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Burgeoning Communities

Burgeoning CommunitiesBurgeoning CommunitiesBurgeoning Communities

Welcome to Burgeoning Communities

Welcome to Burgeoning CommunitiesWelcome to Burgeoning Communities

Additional Information

 

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?”      

  • The creation of meaningful employment opportunities provides the transformation in the psyche of individuals, then community.
  • The growing multitude of the unemployed and the resultant destabilization of society, disruption of families, and crushing of the soul, is the problem.  Millions of the most educated, skilled, committed people in the world are alone in their struggle to find work.  Many communities are increasingly fraught with crime, fear, and lack of opportunity.
  • Meaningful work provides the transformation in the psyche of individuals then the community
  • Burgeoning Communities provides an environment where skilled Job-Creators - entrepreneurs - can work together to create employment and community.
  • There is a capacity to unite and sustain quality standards of living at the community level. It is possible to put hundreds of millions of people to work building and rebuilding communities. The processes exist. Seemingly by chance, the right mix of people, government agencies, private companies, and religious organizations have successfully created sustainable neighborhoods. Burgeoning Communities was developed to systematically apply employment and community building practices that can be duplicated.

“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:

  • 30 plus years of combined education and experience
  • Experienced success and failure
  • Need to get back to work or to give something back
  • Know how to organize and consult on problems and solutions
  • Have passed rigorous background checks
  • Create safe spaces that grow into safe neighborhoods
  • Systematically meet with local people, businesses, religious organizations, government agencies
  • Take the risk to build and to live in a Burgeoning Community

"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.

  • Initially Job-Creators live in close proximity so they can gather daily.
  • Action - going out into the community and working, gathering facts, resources, and networking with the local community, businesses, government, and organizations
  • Reflection - on information
  • Consultation - in specialized groups on where the jobs are, what needs are to be filled, what resources are available
  • Creating an environment for gathering
  • An employment agency will be formed by the Job-Creators or subcontracted, immediately receiving funds from local employers for supplying workers
  • An Anchor Institution will be brought in based on jobs to be created and needs of the community
  • Proven methods of cohousing, worker cooperatives, and credit unions will be implemented
  • Food and shelter services will be many of the first jobs created
  • Working with schools and libraries, educational and training centers will be formed as part of career development
  • Working with hospitals to open local Health and Wellness Centers

"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.

  • The collaboration and consultation will be used in every interaction between individuals, neighbors, businesses, agencies, and organizations.
  • Initially, the Job-Creators gather and share experiences, then
  • go out into the community to discover the needs of the community and the resources available.
  • Return to a gathering place to reflect on lessons learned
  • Consult on the most appropriate actions to take, some will
  • go to work at local businesses
  • create business plans and loan applications
  • Return to learn more about the community

“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:

  • Population growth
  • Lack of specific education or skill
  • Location
  • Outsourcing
  • Discrimination - age, race, sex, nationality
  • Attitude or choice -  work is for a lower class, retirement is an achievement
  • Entitlement and people being paid not to work
  • Physical, mental, and spiritual conditions
  • Disunity
  • Lack of leadership

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.

  • Communities have always pulled together during crises and resolved many of their own problems. The solution lies in the ability to systematically develop methods and spaces for transformation in people, communities, and institutions.
  • Locate and use the millions of Job-Creators to build strong and safe communities by generating meaningful work. “Work done in the spirit of service is as worship.”
  • The chosen Job-Creators have experienced loss and transformation.  Their commitment to work and live in the community will be infectious.
  • Job-Creators formulate an environment - a sacred space - where transformational gatherings happen.
  • Beauty will flourish and learning centers grow, locating resources and the hidden gems of the community.
  • Anchor Institutions and resources will be attracted to, and be generated within the community, creating sustainability.
  • Choose a community noted for its violence, crime, and high unemployment to be transformed  (Every person has capacity that can and will be developed).

“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.

