Business Plan
Executive Summary
Mission statement: To empower parents to discipline, hold accountable and build better relationships with their children.
Board of Directors: Tim O’Brien (President), Sheri Little (Secretary), Don Tomfohr, Linda Castaneda, Donny Wright
Employees: Employees will initially be contracted until secure funding sources are established. Thereafter, full and part time employees will be sought. In either case, employees will be trained in the facilitation of the Parent Empowerment Program.
Location: Office is located in Gladstone. Services are provided in Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington and Clark counties.
Service description: Teaching the Parent Empowerment curriculum (10 weeks, 20 hours) to up to 20 parents.
Funding sources: Past funding sources have included: Clackamas County Juvenile Department, Clackamas County Commission on Children and Families, Clackamas County DHS, North Clackamas School District, and Milwaukie Police Department. Future funding sources will incorporate foundations.
Summary of market research: The demand for parenting support is high considering the roadblocks preventing parents from accessing parenting support specific to their needs. These roadblocks include accessibility, child care, finances, waiting lists, and narrow registration requirements.
Summary of program effectiveness: The Parent Empowerment Group is a grassroots non-profit organization developed in Clackamas County. The parenting curriculum developed by the Parent Empowerment Group is called the Parent Empowerment Program. Using the Parent Empowerment program and the Family Assessment Measurement scale to measure family functioning, we have collected 213 pre and post sample parents from two separate studies. Data analysis provided by a Reed College professor and a Reed College graduate, “suggests” a significant change in family functioning from pre and post scores. (See Research tab for more information.)
Products/Services
Services: Teach parents the Parent Empowerment Program (PEP). The Parent Empowerment Program is composed of three modules containing twelve lesson plans. The Parent Empowerment Program is unique in its effectiveness and popularity because it effectively addresses roadblocks that other parenting classes do not address.
Strategy: Parents are the most important resource for determining a child’s success in the community. For this reason, the Parent Empowerment Program will be marketed to county agencies, school districts, park districts and to the general public through email distribution lists of parents and professionals who have requested to be on the lists. Marketing will continue through quarterly emailed reports using this list of over 200 professionals and over 200 parents in the Clackamas County area. The growth of the Parent Empowerment Program will continue to depend on providing meaningful services in a supportive learning environment. Additionally, our efforts toward an “evidence based” status will help the Parent Empowerment Program grow nationally.
Operations: Base of operations will be Gladstone Oregon; however, specific Parent Empowerment Program classes will be taught at locations convenient to parents or as requested by the purchasing agency. All products, including parenting workbooks in English and Spanish, facilitators manual, projectors, and handouts will be provided by The Parent Empowerment Group. Employees/ facilitators will be contracted with until a stable funding source is identified. Partnerships with other non-profit organizations will continue as a focus for the Parent Empowerment Group.
Financials: The structure for the Parent Empowerment Program already exists in the form of a facilitator’s manual, parenting workbooks, Powerpoint presentation, the website, two effectiveness studies and trained facilitators in English and Spanish. This structure was established using financial resources and volunteer time from Board members. Future funding for program facilitation, along with program development and research will come from county social services agencies, school districts, police departments, private payers and foundations.
The Parent Empowerment Program costs are comparable with other “evidence based” parenting programs. Click here for details. Contracted employees will be paid a flat fee for teaching one ten week Parent Empowerment Program series. This fee assumes the contractor is responsible for class facilitation (2 hours), attendance tracking, lesson preparation, data collection, class clean up, drive time and vehicle expenses. Remaining financial resources will be used for marketing, office expenses, materials (parent workbooks), office support, training facilitators, grants for low income parents wanting to participate in the Parent Empowerment Program, research, classroom rental space, research and conversion of the Parent Empowerment Program into other languages.