Where to, next?

I have identified my client organization, MamaBaby  International/MamaBaby Haiti, and met with Board President Kelli Beaty and Grant Writing Committee Chair Jenny Koch in two separate meetings.  Jenny has given me access to organization documents including the mission statement, goals, and objectives, their 2012 budget, the organizational flow chart, clinical statistics, and a list of clinical services provided in 2012.  She has also outlined a large and a small grant project that they would like for me to pursue. Since Jenny is familiar with the grant writing process, she listed four justifications for their large project and sketched the precipitating organizational changes and general economic benefits of the second project.  Jenny would like for me to submit a proposal to the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) for the larger project and suggested exploring RFPs from Wal-Mart and the LEGO Foundation for the smaller project.

My next three goals are to complete my pre-proposal within the next week, review and analyze Jenny’s suggested sources, and begin adapting sections of the pre-proposal to fit the guidelines of the targeted RFPs.  I should be able to complete the pre-proposal by carefully sifting through the MamaBaby Haiti GoogleDocs, my notes from my meetings, and by establishing my strategy for persuasion.  I have already begun reviewing the IAF Call for Proposals.  Its criteria open up a number of questions about MamaBaby Haiti’s eligibility for the grant.  I need to clarify MamaBaby Haiti’s status as an international or Haitian organization.  If there is not a specifically Latin American organization that will be the project sponsor, IAF will not be the appropriate source.  In this case, I will return to seeking a primary target RFP, along with the additional one which I will recommend as a backup.  There are a number of other requirements such as “counterpart contributions,” and community partnerships about which I will also need to inquire.

Once these preliminary issues are settled, I will begin adapting the information in the pre-proposal to the appropriate RFP guidelines.  I intend to review projects that have been sponsored by the target funders in the past and to thoroughly study their websites.  I will use what I learn about the funder to help me weave the goals of both entities into a proposal that will reveal a unified way to further the cause of each.

Along the way, I will be seeking other possible funders and collecting other documents that will need to be submitted with the RFP.

Managing Change and Answering Questions

Prompt:

For your blog post, relate a single statement that serves to "manage change" as your primary thesis in your mission statement. What problems might a reader have with it? How will you mitigate those problems?

Since the 2010 Haitian earthquake, MamaBaby Haiti has established a birth clinic in the under-served community of Mourn Rouge in Northern Haiti, but, now, with this strong foundation in place it is time to extend services to the surrounding rural communities through a mobile clinic.

There are a number of questions which a reader might have concerning the change management suggested by this statement.  As I list each possible problem, I will follow the challenge with my possible response.

1.    There are needs everywhere.  Why focus on Mourn Rouge and the surrounding area?

Haiti has the highest maternal mortality rate in the Western Hemisphere. Most of these deaths could be prevented with proper care. Sixty percent of persons in rural areas, like Mourn Rouge, have no access to basic health care.  Hidden in the shadow of Port-Au-Prince, the mothers and infants in the Mourn Rouge area have been overlooked and under-served in the past.

2.    Why establish a mobile clinic?  Can’t the women and infants just visit the clinic in Mourn Rouge?

Transportation is not always available or financially feasible for those living in area fishing villages.  Families are often forced to choose between trips for pre- and post-natal care and other basic necessities, yet this care is critical to reducing the maternal mortality rate.  A mobile clinic will make this care more readily available and expand the capacity of MamaBaby Haiti’s Clinic.

3.    Why is now the time to add a mobile clinic?

The need has been present from the time of the establishment of MamaBaby Haiti.  Only now, has the twenty-four hour/day, seven day/week clinic grown from its infancy as a piecemeal operation of volunteers from around the world into an organization that is prepared to employ and train local midwives.  MamaBaby Haiti directors and local staff have been actively developing relationships with other NGOs, government ministries, and community leaders.  With these critical connections in place, delaying the start of a mobile clinic would lead to the unnecessary death of many mothers and infants.