  • Methods used to create Burgeoning Communities
  • Job-search sites and social media sites to reach Job-Creators
  • Nation-wide marketing and outlets to reach communities
  • Standard practices of Employment Agencies
  • Consultation and organization studies
  • Coordination with existing public agencies
  • Local building and planning departments
  • Police and fire
  • Public library
  • Schools - develop Alternative Education Centers
  • Hospitals - develop Local Health and Wellness Centers
  • Training in Servant Leadership style management
  • Understanding guidelines, procedures, policies, professional standards and ethics
  • Purchasing and remodeling of homes and businesses
  • Business practices of Cooperatives
  • Cohousing
  • Senior Living Communities
  • Workers cooperatives
  • Credit Unions
  • Coordinate with local farms and food processing businesses
  • Promote unity with Faith Communities - Developing Sacred Spaces

“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)

  • First Burgeoning Community - local activity
  • Next 100 Burgeoning Communities and other development activities
  • Day One
  • Move into chosen community.
  • Nationwide advertising campaign
  • Week One
  • Contact area employment agencies
  • Secure food and shelter for incoming Job-Creators
  • Negotiate contracts and agreements
  • Creation of sacred spaces and meeting cycles
  • Outreach - local churches, businesses, community public agencies
  • Define workers coop agreements and cohousing arrangements
  • Purchase large buildings - convert to coop-housing - with kitchens
  • Start contacting city officials Building depts., police
  • Contract with national  employment agency (office to open in community in 1 month)
  • Week Four
  • Finalize purchase of first multifamily building
  • Complete negotiations with remodeling firms
  • 1st Anchor Institution agrees to move into community
  • Month Two
  • 50 Job-Creators now in community
  • First kitchen installed providing meals
  • Meeting cycles and outreach now working with schools
  • New teams begin to form for looking into other cities
  • Month Four
  • 100 Job-Creators now serving
  • Kitchen and maintenance staff now part
  • Three years to create 10 Burgeoning Communities in the Chicago Area and 6 years to launch 100 more across the US

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

  • Temporary Employment Agencies refers to the working arrangement, limited to a certain period of time, based on the needs. It finds and retains workers. Other companies contract with the agency to send temps, on assignment sometimes with a cyclical nature, requiring frequent adjustments to staffing levels.
  • Cohousing is an intentional community of private homes or condominiums clustered around shared space, with traditional amenities. Shared spaces can include kitchen and dining area, laundry, recreational spaces, parking, walkways, open space, and gardens. Neighbors collaboratively plan and manage community. The legal structure is typically an HOA, Condo Association, or Housing Cooperative.
  • A worker cooperative is owned and self-managed by its workers. and may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by every worker-owner, and refer to a situation in which managers are considered, and treated as workers of the firm. All shares can be held by the workforce. Control may be exercised through individual, collective, or majority ownership by the workforce; or the retention of individual, collective, or majority voting rights.
  • A credit union is a member-owned financial cooperative, democratically controlled by its members, and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at competitive rates, and providing other financial services to its members. Many credit unions also provide services intended to support community development or sustainable international development on a local level.

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:

  • This is a top-down project - this only works when the local group agrees to a plan
  • We will bring gentrification - because of the “cooperative” business structure we will be able to maintain local ownership in homes and businesses. There will be no guarantee, but the nature of the process of consultation and collaboration in the culture and sustainability of the community will have an impact on price escalation, types of businesses, and education.
  • We are anti-capitalist, or anti-government, - there are very firm policies are a flexible mix. Some people will move out of the controlled environment, others will move into the stable community.
  • There are also some statistical inconsistencies that need to be understood for example why is it in the worst neighborhoods where income averages are $20-30K home prices are still over $100k.
  • Inequality of education in distressed neighborhood

“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?

  • Evaluating progress is part of the daily gatherings of the Job-Creators and those that they are collaborating with. Also, having chosen one of the worst neighborhoods in the nation some performance monitoring metrics will be easy.
  • Crime statistics
  • Jobs created
  • Vacancies in homes and businesses and home values
  • Test scores in schools
  • The challenge will be how soon will we see Burgeoning Communities begin to multiply in other areas without the influence of the $100mil.
  • Another objective to measure is the impact on the whole city. Will the movement help pull us out of the next recession?
  • Can a version of what we have learned be applied to the growing crisis of refugees?
  • How to evaluate transformation? As we move in and out of recessions and depressions, how do we know what the changing influences are?

