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LYNC - Proposal Summary

Due to the credible work done by the professionals and community representatives who have been working on the issues of at-risk youth in San Francisco, LYNC was founded to help successfully collaborate existing Community Based Organizations (CBO’s) with proven track records, and the communities that need the programs the most.

The funding we are requesting will be used to expand upon the professional and community expertise and involvement of these CBO’s, collaborating their successful programs with two public schools located on Potrero Hill in San Francisco.

At the end of the first grant year period, it is expected that we will have reached over 40 children on a weekly basis, enabling them with support and activity encouraging team building and leadership skills to carry them forward into their middle school development and beyond. The goal is to keep the cycle of these children upwards and keep them involved with the CBO’s and extend their involvement through to college. By offering these support structures that are not available to them due to their socio-economic environment, we feel that these programs at this crucial stage in their development is key to their success and lifelong relationships.

Organization
Linking Youth, Nurturing Community (LYNC) was founded in January 2005 by two San Francisco based entrepreneurs, Ezra Holland and Timberly Hughes. For more than 16 years, Ezra Holland has been dedicated to working with at-risk youth by creating opportunities for children to explore and enjoy the environment through sports activities. He is currently a faculty member in the College of Health and Human Services at San Francisco State University. Ezra teaches classes in Leadership, Personal Growth, Teambuilding and Child and Adolescent behavior. The College is a strong member within the community helping develop programs and designing research that strengthens the argument of delivering quality programming to the community members who need it the most. For over 18 years, Timberly Hughes has worked with various private foundations managing their budgets and annual funds for gifting to youth and educational programs. Timberly owns and operates a private accounting business in San Francisco and has been active in the community helping small start-up businesses with financial advice and bookkeeping assistance. Timberly volunteered to teach bookkeeping and accounting procedures to at-risk youth through the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco and their small in-house business, Sunrise Sidewalk Cleaners for over two years.

Together, Ezra and Timberly offer a unique partnership coordinating at-risk youth with existing programs to enhance self-esteem, team building and leadership skills. By utilizing these existing programs, and mentoring youth with graduates of the Pacific Leadership Programs (PLI), we can successfully collaborate the programs with the people in need. By interacting with youth mentors and participating in outdoor sports activities, these youth will directly experience the environment through team building and leadership programs and these experiences become both a base and a springboard for further learning.
Summary
LYNC strives to bring the community of at-risk youth together with their local schools, businesses and neighbors utilizing the environment and sports to attract these children. The environment and sports are universal attractions among old and young alike; they elicit intense emotional and aesthetic responses from individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and locations. With this in mind, LYNC was created to allow children who would never have the chance to explore these areas of life, and appreciate more fully biodiversity, conservation and environmental issues associated with their community.

Learning, however, does not end when these youth leave their adventures. In order to create life-long changes, a connection must be made between the natural world occurring during their leadership experiences and that which exists outside, in their own community, giving them tools to make positive choices to move forward and upward. To this end, LYNC is seeking funds to use our successful model to bring programs to schools across the City.

LYNC will closely mirror the PLI model. PLI was founded by Ezra Holland in 2000. It is a special project in the department of Recreation and Leisure studies in the college of Health and Human Services at SFSU. PLI was developed as an umbrella organization to oversee all projects in the recreation department. The existing programs are The Fort Miley Adventure Ropes Course, serving 6,000 youth and adults annually in the Bay Area; Fam Camp, a collaboration between PLI and the California State Parks to ensure that lower socio-economic families gain access to the State Parks; Youth Lead – a youth employment program; and Mobile Teambuilding – serving 2,000 participants annually, bringing the adventure to the client. These programs will not only serve as bridges, linking environmental classroom content with an outdoor laboratory, but will serve as an educational tool for parents, and other members of the community. In this pilot project, school teams, comprised of two teachers and their fourth and fifth grade students, will work over the next three school years doing the Fort Miley Ropes Course three times each year, Mission Cliffs Ropes Course three times a year, and a weekly mentoring with youth graduates of prior programs. There will also be a 12 week summer program with local coaches teaching tennis, baseball, basketball and soccer and a registered nurse teaching a nutrition workshop in coordination with a local deli teaching them healthy cooking. The mentors whom LYNC employs are pulled from the PLI Leadership pool. Many of these mentors have been working in the leadership field for over 8 years. Ian Mosier, for example, started at Fort Miley when he was 15 years old as a participant from a local high school. He had a number of issues regarding truancy and depression. Ian just completed his eighth year working with Fort Miley and PLI, and graduated high school successfully. He is finishing college and has traveled to many other countries. He is one example of many of program participants who now want to give back to their communities.
Objectives
The objectives of this three-year youth program are to broaden student understanding of environmental issues, help them master team building and process leadership skills, and strengthen their ability to make the right choices. In the process, we will involve them with other outdoor activities, food drives, educational programs, violence prevention programs, on-the job training, art work shops, nutrition work shops and we will work to offer the new graduates with paying jobs in these fields. The goal is to continue this model well beyond the three year program.
Audience
This program targets 4th-5th grade students who attend school near the field research sites. The schools represent diverse ethnic, cultural and economic backgrounds. The secondary audience is 6 teachers (three per school) representing varied academic disciplines including science, math, social studies, etc. Participating schools include Starr King Elementary School, located in the City's Potrero Hill area. Its total enrollment of 188 students is 10% Caucasian, 35% African American, 30% Latino, 10% Solomon/Pacific Islander and 15% Asian, with over 90% being economically disadvantaged. Daniel Webster Elementary School's 209 students are 8% Caucasian, 26% African American, 42% Hispanic, 20% Asian and 4% Solomon/Pacific Islander, with over 95% being economically disadvantaged.
Delivery
Participating students and teachers will work side-by-side with LYNC’s Directors and Staff at one of three sites located on private and public lands. The program utilizes the existing (PLI) curriculum, complete with a new field notebook and cultural exchange units. Students who participate will be monitored using an independent research survey, developed by Dr. Rene Dahl, a Stanford PhD and the Director and Department Chair in the Marian Wright Edelman Institute in the Child and Adolescence program at SFSU. This survey is based on the Search Institutes 40 Assets model. It will be utilized throughout the program to monitor the youth and, analyze their findings and communicate their results to the researchers and their fellow students using the Web site being established for this program.

LYNC staff will manage the partnerships with private landowners, PLI, and the State Parks Department . Along with the partnerships with the schools, San Francisco State University’s program will be facilitating career exploration.
Founders
 

Timberly Hughes has worked with various private foundations managing their budgets and annual funds for gifting to youth and educational programs. Timberly owns and operates a private accounting business in San Francisco and has been active in the community helping small start-up businesses with financial advice and bookkeeping assistance. Timberly volunteered to teach bookkeeping and accounting procedures to at-risk youth through the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco and their small in-house business, Sunrise Sidewalk Cleaners for over two years.

Ezra Holland has been dedicated to working with at-risk youth by creating opportunities for children to explore and enjoy the environment through sports activities. He is currently a faculty member in the College of Health and Human Services at San Francisco State University. Ezra teaches classes in Leadership, Personal Growth, Teambuilding and Child and Adolescent behavior. The College is a strong member within the community helping develop programs and designing research that strengthens the argument of delivering quality programming to the community members who need it the most.