The Indianapolis Star is running a special section on the state of children in our city. Check it out, stay informed, and contact MCCOY if you want to learn more and help create some solutions for the big obstacles facing our city's children.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
VIDEO CONTEST
The Every Child Matters Education Fund is sponsoring a video contest. Be creative and film a 30-second video that answers the question, "Why Should the Government Invest in Kids?" Deadline for entries is August 16th and first prize is $750.
Photo by: Ananta Bhadra Lamichhane
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
EIP Provider Fair- Door Prize Winners!!
On June 15, 2010, MCCOY’s EIP team hosted the first annual EIP Provider Fair, launched the strategic plan Early Intervention and Prevention: Building a Foundation for Family and Community Success and issued a call to action for service providers, concerned citizens, community members and service recipients to assist in implementing the plan.
The Provider Fair’s creative “speed-dating” format enabled 32 exhibiting agencies to share information on their services with 156 attendees from 102 organizations that serve youth and families in Marion County. The traditional exhibit model has attendees walk past booth after booth to collect brochures and “goodies” but does not provide the best opportunities for conversations that may lead to new collaborations. The EIP Provider Fair capitalized on a speed-dating format to give each attendee time (during three-minute rounds) to hear about every exhibitor’s mission, services, locations, referral process and other useful information.
MCCOY hopes the non-traditional event will lead to new partnerships and collaborations, increased referrals and improved capacity to serve children and families in Marion County.
Download the full report to learn more
Congratulations to EIP Provider Fair Door Prize Winners:
• Tory Masters- MCCOY Learning Network workshop gift certificate
• Nancy Baranyk- Indy Fit gift certificate package
• Susan Wakefield- Wal-Mart gift card ($25)
• Amanda Reuter- Free admission to the annual Indiana Youth Institute (IYI) Kids Count conference in December ($150)
• Bob Cole- 8 hours of writing, editing or research fundraising services from Emily Chew-Pelaez
• Brian Ellis- Indy Fit gift certificate package
• Lisa Harvey- Kroger gift card ($25)
• Sharon Jones- 15-minute chair massages for you and up to 10 of your staff members or volunteers from Emily Chew-Pelaez- Lifetime Fitness
• Barry Stewart- Basic custom website development services by Ben Berg of BB Freelancing
• Karina Anderson- Email marketing subscription- estimated annual value of free email marketing subscription (up to 10,000 email addresses) sponsored by MCCOY
• Kimberly Washington- Indy Fit gift certificate package
• Tyrone Humphrey- Free admission to the annual Indiana Youth Institute (IYI) Kids Count conference in December ($150)
If you have not already claimed your prize please contact Shanna Malott at shanna.malott@mccoyouth.org or 317-921-1233.
The Provider Fair’s creative “speed-dating” format enabled 32 exhibiting agencies to share information on their services with 156 attendees from 102 organizations that serve youth and families in Marion County. The traditional exhibit model has attendees walk past booth after booth to collect brochures and “goodies” but does not provide the best opportunities for conversations that may lead to new collaborations. The EIP Provider Fair capitalized on a speed-dating format to give each attendee time (during three-minute rounds) to hear about every exhibitor’s mission, services, locations, referral process and other useful information.
MCCOY hopes the non-traditional event will lead to new partnerships and collaborations, increased referrals and improved capacity to serve children and families in Marion County.
Download the full report to learn more
Congratulations to EIP Provider Fair Door Prize Winners:
• Tory Masters- MCCOY Learning Network workshop gift certificate
• Nancy Baranyk- Indy Fit gift certificate package
• Susan Wakefield- Wal-Mart gift card ($25)
• Amanda Reuter- Free admission to the annual Indiana Youth Institute (IYI) Kids Count conference in December ($150)
• Bob Cole- 8 hours of writing, editing or research fundraising services from Emily Chew-Pelaez
• Brian Ellis- Indy Fit gift certificate package
• Lisa Harvey- Kroger gift card ($25)
• Sharon Jones- 15-minute chair massages for you and up to 10 of your staff members or volunteers from Emily Chew-Pelaez- Lifetime Fitness
• Barry Stewart- Basic custom website development services by Ben Berg of BB Freelancing
• Karina Anderson- Email marketing subscription- estimated annual value of free email marketing subscription (up to 10,000 email addresses) sponsored by MCCOY
• Kimberly Washington- Indy Fit gift certificate package
• Tyrone Humphrey- Free admission to the annual Indiana Youth Institute (IYI) Kids Count conference in December ($150)
If you have not already claimed your prize please contact Shanna Malott at shanna.malott@mccoyouth.org or 317-921-1233.
Everyone is an advocate
MCCOY recently surveyed its constituents to find out what they think are the most pressing issues around youth and positive youth development and where MCCOY has the best opportunities to make a difference. One of the strongest messages we received from this survey is the need for MCCOY to take a more active role in advocacy.
"Advocacy" has a certain mystique among many nonprofits and many people are not clear on what exactly it entails. Some may equate advocacy with high-paid lobbyists wining and dining legislators on Capitol Hill. Others have a sense that the IRS forbids nonprofits from engaging in any advocacy under penalty of losing their charitable status (this is a misconception that nonetheless carries a lot of weight in the nonprofit sector). Some of us understand the potential impact of grassroots advocacy but aren't sure how to do it or think it's better left to "experts." But the truth is that as long as we focus on the issues without trying to get a specific piece of legislation passed or candidate elected (or rejected), there is no limit of the amount of advocacy each of us can do. The voices of the people who directly serve youth -- and of the youth themselves -- are the most powerful and effective advocacy tools that we can ever find.
We all agree that youth and the agencies that serve them need someone to advocate on their behalf, and MCCOY is certainly well suited for this role, especially after we recently brought on board a talented staff member (Mindi Goodpaster) to ramp up our advocacy efforts. However, one of our key objectives is to work with local youth-serving agencies and others who are passionate about positive youth development to empower them to advocate for youth themselves (this also dovetails with one of our ten strategies for the Early Intervention and Prevention Initiative). We will be developing our action plan and reaching out to our allies as we ramp up our advocacy work in the weeks to come, so stay tuned and find out how to get involved!
"Advocacy" has a certain mystique among many nonprofits and many people are not clear on what exactly it entails. Some may equate advocacy with high-paid lobbyists wining and dining legislators on Capitol Hill. Others have a sense that the IRS forbids nonprofits from engaging in any advocacy under penalty of losing their charitable status (this is a misconception that nonetheless carries a lot of weight in the nonprofit sector). Some of us understand the potential impact of grassroots advocacy but aren't sure how to do it or think it's better left to "experts." But the truth is that as long as we focus on the issues without trying to get a specific piece of legislation passed or candidate elected (or rejected), there is no limit of the amount of advocacy each of us can do. The voices of the people who directly serve youth -- and of the youth themselves -- are the most powerful and effective advocacy tools that we can ever find.
We all agree that youth and the agencies that serve them need someone to advocate on their behalf, and MCCOY is certainly well suited for this role, especially after we recently brought on board a talented staff member (Mindi Goodpaster) to ramp up our advocacy efforts. However, one of our key objectives is to work with local youth-serving agencies and others who are passionate about positive youth development to empower them to advocate for youth themselves (this also dovetails with one of our ten strategies for the Early Intervention and Prevention Initiative). We will be developing our action plan and reaching out to our allies as we ramp up our advocacy work in the weeks to come, so stay tuned and find out how to get involved!
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