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.

  • Through opening a temporary employment agency, a method was developed of finding and creating jobs. Typically, all applicants at a placement agencies fill out paperwork and wait. A systematic method brings all job-seekers into meetings on regular basis, discusses previous great jobs, dream jobs, and why they had meaning. Contact all of the local employers, ask if they were willing to have a “mock interviews”, most said yes. More outreach, chamber mixers, volunteer work, and then come back to share experiences and break into consultation groups on specific tasks or work that needed to be done. Work was found.
  • Working as a live-in manager of a senior living community it became evident of the successful methods of creating healing environments with good food, socialization, safety, and beauty. This in itself is a microcosm of a Burgeoning Community
  • I moved to Chicago to work at the Baha’i National Center. A new position was created - Support Services and Logistics Coordinator. Working with 40 departments (including schools, other international agencies, etc.) to promote communication, develop understandings of and better access to - policy, procedures, guidelines, standards, and principles. Primarily in areas of purchasing, insurance, property development, and promoting volunteerism.
  • Within Three months I had researched and purchase a condominium in a cooperative building. As a result of restrictions of the coop owners the price was half of the going rate in the neighborhood. This is the reverse of “pay to play”. In a co-op you have to play and you pay less.
  • My previous performance has brought me to the point to prepare this grant.
  • My background as a design/build project manager

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

  • Fueled partly by economic uncertainty, weaker retirement plans and eroding Social Security benefits, many older Americans are still working and slipping closer to the poverty line in their golden years. Instead of settling into retirement, they find themselves among the working but struggling.
  • The ranks of the nation's graying workforce are expected to grow. By 2022, nearly 32 percent of people between the ages of 65 and 74 will work, the Pew Research Center reported last year. Certainly, not all of today and tomorrow's graying workers will have to stay on the job. But, many will have little choice.
  • Not only will more seniors work in the coming decade, they will care for a growing number of seniors who can't. Today, roughly 20 percent of the nation's direct-care workers are over age 55, and that number is projected to jump over the next seven years, according to a 2014 report by PHI, a nonprofit organization focused on improving elder care and disability services.
  • These seniors will care for the coming waves of retiring Baby Boomers in low-wage jobs that are both physically emotionally taxing, unless the nation rethinks the needs of those receiving and providing care.

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)

  • Employment Agency Team of 3 -  hired by the workers co-op to handle the coordination of the Action/Reflection/Consultation process
  • A $1mill portion of the grant will be for a revolving loan program for the Job-Creators business development (2% interest pays for labor & overhead)
  • Other income from external companies using the temp labor
  • Property Management Team of 3- hired by the housing co-op to handle the purchasing and remodeling of the co-housing units
  • A $5mill portion of the grant will be for a revolving loan program for the co-housing program. (70 units - average price of unit $72,000)
  • Other income from condo fees
  • Credit Union Team of 3 - income from
  • $1mill from grant
  • Deposits from community
  • investments mentioned above
  • Burgeoning Communities Development Team of 3 - hired by $100mil Revolving Fund Group
  • Work with MacArthur Foundation
  • Work with teams mentioned above
  • Develop co-op housing and workers co-op business structures
  • Find Anchor Institutions
  • Find additional government re-development funds
  • Define next location for new Burgeoning Communities

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.

  • Not only will the Burgeoning Communities be sustainable, they will expand their influence and begin splitting off and creating new communities.
  • The $100mil will be used to fund the first “Anchor Institution” which will be a senior living community. The future Burgeoning Communities the Anchor Institutions will fund themselves and help establish the initial “Safe Zone” (describe the Safe Zone in another area - every community has a Safe Zone for children, women, the elderly)
  • After the the first year of developing the first Burgeoning Community nine more communities should be established over the next two years.
  • There should be 10 groups with capacity from within each of the 10 Burgeoning Communities to go out and create new Burgeoning Communities
  • There will be new capacities to look at some of the problems being faced by the growing population of refugees throughout the world.
  • Every Burgeoning Community not only needs to be self sufficient, but it needs to grow outward as needed and even help fund a neighboring Burgeoning Community.

