City of Lawrence
Outside Agency Funding
APPLICATION
General Information: Each year, the City Commission considers requests for the allocation of dollars to a number of agencies that provide services benefiting the Lawrence community. The decision on funding a request will be made during the City’s annual budgeting process. The decision will be based upon the availability of funds, the need demonstrated through the agency’s application, the stated objectives of the applicant’s program, past performance by the agency in adhering to funding guidelines (as appropriate), and the ability to measure progress toward the program objectives.
Instructions: Applications for 2008 funding must be complete and submitted electronically to the City Manager’s Office at cliebst@ci.lawrence.ks.us by the deadline of 5:00 pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2007.
Questions? Contact Casey Liebst, Budget Manager at cliebst@ci.lawrence.ks.us or at 785-832-3409.
Section I. Applicant Information
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Legal Name of Agency: |
Van Go Mobile Arts, Inc. |
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Name of Program for Which Funding is Requested: |
Life JAMS, JAMS: Jobs in the Arts Make Sense |
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Primary Contact Person: |
Lynne Green, Executive Director |
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Address: |
P.O. Box 153 |
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Telephone: |
842-3797 |
Fax: |
842-4628 |
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Email: |
Lynne @van-go.org |
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Section 2. Request Information
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A. |
Amount of funds requested from the City for this program for calendar year 2008: |
$35,000 |
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B. |
Will these funds be used for capital outlay (equipment or facilities) in 2008? If so, please describe: Funds will not be used for capital outlay. |
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C. |
Will these funds be used to leverage other funds in 2008? If so, how: Van Go will use this City investment to leverage $162,500 from state and federal sources. |
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D. |
Did you receive City funding for this program in 2007? If so, list the amount and source for funding (i.e. General Fund, Alcohol Fund, etc.): Van Go received $35,000 from Outside Agency funding and $40,300 from Alcohol Tax funds. |
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E. |
If you are requesting an increase in funding over 2007, please explain exactly how the additional funds will be used: No increase in funding is requested. |
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Section 3. Agency and Program Budget information
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A. |
How many paid full time employees work for your agency? |
4 |
Volunteers? |
105 |
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We also plan to have an MSW intern from K.U. |
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B. |
What percent of your total 2007 budget goes to employee salaries and benefits? |
72%* |
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*This amount includes the salaries and payroll expenses of 90 at-risk youth hired annually by Van Go. |
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C. |
What percent of your total 2007 budget is used for operating expenses? |
28% |
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D. |
What is the total estimated cost to provide the program in 2008? |
$347,025 |
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E. |
What percent of 2008 program costs are being requested from the City? |
10% |
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F. |
List other anticipated sources of funding and funding amount for this program in 2008: |
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Anticipated Funding Source |
Dollar Amount |
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Commissioned Sales |
$42,600 |
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Contributions |
$83,000 |
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Fundraisers |
$58,000 |
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Gallery Sales |
$27,000 |
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Grants (includes United Way, Workforce Investment Act, Juvenile Justice Authority, others) |
$278,150 |
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Reimbursed Expenses |
$3,000 |
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Space rental (ends with upcoming building renovation) |
$4,000 |
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TOTAL 2008 PROGRAM BUDGET |
$495,750 |
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Section 4. Statement of Problem/Need to Be Addressed By Program
A. Provide a brief statement of the problem or need your agency proposes to address with the requested funding and/or the impact of not funding this program. The statement should include characteristics of the client population that will be served by this program. If possible, include statistical data to document this need.
Teens living in poverty, facing learning disabilities or dealing with other mental impairments drop out of Lawrence high schools at higher rates than others, triggering a lifelong domino effect that may include teenage pregnancy, incarceration, unemployment and long-term reliance on social services. About 80% of the teens employed by Van Go live in poverty, compared to the statewide poverty rate of 14.6% for youth under 18.[1] Most face the multiple problems associated with poverty—delinquency, academic failure, truancy. Of the youth served at Van Go in 2006:
*46 were deficient in reading
*59% were deficient in math
*57% had IEPs at their schools
*17% were involved in the juvenile justice system
* 5% were in foster care or state custody
Year-to-date assessments of 2007 Van Go participants indicate a similar demographic pattern.
Van Go teens are those who normally “slip through the cracks,” as few programs serve them, and most agencies consider them too difficult to reach.
B. How was the need for this program determined?
From the organization’s inception, Van Go has anticipated the needs of the community we serve. We began after-school programs at targeted elementary schools 10 years ago, in 1997, long before the need was addressed with the arrival of 21st-century funds.
In 1999, Van Go adapted to local needs by creating the JAMS program (Jobs in the Arts Make Sense) for at-risk teens in response to needs cited in the 7th Judicial District’s Community Comprehensive Plan, which called for “additional opportunities for youth to participate in community service work as a deterrent to negative behavior” and “the development of more culturally specific and vocationally oriented mentoring programs” (p. 33).
