Building...

My work falls nicely into three categories: organizational management, fundraising, and program design. I spend my hours either addressing these issues, or learning how I can address them more effectively. This week, we've had exciting events in all three categories.

On Monday, I spent several hours in Kelly Emminger's classroom at King Elementary School in Southeast Washington DC. Recently, with the guidance of Alana McDonough, a classmate from Harvard's Graduate School of Education, I have read several major reports on literacy research and instruction. Visiting Kelly's class was an incredible opportunity to see research put into practice. She is an excellent teacher, and she effectively addresses every aspect of literacy instruction to create a comprehensive literacy program for her students. The students benefit from her instruction every day, but on Monday, I was lucky enough to benefit as well.

I also received word this week that I'll be meeting with Ellen Malcolm, Founder of Emily's List. Ellen has extensive experience raising money for political campaigns, and I think she will be helpful in developing Reach's capacity to form a true coalition of supporters.  She's been incredibly successful.  Specifically, she works for a cause that she feels deep in her soul. I'm hoping she can help me answer the question, "why should I care?" Sometimes it's hard to step back far enough to provide an adequate answer when my work is such a part of me. I really am looking forward to her assistance in addressing this significant issue of organizational development and management.

Finally, Reach received our largest single-year pledge to date last night. Jen and Chris Myers have indicated their plans to donate $3,000 to Reach's launch efforts. Jen is a high school classmate of mine, and her husband, Chris, wears #55 for the Houston Texans. We are hugely appreciative of their generosity as we continue to move closer to our 2009 fundraising goals!

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Founder and President - Reach, Inc.

The Intersection of Research and Practice.

On Friday night, I had the opportunity to speak at a fundraiser thrown by Julie O'Sullivan and Naomi Mezey, two law professors at Georgetown University Law Center. I always enjoy getting to explain Reach. Like most strong ideas, it tends to make sense when people hear the plan. Watching heads nod is always a great reminder that we're onto something good. The first statement made when I finished answering questions from those assembled was the following: "I want you to know that I came here with a number in mind, but after hearing that, I'm giving four times what I thought I would." 

As I continue to learn more and more about the available literacy research, it's been extremely encouraging to see how beautifully our model puts the pieces together. The strength of our model is  most succinctly explained through two major papers - Putting Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read (Reading First) and Reading Next: A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy (Reading Next). 

In Reading First, we are taught to focus on the explicit instruction of five major areas: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. Reading Next outlines nine instructional improvements and six infrastructure improvements necessary for improvements in literacy instruction at the secondary level.

Instructional Improvements: 

1. Direct, explicit comprehension instruction 

2. Effective instructional principles embedded in content 

3. Motivation and self-directed learning 

4. Text-based collaborative learning 

5. Strategic tutoring 

6. Diverse texts 

7. Intensive writing 

8. A technology component 

9. Ongoing formative assessment of students 

Infrastructure Improvements:

10. Extended time for literacy 

11. Professional development 

12. Ongoing summative assessment of students and programs 

13. Teacher teams 

14. Leadership 

15. A comprehensive and coordinated literacy program

The items in bold above are those directly addressed, at this time, through Reach's innovative model. Through this unique, supported tutoring relationship, we are addressing the concrete literacy needs of elementary school students while simultaneously catering to the more social learning style of adolescent learners. Reach truly is a model built from the available research about literacy instruction. The woman who was moved to increase her donation four-fold on Friday night was surely convinced!

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Founder and President - Reach, Inc.

A Moment to Reflect.

I, like others, learn from failures. That certainly doesn't make failing any more enjoyable. Tomorrow, I won't get paid. This will be the first time that this has happened since Reach was founded. Most likely, payroll will just be delayed by a week or so, but that doesn't make it feel any better as an entrepreneur. So, I'm forced to ask a question: how do I do better? And, a connected question, how can I find others that can help me be better?

1) In some ways, I've sacrificed the short-term to develop necessary relationships that will serve Reach in the long-term. In the coming weeks, I'll have to be more creative in the ways that we seek funds. Does your school offer "dress down days" that could benefit Reach? Can we throw some quick bar benefits? Does your company give to charity around the holidays? In my efforts to think about grants, signature events, and major donors, I forgot that I need a stable income as well. To make that happen, I need to be more creative, more strategic, and more willing to explore opportunities for immediate income.

