Section I: Organization Information

Name/Title of Contact:  Amy Holdsman, Executive Director

Address:  215. S. Broad Street, 5th Floor
     
Phone Number: 215-735-4480 ext. 207

Email Address:  aholdsman@wwscholars.org
     
Web Address:  www.wwscholars.org

Total Number of Staff Members: 8
     
Total Agency Budget: $1.3 million

Agency Mission:
The mission of White-Williams Scholars is to support high academic achievement in
Philadelphia public high school students of limited financial resources in order to increase
their opportunities for success in the future.  

Fellow’s Job Title: Outreach Coordinator


Section II: The Nitty Gritty

1. Will fellow be working at the same address listed above? If not, please list the address
for the fellow’s worksite.    Yes

2.  Will the fellow have:   

A. ___Own Office?              _X__Shared Office?            ____No Office?  

B. ___Own Desk?               _X__Shared Desk?              ____No Desk?

C. ___Own Computer?       _X__Shared Computer?      ____No Computer?

3. Please state name and title of fellow’s immediate supervisor.
  Sara Manning, Director of Development

4. Please approximate the percentage of time fellow will work:

_80%_Independently      _10%_As a team member in a group setting   

_10%_As a team leader in a group setting

5. Will fellow be expected to travel as part of his/her position?  Yes, occasionally.

If so, will travel be: _X__Within Philadelphia?  ____Outside Philadelphia?

How often will they need to travel?   May require travel twice a month

Will fellow need: ____a car?   ____a transpass?  _X__occasional tokens?  

Will the agency provide or reimburse for these expenses?
Work-related travel expenses the fellow incurs will be reimbursed.


Section III:  Community Need
Please submit a one paragraph response for each question.

1. Please state in measurable and quantifiable terms the specific community need that the Philly Fellow will address, including the number of people in the community directly
affected by the problem.

The needs of our high-achieving, low-income Scholars are many: money to pay for
education-related expenses, rewards and incentives to succeed in school, exposure to
post-secondary options, and access to caring, knowledgeable adults. We currently
provide these services to over 1,000 high school students, but with 2/3 of Philadelphia
public school students meeting our income guidelines, the need is tremendous. It is our
hope to leverage the untapped resources of our vast alumni pool to benefit these Scholars and to serve even more in the future. In our 207 year history, we have helped tens of thousands of Philadelphians. We have 6,600 WWS alumni listed in our database, and we are in regular contact with 500 of them by mail or email, but we know there are thousands of others out there. We believe that many of these alumni would be interested in supporting our organization and the next generation of Scholars. As alumni, they can
testify to the impact of our program, motivate today’s Scholars with their stories of
success, and model giving back to help those coming behind them. Through alumni
engagement and public relations efforts, the Philly fellow will bring greater attention to the
needs of these high-achieving, low-income students.

2. Describe how your agency addresses this need, and how the new capacity created by
this fellow will help alleviate the problem.

For many years, the stigma of poverty kept silent those who received stipends from WWS. Recipients did not identify with the organization or with each other, and as a result, it remains difficult to create an active alumni community. Times have changed, and we are maintaining connections with recent graduates who proudly claim their association with WWS.  It is our hope that they will give back to the organization in support of future
Scholars.  Currently, we have a small but active Alumni Committee that plans events and is eager to get larger numbers of alumni involved with the organization. Through having a
Philly Fellow focus on making connections with alumni and introducing ways to engage
them today, we can build the financial and volunteer capacity of the organization.  In
addition, the systems the Fellow will create for alumni outreach, volunteer engagement,
Lenfest Scholars support and public relations will define these efforts long after their
tenure.

3. Describe the level of community involvement in the fellow’s project.

The Philly Fellow will have a high degree of community involvement through his/her contact with WWS alumni living and working in the Philadelphia area.  We will be looking for the Philly Fellow to research and gather testimonials from a cross-section of alumni and to match volunteers with service opportunities. The fellow will also interact with Lenfest Scholars to build supportive WWS communities at Penn State University and Temple University. While the fellow will gain an intimate look at the impact of WWS through these projects, he/she will not engage in direct service to our current Scholars.


Section IV:  Job Description

1. Please outline in list form the fellow’s duties and responsibilities.
•        Envision and implement outreach plans to find, contact, and reengage alumni.
•        Develop a system of maintaining alumni records and all data pertaining to alumni.
•        Contact 20-25 alumni per week via phone or email to update contact information and inquire about their interest in providing testimonials.
•        Design a testimonial template and then interview and document five strong
testimonials per month.
•        Work with the Alumni Committee to expand its outreach efforts.
•        Establish a WWS alumni community among Lenfest Scholars currently attending
Penn State and in the fall of 2008, Temple University.
•        Identify new and existing volunteer opportunities and recruit interested individuals to
participate. (ex: Career Day, shadowing events, etc.)
•        Lay the foundation for a virtual mentorship program between established alumni and
those in their freshmen or sophomore years of college.
•        Compile profiles of current Scholars for marketing use.
•        Spearhead public relations efforts by writing media advisories and press releases
about our Scholars, alumni and programs.
•        Research appropriate contacts at all major media outlets and smaller neighborhood
papers to develop a contact list for PR and marketing efforts.


2. Please outline in list form the skills/qualifications a fellow should have to succeed in this
position.

The fellow should:
•        Be motivated, creative and easily take initiative.
•        Be a self-starter who can work well independently and in a team setting.
•        Possess excellent written and oral communication skills.
•        Enjoy research and interviewing. (Cannot be intimidated to pick up the phone and call strangers).
•        Be able to cast a vision and see it through to completion.
•        Possess strong analytical and organizational skills.
•        Be passionate about the mission of the organization.
•        Have a sense of humor and truly enjoy interacting with others.

3. Please outline your agency’s plan to orient and train the fellow.
The fellow will:

•        Have a one-on-one orientation with each member of the staff to gain an overview of
the organization’s operation.
•        Spend more focused time with the Development Department to understand our
current interaction with alumni and the media.
•        Meet and gain further insight into interacting with alumni through conversations with
the Alumni Committee Chair and other alumni closely connected with the organization.
•        Be trained on Results Plus! software for the purpose of accessing alumni records.


Section V:  Supervision/Resources

1. Please briefly describe plans for supervision of fellow.

The Director of Development and Development Associate plan to meet with the fellow on a weekly basis to provide direction and support and to monitor progress of the duties
outlined.

2. What methods, information, or data will you use to evaluate the fellow’s success in their
position?

We will adopt an evaluation tool currently in use by all WWS staff members and review
progress towards goals on a quarterly basis.  After open dialogue we’ll discuss any
changes that need to be made and make revisions accordingly.


Section VI: Project Plan
Please outline goals and results you expect the fellow to achieve and the measures you
will use to evaluate performance. These goals must address the community need stated
above.

1. Please describe the proposed project goal you expect the fellow to achieve.
Our goal is to increase awareness of the financial, academic and social needs of today’s
Scholars and communicate ways to help them to our alumni.  This will be coupled with
increasing our media outreach efforts to gain broader awareness of the organization’s
work to the community at-large.

2. Please list significant milestones for this project and dates by which they will be
accomplished:   
Alumni Testimonial Compilation                      (July – Sept. ’08)
Media Outreach Efforts                                    (Oct. – Dec. ’08)
Lenfest Scholars @ Penn State Community   (Jan. – Mar. ’09)
Volunteer Recruitment and Engagement       (April – June ’09)