In 2003, Van Go anticipated local trends by developing its Life JAMS programming for older youth (18-21). Life JAMS targets 18-21 year-olds with a comprehensive approach that includes social services, paid worksite placements, on-site tutoring and community mentoring. Two years after the inception of Life JAMS, the Kansas Action for Children’s 2005 Kids Count Data Book revealed the following:
*From 1996 – 2001, the percent of high school dropouts increased 33% in Kansas, while the national average showed a decrease of 10%
*From 1996 – 2001, the percent of teens not attending school and not working increased 17% in Kansas, while nationally that figure decreased 11%
*The percent of 18-24 year olds living in poverty in Kansas in 2002 was 26%, while the national average was 20%
Other local research has shown that substance abuse, for which Van Go youth are at heightened risk, is higher among Douglas County youth than among youth statewide. USD 497 data collected by Drs. Hawkins and Catalano in 2005 indicated substance abuse levels at or above state averages among local 10th graders:
*35% of respondents reported having used alcohol in the past 30 days
*16.2% reported using marijuana in the past 30 days (nearly twice the state average of 8.6%)
*40% reported availability of drugs as a risk factor (well above the state average of 27%)
C. Why should this problem/need be addressed by the City?
Van Go provides the following services for the City of Lawrence:
1. Soft skills training = Readied workforce
- Attendance and punctuality tracked daily and evaluated
- Time management and goal-setting charted, measured, evaluated and rewarded
- Teamwork, cooperation and respect taught, evaluated and rewarded
- Task completion, taking initiative and following through stressed, evaluated and rewarded
- Communication skills honed as apprentice-artists partner with local business to design and create commissioned art bench through an interview process with clients (a firm handshake and good eye contact are stressed and practiced)
- Life skills honed in weekly sessions on topics such as fiscal responsibility, transition planning, health and employment issues
2. Economic development and job creation = Broader tax base
- Over $62,000 will be paid in wages to at-risk youth at Van Go in 2007. Nearly 100% of that money stays in Lawrence. Because 80% of our youth come from families living in poverty, the dollars earned at Van Go help keep indigent Lawrence families financially afloat.
- Van Go brings revenue into Lawrence from sources outside the community. In 2007, $162,000 (33%) of the agency’s revenue will come from state and federal sources; an additional $28,000 (6%) will come from grants and foundations outside our community. Thus, Van Go leverages the City’s financial support by generating additional dollars that directly benefit our at-risk youth.
- Van Go creates 90 jobs each year, a number that will rise to 125 in 2009.
- Van Go contributes to the local economy by paying hourly wages to at-risk teens ($59,879.16 in 2006)[2] and generating commissioned/product sales ($44,874 in 2006)[3]. This does not include untold economic development as Van Go youth stay out of jail, delay parenthood, subsist with fewer social services and eventually raise their own families with less hardship than did their parents. This means generations of more self-supporting, tax-contributing citizens of Lawrence.[4]
- The RIMS II economic impact model, which calculates the extended economic effects of the nonprofit sector, states that nonprofits such as Van Go generate indirect effects (the result of purchases by the nonprofit sector from other sectors—for example, transportation, communications and utilities—that generate income and employment in these other sectors) and induced effects (the result of nonprofit employees spending their income on goods and services provided by businesses other than their employer, such as grocery stores). The model states that, based on these indirect and induced effects, 30.4 jobs are created for each $1 million in nonprofit expenditures. Thus, based on Van Go’s 2007 budget of $495,750, Van Go fuels the need and demand for approximately 15 jobs beyond the organization itself.[5]
- Prevention = Healthy communities
· For every $1 spent on prevention programming, $4.48 is saved[6]
· JAMS keeps at-risk youth occupied and productive during the risk-prone hours of 3-6 p.m., a priority in cities across the country. The U.S. Conference of Mayors’ ten-point plan, “Strong Cities, Strong Families, for a Strong America” (January 2007), calls for increased funding commitments directly allocated to quality after-school programs, along with new summer youth employment initiatives to offer work experience, skills training and education strategies to young people as part of a local workforce development system. Van Go already does all of the above!
· Douglas County Assistant Prosecutor Shelley Diehl said of Van Go’s JAMS program, “As a member of the Community Comprehensive Planning Team, I can tell you that the Team felt strongly that youth who have employment opportunities available to them are less likely to engage in anti-social, criminal and dangerous activities.”
· Van Go youth share the same risk factors and demographics as incarcerated youth[7], until Van Go programs intervene with art therapy, counseling, employment and other support. These services cost an estimated annual $5,000 per child, a fraction of the $82,939 average cost per incarcerated child in Kansas in 2006.
