The Project

Go Daddy 14455 N. Hayden Rd Suite 226 Scottsdale, AZ 85260 US

Burgeoning Communities

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Burgeoning Communities Project Summary

This project orchestrates a unique group of seniors, in a unique place, initially supported by a unique business for the purpose of finding and creating meaningful work and building a sustainable community.

The unique group of seniors - “Youngish Seniors” who want and need to work again, and will pioneer to a unique place
The unique place - an inner-city area, or “Challenged Neighborhood”.
The unique business - the "Anchor Institution" - an independent living community for retired seniors.

This project brings the people that desperately need a supportive community together with a place that desperately needs to be a prosperous community

1. The unique group: 5/10/18 I am adding the disabled to this group (20% of the population)

Tens of millions of Youngish Seniors (ages 55-75) lost a great deal during the “Great Recession”.
Millions are finding it difficult to recover and are feeling vulnerable.
Hundreds of thousands are among the most educated, experienced, with the greatest skills of any other group in the world. They have done every type of work imaginable.
Tens of thousands are entrepreneurs and risk takers. They have and will generate work for others.
Thousands will sacrifice and do whatever-it-takes to be part of building a sustainable community that will offer a safe place to live, work, play, learn, and worship with their family and friends.
- These are the Youngish Seniors who will be drawn to Burgeoning Communities.
- They also embody a professional code of conduct and ethics. They will consult on the needs, intensely act on what is agreed upon, reflect on the results, learn from mistakes, and produce a sustainable community that is also their home.

2. The Unique Place:

An inner-city area or Challenged Neighborhood
It has the greatest need for these youngish seniors to commit their lives, and join with the existing inhabitants, and make it their community.
This neighborhood has existing infrastructures and businesses, and people in need of new opportunities.
The perfect place to grow a sustainable community

3. The Unique Business 5/10/18 I am adding a 24/7 Community Center

The Anchor Institution
An independent living community for retired seniors.
Developed by an existing company that specializes in building and managing facilities for retired seniors.
These loving communities provide safety and security, stimulating activities, nutritious food, and a sense of family and fellowship.
This warm and compassionate institution will be a focal point for growing a sustainable community.

This project has aspects that develop concurrently. It is designed to build a culture of leaders from underutilized youngish elders and establish a sustainable community. The initial Supporting Business and its services grows in the Challenged Neighborhood while the Youngish Seniors generate meaningful employment and establish safe and beautiful living spaces. This powerful process engenders a community-building spirit that is replicable. Hundreds of Challenged Neighborhoods are in need of an injection of infectious love.

5/10/18 I am adding

Self-Help Federal Credit Union (SHFCU), a nationally recognized non-profit community development financial institution, is seeking a hands-on leader to manage our fast-growing branch in Chico, CA and significantly expand our community outreach efforts in Butte County. This is a unique opportunity for an experienced manager to join a leader in community development finance to help expand its impact serving low-income and otherwise underserved communities.

The Branch Manager of our Chico branch will be responsible for cascading our mission, values and organizations goals, managing the day-to-day operations of the branch, attaining branch performance goals and objectives, and ensuring excellent member service. Additionally, they will proactively conduct business development and deposit-raising initiatives throughout Butte County.

Responsibilities Include:

• Implementing strategic priorities and goals for the branch
• Serving as the primary "face" of SHFCU in the community, including appropriate involvement with community organizations
• Leading branch outreach and business development efforts and assisting/coaching other branch staff to contribute effectively
• Achieving branch goals, including member, deposit and lending growth and other goals as agreed
• Effectively hiring and managing branch staff, with a focus on staff training and development
• Fully understanding all branch operations, effectively coaching staff and filling in when necessary
• Ensuring adherence to operating policies and procedures and that branch operations deliver excellent operational metrics and member service
• Generally overseeing branch facilities and equipment
• Fully understanding and embracing Self-Help's culture, building and reinforcing it throughout Butte County
• Perform other duties and projects as assigned

Requirements:

• Strong commitment to our mission - creating economic opportunity for traditionally underserved communities - and a desire to work actively in such communities
• Strong cultural competency and a preference for working in organizations that value diversity, teamwork and collaboration
• Demonstrated capacity to successfully lead business activities, build relationships and manage staff
• At least 5 years of relevant work experience, including 3+ years of management/supervisory responsibility
• Experience involving customer service, selling, business development and/or operations; banking or credit union experience strongly preferred but not required
• Established network of community partners and foundations is an added plus.
• Prior credit/lending experience strongly preferred
• Strong communication skills, verbal and written - including good listening skills
• Strong computer skills and aptitude, with knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) and banking, credit union or Point of Sale software preferred
• Bilingual Spanish/English strongly preferred

