What you think would be an ideal organization for youth, using a youth development framework. The sky's the limit! Think about what type of organization you would like to create. What are you passionate about? What are you good at? Where do you think you can personally make a difference in the lives of youth? What type of services would you offer? Who would run it? After thinking about some of this, put together the profile of your agency, addressing the follow aspects: Name of Organization: You might want to name it after you've finished "creating it" Goal: What is the purpose of your organization? (Possibilities: have a fun, safe place for youth to hang out. Provide tutoring and motivation for youth struggling in school. Provide opportunities for creative expression - art, music, dance, etc. Provide opportunities for youth to experience nature and go outside of their environment. Provide youth with an opportunity to grow fresh foods - providing both access and knowledge to them about the importance of fresh foods.) Mission Statement: few sentences about what you want to accomplish. (Example from Huckleberry Youth Programs "Huckleberry's mission is to educate, inspire, and support underserved youth to develop healthy life choices, to maximize their potential, and to realize their dreams. Since 1967, we have accomplished this by providing San Francisco and Marin youth and their families with a network of services and opportunities by caring peers and adults... We seek to empower young people to develop and maintain healthy relationships as well as promote their talents, ideas, leadership and health; to assist youth and their families in overcoming the obstacles they may encounter, which can include family concerns, drug and alcohol abuse, mental health challenges, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, violence, social and economic inequities, and physical and sexual abuse; and to assist clients in navigating complex social welfare, educational and juvenile justice systems.) Target group and age range: Would it be working with immigrant youth, youth with disabilities, youth living in low-income neighborhoods, or homeless youth? For what age group would your program be most appropriate? (Give a specific age range) How long can youth use the space? Programs, services and activities provided (residential, drop-in, after school, counseling, recreation): What are various programs, services, or activities youth can get involved with when they come in? How will youth decide what they want to do each day/week? Who will decide what programs, services, or activities are available for the youth? Who will run these? (Example: Education + Justice Program, Community Health, Youth Organizing, and Media, Arts + Culture) Programs have a set goal/plan in mind that can happen over a period of time, more transformation in terms of start and finish. Services are more transactional, receiving something like birth control or a computer lab. Activities are one off events, programs or trainings that may or may not contribute to the program goal/plan.

Venue: Where will your agency be located? (Will you have your own building? Will it be part of another organization or a school? What community/neighborhood will you be located in and serve? Will it be one big room or will there be separate rooms for various things?) Describe the physical set up and how you plan to use the space. How will you decorate your space to make it youth friendly and appealing? Capacity: How many youth will your organization be able to serve daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly? Hours: What time can youth access services and programs? Will the hours be extended during summer or school breaks? Will it be open on the weekends? Or have late night programming? Staffing: List what staff positions there will be and the total number of each. Also list how many hours a week each person will work and how much they will earn (hourly, monthly or yearly - be generous, they are inspiring our future leaders!) You can create whatever positions you see fit for your organization's goal, mission and services you want to provide. Some possible positions: Executive Director, Administrative Assistant, Counselors, Social Workers, Outreach Workers, etc. (Examples from RYSE: Director of Innovation, Senior Accountant, Development Director, Grants & Development Coordinator, Communications Manager, Visual Arts Coordinator, Youth Justice Program Manager, etc.) Will you hire student leaders? What is their role? Will you use volunteers? What is their role? What are requirements or training for staff, student staff or volunteers? Board of Directors: Who will be on your board? How many members will it have? (Will there be youth on it? How many?) How often will it meet? What is the purpose of the board? - Is it to fundraise, make decisions about the agency, decide how to spend money, help with outreach and getting sponsors? Funding: Who will fund your organization? (Public versus private; will you have to do grant-writing?) Will you do special events to raise money? What kind of events? Evaluation: How will you assess and evaluate that your organization is succeeding in achieving its goals? How will you measure success? Overall summary: What will the structure of your organization be like? Write up how you see things functioning in your organization in the first year. What will happen on a monthly basis as you jump start this organization? What kind of marketing, promotion, recruitment and outreach needs to be done to get youth in the space? Then write about where you see the organization in 3-5 years. What changes might there be? In what ways do you think your agency will have grown? (More paid staff and/or volunteers, more youth using your services, more services offered, more equipment available for youth to use, collaborations with other agencies, more donations, etc.) Finally, write about what it was like for you to build your organization. How did it feel to be a visionary? What was the process like? Would it be possible to actually generate this in real life?