Paper by Thompson Ayodele founder of  the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis, 9A, Adekunle Odunlami Street, Off Aina George, Ilupeju, Lagos, Nigeria. Tel: +234-1-791-0959, +234-(0)80-2302-5079        

Botswana, Open Baptist Church Pastor Norman and Gabi Schaefer, Children’s Ministry Needs List. There are approximately 400 children that attend Open Baptist Church in Botswana each Sunday.  The children’s ministry is new and their “tools for ministry” are modest. Please do not hesitate to spread the love. American Contact for Botswana:  Donna P. Chisam 678.648.9715 (GA), 703.635.2665 (VA), 651.260.3951 (Mobile)

Botswana has the 2nd highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the world. The forgotten group in the country is the 15-19 year old student. They are considered difficult and unreachable. Open Baptist church, Gaborone, Botswana has received the kind permission of Botswana Ministry of Education to reach this group, with abstinence and faithbased education through a program entitled Face the Nation.  If you are interested in helping the contact for Botswana is Donna P. Chisam, 678.648.9715 (GA), 703.635.2665 (VA) or 651.260.3951 (Mobile). 

 

Sustainable improvements in health in Africa require tackling the root causes of poverty, including the global economic order and corruption.  Currently favored international approaches will at best have a limited effect and may be counterproductive. Social mobilization, a strengthened community base, and increased numbers and capacity of health workers lie at the heart of an alternative approach based on primary health care. The international community must create favorable conditions for development in Africa by, for example, making trade fairer and limiting the arms trade.

There is no denying that Africa has undergone tremendous change in the last 5-10 years. And it is still changing. While most reporting on Africa remains largely negative, quite evidently, the continent is on the threshold of a new dispensation. Africa’s self-reinvention is evidenced in a renewed vigour for peacemaking, new initiatives for economic development, reduced tolerance for political chaos, new political projects such as the transformed African Union, and widening democratic space.

Does Nationalization Policy Increase Investment? -The experience in Nigeria By Thompson Ayodele.  Government monopoly of any economic sector has been promoted as the surest and ideal way to enhance economic growth and development. Rather than promoting economic growth, it actually stifles it. The end result of the services that majority of people get from such enterprise is either unreliable or inefficient. On the long run, the much-needed investments necessary to alleviate poverty are relocated to where private participation in the economy is encouraged. In the attached (PDF) IPPA Policy Brief, Thompson Ayodele critically analyses how the existing railway legislation in Nigeria confers monopoly of the management of the railway solely on government. He argues that this on the long run has led to the decline in railway performance and operations. He finally concludes that the crippling inefficiency and the unreliable services provided by the railway can be revived if the existing law that hinders private investment in the sector is repealed and consequently stresses that the Nigeria railway cannot deliver as government monopolized enterprise without bringing in private sector investment as well as improved management skills. 

READ More on the Botswana Vision Trip.  Building Close Connections. Sharing Jesus — Fighting HIV/AIDS — Building Capacity

Charter schools are a new form of educational institution operated by an authority that is closely tied to an agreement between the charter school, a local school district, and a school district. A Charter school is an alternative way of schooling which claims improved students’ academic growth and social awareness through an innovative approach to teaching and learning. This is a proposed manual developed by Florida DOE Employees that may be a useful tool. Permission to use is granted provided attribution is given to EPPC GLobal Management, 1850 Cleveland, TN 37312.   

Start-Up Logistics—drafting a charter, creating a vision and mission, developing a core founding group, accessing expert information, navigating the application process, acquiring a facility, allocating resources, establishing a legal entity, and contracting for services.

Every community has some infrastructure that supports nonprofit capacity building, and most are also connected with national infrastructure organizations that support their work.

Workbook by David Mills

Using the Internet For Outreach and Organizing

• Getting Started With Email Activism tip sheet
• Is Your Action Alert Ready to Circulate in Cyberspace check list
• Sample alerts
• Is it outreach or is it spam? Tip sheet for online outreach
• Tips for Effective Online Media
• How to Create a "Bcc" Email List
• Cyber Security Checklist
• Updated lists of online resources, and more

This operations manual can help assist you to: 1) to develop strategies to be used in running the mentoring program, and 2) to chronicle the development of operational procedures so that they can be passed on to subsequent program staff.

