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Abstract
This essay provides an insight into the development and expansion of the YouthBuild community-based program. At the outset, it highlights various lessons from the project. It also examines its progression, funding, shortfalls, and leadership qualities, among other factors that affect its success. Finally, yet importantly, the essay explores the need to merge with other organizations in an attempt to form coalition strategies.
The YouthBuild Community-Based Program
The YouthBuild program was established with a view of promoting community development, preventing crime, nurturing leadership, and enhancing construction skills, among others. This essay provides an analysis of the YouthBuild program that was initiated by Dorothy Stoneman in the United States of America.
The YouthBuild project was established with a view of nurturing the talents of young Americans through training and the provision of advice. It formed a part of social entrepreneurship through the mobilization of the available resources to meet the needs of the youth (Brooks, 2008).
Such programs start with the identification of opportunities that create certain social values in the community. However, its initiation involved consideration of various factors such as employment and availability of knowledge, among others, that affect the growing population (Brooks, 2008).
Merging and replication of various community-based projects is another idea that ensured the progress of the youth program. This situation compelled various donors to increase their funding. A great lesson that is learned from the initial expansion of the program is that coalitions are in a better position to solicit more funds from donors as compared to single organizations. Through its operations, the YouthBuild program was able to solicit funds for development from the New York City officials.
Since the group’s expansion was based on a coalition, the best way of channeling the funds was accomplished through the distribution of resources to the affiliate community-based programs. Being an observant leader, Dorothy ensured that the top officials did not deal with money matters (Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, 2004). This situation prevented the project from dwindling and corruption.
One of the major challenges was that the YouthBuild project lacked well-trained individuals to handle the different programs that were laid down. As a result, five of the programs failed. This state of affairs compelled some donors to stop funding the project.
Many programs have been unsuccessful due to poor leadership, lack of training, technical inability, and use of prototype handbooks as training manuals, among other reasons (Brooks, 2008). Proper planning should include training and management to ensure effective organizational processes.
Most projects are initiated with the aim of achieving specific goals. However, social projects in the United States focus on the provision of services that are not met by the federal government (Brooks, 2008). Good leadership is characterized by the urge to surpass the stipulated goals. Excellence training social organizations need skilled personnel to remain competitive in the labor market. Expansions of such organizations are based on performances that attract well-wishers and increased membership.
However, good leaders change individual projects to public programs upon realization of performance and skilled labor market, among other factors. Most of the competent members of the social enterprise appreciate the training programs. As a result, they are encouraged to pass the skills to the youths (Brooks, 2008).
In the context of the case study, the YouthBuild program led to the formation of friendship and good rapport with various donors through its leaders and trained students. In such cases, many people appreciate the programs by offering support in various dimensions based on their skills. This situation leads to a need for further expansion of the projects to capture many youths (Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, 2004).
According to Jarret, Sullivan, and Watkins (2005), the expansion of projects goes together with the realization of social goals. A leader should think about the growth of a project to improve its outcome upon recognition of continuous positive results.
As seen in the case of the YouthBuild program, good results also play a critical role in attracting more investors and donors to the project. In addition, self-marketing is an indicator of development within a community-based project. Successful social enterprises ensure the effective running of processes through inclusive participation. In such situations, everybody has a duty to improve performance.
Many people from different parts of the USA realized that there was a need to engage various communities in programs to train dropouts and/or idle youths. Such youths can commit crime-related activities. This situation can cause problems for the public (Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, 2004).
As a result, the YAP program was established as a nationwide project to reach the parts of the country that are underserved. However, there was a need to encourage communities, leaders, and donors to embrace youth transformation by creating awareness of the activities of YAP (Brooks, 2008). This state of events enabled Dorothy to expand the YAP. As a result, the organization became a nationwide project that offered full-time training opportunities to school dropouts, poor performers, and idle youths rather than voluntary services.
Another factor that encouraged Dorothy to ensure the quick expansion of the program is finance. Community-based programs need proper funding to ensure the effective implementation of projects. Formation of coalitions with other organizations was an essential move to encourage lobbying for more funds that were used in the expansion of the YouthBuild program (Jarret et al., 2005).
