Go Daddy 14455 N. Hayden Rd Suite 226 Scottsdale, AZ 85260 US
100 & Change
Dear Friends, Family, Neighbors, and Coworkers,
This is an application for a very large grant from the MacArthur Foundation. In fact, it is a grant for a hundred million dollars. It was due in early October 2016.
I wrote it because it represents and expresses my desires and my passion with community building. And because of the magnitude of the grant, I have been able to develop aspects of large scale development not revealed in other writings on the subject.
Obviously I did not get the grant, but it was very fun thinking about how to spend One Hundred Million Dollars.
I would love your thoughts.
1-A EXECUTIVE SUMMARY(150 words)
Provide a brief summary description of the problem that you are committed to solving and the solution that you are proposing. Your Executive Summary should be contained in a single paragraph. Focus on delivering a compelling overview so that the Evaluation Panel members assigned to score your application will want to read more. Your Executive Summary, along with other portions of your application, may be extracted and revealed to the public. Therefore, the paragraph should not require any other context to explain clearly the problem and your proposed solution. This is your opportunity to make a strong first impression.
The growing armies of the unemployed, decay of inner cities, disruption of families, and crushing of the human soul through despair is the problem to address. Tens of millions of the most educated, skilled, committed people in the world feel alone in their struggle to find work. Many communities are increasingly fraught with crime, fear, and lack of opportunity. Fortunately the solution lies within the problems. Burgeoning Communities fosters core groups of unemployed entrepreneurs to work together as Job-Creators in dysfunctional communities. Job-Creators collaborate with local residents, businesses, government agencies, and religious organizations to develop meaningful work and transform individual, community, and institutional life.
“...is not the object of every Revelation to effect a transformation in the whole character of mankind, a transformation that shall manifest itself both outwardly and inwardly, that shall affect both its inner life and external conditions?”
“Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible”
B. YOUR TEAM: WHO ARE YOU?
2-TEAM PURPOSE (150 words)
Please explain how the problem and your proposed solution align with the primary purpose of your organization or collaboration of two or more organizations. If there is a loose or indirect alignment, please explain why you’ve decided to solve this problem.
The purpose Burgeoning Communities was created is to build sustainable communities. Primarily through Job-Creators finding meaningful work, defining needs and building relationships. Job-Creators:
"Success or failure, gain or loss, must, therefore, depend upon man’s own exertions. The more he striveth, the greater will be his progress. We fain would hope that the vernal showers of the bounty of God may cause the flowers of true understanding to spring from the soil of men’s hearts, and may wash them from all earthly defilements."
The temp employment agency is designed around working with all of the job seekers in the community as a powerful group that understand the relationship of meaningful employment and a healthy community.
3-TEAM LEADERSHIP
The principal organization and point of contact for receiving and taking accountability for any grant funds may be different from the organization and user name identified during registration. Is the principal organization responsible for receiving and taking accountability for any grant funds different from the registered organization?
Form needs to be filled out on the website application.
4-TEAM STRUCTURE (200 words)
Please indicate in a narrative format how your team is organized. Explain how your team is managed on a day-to-day basis and by whom. Teams may consist of one or more organizations (refer to the Eligibility Guidelines in the Rules). However, if two or more team member organizations are named, each must offer a specific role to support the proposed solution. A team consisting of more than one organization must describe its structured collaboration with both legal and governing control over the implementation and/or expansion of the solution.
"The prime requisites for them that take counsel together are purity of motive, radiance of spirit, detachment from all else save God, attraction to His Divine Fragrance, humility and lowliness amongst His loved ones, patience and longsuffering in difficulties, and servitude to His exalted Threshold.”
5-TEAM COLLABORATION (150 words)
Is the team a collaboration between two or more organizations? Present a clear case as to why this will be an effective collaboration. Have the organizations successfully collaborated in the past? Explain how the collaboration is positioned to deliver the proposed solution as an integrated team with clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
“Consultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into certitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leads the way and guides. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of perfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made manifest through consultation.”