2) I also have to more successfully make people understand the value of this idea. While so many that know me support Reach because of my association with it, it's also important that I make a convincing argument about the concept. Reach is about producing a new generation of Untouchables. We will take those kids that have been failed by the current system and systematically demonstrate their ability to achieve beyond what was previously considered possible. At the 2009 Harvard Educational Enterprise Innovation Competition, one of the judges told me he thought of Reach's model as a form of disruptive innovation. While it was high praise, I think he's right. We will deliver a better product, to a hard-to-reach population, at a lower cost. I must be more convincing.

3) It is absolutely imperative, in this economy, that I convince more donors to become involved. So many feel that their contribution would not be valuable. Did you know that Reach's facebook group now has 352 members? If each non-donor from that group gave $10 today, we would collect over $2,500. That's a huge deal. $10 does matter to Reach. And lots of $10 bills matter even more. How do I get more people to send that $10 to Reach?

Additionally, I've started to get some questions that might be worth tackling on the blog. In the coming weeks, I hope to give a better idea of what this process has really been like for me, how the idea continues to evolve, and where I see Reach going in the future. I have confidence that these small failures will help me to make Reach stronger than ever. I appreciate your well wishes and support as we continue to navigate the start-up journey.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Founder and President - Reach, Inc.

Learning to Write...

On October 30th, Reach will submit its first major grant to The Junior League of Washington. Through this process, I learned an important lesson: I don't know how to write grants. Fortunately, this week, I received the assistance of Sarah Cortes, a talented grant-writer from Eastern University. After receiving some substantive (and somewhat demoralizing) edits, I'm working again to make the proposal as strong as possible, though it's not easy to fit three years of work into five pages.

That being said, I'm tired of writing, so three things of note:

• I changed our tax structure this morning and saved (legally) $200 a quarter.
• I got a phone call this morning from an alumnus of my high school who is willing to sit down with me to talk about Reach. I think this could be helpful in building our DC network.
• We have a cocktail fundraiser on Friday, and given the recent fundraising difficulties, I'm feeling a lot of pressure to make every attendee fall in love with Reach.  

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Founder and President - Reach, Inc.

Things.

1) I need to come up with about $1,500 by Wednesday to make payroll next Friday. I'm pretty confident at this point that it won't happen. I'm okay with this, because...

2) We're positioned well for the months to come.  I have about $3,000 in uncollected pledges. We have a private cocktail party fundraiser next Friday, which I believe will lead to some donations. We also have applications in for funds from two organizations: Charles River Associates and The Build-A-Bear Foundation.

3) We're also in the process of scheduling another private fundraiser (a dinner) and completing applications for funds from The Junior League of Washington and The Crowell & Moring Foundation.

4) Sometimes I get concerned that too much of my time is spent dealing with funding issues.  It's a necessary evil, as I was once told, "good ideas without resources are simply fantasies."  However, when I get concerned that I'm spending too much time fundraising, I need only look at today's to-do list (above). There's plenty of programmatic work on my plate as well.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Founder and President - Reach, Inc. 

What holiday?

DC is asleep today. Since it's a federal holiday, things slow down tremendously. Much of my job involves communication with others, so holidays provide a nice opportunity for me to do some sustained work on my own, without interruptions.

Two interesting firsts this week that I thought I could share on this slow day:

1) This was the first week that I've ever gotten unsolicited offers of help from strangers.  After last week's profile of Harvard's Ed School website, I received a resume from another graduate of Harvard's Graduate School of Education.  He has some experience in teaching literacy to students with learning challenges, which I'm sure will be helpful. Additionally, a complete stranger got in touch with me to offer free literacy curricula that he has developed for use in schools. Both of these were welcome gestures. I will have to think about how to best utilize these generous gestures.

2) The second was a humorous and much appreciated show of concern from a friend's mother (forwarded by my friend):

I was reading the REACH blog. Makes me worried for your friend, Mark. He should not be waking up with chest pains every day. Does he have family or anybody around to help him out? Makes me question whether we should send $ to support REACH or just send him a few Trader Joe's gift cards every so often so that he is sure to eat. 

Those of you that read my last blog post understand the reference.  I have three responses to the post.  First, when I'm anxious, I do feel it physically, maybe more than others, but I'm learning to remind myself to breathe.  Second, donations to Reach are always appreciated! And finally, third, I am not in danger of starving any time soon.

It's fun to see our network grow as all of these people have shown some interest in Reach, Inc., and I've yet to meet any of them!

