John Hancock was not liked by England. He had lots of ships and signed the constitution.  England called him a bad guy.  Our country called him a good guy.  He is such a good guy I did my project on him.  He was a wise leader. He had lots lots of money.  He had lots of jobs and made more money.

George Washington fought a lot and was the first president.  He led lots of people in fights. No not fist fights.  Big huge battles.   He was so good he won our country.  He decided to share with everyone.  As the leader of the country he was a wise leader.  Everybody listen to him.  My friends and I called him the big cheese. 

From Papa:

The one pattern that is consistent in history is the victor writes the official history.  The other two factors is that time does heal and economics is ultimately the strongest influence to move anyone individual or group towards the desired outcome.

John Brown - The famed abolitionist leader would probably be labeled as an “Insurgent” and a terrorist by our current government and those labels would be repeated by the many media sources without much critique or analysis.  Whether one believes the fact that he was fighting against injustice for the rights of oppressed people, his resistance would be intolerable.  Therefore, I ask you to wonder how many leaders are considered marginalized “Insurgents” in their field of work today.  I further challenge you on whether the discomfort of any particular insurgent might be remembered more fondly in the future, as some remember the noble fight of John Brown.   Strives in societies evolution did not occur with the acceptance of the norm, but with individuals willing to be first.  As a leader or in selecting leadership consider whether the risks of being first are worth it, if ultimately society is better off?    As a leader or in selecting leadership consider whether the risks of evolving the nonprofit are worth it, if ultimately society is better off?

For more detailed information on John Brown check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist)

MY SIX YEAR OLD DID THIS DRAWING OF HIS WISH TO VISIT SENATOR KENNEDY AND MAKE HIM FEEL GOOD; HE CONSIDERS SENATOR KENNEDY HIS FRIEND.

I was sadden by the news announcement today of Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts having brain cancer. Today my family prays for him and his family. No matter whether we are privileged to have Senator Kennedy for one year or many years in the future he will always be with many generations to come. He lead in government and he lead in his private life. There are two examples of his giving back to the community that I wish to highlight. When government would not respond the Kennedy’s created Citizens oil to provide fuel to low income families. They created Best Buddies dedicated to providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships and integrated employment to those with disabilities.

I wish to highlight Kennedy as an example to show how much of a difference one person can make. Which organizations or individuals are ready to make CHANGE AND BECOME THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS?

IT IS IMPORTANT FOR A NONPROFITS BOARD AND MANAGEMENT TO INCLUDE SUCCESSION PLANNING AS A COMPONENT OF THEIR STRATEGIC PLAN.

Are many of us prevented from truly helping a child because society has stuck children in societies bubble. Has parental rights and government policy shackled children to a life of methodical control where they have no rights. Time after time we read and hear of actions that seem more based on property rights or the dollar then whats best for a child.

To unshackled children from the restricted boundaries of society and increase opportunities for maximizing children to succeed I would advocate giving children a true voice. Set into regulation where parental rights are terminated the automatic appointment of a court appointed advocate for child under 13. Those 13 and above should be part of a Service Team and be given the opportunity to be part of the planning and decision making of their treatment plan.

There should be a child advocate who ’s only responsibility is what is in the best interest of the child.

1. List Your Priorities of Programming Ideas
2. Elements to Use in Action Steps/Approaches/Strategies (Working Together)

• Strategic Planning (What, where, when and why baseline)
• Maximizing Assets: People, Organization, Effort, Space, Allocation of costs, Labeling, Cost allocation plan, Assignment of job function.
• Referral and Intake Systems
• Cross Pollination: Using resources already available and maximizing capacity.
• Whom do you serve: Geography, community, age and service type. (Who shows up in the Service Plan or the Strategic Plan?)
• Reality Check on ability to serve
• Equal Access Goal (Where are the cases? Where are the resources?) Geo coding for allocating resources. (Transportation weight to consider. How do you manage yourself to complete all of your daily tasks?)
• Low Lying Fruit
• 20-40 Minute Rule
• Day Job Syndrome (Capacity to change, evolve, develop vs. the day to day job) (Capacity to change, evolve, develop vs. the day to day job)
• Investment Risk Scale of Capital (Can what I am committed to doing be used for something else if I am wrong?)
• Management Choices for change vs. Institutional Choices for change
• Defining Outcomes
• Branding: Ownership, reporting, sharing, confidence and leadership
• Communication: web, telecommunicating, Co-location, transparency, team responsibility, and risk
• Continuous Quality Improvement (How do you learn?)
• How do you compete? Niche vs. General and Narrow vs. Broad. What does your mission allow?
• Who are my Funders?