“Take ye counsel together in all matters, inasmuch as consultation is the lamp of guidance which leadeth the way, and is the bestower of understanding.”
C. WHAT’S THE PROBLEM & HOW WILL YOU SOLVE IT?
6-THE PROBLEM STATEMENT (250 words)
a broad description of the specific problem that your team is committed to solving. Identify who or what is impacted by this problem. Offer an explanation of the current resources that are available to address the problem. Focus on why those resources are insufficient to support meaningful progress toward one or more aspects of a solution. Explain any previous attempts to solve the problem, if there were any, and/or why the problem persists within the current environment. Later, you will be asked to explain in detail your proposed solution; here, focus on defining the problem and setting the stage for your proposed solution.
The Burgeoning Communities team is committed to solving the problem of unemployment and alleviating its effects on the human soul, the family, and the social structures of many communities. Long-term unemployment has been associated with depression, anxiety, loss of self-respect, and strained family and social relationships.
Causes and excuses:
The problems listed above contain within them the resources available to resolve the issues. Millions of the most educated and skilled people in the world are included within the unemployed citizenry. They have capacity and determination, and through consultation can combine their education and skills to create vibrant communities. Within the most dysfunctional communities are the resources and infrastructure to rebuild.
“The intolerable conditions pervading society bespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite rather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common remedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of attitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn concepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of ideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a united search for appropriate solutions?”
7-YOUR SOLUTION (250 words)
Describe your proposed solution in general terms, using layman’s language, and explain how it will make meaningful progress toward a solution to the problem you’ve identified. What will be the direct benefits (outcomes) of this proposed solution? Who are the direct beneficiaries? Explain how and for how long these benefits will be sustained once the solution has been implemented. Why have you chosen this particular solution, and what is the best argument for this approach, as compared to potential alternatives? Focus here on the broad goals that you seek to achieve. Describe any tactical or operational plans that you will employ in answering the next two questions.
“The courage, the resolution, the pure motive, the selfless love of one people for another—all the spiritual and moral qualities required for effecting this momentous step towards peace are focused on the will to act. And it is towards arousing the necessary volition that earnest consideration must be given to the reality of man, namely, his thought. To understand the relevance of this potent reality is also to appreciate the social necessity of actualizing its unique value through candid, dispassionate and cordial consultation, and of acting upon the results of this process.”
8-YOUR TACTICS & TECHNOLOGY (200 words)
You have explained generally WHAT your team is offering; now, offer specific details of your proposed solution, describing your technical approach and/or related technology. Explain exactly HOW you will implement the proposed solution and the circumstances under which you will you achieve optimal results. If your plan or proposed solution involves the creation or use of any technology or other products, ideas, or processes on which copyright will be asserted or patents claimed, or if your proposed solution relies on existing specific technology, products, ideas, or processes on which there are existing claims of copyright or patent rights, please review the Intellectual Property Policy, which describes the treatment of Grant Work Product (as defined therein) funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
“Acceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite for reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the home of humankind. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is essential to any successful attempt to establish world peace.”
9-YOUR TIMELINE AND KEY MILESTONES (250 words)
In chronological order, identify key milestones in the implementation process and the timing of when they will be reached. Your proposed solution must be implemented over a period of between three and six years.
(This timeline could not happen without the $100mil and the influence of the MacArthur Foundation)
D. WHAT’S THE EVIDENCE THAT YOUR SOLUTION WILL WORK?
10-EVIDENCE OF EFFECTIVENESS (250 words)
Present the results of any external evaluations that your proposed solution has undergone. Reference any literature or scientific consensus to verify that any actions you describe will lead to the outcomes that you predict. Explain the results of any pilot project or cases studies that have been completed using your proposed solution, if applicable.