Managing Change in the Blog Post Topic

I have been catching up on reading this week and mulling over the managing change topic that we discussed at the conclusion of class last week. Now, I realize that I was getting ahead of the schedule.  It appears that I should still be pontificating about something such as finding an organization to represent this semester.  I’ll make a u-turn and hope to arrive on time.

My search for an organization(s) to write for this semester involved a few spins through my mental Rolodex.  I have received funds through a number of grants award to Midland College for the developmental writing program.  This experience led me to first consider seeking an opportunity to write for a grant to fund the development of a grammar program that utilizes manipulatives.  It would primarily serve students that have not passed the writing section of the THEA.  These students are often learning English as a second language, have developmental challenges in language, or are returning to school after an extensive hiatus.  A second grant would be needed to implement the program in the Language Hub. 

I decided, however, to take a break from my career pursuits and write for other needs for non-profits that interest me.  I want to help these non-profits, but I also want a break from the subjects that have demanded the majority of my time the last couple of years.   I thought of my friend Beth that works with her husband (a chef) to provide food to people that are economically disadvantaged near Charleston, South Carolina.  I queried her about the possibility, and she was thrilled.  Communication since then has been difficult because of the overwhelming time constraints that she has.  I hope that we are able to follow through with this.  Perhaps, it could actually relieve her of one of her overwhelming concerns—where will the food come from?

A few years ago when my daughter was exploring possible careers, we contacted the local midwives to learn about that career opportunity.  This opened my eyes to a new world.  Now, because I gave birth to both of my children in a hospital with the assistance of an obstetrician, I am a strong proponent for midwife-assisted delivery.  Kelli, one of the midwives, has recently taken on managing a non-profit clinic in Haiti.  The clinic is the only 24/7 facility for child birth for a huge region.  I am just beginning to learn about the scope and depth of the need for Mama Baby Haiti.

As I think about my process identifying these organizations, I imagine that a volunteer grant writer should have unlimited opportunities.  I can hardly imagine a non-profit or educational entity that would hear, “Would you like for me to assist you in securing funds for your service passion?” and not answer, “Absolutely!”  Waldo would come out of hiding for that one.

Needs Statement for Stono Blessing Basket

Residents of the Sea Islands of Charleston, South Carolina, understand that there are some rankings in which no one wants to place. After all, our state ranks fifth for the deadliest hurricane in U. S. history (1893) (Geology.com) and our city ranks in the top ten deadliest earthquake locations in the nation (1886).  While some think South Carolina has been lucky the last few years when it comes to disasters, like the Bakker Family Fund, we realize that our residents have been hit by another misfortune: poverty and the resulting food insecurity.  We would rather not rank among the top 10 impoverished states (Index Mundi).

In our neighborhood between 2000 and 2010 Charleston County’s poverty rate gusted up the scale 5.0 percent to 18.7 percent, the highest rate in the Tri-County Area. While disaster-chasing photographers kept their radios tuned to NOAA and police scanners, 63,867 persons—including 7,232 seniors—in Charleston County struggled to survive, at times listening to the rumble of their own stomachs.

Some of these hold hope that a lower unemployment figure and a higher level of personal education will put an end to their gnawing hunger; however, individuals with a low-level of wealth that have crossed the threshold to retirement and fixed incomes hold no such hope. Elizabeth Hempton, a Stono Blessing Basket program organizer, noted that rising food prices eclipse the buying power of many social security checks.  She wrote, “Our clients have very little hope of ever having more than they do now, and the way things are going, they're likely to have a whole lot less before they die. …Sadly, most of our clients only come off of our food program by passing away.”

Sometimes, meeting the basic human need of food for the day is the only way to help. Stono Blessing Basket, a part of a 501(c)(3) organization, is at work providing grocery relief to Charleston County clients that are needy, aged, and/or disabled.  Throughout Johns Island and Wadmalaw Island, our Stono volunteers collect and distribute dry goods, canned goods, and fresh produce.  Volunteers have even planted, tended, and harvested gardens in order to spread their budget far. As we have faithfully met these needs in our community, our client base as begun to grow rapidly.  Our volunteers are working as hard as ever, but the needs are multiplying and we are under pressure to meet the increased demand.  We must make sure that the pantry is re-stocked even more frequently than in past years.

