SRPS

Section I: Organization Information

Agency Mission: Students Run Philly Style, a five year-old program of the NNCC, offers marathon training to help young people from underserved communities succeed in life. We do this by connecting students with adult mentors who help them imagine and accomplish goals beyond their dreams, including the completion of a marathon.

Name/Title of Contact: Amalia Petherbridge, Assistant Director

Address: 260 S Broad St, 18th Flr., Philadelphia, PA 19102

Phone Number: 267-765-2387

Website: http://www.studentsrunphilly.org/

Email: amalia@nncc.us

Total number of agency staff members: 3 full time staff and 1 AmeriCorps Vista

Agency Budget: $600,000 (includes in-kind contributions)

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.

Students Run Philly Style serves youth ages 12-18 throughout Philadelphia, concentrating its efforts in the neighborhoods of that have among the highest rates of poverty, obesity, heart disease, violent crime and school dropout in the city according to the Public Health Management Corporation’s Community Health Database. These neighborhoods include North, West, Northeast, South and Southwest Philadelphia and Germantown. The majority of children in the target area are African-American and 40% are below the federal poverty level. A recent study by the CDC revealed that only 42% of Philadelphia school students attend physical education classes at least once a week. Furthermore, Public Health Management Corporation’s 2006 Household Health Survey reports that 46% of children from the Students Run Philly Style target area are obese or at risk of obesity. In addition, communities are affected by high rates of high school drop out--the 2007 Safe and Sound Report Card shows that only half of Philadelphia high school students graduate on time. Youth violence is also prevalent, with 7,000 juvenile arrests made in 2007 (Safe and Sound Report Card). The preceding data show that youth in Students Run Philly Style’s target population either currently experience, or are at high risk of experiencing, poor health, violence and school drop out.

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

Students Run Philly Style promotes physical well-being and healthy behaviors in underserved communities by offering marathon training and mentorship to young people. Since its inception in 2004, the program has served over 1,200 young people in Philadelphia, many of whom have participated for multiple years. The program’s broad reach and steady expansion have allowed Students Run Philly Style to have a large impact in addressing a widespread need in Philadelphia’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Data collected for the 2008 season indicate that the most notable positive changes that Students Run Philly Style participants experience are decreased body mass index, improved cardiovascular fitness, increased focus in school, and improved self-esteem.

Students Run Philly has a unique method of addressing its constituents’ multi-fold needs. Above and beyond providing a healthy activity for youth, the program provides its students with consistent and positive adult role models, in the form of their running leaders, who act as mentors first and coaches second. These volunteer mentors are the foundation of the program and are trained to help students translate their running skills into life skills. The influence of the program’s volunteer mentors, in addition to a diverse set of activities that take place over the course of a nine-month running season, help students prepare for the Philadelphia Marathon while learning how to set goals and become leaders among their peers. Students Run Philly Style activities include summer internships, academic support sessions, a three-day overnight leadership summit held in Bucks County, college shadowing days and a SAT preparatory program launched in association with JEVS Human Services. These activities are complementary to weekly training runs, monthly road races and summer cross-training clinics and round out students’ experiences by giving them opportunities to grow as runners, students and leaders. One of the program’s greatest challenges in recent years has been achieving long-term sustainability after the expiration of a generous four-year seed grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. By design, that funding expired in 2007 and program staff have since been working to garner support from a diverse pool of funders using creative and varied approaches. With the chief responsibility of diversifying and broadening the program’s funding base, the fellow will expand Students Run Philly Style’s capacity to serve its constituents by helping develop new strategies for long term funding. Specifically, the fellow will work to maintain foundation support while increasing the percentage of funds that are currently raised from events and individuals. The fellow will help Students Run Philly Style solidify and refine its fundraising efforts, ensuring that the program will continue delivering life-changing services to Philadelphia youth for years to come.