Section 4. Description of Program Services
A. Provide a brief description of the service you will provide and explain how it will respond to the need you identified in Section 3. The description should include how many clients will be served, and should describe as specifically as possible the interaction that will take place between the provider and the user of the service.
The services provided by Van Go are extremely unique and are not provided by any other agency in Douglas County. Van Go is the only arts-based social service agency in Kansas and is the largest employer of at-risk youth in Lawrence. We serve at-risk youth only and specialize in their development. Many of our participants are alienated from their school environment and have no outlets for positive self-expression; these are children for whom anonymity and failure are routine. Participants are referred by social workers, counselors, mental health professionals and court personnel.
Van Go is the only organization in Douglas County that responds to community need for social services directed at high-risk youth. Van Go answers that need with these critical tasks:
1) Uses the arts as a vehicle to provide high-risk youth with direct social services
2) Employs high-risk youth year-round, providing opportunities for leadership, skill building, and employment to teens no one else would hire[8]
3) Engages youth in a process of teamwork to solve problems and complete professional art projects
4) Connects alienated kids to their community through visible public arts projects
JAMS (Jobs in the Arts Make Sense) is Van Go’s year-round, innovative youth employment program for at-risk teens ages 14 – 21 that was developed to help fill the existing gap in social services for this age group in Lawrence. It is not designed to create artists, but instead uses art as the vehicle to help teens gain protective factors, job and life skills, and economic resources needed to be successful.
After receiving referrals from community partners who identify teens living in poverty, involved in the juvenile justice system, in foster care, and at risk for truancy, teen pregnancy or drug/alcohol use, Van Go interviews and hires teens to work with professional teaching-artists. Teens are paid minimum wage to create murals, benches and objects sold in the student-run gallery. Ninety youth are served annually in the JAMS programs, which includes Life JAMS (for older youth) and Super JAMS (for youth who excel at Van Go).
While services will not expand during the upcoming grant period, expansion is on the horizon. In 2009, 125 teens will be served, and the new ARTS Train program will be implemented. Like the current Life JAMS program, the ARTS Train will target disconnected young adults who teeter on the precipice of adulthood without the guidance to successfully transition to personal, economic and societal maturity. But the ARTS Train will go further by providing in-depth vocational training in applied arts fields: woodworking, graphic design and painting. Soft skills and life skills will continue to be addressed as participants work on punctuality, teamwork and communication. ARTS Train youth will meet with clients, plan projects and deliver completed work to the owners, or they may be placed at off-site employment, where they will be monitored by Van Go staff. While at Van Go, these high-needs young adults will receive social services to help them better transition into adulthood.
B. Describe any efforts your agency has made to explore the community to determine if there are any other agencies providing similar types of services. What efforts have you made to coordination services?
Van Go works with community agencies to ensure coordination of prevention services and to avoid duplication. To minimize fragmentation, local partnerships have been formed and include collaboration with these agencies:
Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center - WRAP social workers refer students to Van Go. WRAP staffers are essential in Van Go’s effort to make sure that at-risk children are being identified and that services offered during the school day are continued after school.
Douglas County Youth Services – DCYS staff and juvenile court personnel refer teens to the JAMS program.
The Lawrence/Douglas County Housing Authority – Because many of our low-income teens live in public housing, the Housing Authority sponsors Summer JAMS apprentice-artists’ salaries for their residents.
Chamber of Commerce - Lynne Green, Van Go Executive Director, has been working with the Chamber’s Director of Economic Development and was appointed to a task force charged with creating vocational programming in Lawrence.
USD #497 - School counselors and social workers are important partners referring and recruiting students as well as communicating grades, attendance, and discipline problems so that a coordinated effort can be made on behalf of each child. A new component of this partnership is that, as of the Fall 2006 semester, JAMS participants can earn high school credit for their participation.
Other agencies - Van Go has also been involved with the Arts Roundtable and the After-School Alliance to look for ways to expand options for at-risk youth.
Section 5. Program Objectives
Please provide three specific program objectives for 2008. Objectives should demonstrate the purpose of the program and measure the amount of service delivered or the effectiveness of the services delivered. A time frame and numerical goal should also be included. Examples include, “75% of clients receiving job training will retain their job one year after being hired,” “increased fundraising efforts will result in a 15% increase in donations in 2008,” “credit counseling services will be provided to 600 clients in 2008,” “new digital arts program will serve 275 students in 2008” etc. Applicants will be expected to report their progress toward meeting these objectives in their six month and annual reports to the City.
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Program Objectives |
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1. |
80% of participants will receive an increased score in their Work Evaluations from week 2 to week 8
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2. |
90% of participants will complete the program
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3. |
Daily attendance of participants will average 90% in 2008
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Please return completed application electronically to cliebst@ci.lawrence.ks.us by
5:00 pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2007.
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