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.

  • Work is worship
  • Next recession
  • What is community building
  • Love, Sacred spaces
  • What is alternative education
  • How children are affected
  • Other agencies
  • Once the method is proven it will be one of the solutions used in every disfuncional community and to help resolve the world's refugee problem
  • Some say WWII is what brought us out of the Great Depression. So if everyone is working we will not have to go to war, will we not be depressed?

[…] 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:

  • A length of 30-90 seconds (no more than 1.5 minutes).
  • One person (two maximum) should present himself or herself during the video.
  • Focus on providing a personal connection; it is not necessary to produce a sophisticated video.
  • Your pitch must be in English.
  • Video submissions that do not follow these guidelines may be removed from the application. Here are some logistical and technical suggestions:
  • Video cameras, digital cameras, phones, or laptops are easy-to-use devices for recording video.
  • If possible, set to low resolution to reduce file size. This enables easier video uploading.
  • If you are having difficulty uploading the video file, try logging out of the application and logging back in using another Internet browser (Google’s Chrome browser is preferred).
  • Here are general suggestions for delivering a high-quality video pitch:
  • Introduce yourself and your organization and/or team.
  • What is the problem that you are committed to solving?
  • What is your proposed solution?
  • What is unique about your proposed solution?
  • How would you measure success and achieve broad but meaningful impact?
  • Hone your content:
  • Keep your description and language simple.
  • Demonstrate passion through your words and enthusiasm.
  • Practice numerous times before recording your video pitch.
  • Take time to edit your video and seek feedback from others.
  • Do not submit your video pitch if you see room for improvement.

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:

  • Job-Creators and their families
  • The neighborhood
  • Local businesses
  • Women and children will have a safe and beautiful places to live and the elder’s wisdom will be valued
  • Youth will have an opportunity to learn and participate
  • Under educated and those seeking higher education will find ways within their community to discover new sources of learning
  • Refugees - there are millions of refugees that will benefit from the methods of building community

"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

  • A private temp agency
  • A private contractor
  • A private cooperative housing manager
  • Private supplier of meals
  • Private educators
  • Healthcare providers
  • Travel agency
  • There will be substantial benefit to millions of individuals which will benefit the public
  • Much of the core elements of the project will the creation and sustaining cooperative housing groups and cooperative working groups. These types of business structures will help maintain a core of fundamental practices and attributes.
  • However, it will be extremely important that the freedom of for-profit companies, contractors, and consultants continue to benefit in specialty areas. People and ideas will continuously spin out of the cooperatives formed in a Burgeoning Community. That will be part of its function.

“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

  • Articles of Incorporation, Charter, or similar documentation
  • An organizational chart showing the roles and responsibilities of the key persons associated with the project(maybe I could put together a mind mapping chart)
  • Biographies of project’s key staff, detailing their relevant experience to the proposed project(this is an opportunity to elaborate on people who may be involved, if only a description of the “youngish senior” and a philanthropic entrepreneur.)
  • Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan for the proposed solution (refer to the Guidance for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning)(elaborate more here on question above)
  • Existing policies, if any, addressing conflicts of interest, whistleblower, internal controls, anti-money laundering, intellectual property, human subjects research, code of conduct, ethics, gifts, and any similar policies governing the organization(this is an important aspect to develop)
  • If you are not a public charity, a statement that any MacArthur Foundation grant funds will not be used for lobbying purposes, or if you are a public charity under the Internal Revenue Code, a lobbying budget in which you specify the amount of lobbying expenses and non-lobbying expenses
  • The MacArthur Foundation reserves the right to perform background checks on key individuals associated with the proposed solution, and the refusal by the key individuals to provide necessary authorizations will be a reason to reject any application for further consideration. Background information and the results of any background checks will be kept confidential.

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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