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

The fellow will have a high-level of community involvement in working to fundraise for Students Run Philly Style. Three of the programs fundraising initiatives–Run for Philly’s Future, Young Friends Events and Gener8tion Run–are highly intertwined with community members. Run for Philly’s Future is a program through which individuals can collect personal donations to support Students Run Philly Style while training for a race of their choice. The fellow will be responsible for recruiting Run for Philly’s Future participants for the Broad Street Run in May 2011. Students Run Philly Style’s Young Friends events consist of two silent auctions each year where young professionals can support the program. The fellow will also have the opportunity to work with individuals and businesses from all over Philadelphia while securing sponsors for Gener8tionRun, Students Run Philly’s Style’s signature fundraising event and 8k run. The fellow will work with community members to coordinate and implement these events. While the fellow’s chief responsibility will be in fundraising, the fellow will also attend Students Run Philly Style’s several events and have the opportunity to develop relationships with community members, including student runners, parents, and volunteer mentors.

Section III: Job Description

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

1. Maintain, diversify and expand current funding base by working closely with Students Run Philly Style's Assistant Director.
2. Create a bi-annual campaign to solicit individual donors
3. Research, write and submit foundation proposals
4. Develop grant & reporting timeline
5. Manage donor tracking software and generate monthly donor reports/thank you letters 6. Recruit fundraisers for Run for Philly's Future campaign
7. Assist with fundraising events such as Young Friends Events
8. Work closely with Gener8tion Run Committee to generate sponsorship and event volunteers

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

a. Strong communication skills, written and oral
b. Experience in community outreach or community organization
c. Strong organizational skills
d. Ability to work well independently and as part of a team
e. Passion for working on behalf of youth
f. Excitement about program mission
g. Bachelor’s degree
h. Competency in Microsoft Office (specifically word and excel)

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

In the first two weeks of the fellow’s service with Student’s Run Philly Style, he/she will be oriented to the program primarily by the Assistant Director. Orientation will involve concrete training in administrative tasks and technological systems as well as a more abstract component that will acquaint the fellow with Students Run Philly Style’s program philosophy and history. The fellow will be introduced to the program’s large network of volunteer mentors, community supporters and board members. The fellow will also have the opportunity to meet youth participants at program events and activities. He/she will work with the Assistant Director, Program Director and NNCC’s Grants Manager to get a comprehensive introduction to non-profit development work and become closely acquainted with Students Run Philly Style’s fundraising calendar and projected budget. The fellow will also meet with the committee of Gener8tion Run. Throughout the year, the fellow will attend weekly staff check-ins where he/she will be oriented to the most current events.

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.

The goal of the fellow will be to assist Students Run Philly Style in raising funds for the program. The fellow will achieve this goal by increasing individual giving through expanded campaigns and developing new campaigns, increasing funds generated from events, maintaining existing relationships with foundations while garnering new foundation support and by playing an active role in securing sponsorship for Students Run Philly Style’s signature fundraising event, Gener8tion Run. The fellow’s role will be crucial in diversifying Students Run Philly Style’s sources of funding so as to promote growth and long-term sustainability. This, in turn, allows Students Run Philly Style to continue helping youth overcome obstacles to health, self-esteem, safety and education.

Section V: The Nitty Gritty

Will fellow be working at the same address listed above?

Yes

Please describe the fellow's work environment.

Fellow will have their own 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.

Amalia Petherbridge, Assistant Director

Please approximate the percentage of time fellow will work:

Independently: 50%
As a team member in a group setting: 35%
As a team leader in a group setting: 15%

Travel:

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

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

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

Section VI: Supervision/Resources

Please briefly describe plans for supervision of fellow:

The fellow will report to the program’s Assistant Director. In addition to weekly check-ins, the fellow will participate in a three-month, six-month and 12-month performance review where he/she will have the opportunity to give and receive feedback on his/her experience.

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?

The fellow’s success will be evaluated based on the ability of the fellow to involve new individuals and groups in the program’s long-term fundraising efforts, to maintain existing donors, and by the expansion of fundraising campaigns. All these factors are monitored and tracked by Students Run Philly Style’s donor management software, which the fellow will also have the opportunity to work with on a daily basis. Grant proposals that get awarded will also show, in part, the extent to which the fellow is succeeding in his or her role. As mentioned previously, the fellow will have a formal opportunity to get and give feedback on his/her success through three performance reviews. The financial health of Students Run Philly Style goes hand-in-hand with the program’s ability to successfully deliver its mission to youth.