Existing Systems
11-RISK ASSESSMENT (200 words)
Please describe the principal risks or threats to the short- and long-term success of the proposed solution and your plans to address them. Include a consideration of whether your solution might trigger a response from policymakers and/or any public officials that might pose a risk. Persuade the judges that your team understands any specific operational or tactical hurdles.
The daily process of action, reflection, and consultation will allow for rapid adjustment.
Some misinterpretations will need to be addressed:
“I beseech God at all times, with all supplication, humility and lowliness, to confirm those souls who have no purpose in their deliberation and consultations save to seek the merciful bounties and the divine invisible confirmations.”
12-EVALUATION (250 words)
If you are selected as a Semi-Finalist, you will be asked to submit a monitoring, evaluation, and learning plan. For an example, please review the Guidance for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning. For now, briefly describe how you plan to evaluate that your solution will have worked. How will you demonstrate what is working, why, under what conditions, and for whom?
E. WHAT’S THE EVIDENCE THAT YOU CAN DO IT?
13-YOUR PREVIOUS PERFORMANCE (250 words)
Now that you have established the potential effectiveness of your proposed solution, please explain how your team is uniquely positioned to deliver results based on your track record. On what basis of your team’s experience and previous performance should any claims be warranted? Judges are looking for indicators that you have the capacity for executing your plan. Emphasize your knowledge of the core disciplines, practices, and technology required to succeed.
14-YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY (200 words)
Please describe your organization’s current capacity to undertake the proposed solution. What are the gaps in knowledge or expertise, if any, that you need to address? Do you anticipate changes in personnel, facilities, or organization? What are the strategic relationships, if any, required to bring about the intended results? Explain any infrastructure, systems, or previously measured successes that have been put into place and/or tested to illustrate that you have the capacity to meet your standards of measured results. Your previous performance is a theme that may be represented in other responses. Here, focus on your team’s capacity to repeat, measure, and/or scale any claims made as Evidence of Effectiveness.
(The capacity is unlimited because of the people that will show up. The capacity of the individuals and the groups will increase with the demand. The $100mil adds stress as well as capacity) We will get x-company to do this and y-company to do that
15-FINANCIAL RECORDS
We require information necessary for our judges to understand your financial health and sustainability. Please provide audited financial reports from the past three years for the principal organization. If your organization does not have them or cannot provide them, please upload a letter from the most senior executive at the principal organization, explaining your inability to provide them.
There are no financial records at this time
(Use this space to provide more information about the my financial background, the bankruptcy, how it relates to this idea, more thoughts on the solid business plans of the support groups (employment agencies, construction co., coop housing, senior communities, coop workplaces, )
Possibly supply names of people with good financial records that support this project.
F. WHAT’S YOUR SOLUTION GOING TO COST?
16-BUDGET NARRATIVE (250 words)
We are asking you to offer a narrative description of your proposed budget, explaining all of your team’s resource requirements. Later, you will be provided a specific format for indicating projected costs. Take time to consider all three of the next sections, so that they can read coherently as one interrelated explanation.
(Use this question to define my requirements, then the teams, “later” projected costs on capital and operational exp)
17-TOTAL PROJECTED IMPLEMENTATION COSTS
What is the total cost to implement the solution within the specified duration revealed in your timeline and key milestones? This includes capital expenditures; operational expenditures; and monitoring, evaluation, and learning expenditures. In MacArthur’s experience, monitoring, learning, and evaluation costs will run 5-15% of the total projected costs. Please review the Indirect Cost Policy. If you are selected as a Semi-Finalist, you will be asked to provide a detailed budget. For now, please complete the following table:
18-TOTAL RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS AND SUSTAINABILITY (200 words)
If the total projected cost exceeds $100,000,000, explain how you plan to secure the balance of any necessary funds. Once your solution has been implemented, what will be the cost, if any, to sustain the benefits over time? Identify the source of funding for those costs.
19-OTHER CONSIDERATIONS (200 words)
The implementation of your solution may require other resources or partnerships, and you are welcome to explain them here. You can offer any contingency planning, based on specific issues raised in other sections of your proposal. This is your opportunity to describe (more completely) outstanding issues that you could not explain in any other sections.
