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Section I: Organization Information

Agency Mission: The mission of the Project H.O.M.E. community is to empower adults, children, and families to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty, to alleviate the underlying causes of poverty, and to enable all of us to attain our fullest potential as individuals and as members of the broader society. We strive to create a safe and respectful environment where we support each other in our struggles for self-esteem, recovery, and the confidence to move toward self-actualization.

Name/Title of Contact: Joan McConnon, Associate Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer

Address: 1515 Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia

Phone Number: 215-232-7229 x.4081

Website: http://www.projecthome.org/

Email: joanmcconnon@projecthome.org

Total number of agency staff members: 250

Agency Budget: $12 million

Section II: Community Need

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.

Project H.O.M.E.’s mission is to end homelessness by addressing its many causes- lack of affordable and supportive housing options, opportunities for employment, medical care, and education. Throughout Fiscal Year ’09, 500 unduplicated adults and children lived in Project H.O.M.E. housing, and Project H.O.M.E.’s Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs served 1,168 Adults and 296 students. While Project H.O.M.E. has made much progress over the last 20 years, we also understand the importance of taking time to step back, examine our mission, and consider how we can address our mission with the most impact and efficiency. To this end, we are excited to begin a 5-year Strategic Plan process, and see a Philly Fellow playing a crucial role in the plan’s timely completion and ultimate effectiveness.

Because the Strategic Plan will heavily inform Project H.O.M.E.’s goals and strategies for the next five years, it is our hope that not only will the 500 residents and 1,464 community members who used the HLC in FY ’09 be impacted and further empowered to reach their fullest potential, but we will expand our community through Outreach and additional programming.

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

The Strategic Plan process is an opportunity to re-examine our community’s needs and re-think the ways in which we try to address these needs. From our last 5-year Strategic Plan, we realized the importance of expanding our Employment Services’ programs and offerings as a means of increasing community members’ income. From 2006 to 2009 we tripled the number of community members working at a job, internship, or volunteer opportunity using technology. We also re-affirmed our commitment to permanent supportive housing by developing and breaking ground on the Connelly House. After looking at our Residential Program and getting feedback from current and former residents, Project H.O.M.E. began to use the Recovery Transformation model as a way to address relapses and also set-up a Resident Alumni Program as a way for former residents to stay involved in the community. With that said, we feel there is definite room for improvement with our next Strategic Plan. Not only could our Philly Fellow allow us to do a better job of engaging residents (with newly created avenues including the Alumni Program and the Resident Advisory Board), but we also hope to make the document more user-friendly and comprehensible. Our Philly Fellow would work with the outside consultant over the 9 month process and figure out how to best involve all members of our community including residents, staff, donors, volunteers, and partner organizations. This effort could include personal interviews, focus groups, or using websites like Survey Monkey to adequately engage all members of our community in the process. He or she would schedule Steering Committee meetings and focus groups, compile agenda items, and ensure all parties have a means of transportation to and from meetings.

After the Strategic Plan is completed, our Fellow would develop a communication strategy to effectively and efficiently disseminate the Plan and its findings to our community members (residents, staff, volunteers, and donors). In addition to communicating the Strategic Plan itself, our Fellow would also develop a reporting mechanism (perhaps a quarterly newsletter) that would allow employees to remain abreast to the quarterly outcomes of our Strategic Plan goals. Our Fellow’s direct involvement with each step of the Strategic Plan process would empower him or her to deeply understand our decision-making processes, our community, and our mission. With this experience, our Fellow would also have the opportunity to suggest and head other capacity building projects that were identified during the planning process, but not ultimately included in the Strategic Plan. This could include gathering information on the prevalence of hunger in our Neighborhood, and presenting this information and recommendations on how to address this issue to the Executive Team.

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

The Strategic Plan process is a collaborative endeavor that is most successful when there is a high-level of community involvement. Therefore, community involvement is one of our Fellow’s most important goals, and the fellow’s supervisor would help ensure organizational support to meet this goal. Our Fellow would help organize focus groups and open meetings with the consultant that are both geared toward a specific, targeted population (like volunteers) and meetings targeting the whole community. After the completion of the Strategic Plan, our Fellow would also set-up community meetings at our residences and other appropriate venues to discuss the findings and goals of the Strategic Plan, in addition to explaining how we plan on measuring outcomes. Ultimately, the fellow will play an integral role in the creation of a living document that guides the organization (and the organization’s community involvement) for the next five years.