Issues that are related to competition can also pose threats to existing programs. Therefore, forming a nationwide coalition was a feasible approach to the success of the project. Lastly, some programs that were initiated by other people in other parts of the country had gaps that needed to be filled.
The leaders from such projects felt that there was a need to incorporate programs into the upcoming projects. This situation led to the expansion of the YAP project. Although the expansion of the YAP project was necessary, several issues such as project testing, evaluation, and standardization were not handled adequately.
Testing, evaluation, and standardization of a project are important for testing good leadership skills. Such procedures offer guidance to the selection of leaders who can perform their duties effectively. The evaluation also provides evidence on the progress of the projects. It leads to the determination of project eligibility and relevance of the available resources that are required for expansion. There is also a need to utilize knowledge stocks to gain access to pertinent information that pertains to youth enterprises (Brooks, 2008).
Good participation is also ensured through evaluation. It further curbs issues of corruption; hence, it encourages transparency. Projects such as the YAP should be evaluated to determine the positivity or negativity of their outcomes before proceeding to higher levels of development. Through evaluation and testing, many stakeholders are in a position of knowing the needs and benefits of the program (Jarret et al., 2005).
The evaluation also reveals hidden information that pertains to failing ideas and misappropriation of funds, among others. Furthermore, it empowers the donors and members among other stakeholders through the creation of a sense of belonging. In addition, evaluation enhances quality performance amongst the leaders and members through the development of creative projects that are undertaken in the organization. Lastly, a proper evaluation encourages collaboration amongst leaders and members among other stakeholders.
The YAP housing model was not evaluated due to the limitation of time and the need for quicker expansion. Evaluation is a detailed process s that involves the community, leaders, and members among other stakeholders. This situation can lead to wastage of time and resources. Other activities, such as training of the members to understand the importance of evaluation, can also lead to a waste of resources (Brooks, 2008).
Leadership demands transparency and accountability of resources. Most people measure transparency based on fund management and qualifications of workers rather than ethnicity and gender, among others. Acceptance of vices such as corruption and nepotism, among others can lead to underperformance.
Therefore, it was the right decision for Dorothy to refuse the funds from the department of employment. Another reason why Dorothy never took the money was that the YAP had been receiving funds from the state. Such funding was enough to run various programs that were initiated.
However, the initiation of new projects can fail mid-way due to poor budgeting (Jarret et al., 2005). Further risk can be incurred since more trainers that are skilled are required to take charge of the unbudgeted numbers of youth. The process of acquiring such personnel can be cumbersome, especially in situations where recruitment is to do in the course of the project. Unforeseen expenses can also lead to failure of the program.
Forming a national coalition ensures that various communities benefit from the projects. Such programs require more funding from the government due to their extensive structures (Brooks, 2008). Acquisition of funds from the federal government can be easier since the projects deal with national problems such as unemployment, the inadequacy of skills, and poverty, among others, that affect the youths.
Although the creation of a nationwide coalition was a better way of ensuring that the goals of YAP were achieved, other alternatives such as involvement of political leaders and federal agencies were also viable. Such strategies underpin the effective implementation of the projects as single entities without the formation of coalitions.
The YAP was a coalition of various community-based programs. Therefore, the issues of leadership wrangles were feasible. Effective running of a nationwide youth program required its name to be changed to YouthBuild USA to include leaders who were recognized nationally (Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, 2004). As a result, the organization was established as a separate entity to ensure effective management.
Currently, the YouthBuild USA is not limited to the development of projects that are geared towards eradication of poverty in the USA. The organization is also in the process of reaching international regions that are poverty-stricken and underdeveloped in terms of youth empowerment.
In conclusion, the progress of a social program has to be gradual and timely. However, it requires good leadership to maintain a high level of transparency and patience. Such programs also need support from various stakeholders such as the community, donors, and governmental arms.
Reference List
Brooks, A. (2008). Social Entrepreneurship: A Modern Approach to Social Value Creation. London: Pearson Education.
Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship. (2004). The Growth of YouthBuild: A Case Study. Web.
Jarret, R., Sullivan, P., & Watkins, N. (2005). Developing Social Capital Through Participation in Organized Youth Programs: Qualitative Insights from Three Programs. Journal of Community Psychology, 33(1), 41-55.
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