It is essential that we expand our team now to include others—like the Bakker Family Fund—that are committed to meeting basic human needs.  While the volunteers at Stono Blessing Basket know that many organizations are anxious to partner with those that focus on providing nutrition for children only, Stono is unwilling to exclude clients that have reached their senior years and to serve only the youth of the Coastal Community.  We are glad that the Bakker Family Fund also recognizes that basic human needs continue throughout our lives.  This type of like-mindedness is not easy to find.

We invite Bakker Family Fund to team up with us by helping us keep the pantry restocked with dry goods and canned goods through the next annual cycle of the Fund.  A $10,000 grant will increase the food pantry supply to the Coastal Area by …… and thereby supplement the sparse pantries of xxx persons of all ages that share the hardship of low-wealth.

*The application used these key phrases: basic human needs, low-wealth individuals, and Coastal Community.  I sought to repeat or reflect these phrases.

The Foundation accepts requests for work in four SC counties.  I sought to highlight the more intense need in this particular county.

No more “Mwen Regrét Sa”

What is it like to feel helpless?  Who feels acutely vulnerable?  Though I see myself as a ready advocate for social justice, I am usually in the corner with those looking for a fair opportunity to improve their own situation.  They may feel stifled, hindered, cheated, temporarily blocked or unfairly burdened, but they don’t feel perpetually helpless or permanently incapable.  In contrast, associates have offered me the opportunity to write grant applications for programs designed to serve the most vulnerable and helpless—elderly persons on fixed incomes in the disadvantaged zip codes along the rich South Carolina coast and laboring women and their infants in the country with the highest maternal, fetal, and neonatal death rate in the West.

Stono Blessing Basket operates an emergency grocery program in Charleston County (SC), a county with an 18.7% poverty rate.  One in 10 senior citizens live below the poverty line.  Elizabeth Hempton,  a program organizer along with her husband Chef Darrell Hempton, said grant writing is problematic for their organization because many of their clients are elderly while most nutrition-related grants they have discovered focus on children.  Noting that rising food prices eclipse the buying power of many social security checks, Elizabeth wrote, “Our clients have very little hope of ever having more than they do now, and the way things are going, they're likely to have a whole lot less before they die. …Sadly, most of our clients only come off of our food program by passing away.”

This program is operated by a Baptist church on Johns Island.  If I am able to successfully locate and apply for grants, the clients will eat and Stono Blessing Basket volunteers will be encouraged in their work of collecting food from donors, as well as growing, harvesting and delivering fresh produce to clients.  It’s easy for them to lose heart.  “Honestly, I gave up on grants a while back because I have no time to write them and I became discouraged with so many companies who don't include faith based grants,” Elizabeth wrote.

My second client, Mama Baby Haiti (MBH), has a very different mission with another vulnerable population.  MBH’s website describes their mission:

Our mission is a seemingly simple one: to provide quality maternity care in an area where there is none. Haiti is one of the least developed countries in the world; it has the highest maternal mortality rate in the Western Hemisphere. It is our core belief that no woman or child should ever die because of where they live. Our goal is to offer services to women that will decrease their risk of dying from what should be a normal life event: pregnancy and birth. (http://www.mamababyhaiti.org/who-we-are/)

This non-profit is not associated with a religious organization, but, like Stono volunteers, the MBH Board of Directors, comprised of health-care providers, finds it difficult to leave their primary tasks to apply for grants.  I will be seeking appropriate grants for this birth center and clinic, which is located in Morne Rouge, Haiti, but reaches out to the surrounding area with education, as well as prenatal, birth, postpartum and pediatric care designed to reduce the maternal and infant death rate.

MBH reports that too often in Haiti a mother is told, “Mwen Regrét Sa"—I’m sorry your baby has died.  The grant packages I plan to assemble this semester could activate the people and resources needed to help the midwives make good on their motto, “No more Mwen Regrét Sa” and to hush the Charleston grocery clerks’, “I’m sorry.  The card was declined.”