Section III: Job Description

Please outline in list form the fellow's duties and responsibilities.

The primary responsibility of the Philly Fellow would be the coordination of Project H.O.M.E.’s 5-year Strategic Plan. This would include:
1. Working with the consultant to learn the proposed planning process
2. Meeting with key members of Project H.O.M.E. staff who will ultimately be responsible for implementing the plan
3. Developing a communications strategy to optimize community involvement (with the support of the supervisor and consultant)
4. Executing the above strategy to reach-out to residents, staff, volunteers, donors, and partner organizations through personal interviews and tools like Survey Monkey
5. Organizing all meetings related to Strategic Planning (collecting agenda items, organizing transportation for residents, ordering food)
6. Taking ownership of the Strategic Plan process and ensuring the planning process remains on schedule
7. Helping to establish measurements, matrices, and dashboards to evaluate the Plan’s progression and success over five years.
8. After the document has been drafted, helping to disseminate the Plan and collect feedback from focus groups and departmental meetings
9. Develop a reporting mechanism (newsletter, etc.) for the Plan’s measurements and outcomes
10. Depending on our fellow’s individual interest, he or she would be able to take-on a capacity-building project that was not included in the final Strategic Plan, but clearly aligns with our mission.

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

1. Strong verbal and written communication skills.
2. Ability to respectfully interact with people from all walks of life, including formerly homeless men and women, staff, volunteers, and board members.
3. Good project management and organizational skills.
4. Excellent attention to detail.
5. Knowledge of Miscrosoft Office, Excel, Access and Word.
6. Ability to work independently and as part of a team.

Please describe your agency's plan to orient and train the fellow.

In addition to the new hire orientation, Project H.O.M.E. has a training plan for all staff. Our Fellow would be able to take part in these offerings, which include trainings in: information technology resources, computer software, accounting practices, anti-stigma, addictions information, poverty and social justice issues, first aid and CPR, and universal precautions. Our Fellow could also take advantage of other trainings offered by external training providers, and Project H.O.M.E. will cover the cost of training that is related to the work of the Fellow. Our Fellow will also be given the opportunity to shadow Project H.O.M.E.’s Outreach Coordination Center Response teams and Education and Advocacy staff to develop a sense of the culture and history of the organization. Lastly, in addition to orientation and the trainings, the supervisor will introduce the fellow to key staff that our Fellow will be working with, and give the fellow a tour of several Project H.O.M.E. sites so that he or she can see the scope of Project H.O.M.E.’s mission.

Section IV: Project Plan

Please describe the proposed project goal(s) you expect the fellow to achieve. These should relate to your community need and reflect the long-term impact of the fellow’s project.

Our Philly Fellow’s main goal is the on-schedule completion of a Strategic Plan that reflects the external needs of the community and the internal strength of the organization, and guides the organization for the next five years.

Section V: The Nitty Gritty

Will fellow be working at the same address listed above?

No. Alternate worksite:

2101 Brandywine Ave., Philadelphia

Please describe the fellow's work environment.

Fellow will have a shared office.
Fellow will have their own desk.
Fellow will have their own computer.

Please list the name and title of the fellow's immediate supervisor.

Joan McConnon, Associate Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer

Please approximate the percentage of time fellow will work:

Independently: 25%
As a team member in a group setting: 55%
As a team leader in a group setting: 20%

Travel:

Will the fellow be expected to travel as part of the position?

Yes

If so, how often and where?

The fellow will be expected to travel biweekly within Philadelphia to other Project H.O.M.E. sites.

Will the fellow need the following to carry out the position?

A driver’s license: Yes
Their own car: No

Section VI: Supervision/Resources

Please briefly describe plans for supervision of fellow:

The supervisor will meet with our Fellow weekly initially and will reassess the frequency of the meetings based on the needs of the Fellow and the work flow. In addition, the supervisor will be available to support the Fellow via phone, email, and impromptu face to face meetings. The supervisor regularly will provide feedback to the fellow on his or her performance.

What methods, information, or data will you use to evaluate the fellow’s success in their position and your agency’s success in meeting your community need?

Our Philly Fellow will be asked to keep a log of meetings attended, as well as establish a database to keep track of the information gathered through surveys and focus groups. The supervisor will review the log and database entries, and provide feedback throughout the year. Part of our Fellow’s job and the Strategic Plan process will be the development of dashboards and matrices that will evaluate Project H.O.M.E.’s ultimate level of success in carrying out its Strategic Plan.