TANF Funds and HM Activities

This is a letter from the very classy Auburn Football Coach Tommy Tuberville to Jeff Wagner.

Community Relations—coordinating public relations, marketing the school, and dealing with controversy.

From a Charter School Perspective there are four specific perspectives that focus on increasing student achievement identified. They are: (1) charter schools are the catalyst for systemwide change; (2) charter schools are a component of comprehensive education reform; (3) charter schools are a means to enhance individual equity; and (4) charter schools are a means to enhance group equity.

A parents guide to developing an IEP.

To bring about systemic change, we must transform the role of school boards. Today, boards oversee a central bureaucracy which owns and operates all the schools in a given district. It is time to retire this “command-and-control” system and replace it with a new model:  portfolio management. In this new system, school boards would manage a diverse array of schools, some run by the school district and others by independent organizations, each designed to meet the different needs of students.

The Florida Charter School Resource Center at the University of South Florida, through the Charter School Project developed this acclaimed ESE Manual which we provide for you here. 

A nurturing environment for job creation and job preservation begins with a world-class workforce. So, now more than ever, we need schools that consistently provide America with that workforce. When young people graduate from our schools, they have to know how to read, write, use computers, do math, think creatively, and work effectively in teams. Far from giving up on our public schools, we should embrace them. But we should also embrace innovation in education and introduce competition and market forces in the form of charter schools and public school choice.

Regulatory Issues—special education requirements, civil rights regulations, federal and state laws and regulations, and requirements for parent involvement.

Faith-Based Legal Safeguards

Staying Within the Boundaries- Federal Faith-Based Guidelines

Guidelines on Political Activity for a Non-Profit Organization by James Bopp.    

CCF Mini-Grants fund faith-based and community organizations with one time, $50,000 awards to increase their capacity to serve targeted social service priority areas. Emphasis areas of this grant: Healthy Marriage, At Risk Youth, The Homeless, and Rural Services

Circular No. A-133

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-133 was issued pursuant to the Single Audit Act of 1984 and subsequent amendments. It establishes the standards to obtain consistency and uniformity among federal agencies for the audit of states, local governments, and not-for-profit organizations expending federal awards. This tool is intended to aid government organizations in complying with the requirements and expectations of the Single Audit Act.

Ensuring Compliance with 45 CFR Part 87

List of Federal Faith Based Contacts

OMB Circular A-122, Cost Principles for Non-Profit Organizations  Provide guidelines for Non-Profit organizations concerning reimbursement requirements. Provide uniform standards of allowability. Provide uniform standards of allocation. Does not supersede limitations imposed by law. Simplify intergovernmental relations. Encourage consistency in treatment of costs

This is a workshop designed by the World Bank Social Development Department’s Small Grants Program and Grants Facility for Indigenous Peoples. This workshop was an opportunity for the Bank and foundations to expand their knowledge of how small grants can be used as a tool for social change particularly in partnership with different donors. The World Bank is guided by three principles in its approach to social development: inclusion, cohesion, and accountability. The Small Grants Program and Grants Facility for Indigenous Peoples provide a mechanism for the Bank to support activities and projects that are requested by civil society groups and organizations themselves.  Through small grants, they hope to strengthen the voices of diverse groups and promote the inclusion of a broad array of citizens’ initiatives in development policies and processes.

EPPC Global Management is on the approved vendor list of the Florida Public Charter School Grant Program to provide training.  Attached is the Training Vendor List.  We are pleased with our work with School Districts, Charter School Principals and Administrators, Charter School Governing Boards and other interested parties.

 

Adolescent Relationships Precurser of Healthy Adult Marriages

In a survey designed to identify public attitudes for effective delivery of healthy marriage services and media messages, WAIT Training and its research partner, EPPC's Center for Community Impact Research, surveyed more than 400 Coloradoans over the age of 18 in a random survey in 2007. These are the findings.

Healthy Marriage Curriculumn Assessment Guide

Marriage Laws of the Fifty States

Can Media Campaigns Strengthen Marriages & Relationships?

