what they can create with their legos.  He burrows down with the readers as they explore new worlds through books.  He laughs with the athletes as they run and swim and throw and compete.  And then there are His children who are into extreme sports like skateboarding and biking.  They are happiest when they are pushing their bodies past their known limits.  They are most content when they are battered and bruised and sweaty and sore, having pushed through internal and external obstacles to achieve some new trick or stunt.  For them, the Father creates settings like Joel's Place and smiles as they fly.