Vision:  To raise the educational, entrepreneurship, employment and health levels of underserved communities across the country through advocacy empowerment principles.

 

Mission:  To teach underserved Nashville communities to shape their destinies through hands-on education, entrepreneurship, employment and healthy living principles, while using the literary, visual and performing arts as healing and unity backdrops.  

 

NeighborHOOD (HOOD, an acronym for Hands on Our Destinies) is a non-profit organization through which students in underserved communities learn to use education, entrepreneurship and employment advocacy principles to change the face of their communities.   Students will be taught – combination of theory and practice:

 

1. Business planning – from writing a business plan to financing to hiring and retaining employees.

2. How and why NeighborHOOD was established.

3. How the world views underserved communities, how underserved communities view themselves, how underserved communities affect the world, how the underserved population would like to be viewed, how to effect change, implementing change, and assessment and evaluation.

4. Owning a company – obtaining effective and efficient results.

5. Working for a company – obtaining efficient and effective results.

6. Choosing a career field – education, entrepreneurship, employment.

 

The literary, visual and performing arts will be used as backdrops for healing and uniting the community.    The organization will operate on monetary resources generated from the businesses it established, grants and donations.  In addition to its board of directors, it will initially staff one director and an administrative assistant.  The organization will be housed in a donated facility until its revenues can support a lease.   It will depend upon a significant amount of volunteer support to begin and sustain its solvency.  Graduates of the program will be placed in entrepreneurship and employment positions with companies associated with or established by NeighborHOOD.  It will give credit to secondary and college students who are seeking cooperative, internship and apprenticeship experiences.

 

The community (churches, schools, organizations, and resident associations) will send applicants to the non-profit NeighborHOOD organization for training.  Each applicant will also participate in some segment of the organization’s arts program.  Upon graduation, participants become owners/employees of for-profit community-owned companies (book publishing, apparel and healthy living – nutrition/exercise).  Ultimately, the community becomes a buyer – creating an expanding perpetual cycle, as more and more people are educated, become business owners, are employed, produce goods and services, and purchase goods.  Thereby, most of the benefits are retained in the underserved area.

 

Because financing businesses, with no track record, coupled with their being located in underserved areas, will be difficult, products will be marketed and sold to the community on a prepaid order basis.  Because communities have a vested interest (due to an intense, energizing campaign via the NeighborHOOD talk show, churches, schools and the community-at-large) in witnessing a rise in education, entrepreneurship/employment statistics in the community, products will be sold at a level that will sustain its system, thereby financing the businesses.  A percent of sales from each company will go back to the NeighborHOOD organization to help fund its operation.

 

In addition, a membership fee of $1/week ($4/month) will be collected per every participating child and adult connected to the NeighborHOOD program to: 

 

1. Encourage a sense of buy-in, belonging and unity in the community.

2. Foster economic self-sufficiency.

3. Illustrate to donors and sponsors that there is a compelling interest in the community for this plan to work, thereby spurring collaborative efforts.

4. Teach the community about reciprocity.

 

The membership fee will remain with the community organization that signs up the participant, whether adult or child, and will be assessed as long as a participant is associated with the organization.  For example:  the $1/week per elementary school child will be kept by the school to fund the logistics of the program; because the child signed up through the school.   

 

The Volunteer Lawyers & Professionals for the Arts (VLPA) will provide pro-bono legal and business assistance to the NeighborHOOD organization.  It will also connect the organization with accounting/finance, computers and information technology, and HR/personnel.

 

The Arts/Talk Show will discuss issues of the community – vision and mission; neighborhood make up in relationship to national education, employment, and entrepreneurship statistics; goals and timelines for improvement; business startups and changing community statistics and next steps.  It will showcase businesses; literary, visual, and performing arts talents; and game show competition.