Executive Summary
Light is a nonprofit
agency for high school youth in the 77088 Texas zip code.
The program will form partnerships with local school districts and the juvenile
court systems. Light’s goal is to denounce gang affiliation and promote
entrepreneurship for a means to provide a decent living.
Through repeated
failures in the classroom and the continuing development of destructive habits
young people have lost hope in the American dream of financial success through
diligent work.
Light is a
program that is in direct response to the growing number of young people who
are tangled in gang activity and the juvenile court system. The goal of the
program is to identify youth with basic leadership skills and to give them the
tools needed to become a positive community business leader. As these
individuals who already have a following in their neighborhoods become
successful business people they will be used to help other troubled youth by
becoming their mentor.
Light will hold
weekly trainings with selected youth to assist them in creating a business plan
for their future. Once the youth reach a proper age and have proven themselves
ready to begin their business Light will donate money to begin the business and
require the businesses to pay a percentage of their monthly earnings.
Light is being
established to provide guidance to troubled youth by educating them in business
that they may see there are legal means to make a decent wage. This will be
accomplished by providing two mentoring programs:
1.
Stackin’: Stackin is the central program for
Light and will be a class given once a week to educate the youth in basic
business skills and educate.
2.
Grub: Grub will be a lunch appointment
made with each youth each week to get to know each youth better and assure they
are progressing.
The mission of
Light is the pursuit of the following principles:
1.
Ambition
– Light will spark a desire to be a successful business
person with lofty goals to push the youth to fill the measure of their
creation.
2.
Integrity – The youth will gain an understanding that success comes to those
who are honest and trust worthy.
3.
Responsibility – The focus of Light will be to empower youth in establishing
goals and following through on commitments.
1.
Establish
a strong network of support with local school systems and juvenile court
systems.
2.
Find
eight corporations to sponsor the organization in return for advertising on all
Light signage.
3.
Create
an effective training program for mentors to assure they can help youth make
and achieve goals.