1. 1. Donors
   2. Foundations
   3. State
   4. Federal
   5. City/Town
   6. Community
   7. Individuals
   8. Your Organizations Assets

If you are interested in overcoming barriers check out the previous post:

http://mynonprofitwebsite.com/blog/2008/04/30/nonprofits-evolution/

The Federal government is spending mega hours and money to have the right to deport 134 plus individuals whom were the wives of men who have died. These women would have become citizens had their husbands not died and they are not a risk to the USA. In one case they have said they will abide by the ninth district courts decision not to deport a specific women. For a government agency on principal to be fighting for the right to deport the individuals is such a waste of time and money. This group of women and their families that would otherwise have become citizens except for the fact the husbands died before the process was completed.

The money would be better spent on processing the thousands of pending delayed requested for citizenship. Individuals, organizations and foundations should voice their support of an immigration policy that is fair, efficient and meets unmet needs of the USA. Remember it is an election year. While you can not campaign for a candidate, you can certainly public what is good immigration policy.

The effort to obtain affordable housing has been getting harder recently by the relining by financial institutions of neighborhoods, developments, and whole states.  The financial institutions have made it harder regardless of the credit score, down payment, or your income.  The financial institutions actions have just become unpredictable and not base on reality. 

One aspect of the problem that should not be ignored throughout the housing financing market is predatory loans.  They continue to happen regardless of what people think.  The government has been trying to decide involvement they should have on loans of these types.  Federally backing the loans is not the way to fix bad practices. 

My suggestion is that if a loan is predatory it is wrong it should be clearly criminal.  Thus, the government should take any loan that meets such a standard and give the lender a choice. 

1. Government will investigate wrong doing and either prosecute, revoke their licenses or both.

2. Lender provides a fix rate loan up to 90% of the current value of the property or what the individual can afford.  Yes, the owner makes out here.   However, the lender does not get charged with a crime either.

If you are killed by the failure of a government project, you’re worth millions.  If you are killed by the failure of government policies, you’re worth nothing.

The policies set and the dollars spent by government, and the responsibility that is assigned to government failure, seem to be more dependent upon whether a group votes.    Historically minorities and poor do not vote heavily and therefore are marginalized.

Low income people and minorities seem to get the blunt of bad government policies.  Examples include the locating of polluting industries, high incidence of lead paint, distribution of firearms, lack of access to health care and the lack of resources. 

There are a number of nonprofit institutes whom have provided studies noting the problem.  However, I have rarely observed the same organizations providing direction to public policy makers of specific solutions.

Just because government has failed policies does not mean nonprofits should just blame the government.  Talk is cheap.  Creating partnerships to address unmet need takes effort and giving up some control.  So I challenge each organization that has a compliant about government policies to come up with a blueprint as part of their strategic plan on how they would resolve the issue. 

Debt Collection agencies.

When debt collection agencies call your employees during this time of financial hardship make sure your employee understand their rights. Too many of the debt collectors use techniques that people do not know are wrong. Do not let the debt collectors tone or use of the English language make your employee feel stressed out or feel they are at risk of immediate harm. Help an employee stand up for their rights. It is as simple as letting them know to contact their state Consumer Affairs Office or Division of Banks for knowing their rights. Many of these rights can be found on line.

In Massachusetts anyone can Know their rights by going to the Office of Consumer Affairs: The summary below is from the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries web site.

209 CMR 18: Conduct of the Business of Debt Collectors and Loan Services, Division of Banks. “The purpose of 209 CMR 18.00 is to establish standards, by defining unfair or deceptive acts or practices, for the collection of debts from persons within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by debt collectors and third party loan servicers, and to establish procedures and requirements for the licensing and supervision of debt collectors and the registration and supervision of third party loan servicers.”

940 CMR 7: Debt Collection Regulations, Attorney General. “The purpose of 940 CMR 7.00 is to establish standards, by defining unfair or deceptive acts or practices, for the collection of debts from persons within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

If your employee is having problems with the debt collector in Massachusetts they can file a compliant form with the Division of Banks which can be obtained from the Division of Banks web site.

The continuing violence against women has highlighted again the lack of adequate services for women and their children to access.  The most serious need is housing. The services should include childcare to allow employment opportunity and the housing of the women and her children.  The housing must be both permanent for families and temporary for initial emergency intake.

The majority of those making decisions to fund services are white males who have never had their life at risk.  Women should not vote for men who do not take their needs seriously.  Set an agenda that prioritizes where housing and Domestic Violence services are needed to allow equal and equitable access to services.  If elected officials do not support the agenda then make sure that the community is educated about the position of the officials.

This cartoon depicts a manner in which to create a message against Domestic Violence and Children Witnessing Violence.  Logos that are visual have a more lastly effect for people to remember.