i need help.

okay. i'm officially overwhelmed. i've got the passion and ideas, but this whole goal of organization and developing a proposal is more than i can handle right now. i just can't see where i'm going...i need help. if anyone wants to just walk through my ideas with me, help me brainstorm, and develop a proposal, i would GREATLY appreciate it!! i've never started a non-profit or even developed a proposal for a current non-profit so i am starting to feel quite inadequate.

my meeting today went great....the woman i met with knows EVERYONE in the teen pregnancy prevention and teen parent services field in austin. she gave me additional names of people to meet with, as well as the name and meeting dates of a couple of teen pregnancy prevention coalitions. all very useful information and great networking opportunities. but i'm starting to realize that i don't know what to do with all of this information i gather.....basically where do i go from here? how do i put all of the information i gather about the needs for teen pregnancy prevention and adequate teen parent services into a proposal?? do i start to pitch myself to non-profits who do similar work? do i become a board member for one of them and help them out in a non-paid position? do i research grants and figure out a way to fund myself doing something related to teen pregnancy prevention? how do i start out small and grow larger? aaarrrgghhh....this is so fun but overwhelming. so many options and things to consider. if anyone has any advice, send it my way!!

back on track.

so the last couple of weeks brought me some unexpected events and a trip home to amarillo, and i was unable to devote much time to my non-profit project. but i'm back and ready to keep the ball rolling!!

i've been researching some of the agencies that were recommended to me and have honestly been unable to find an agency that does anything close to what i want to do. the non-profits i've researched have such far-reaching programs that teen pregnancy prevention is one small program of their 10 larger programs.....which means there is a need and an opportunity for what i want to do, but it also means that i will have to do a bit more groundwork. i emailed a couple of women today who work in the teen pregnancy prevention field in austin (one is a filmmaker and one runs prevention programs), and i have already set up a meeting with one of them for later this week....woo hoo!

after talking with a friend yesterday, i realized that i need to become more organized in my vision. she recommended that i write a proposal that outlines exactly what i want to do and how i want to do it. good advice! i have tons of ideas and materials from other statewide TPP (teen pregnancy prevention) non-profits that i can pull together to develop a proposal. i also am trying to think bigger. maybe i don't need to start a non-profit...maybe i work on a documentary about teen pregnancy in texas. or maybe i create an educational workshop series on teen pregnancy prevention. because the non-profit i wanted to create already exists (yet has no paid staff), i think i need to think differently and outside of the box to approach teen pregnancy prevention in a fresh way (or just convince them to hire me after i write a grant to pay for my own salary...hehe).

i'm starting to realize the barriers that i will face. i fear the conservative environment in texas might be an unbreachable barrier. i'm just not sure that policy analysis and advocacy will be effective....abstinence-only education and policy have such a stronghold in texas. i mean, planned parenthood's teen pregnancy prevention funding just got cut again, which means more money for faith-based, abstinence programs. not that i'm not hopeful that i could change the texas mindset and educational system (i'm up for a challenge!), but i also want to be realistic in my planning. a creative approach might be my only option. this is such a learning process....even massachusetts faced difficulties in getting political support for comprehensive sex ed, and that's massachusetts!!! liberal country...what the heck am i supposed to do in texas?? i will need an alliance of organizations all devoted to the cause to mobilize larger numbers of people. i need to start a movement!! okay, i think i'm getting ahead of myself now. back to reality and what i can accomplish this week.

my goals for this week are:

• to set up 3 meetings with people in the teen pregnancy prevention field in austin
• to write a proposal that summarizes my interests and vision for my non-profit venture

man, this is exciting!! i can't wait to see where God takes this and am so thankful that He is stirring all of this in me!!

motivate me.

somehow in all of the craziness of life (showers, birthdays, going away parties, retreats), i found the time to have another meeting to discuss my future plans with someone who is more of an expert. last thursday i met with a woman who used to work for my current organization and now runs a girl-centered non-profit in austin. she is INCREDIBLE!! she is only a few years older than me and has been highly successful in developing programs and changing girls' lives, which is ultimately what i want to do. she shared with me her career path and the decisions that she made along the way. she also suggested some amazing people to get in contact with and discuss my plans....she seems to know everyone in austin, especially those related to my field of interest.

