Partnerships Can Change Lives

This may seen like an oxymoron. Yet, the subtle changes may not always be evident.
The following are two stellar examples.
One is a church that partners with an popular national chain grocery store that is known for its organic brands. Each week the store donates thousands of dollars in food. The church prepares a meal once a week. After lunch, participants have the option to select their own groceries without cost. Too many programs focus on  handouts and may never know the outcome. This group shares a meal together every week. They develop relationships and take an interest in others'. Many grocery recipients are people who want to work or contribute, but they've hit a rough patch. That might be a temporary job loss, serious medical concern or other dilemma. While it is true that a few participants are just along for a free ride, others have used the savings to pay medical bills, save enough for an elementary school child to attend Summer Camp with peers, tough it out a few months until they have another paycheck. The real value is dignity and new found relationships. People genuinely care. It is a place where healing takes place. And it is a stable place where people can rebuild their lives without fear of judgment.

The other is a nonprofit that houses international students. The program is unique. The design is highly successful in that 98% of students return to serve as national leaders in their country of origin. This is in contrast to 50% nationwide. Partners include one or more colleges in Portland, but also overseas partners. This nonprofit also delivers high quality intensive training in Africa and Latin America to equip new leaders in their homeland.

What makes these partnerships unique? There are many food programs all over the country. Many persons are served efficiently and some with dignity. The unique factor is the caring relationships. The other is also unique. Why so? Again there are many housing arrangements for college students, even international students. However, again the design is the relational aspect. It is a place of peace and respect where international students don't just have a room, but work out relationship dynamics which gives them tremendous insight into the lives of others'. Like the U.S., the Middle East and New Zealand have diverse religious and ethnic populations, yet the Middle East has been at war for hundreds of years, and New Zealand has a high suicide rate, especially among teenagers. This seems to indicate that it takes more than a casual exposure to living with diverse populations. Indeed respect is intentional. It is built into the design, nurtured and refined. In the end, students emerge as whole people able to bring healing, help and hope as they return home.

Partnerships can be static or life changing.

Winning Government Contracts: Can Small Businesses Really Compete?

Is your small business certified as an Emerging Small Business? There are several special certifications any  eligible small businesses in Oregon can apply for. If you can't manage a government contract, it's possible you could work as a subcontractor for a prime contractor.

Government Contracting Assistance Program (GCAP) partners with government and various organizations to help small businesses overcome barriers to compete for government contracts. It doesn't happen overnight, but it does happen. Perhaps you've heard about huge government contracts. Did you know there are also small ones? There is a knack to getting all this figured out. If you have more questions than answers that's okay. In some instances small business owners may not even know where to begin asking questions. That's okay too. The fact is we all have to start somewhere. The operative word is "start".

If terms like DUNS, NAICS and SAMS baffle you, GCAP offers free educational and technical assistance. To learn more about this free service visit http://gcap.org/

Never Stop Going to School: Learn About Copyright, Patent and Copyright Laws from the Experts.

Do you have questions about copyright, patent or trademark laws and more. The Global Intellectual Property Academy offers seven short training modules and delivers high quality information that is pertinent to many small business owners. Although this information is not a substitute for sound legal advise, it's a great resource for a survey of topics, brushing up, or verifying information. Expert presenters help by identifying the section of law. Learn more at http://www.uspto.gov/ip/training/index.jsp

From Flash Cards to Project Manager

Recently I've been writing curricula for a three part nonprofit series. One of the earlier tasks was to explain to novices or experienced students how to set up a nonprofit organization using a variety of learning methods. First, I had a crude timeline, but wanted more visuals. Good visuals can save a
lot of time. So instead of a timeline, I used a pictoral flow sheet. Since my desire was to appeal to
a diverse group of students, using a wide variety of teaching methods, it occurred to me that a more
effective way to teach this concept would be to create old fashioned flash cards with picture and
a written decription, and have small groups of students interact, and manipulate the cards and report
to the larger group the rational for the proposed order. By each group reporting, students learn from
each other, and listen to others' perspective. It occurred to me that not all students may be familiar
with basic project management.

Another task in the first class is to select a nonprofit board using nine defined criteria. This requires them to interview other students and is a nonprofit version of speed dating. The objective is to match desired attributes to the needs of the organization. Once the small group has selected their "Board", and before they "hire" staff or recruit any "volunteers", the Board will need to wrestle with how to assign resources (match the right Board member to the right task, or find and manage outside resources to aid them in the process). With any project, there is a time limit, so one or more task are requires in order to proceed with another task so they can be put in the correct order. Different tasks require different amounts of time. Some tasks are significant enough that they could be another whole project. The goal for students is to learn basic project management skills, so they can integrate these skills and build on them for the rest of their life.

Learning is more than spitting out the right answer to pass a test. One hallmark of successful learning is that students becomes passionate about teaching others.

There Is No Such Thing as a Target Audience

When delivering an oral presentation, it is important to know your audience. Unless it is an audience of one, there is no such thing as a target audience. Depending on the subject matter gender, age, life experience which is affected by family of origin patterns, financial or social status (in terms of access to opportunity), occupation, education and training, perspective including a shared or similar historical context, whether English is the primary language, culture, ethnicity, geographical location or origins, religion or world view filters perception.

Polling an audience about interests, and learning motivation and style, provides an instructor the opportunity to tailor information to for greater impact. Break out groups improve learning for most students and gives the instructor the flexibility to hone in by observing the group process. By gleaning information through observation, an instructor can make corrections, scale down objectives to ensure students grasp key concepts or initiate a large group discussion to help students flesh out details by learning from each other.

Training Employees and Volunteers

Training and developing employees or volunteers requires a consistent plan that takes learning styles into account. Good curricula includes a baseline to measure current knowledge of specific content, a list of learning objectives and multiple teaching methods.

Teaching methods may include shading boxes with borders, and colorful graphs, charts, maps or flow charts. Substituting pictures for verbiage speeds comprehension and may reduce volume. Kinetics (movement) and interactive learning (problem solving) helps learners integrate theory and practice. Each training module should measure the degree of student learning.  Lastly, engage participants in improving training content, methods, delivery and learning outcomes.