Governance and Management—creating an organizational structure, establishing strong leadership, handling personnel issues, developing internal policies, creating a board and board bylaws, managing growth, and dealing with liability issues

Strategic Planning

A Chance to Grow is dedicated to helping all children, including those with learning problems, developmental delays and brain injuries, reach their highest potential.

James Prochaska and Carlo Diclemente (1982) developed a model of change which is unique in many ways. First, it is empirically driven. In other words it is based on the researchers' scientific investigation of change in humans. Second, the model conceptualizes change as entailing a number of stages which all require alterations in attitude in order to progress. Third, the model depicts change as a cycle--as opposed to an all or nothing step...change is difficult, and it is unreasonable to expect everyone to be able to modify a habit perfectly with out any slips.

This study examined the association between past experience of victimization (PEV), perceived risk of victimization (PRV), and nonspecific psychological distress (NSPD). Repeated measures-analysis of variance and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted on 186 seventh grade middle school students from an urban university-research-affiliated school. Results indicated that gender, PEV, and PRV significantly predicted NSPD. There were no gender differences in either the total number of past experience of victimization or depressive and/or anxious feelings reported. However, the types of victimization experienced as well as perceived risk of victimization appeared to be gender-related in that boys were significantly higher than girls on past experience of physical aggression and property aggression but significantly lower than girls on past experience of emotional aggression and perceived risk of victimization. In gender-specific analyses, PRV mediated the effects of PEV on NSPD for girls but not boys. The reasons for these findings, as well as implications for social policies and future directions, are discussed.

Charter schools are innovative public schools providing choices for families and greater accountability for results.

Assessment and Accountability—academic accountability, fiscal accountability, public/parental accountability, rule compliance, assessment and evaluation, financial management, developing a business plan, and how vision and mission connect with assessment and accountability

An interdisciplinary trauma training program that is accepted by participants and increase the capacity of the New York Southern Baptist Church groups to provide trauma assessment and support through the Metropolitan Baptist Association of New York.  The data revealed nearly unanimous positive results for the question was the workshop worthwhile: (91 percent agreement) with positive learning gains for the workshop attendees.  The results suggest that Southern Baptist Church Groups benefited from an interdisciplinary approach to post-trauma assessment and training experience. 

How Does Marriage Affect Physical and Psychological Health? A Survey of the Longitudinal Evidence.  They reviewed 95 longitudinal studies from the U.S. and other developed countries that found “strikingly large consequences” that married individuals enjoy relative to the never-married, the cohabiting, the separated or divorced, and the widowed. 

Groundbreaking work by Mary E. Goldsmith, No Child Left Behind: An Analysis of the Private Schools’ Role in Addressing Capacity Issues in Florida is based upon extensive research and analysis during the fall of 2003. After examining several alternative policies, Goldsmith recommends that Florida should concentrate on prevention of government over-regulation to ensure that the private schools feel comfortable in participating in state-funded voucher programs.

Project CHILD (Changing How Instruction for Learning is Delivered) is a research-based teaching and learning system for grades K-5. The emphasis is on reading, writing, and mathematics. Science and social studies topics are incorporated throughout.

Marriage is a protective factor for health across a wide variety of areas.   This study found: Married people live longer than their unmarried counterparts; When men get married, they rate their health better than they did before they got married or following divorce; Marriage may influence health by changing the way we behave and treat ourselves.  Marriage appears to bring some healthier behaviors although it also appears to promote a more sedentary lifestyle; Marriage affects the way we interface with the health care system; In terms of mental health, marriage reduces depression in both men and women; Marriage and health also intersect in the lives of our children as they grow into adults. This is an area that is particularly important to me. 

 

Research from The Effects of School Choice on the Edgewood Independent School District indicates that: (1) students benefit academically from school choice; (2) students who avail themselves of school choice have the same academic and socio-economic characteristics as those students who stay in government schools; (3) parents are more satisfied with schools they choose; and (4) choice does not harm, financially or otherwise, the government schools that lose students to choice.

Use of Logic Models in Healthy Marriage Programs

Use of Logic Models to Moniter & Refine HM Projects