the big decision i need to make now is how to move forward. she suggested that i put together a pitch for some of the contacts she gave me....basically to pitch myself and my vision to them in hopes of them creating a position for me within their current organization rather than starting a brand new organization. there are several groups already doing some of the work that i want to do....so i just need to find out how they could improve what they are currently doing or how they can add to their programs to accomplish more. she also offered to publicize my future non-profit if that is what i decide to do....and that she would love to collaborate with me in future endeavours. seriously, this woman is AMAZING!

i'm really excited about where this is taking me. this is offering me such a creative outlet for my energy and allowing me to be passionate about life again. i am flexing off a day of work this week (because i have to work all weekend) and hopefully will spend it researching the different organizations in austin who work in the teen pregnancy prevention field. i want to set up several meetings and figure out exactly what the need is in austin....how to create my own niche within the field of teen pregnancy prevention while utilizing the resources and organizations that already exist and do similar work. hopefully i'll have more updates soon!

the year of pursuing passions and living with purpose.

the idea for me to start a non-profit has always been a "one day" plan...probably in five to ten years. but for 2007, i decided to dedicate this year to pursuing my passions and living with purpose. along with a couple other friends, i decided to reconnect with the issues and activities that stir my soul and to pursue those as much as possible. i thought that this meant that i would be taking a lot of dance classes, running in races, and possibly volunteering more...but as the year has gone on, i realized that i wanted to truly live and not just survive. i currently work for a non-profit, which is great and all, but my heart wasn't feeling fulfilled, and i've become quite complacent in my job. i started to brainstorm jobs or even career fields that would better use my skills and interests, but what i realized is that my five to ten year plan is what i really want to do. instead of waiting for five or ten years to get here, i'm going to start working on starting a non-profit now while i'm gaining experience and have a full time job to support me before the non-profit is up and running.

so what do i want to do with the non-profit? well, while in grad school at boston college, i interned with the massachusetts alliance on teen pregnancy as a public policy intern. it was a life changing experience. they use education, policy analysis, advocacy, and research to impact statewide teen pregnancy prevention and teen parent services funding and programs. basically, they advocate and teach others to advocate for funding for EFFECTIVE teen pregnancy prevention programs and QUALITY teen parent services. i fell in love with the work and the issues and realized how much the issue of teen pregnancy identified with me. the research shows that almost one in three american teens gets pregnant, and as i looked back at my friends in high school...the group of three that i hung out with early in high school, one was pregnant by 18. the second group of three i hung out with at the end of high school, one was pregnant at 18. teen pregnancy was all around me. and i look at my extended family, which consists of so many teen parents. i was the first grandkid in my family who WASN'T a teen parent and who went to college. i'm from amarillo, which has an insanely high teen pregnancy rate, and i consider myself lucky (and blessed) to have made it through my teens without getting pregnant and able to go to college.

and now i have a challenge. i want to start a non-profit similar to the massachusetts alliance on teen pregnancy....a statewide non-profit dedicated to advocacy, education, research, and policy analysis related to teen pregnancy prevention and teen parent services. i don't know if there are non-profits that already exist in texas and do what i want to do, but i will be starting this journey and will hopefully find myself on the other end with a meaningful profession using my passions and living with purpose.

the first step.

so i had my first meeting this morning. i met with the board president of TACSAP (texas association concerned with school age parenthood), who works full time for the attorney general of texas in the office of family initiatives. there are currently no paid staff at tacsap, which has the same mission and vision of the non-profit i would like to start....which creates a bit of an issue. he asked me to consider becoming a board member at their annual conference, which is in november. i will more than likely attend the conference at least to gain texas-specific information and make contacts. he also directed me to a couple of other people involved in teen pregnancy prevention work in austin. i decided that i'm in the information-gathering stage since the non-profit i want to create already exists but is pretty much inactive. the only thing they currently do is host annual conferences....which limits their ability to succeed and be effective. he also informed me of an organization that gives individuals grant money for projects, and he thought i might qualify for the grant money if i choose to research and create a few publications to be used by tacsap. i think things may not turn out like i expected but at least i'll pursuing my passions.....