We started by identifying our outcomes and goals. We want to emphasize is the core services. There will also be a process that involves the how we interact with the community. The process will be ongoing.

The team did a lot of work on defining benchmarks and indicators. We also identified some key outreach strategies. The path for the customer is to hear the message, come in for a visit, and learn about our services.

We created a way to honor donors, community members and how they contributed. The idea is to have a wall of handprints of all who participated.

The team also created some architectural concepts. We did not develop an architectural plan. Instead we identified the key areas and questions to identifying the natural gateways that occur in the community. How can you make use of buildings and spaces that are not being used? Research the history of the community and how you can build on it. Where do people naturally congregate?

In terms of the building, we thought about how people connect to the building. What activities occur in the public and private space? How is the center inviting? Are there multiple spaces? How do you create diversity? This the start of creating a list of key questions to ask before you build a new center in a community?

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We started by looking at short and long-term strategies. We wanted to look at the community we are dealing with. We wanted to do some groundwork in the community to make people feel more comfortable. We want to start with a campaign to build demand. We have some media partners that we work well with and want to draw people in.

We developed some aspirations of what we need to do in order for this to be successful.

We started listing steps of what we need to do this. Through the campaign we build demand. We did our work based on the fact that the campaign would be successful. Next we will begin to do data collection, explore satellites, post campaign surveys, leadership development, explore the high school drop out rate, look for potential partners, and build finding streams. Out of the data collection we can begin to develop the supply side.

This community has a lot of skepticism. We need to find people to tell success stories so there is a buzz of excitement about the Center for Working Families entering the community. 

The center is its own enterprise. We need to look at where people in the community have unnecessary expenses that they can get at the center like laundry, check cashing, home repair, car repair, computer car and a convenience store.

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There were issues about us being seen as a child welfare facility. We have been working hard at building our presence in the community. We need to pull in more residents and engage them.

Our priority customer is a young adult who is in transition. These adults are either transitioning out of foster care and are underemployed/overworked poor or unemployed.

We have identified five or six core services and three key outreach strategies. We also addressed our outcomes that we hope to have in the first ten years. We want the center to have credibility through the experiences of the people. Another challenge we have is governance. We want to have autonomy but we do need to have governance.

This center already has a space, which is a huge advantage. The difficulty is how do we use the space. The office is L-shaped. One half is office space with the other half being a community space. Downstairs is a gathering space.

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We started by looking at the Supermarket idea. The Supermarket is a place where large groups of people already gather. We wanted to offer the convenient services that a working family needs like resumes, taxes, etc.

We then created a system based on points like the frequent flyer mile program. The customers could redeem points at other local stores. You can get points by going to library, or based on your kids’ report card.

We looked outside and inside the stores. Space is a big issue. This could be an internal or external space. How does a store facilitate family struggles? We also talked about a closed space within a store. We could also use libraries as a hub. This could be a small space that lets people use certain services and then refer them to the main center. We want to build a way to bring people back to the center. We could partner with the stores to increase their foot traffic.

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We pulled together our core guiding principles. We need an overall organizing principal that focuses on the whole person and builds on existing infrastructures. Our major goal is to build strong residents, networks and community. We identified some short-term and long-term goals.

Our core services are employment assistance, education, leadership development, health education, and financial services.

We then applied our work to a potential youth program. This program builds on the youth program in the community of Del Paso Heights that has about 15,000 families. The program currently has a health component, case management, and entrepreneurial development. We would like to add public health specialists, financial consultants, and childcare assistance. We want to create a family atmosphere and not just a youth atmosphere.

In our community, we know that parents are not comfortable on the school grounds. We want to create a center off the school property so the parents feel welcome there.

This is an option that builds on existing services. This model is out of the box because we are getting at the parents through the kids. We want to leverage current services that have established interest.

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