Executive Summary
Gretna community group is looking $200,000 to fund an art exhibition exercise planned by Gretna youths. This program is expected to not only expose the world to the wonderful works of art within Gretna community but also create an avenue for self-employment by youths from this community.
The project seeks to take advantage of the exuberant youth talent and experience within the community. The program will benefit 267 youths and adults through creation of self-employment and opportunities for talent growth, in addition to helping them market their art works to a wide market that the one they currently enjoy.
Organizational Structure
Gretna community is to bridge the gap between the art producers and the market both locally and internationally. The organization is situated in the heart of Gretna valley amongst an ethnically diverse community. The community is mainly based on low income earning population comprising of approximately 25,000 persons. Despite the large pool of art talent thriving in the community, it has been unable to economically gain from this talent.
This is mainly attributed to inability of the community to access the wider market and hence vulnerable to the greedy middle men who take the products at low prices and later resell for wide profit margins. The organization is managed a board which also doubles up as the top decision making organ.
Other than the local poor community, the organization will also use its extensive network within the area to reach out to schools and promote art through them. The schools targeted mainly constitute students from the low income earning families in the region.
With an extensive network of volunteers, the groups is expected to forward extensive benefits to the community through marketing of their products and attracting prospective buyers to visit the area art exhibition center as well as the website to be established and managed by the group on behalf of the community.
Objective of the organization
Gretna Community group was mainly form to help the poor, talented youth and adults within the Gretna society to achieve greater economic prosperity deserved of their talent. Through the program the community will be able to gain income worth of their talent. This will be achieved by directly marketing the products on behalf of the community and hence eliminating the middle men who reap huge benefits leaving the community poor.
The program will help enhance the community’s income and consequently other sectors like education, health and financial services. Additionally, educational program funded by the program will help increase the level of expertise required for the products to compete globally. The technological services offered aim to enable the community’s inhabitants to take advantage and enjoy opportunities created by introduction of technology into art work.
Description of Programs
Gretna community group intends to help the local community broaden their art work market, educate the locales on the role of technology in art development, and create economic opportunities that will help improve the community’s welfare. Education programs will be managed by volunteers who will help the locales understand how technology can improve the quality of their work. The program will therefore be categorized into three distinct programs including: networking, education, and enterprise development.
Networking
The programs intends to network with both internal and external markets, to gain an understanding of the markets with the aim of communicating this to the art producers. This will help them shape their products to suit market needs. The program will also endeavor to link up with prospective clients, hold open exhibitions, inform clients about the exhibition with the aim of attracting buyers to directly visit the area and see the splendid pieces of art. Additionally, creation of a website will help the program reach out to an extensive and broad network.
Enterprise
The enterprise wing will be both physical and online. Under the physical section, clients will be directly invited to view the works of art and even request custom pieces. Additionally, an avenue will be created for the locales to attend various exhibitions, market their produce and let the prospective clients know where they come from. The online section will mainly revolve on internet advertisement.
The website will also allow clients to view products, and order online through the group or even request specific pieces to be made. The order will then be transmitted to the community and most appropriate person assigned to work on them. No profits will be earned on this endeavor rather only a service maintenance fee will be charged to the cost.
The enterprise wing is expected to economically empower the community by enabling income generation, an initiative that is expected to impact on either sectors include education and healthcare in addition to offering opportunities for development of support services. Currently the organization is funded by membership contributions and the service maintenance fees.
Education
Education is mainly focused on helping the community understand the importers of using modern machinery to help make their art work competitive within the larger market. Additionally, the group intends to sue education to help clients understand the importance of understanding client needs while making the products.
Education is done through seminars as well via the internet platform. The group will also undertake door to campaign to sensitize the regions occupants on the economic power held by the practice they have long practiced, art. Community support groups will also undergo training support and requested to disseminate the same to the local community.
The population to be served
Gretna community group wills serve youths and adults of diverse backgrounds, in Gretna region. Those with talent but lack the means to explore the talent will be the immediate beneficiaries of the program while the rest will benefit through the educational programs, and indirectly through the beneficiaries. While the population is mainly comprised of Hispanic/Latino (60%), there are also African Americans, (10%), Pacific Islanders (15%), and others (15%).
Despite living in a developed nation, the community we serve has not been able to adequately benefit from this advancement:
Low earners: the community has a very high population of earners, constituting the lowest Income per capita group of the nation.
The jobless population: The community we served is amongst the highest hit by rising unemployment due to illiteracy and marginalization. Up to 60% of the strong working capable group is jobless.
Limited access to artwork technology: due to consistent marginalization, the group has been little exposed to the ongoing in the art industry, more so with respect to technology. Exposure for them is therefore a vital necessity.
Project description
As already mentioned the project seeks $200,000, which will be used to fund its expanded operations, seminar activities, website development and organizing a major launch exhibition. The approach of the organization is extremely aggressive and targets to empower the population economically within the shortest time possible. Unlike many organizations which focus on availing educational and healthcare funds to the less privileged, we seek to empower them economically so that they can be able to independently access these services.
By introducing use of technology in art work, the organization hopes to put the community’s products at par with others in the market and even make them better. In general the approach adopted by the organization will be constituted of three elements:
Market exposure: the project aims to increase exposure and interaction of the community artists to the market which will help the community develop an in-depth understanding of the requirements of the larger market and hence shape their products in that direction.
Education and technology: this will help the artist understand the role of technology in improving their aesthetic quality and also understand the other aspects of production which enhance market grip. Through education seminars and in-house trainings, the community will; be able to understand the extensive benefits they can reap from art and also help them understand the extensive opportunity they have long not considered.
Economic empowerment: the project seeks to empower the locals economically and in the process impact on other sectors of the community which affect the community’s social well-being. Additionally, through economic empowerment, the youths are likely to keep off from engaging in social evils due to commitments the project will bestow on them.
Skills enhancement: skills is a valuable tool in enhancement of the project and empowerment of the community. Other than enhancing technological skills, developmental skills such as spatial knowledge, artistic abilities as well as entrepreneurial skills will form the focus of enhancing the community’s skills.
Project Evaluation
Evaluation of the project capabilities will be evaluated using performance checklists. The checklist will consist of various elements including: enrolment of community participants, sales attained, client base and economic gains.
Budget
The budget provided is provisional and may change with the changing economic changes and times. Gretna community group spends funds up to $60,000 of its budget from already existing sources. Additionally, it is important to note that only 12.5% of the funds are spent on administrative costs.
This implies that most of these funds are directed towards functional elements which are of assistance to the project. The organization endeavors to ensure that as much funds as possible are used to further its prime objectives. Clear accounting records and policies are used to ensure that optimal transparency is maintained with regard to spending. The organization realizes that transparency is critical to proper management and furtherance of its objectives.