About Self-Help Federal:

Self-Help Federal Credit Union was chartered in 2008 to build a network of branches that serve working families and underserved communities. With 17 branches in California, 9 branches in Illinois, 2 branches in Florida, and 1 branch in Wisconsin, over $1 billion in assets, and serving more than 79,000 members, Self-Help Federal is one of the fastest-growing low-income designated credit unions in the country. It is part of the national Self-Help family of non-profit organizations whose collective mission is to create and protect ownership and economic opportunity for all. For 38 years, the Center for Community Self-Help and its affiliates have provided $7.9 billion in financing to help over 149,000 low-wealth borrowers buy homes, start and build businesses, and strengthen community resources. For more information, go to www.self-helpfcu.org and www.self-help.org.

We are an equal opportunity employer:

Self-Help is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all persons regardless of race, color, class, age, religion, disability that can be accommodated, marital status (including domestic partner status), ancestry, nationality, national origin, religion (and lack thereof), family status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), other medical condition and/or disability: physical or mental, AIDS/HIV status, genetic information, sexual identity, gender identification (including transgender status), sexual orientation, political activities or affiliations, and veteran status.

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The Perfect Storm
The success of Burgeoning Communities requires the participants to be in place and work together to create the Perfect Storm.

The primary participants of the Perfect Storm are:
1-The Challenged Neighborhood is chosen
The buy-in or acceptance of the project from the existing residents and local government
Existing infrastructure to repair/remodel (limited building at the beginning)
2-The Youngish Seniors are chosen
The employment agency/temp agency is in place
They have been interviewed and vetted
3-The Senior Retirement Facility Developer has agreed to build and manage

Other Participants: neighborhood forums, local government, private investors, real estate developers, supporting entrepreneurs, philanthropic organizations, other stakeholders

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These three components (The Youngish Seniors, the Retired Senior Facility, and the Challenged Neighborhood) will grow together and evolve into a Burgeoning Community that is safe, sustainable, and beautiful place to live, work, learn, and worship.

Other important components of the Burgeoning Community would be:

The families and friends that already support the individual members of the three separate sub-communities will continue to be a life-support system.
An employment agency/temp agency (owned and operated by the working seniors) This is a major component of the plan. This institution is the instrument that brings together the Youngish Seniors, the resources, the needs, and the support and the love that will provide the catalyst for growth.
Banking and Finance Institutions - there are new creations in the world of money that are being developed to serve the masses.
Professional service – Attorneys, accountants, real estate agents
A sacred space - historically this is a major component of all great civilizations
Openness to religious communities
Neighborhood associations
Other government agencies (with the understanding that this is a bottom up approach)
- Police, Fire, City Planning Depts - are already committed to community building
- One-Stop Career Center - http://www.careeronestop.org/
- SBA - http://www.sba.gov/
New administrative structures will be developed and discovered as needed in each community.

There is a common need that the Retired Seniors share with the Youngish Seniors, actually the need is within us all. The need to feel useful, not be a burden. There is a conflicting attitude that is commonly expressed “they deserve to be treated with respect, they’ve earned it.” This may or may not be true depending on who is saying and to whom they are saying it about. In many ways, our culture does not reflect it. The how and why is addressed elsewhere. The important part about what is addressed and developed in Burgeoning Communities is the need and the duty to create opportunities for everyone to continue to provide a service. A service that fulfills the individual need as well as a community need.

At this time I am looking for feedback on this idea of community building - reigniting an important segment of our culture that has core values, and transforming an area of a city that still has a valuable core infrastructure. A collective social creation is needing to happen in so many areas, and this project creates an environment for exploration on a very large scale.
It may appear that this is a very large project, and at this time I am without much support, and it lacks the necessary leadership. Far from it, I am just one of many, voicing a movement that is already well on its way. This aspect is just a small inevitable piece. Possibly a piece that will set fire to other smoldering activities.

Revitalizing Cities One Neighborhood at a Time
http://cityminded.org/revitalizing-cities-one-neighborhood-time-12238
The City of Baltimore (population 622,000) has struggled with economic stagnation, population outmigration, and tens of thousands of vacant and abandoned houses. The story of how Charm City is seeking to attract new residents, recapture safe and walkable streets, rebuild abandoned neighborhoods, and catalyze its own urban buzz, is a story about a diverse set of partnerships using a “big tent” model to bring together philanthropies, real estate developers, educational institutions, church congregations, community development stakeholders, business owners, housing advocates, and city officials.