COMING SOON

‘Life Plan’ Program

Market Analysis:

Detroit’s youth are promising. They are talented, intelligent, and ready to make a difference in their city and in the world.

In this day and age it has never been more important to engage students personally. Most have spent one or two years stuck behind a screen trying to learn complicated concepts over Zoom or Teams. All suffered from loss of contact between themselves and their peers, and each young person experienced the isolation of not being able to participate in activities with their friends from school. Our youth deserve better and need an engaging way to reconnect with school and community while also learning critical life skills. This engagement would come in the form of Saturday sessions through the John A. James Foundation (JAJF).

Target Population:

The JAJF, with the help of teachers and school counselors, would like to reach out to students whose grades are good but might be better if they had a little push. For example, The JAJF’s scholarship application mandates a 3.0 GPA to be considered for an award. We would be looking for the student who maybe has a 2.5 but is really trying at school. Maybe he or she has difficulty in their home life, but is still showing promise. That is the student we are interested in helping get over the hump.

Transporation Logistics and Session Duration:

Students will meet at Western High school (or at another school TBD) to be picked up by a rented bus and driven to James Group International at 4335 W. Fort Street, Detroit, MI 48209. This will relieve students and their parents from having to drive themselves, reducing the time commitment and gas expense

Sessions would be held every Saturday morning from 10a-12:30p (two hours of content, half hour of lunch). All meetings (except for ropes) will be held at James Group International.

The number of sessions may be decreased depending time constraints and the level of student interest. We will avoid asking too much of the students in the way of their time in order to encourage participation, reduce recidivism, and avoid burnout.

Food will be served at the end of every session starting at 12p. The students will have a half hour to eat and socialize until the bus comes for pickup.

Parents are always welcome to attend and engage as well

Programming:

Programming will center around speakers who volunteer to spend time with students discussing what they do in their profession. They will describe a clear pathway to enter their respective career. This is for the purposes of educating and motivating students as they embark upon the rest of their lives. The motto being “if you can see it, you can be it”.

  • Week 1 Financial Literacy
  • Week 2 How to Interview
  • Week 3 College Applications and Essays
  • Week 4 Ropes Course off site*
  • Week 5 Technology
  • Week 6 Business- John James speaker
  • Week 7 SAT/ACT Prep
  • Week 8 Politics
  • Week 9 Public Speaking (Final presentation made to cohort)
Speaker expectations:

All presenters should be high school graduates themselves who can encourage participants to finish school. They should have established careers in various sectors of industry such as (but not limited to) finance, business, art and education.

Financial requirements:

There is no financial requirement for the students. All financial responsibilities belong to The JAJF. Even so, cost to run this program will be next to nothing. Busses would cost little to charter and food cost is negligible. Speaker participation is voluntary, and learning materials/office supplies are already available.

Marketing plans:

By session’s end, The JAJF would like to have metrics reflecting the success of the program. We should be able to say whether students:

  • Felt engaged
  • Learned things they didn’t already know
  • Honed the skills they already possessed
  • Made networking connections with speakers and each other
  • Stayed with the program until the end
  • Improved in specific skills such as public speaking
  • Had improved grades in school.

These metrics will allow schools to see the good in our program and hopefully remain partners in helping to support our youth. It would also help the JAJF in raising more money to go toward programming like this so that Life Skills can remain sustainable.

Analysis of risks and Mitigation thereof:

Problem 1: Lack of interest

Solution 1: Making sessions interesting with great speakers, games, videos, and student participation

Problem 2: Recidivism

Solution 2: Making apparent to all who participate that they will have a leg up when it comes to being considered for a scholarship

Problem 3: Lack of motivation

Solution 3: Give gift cards to those who show up on time. Finish program with a certificate of completion

Problem 4: Lack of vision

Solution 4: Seeing improvement in grades and improvement in life skills

Conclusion:

Our goal at The JAJF is to foster student’s learning by re-enforcing and rounding out their education. We hope that we can reach Detroit’s up and coming change-makers by engaging them in programming tailored to their interests so as to help ensure they graduate with the utmost confidence.