It's Our Money

Name of Your Organization:

ReForum Consulting, LLC

Overview of the Project - Please provide a brief description of the project.

This Twelve- Week Virtual Learning Cohort Series (“ReForum’s”) aims to deliver immersive and interactive workshops that include discussions around mental, emotional, and physical wellness, professional development, social capital, and developing your purpose and personal brand. This Cohort Series will address the following Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) components: Self-awareness, Emotional management, Social awareness, Relationship skills, and Responsible decision making.

The Cohort series will be available to youth ages 16-24, and offered in two sections, each with a 6-week duration consecutively:

Lessons for Mental health and wellness programming will include self-care and stress management, emotional wellness, coping strategies, social- emotional networks, cultural humility, social media wellness, and physical fitness.

Lessons for Young & Gifted professional development programming will include preparing for your future, personal and professional branding and marketing, financial literacy, social capital, cultural humility, professional communication and writing, informational interviewing/ discussions with Black and Brown young entrepreneurs.

Which of the following issues does your project address?

1. Issue 1 - Addressing Mental Health
2. Issue 2 - Preparation for College and/or Career
3. Issue 3 - Youth Advocacy Promotion

This Twelve- Week Virtual Learning Cohort series project will address each of these three issues, including our work being grounded in Social and Emotional Learning.

Why Social Emotional Learning:

·      ReForum Consulting’s work in grounded in trauma-informed practice. Because we typically do not know which young people have experienced trauma, it’s important to use trauma- informed practices with all children and provide universal, trauma-informed supports

·      Traumatic events — Navigating COVID-19 and it’s impact, Disproportionate deaths in Black and Brown communities, Police Brutality, Racial and social unrest, neglect and abuse — constantly make top news headlines these days. Many young people are affected by trauma every day. This trauma can have deep and lasting impacts on students’ core beliefs about others, their environment, and themselves

·      Through SEL the youth will learn to express their feelings in a healthy way, verbally or nonverbally, and learn the coping strategies for managing their feelings as well. Which are skills our young people need in both their personal and professional lives.

·      Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is a youth-centered approach that emphasizes building on their strengths; developing skills through hands-on, experiential learning; giving young people voice in the learning process; and supporting youth through positive relationships with adults over an extended period of time

·      Providing youth with opportunities to develop social and emotional competencies has been shown to decrease problem behaviors and increase school connectedness, achievement, attendance, and positive social behaviors

·      Studies show decreased dropout rates, school and classroom behavior issues, drug use, teen pregnancy, mental health problems, and criminal behavior

Youth Engagement - Please explain how you will engage youth in the planning and implementation of the project.

Youth will be engaged in the planning of this cohort series and project through our initial assessment process. The youth will also be widely engaged through a series of immersive workshops and activities. This incentivized learning community is designed to acknowledge the youth’s experience, build upon their strengths, highlight skills needed to succeed in the workplace, and support our current climate, navigating through COVID-19, virtual learning, and racial and civil unrest.

Youth will participate in experiential activities that will help them understand SEL and provide opportunities to learn personal and professional development and wellness. Learning Objectives include:

• Team and community building/Creation of a shared learning space
• Enable young people to reflect and self-assess on SEL
• Learning to Be Self – Aware
• Strategies for the Workplace and/or Entrepreneurship
• Connect the youth with young professionals of color

Budget - Your total project budget must equal $20,000 to be placed on the ballot for a youth vote. Please provide a brief description of what the funds would be used for to successfully implement your project. You will also need to download, fill in, and attach a full budget using this template.

[your answer here]

Timeline- Please describe the timeline for the implementation and completion of the project. All work for this project must be completed by June 30, 2021, which is the end of the city’s fiscal year and the deadline for the funds to be spent.

12-Week Cohort Workshop Series: March 15th- May 31st, 2021

February 26th- March 5th, 2021: ReForum Consulting will promote the NYC Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) and the gid://development-app/Decidim::Hashtag/1/ItsOurMoney cohort series through various youth programs and providers and social media outlets

March 8th- March 15th, 2021: Interested Youth receive Survey Monkey Application and Assessment to collect demographics, determine the pre-knowledge and experience with the topics; youth will able to be pick and curate the content for the cohort series; youth will be able to choose best day availability to attend workshops; ReForum Consulting will utilize this information to curate and implement workshops and activities that are aligned with the youth’s needs and connect them with the appropriate resources

(Week of March 15th, 2021: Day and Time TBD): Youth will participate in a virtual zoom workshop for 2 hours, once per week  

Weeks 1-6: Mental Health and Wellness Programming

Weeks 7-12: Young & Gifted Professional Development Programming

(Week of May 31st, 2021): Program Completion and Exit Feedback; ReForum Consulting will provide documentation, feedback, and support.

Project Activity Alignment - How does your project align with at least one of the following topics:

1. Leadership skills development: organizing & advocacy trainings
2. Stewardship of public spaces: public parks, transportation, etc.
3. Youth and student engagement
4. Civic education and advocacy
5. Community outreach involving residents that have been historically underrepresented in or underserved by city government and its processes

The design and implementation of the programs and cohort connects social and emotional learning into every part of youths’ daily lives—across all of their classrooms, during all times of the day, and when they are in their homes and communities.

3- The curation of the content will largely involve youth and student engagement through various points throughout the project

5- We intend to outreach and support the youth and residents of historically underrepresented and underserved communities to engage in this project

What is your organization's area of focus?

1. Children and youth related
2. Advocacy and organizing
3. Arts and culture
4. Civic engagement
5. Education and literacy
6. Emergency management and disaster response
7. Employment and workforce development
8. Environment and sustainability
9. Faith-based
10. Food access
11. Health and medicine
12. Homelessness and/or affordable housing
13. Human rights
14. Human services
15. Immigrants and/or refugees
16. Justice related
17. Legal services
18. People with disabilities
19. Senior services
20. Women's issues

Our organizations area of focus through the lens of this project include the following; however we are prepared to address other topics as they may arise.

1. Children and youth related
2. Advocacy and organizing
3. Education and literacy
4. Employment and workforce development
5. Human services

Affirmations - Type \"YES\" below each statement to affirm that you are eligible to appear on the ballot for this process.

I confirm that my organization will be registered in the NYC Payee Information Portal and in PassPort, NYC’s online procurement system, in order to receive funding from the City of New York.

Yes

I confirm that my organization is able to front the costs of implementing this project. Organizations will be paid based on deliverables. 

Yes

Completion of Deliverables: I understand all deliverables must be completed by June 30th, 2021.

Yes

I understand a condition of funding includes submission of a final report upon project completion, and participating in a debrief session with the CEC.

Yes