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Founder and President - Reach, Inc.

** For those of you that are still reading by going to www.reachincorporated.blogspot.com, you should know that this blog is now available on our main website at www.reachincorporated.org/blog.html.

They Told Me So...

I sat in Professor Jim Honan's Financial Management class last spring. I listened to him as he talked to us about cash flow issues.  Part of me thought it was just an issue of planning.  If you didn't have cash on hand, then you hadn't planned very well.  Currently, I find myself happy with our fundraising progress.  We have a couple donors in place.  We have some pledges in the coming months.  We even have a couple of events planned.  I'm confident we'll get to our 2009 goal of $50,000.  But, currently, our bank account is empty.  I'm set for tomorrow, but I have nothing today. I've accepted that I won't get paid on October 23rd unless something magical happens. It turns out that cash flow problems are real.  Professor Honan, I apologize for my cynicism. 

In good news, we got some press.  We've also had some great meetings this week that will help us build a wider base of supporters. Sometimes it's important to look outside the education world to find people that care about education. It's an exciting process, and I'm thrilled with our continued progress, but the daily battles continue.  In many ways, this is like another year of graduate school. 

Honestly, it's all worth it.  I wake up stressed every morning. I experience tightness in my chest on a regular basis.  Sometimes, I need to remind myself to breath. But, in the end, I'm happy with what I'm doing.  What we're doing is necessary and important, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Founder and President - Reach, Inc.

Looking Back at $20,000

As a graduate student planning to start a nonprofit, creating Reach's first budget was somewhat intimidating.  To think about spending $50,000 during 2009, I had to think about raising that money.  Having never done significant development work before, I had no idea how difficult this task would be.  While the current economy presents known challenges, we have still had some success.  During this week, we moved beyond $20,000 in collected funds.  When pledged funds are included, we have raised almost $25,000.  In the coming weeks, we will move past the halfway point to our 2009 goal.  While this is an exciting accomplishment, it also makes clear that there is a long way to go.

Additionally, 2010 bring its own exciting challenges.  As we begin to approach funders about our plans for the future, we have had to complete a budget for 2010.  While 2009 was a year for planning on a shoestring budget, 2010 will involve program launch, the publication of training materials, the purchase of curricular materials, and the hiring of our first contract teachers.  There is a great amount of excitement surrounding all of these firsts, but they also involve significant expenses for Reach, Inc. During 2010, our budget grows to $150,000, which of course means that we will have to raise $150,000.  Despite the intimidation inherent in setting such goals, I know that we'll get there.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Founder and President - Reach, Inc.

First Grade, Funding, and Friendraising...

I got to go back to first grade this week.  One of my goals for the year is to observe a lot of high quality literacy instruction.  As many of you know, I've always worked with teens, so elementary schools are new to me.  Ms. Sheehy and her first grade class at Hyde Elementary School (not our future pilot site) were very welcoming as I sat in on their Reading Workshop on Tuesday morning.  Each time I spend time in an elementary school classroom, I feel like I learn more about the work our tutors will be doing next year.  I was very appreciative to Ms. Sheehy and Principal Dana Nerenberg for giving me the opportunity to observe.

During the last week, Reach also submitted our first two applications for corporate/foundation funding.  Neither of these were necessarily planned in advance, but the opportunities presented themselves, so we pounced.  In one instance, Raj Darolia recommended that Reach be considered for the corporate giving program at Charles River Associates, his employer.  In the other, Megan Aghazadian let us know about funding available through the Build-A-Bear Workshop Bear Hugs Foundation. In both cases, we were hugely appreciative that these individuals thought of Reach, and we were able to meet the necessary deadlines despite the timing.  In the next month, we have some additional applications to complete as our work to secure funding for both 2009 and 2010 continues.

Finally, we continue to work to build our network in DC and beyond.  On Sunday, I had the opportunity to sit with Laura Kind McKenna, a trustee with the Patricia Kind Family Foundation.  We had the opportunity to speak about both program design and grant seeking.  She was also very helpful in brainstorming about possible connections in the DC area on which I could build.  Additionally, two Georgetown Law professors, Julie O'Sullivan and Naomi Mezey, have teamed up to help Reach as well.  They will be hosting a cocktail party at which I will be given the opportunity to talk about Reach, Inc. with their friends.  We hope to continue building on these connections to create a more complete support base in The District.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Founder and President - Reach, Inc.