[…] the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to raise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure pragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by a spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude that the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.
“It is enjoined upon every one of you to engage in some form of occupation, such as crafts, trades and the like. We have graciously exalted your engagement in such work to the rank of worship unto God, the True One. Ponder ye in your hearts the grace and the blessings of God and render thanks unto Him at eventide and at dawn. Waste not your time in idleness and sloth. Occupy yourselves with that which profiteth yourselves and others.”
"... The inestimable value of religion is that when a man is vitally connected with it, through a real and living belief in it and in the Prophet who brought it, he receives a strength greater than his own which helps him to develop his good characteristics and overcome his bad ones. The whole purpose of religion is to change not only our thoughts but our acts; when we believe in God and His Prophet and His teachings, we find we are growing even though we perhaps thought ourselves incapable of growth and change."
(Other thought to develop somewhere - government job programs are for top down infrastructure -
BC job creations will be grassroots innovations, problem solving, community unity, family support, individual security, pursuit of happiness)
G. YOUR VIDEO PITCH
You are required to submit a video presentation that captures your own pitch for why your solution should be funded. You will upload a short digital film using YouTube. Set the Privacy Settings on your video to Public or Unlisted; do not set them to Private. Your video may be extracted from your submissions and made available to the public. Please appeal to a broad audience. Video submissions should follow these guidelines:
Here is my YouTube video https://youtu.be/1iiVvN0VX0U
H. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION POLICIES
Can you achieve your objectives consistent with the MacArthur Foundation’s policies and applicable law governing the MacArthur Foundation? The following sections of the application are for internal review and will not be made available to the Judges. Your responses to these questions may be reviewed in order to determine if your organization qualifies, based on whether you can satisfy the policies and standards of the MacArthur Foundation and the law applicable to it.
20-CHARITABLE PURPOSE (200 words)
What is the charitable purpose of your solution? Describe how the public or a subset, which is a charitable class, will benefit from your solution. A charitable class must generally be an indefinite number of individuals who are the subject of the charitable purpose and not a limited number of specified individuals. For example, the class can be needy persons within a disadvantaged community but not a specified person in the community, even if the person is disadvantaged. There can be a comparatively small number of individuals, if the individuals are not identified and the class is open ended.
The benefactors:
"Great is the station of man. Great must also be his endeavours for the rehabilitation of the world and the well-being of nations. I beseech the One true God to graciously confirm thee in that which beseemeth man’s station."
“O my friend! In all circumstances one should seize upon every means which will promote security and tranquillity among the peoples of the world. The Great Being saith: In this glorious Day whatever will purge you from corruption and will lead you towards peace and composure, is indeed the Straight Path.”
21-PRIVATE BENEFIT (200 words)
Will private interests (such as shareholders, for-profit companies, contractors, consultants, or other individuals) benefit more than incidentally from the solution as compared to the public or charitable benefit? If your solution will trigger any private benefit to one or more individuals, provide an explanation of how the public benefit cannot be achieved without necessarily benefiting those individuals and to what degree any private benefit compares to public benefit. You may refer to our Private Benefit Policy for clarification.
Initially there will be a need to hire
“Some of the entities created in this process may even later become dependencies of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár once it is built. What is important to remember is that, as is the case with the institution of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, central to the development process are the spiritual illumination of hearts and the enlightenment of minds.”
22-LOBBYING ACTIVITIES (150 words)
Does your proposed solution involve any efforts to effect policy changes through changes in existing legislation, or the enactment of new legislation, and require lobbying activities with respect to a specific legislative proposal?
☐ Yes ☐ No
If Yes, the following prompt will display:
Explain how the proposed solution involves any lobbying activities. You may refer to our Lobbying Policy for clarification.
There will be policy changes on zoning and labor relating to how it affects the poor or the ability and difficulty to hire people.
There are less small business being created today than are being lost, this needs to be investigated.
There examples of neighborhoods who have had success in changing policies in education, zoning, traffic, etc.
Police often have educational training for the public, what would it look like if there was more communication between the neighborhood and the police?
23-HUMAN SUBJECTS RESEARCH (200 words)
Does your proposed solution require any research that would involve human subjects?
☐ Yes ☐ No
If Yes, the following prompt will display:
Describe any specific research that involves human subjects and how it complies with the MacArthur Foundation’s strict policy regarding human subjects research. Please refer to the Human Subjects Research Policy for clarification. Include in your response evidence of specific plans and support mechanisms required to safeguard the rights and welfare of those human subjects.
A sustained lack of work is as a wide spreading disease. What it does, to a person who is responsible for a family, is devastating. We will be looking at transformation and the human soul.
In one respect Burgeoning Communities is like injecting a vaccine into a community. What has to happen is the body of the community must change for this to truly be successful. Did we inject enough? Was it the right mixture? How do you measure less stress, contentment, desire to learn, purity of motive, happiness, etc? What is a sacred space? One good thing, there will be no negative results, we have chosen the worst communities. The positive results will be measured in a safer, more beautiful, more commerce, even better grades.
What is a sacred space and how does it affect people?
24-TEAM STORY (150 words)
Lastly, we want to understand your motives for participating in this Competition. Tell us how your team came to work on this problem and arrived at this solution.
The inspiration for starting Burgeoning Communities came from my own experiences, primarily during the economic recession of 2008. If not for a strong faith and family, I would have been crushed, like so many others. Loss and suffering is part of the development of the soul. My main focus is the effect of joblessness and what it did to me, my family, and my community. Through some experiences, research, correspondence and consultation, it evolved and is continuing to evolve. My family did its best to not blame me for the loss of our home, possessions and savings. It is impossible not to blame yourself, project it on others, and spiral into a dark abyss. A strong family is irreplaceable. Strong communities are built, this is not an accident, and the process can be replicated. My faith is truly what sustained me. Bicycling
25-ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED
If your organization or collaboration is named as a Semi-Finalist, you will be required to provide additional information during the next stage of the Competition (please refer to the Rules and the Timeline), including but not limited to:
Tax Determination Letter, if applicable
It is the duty of those who are in charge of the organization of society to give every individual the opportunity of acquiring the necessary talent in some kind of profession, and also the means of utilizing such a talent, both for its own sake and for the sake of earning the means of his livelihood. Every individual, no matter how handicapped and limited he may be, is under the obligation of engaging in some work or profession, for work, especially when performed in the spirit of service, is according to Baha’u’llah a form of worship. It has not only a utilitarian purpose, but has a value in itself, because it draws us nearer to God, and enables us to better grasp His purpose for us in this world.
Tablets of Baha’u’llah Revealed After the Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 164
The 2012 poverty and income data released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau are yet another reminder that the Great Recession continues to weigh heavily on U.S. households.
Some useful background for yesterday’s release of the 2012 data: 2012 was the first year since 2007 in which the employment situation experienced improvement; however, this improvement was modest. The Great Recession, which began in late 2007, officially ended in the summer of 2009, but the economy continued to lose jobs through early 2010. Then, through the middle of 2011, the job growth we did experience was not adequate to increase the share of the working-age population with a job. Between 2011 and 2012, however, there was some improvement. The share of the working-age (age 16 and over) population with a job dropped from 63.0 percent in 2007 to 58.4 percent in 2011 and rebounded slightly to 58.6 percent in 2012. (The share of the “prime” working-age population—that is, the age 25–54 population—with a job dropped from 79.9 percent in 2007 to 75.1 percent in 2011 and partially rebounded to 75.7 percent in 2012.) Given the tight relationship between the health of the labor market and incomes for most households, it is unsurprising that incomes for most households grew only slightly if at all in 2012 after deteriorating between 2007 and 2011.
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