It'a a Wrap: Today was the last day for implementation.Calling me from downstairs and hands on her wait, I heard the echo my lovely and adorable lil' sis Lupita yelling " Jesse, you better hurray!" Out the door, we hussled to Castro to help setup! We ended up getting there around 6:30am.
Balloons: Whoever thought of the concept of Balloons, should truely win a humanitarian award. They make everything lively! Per Jeanine I was asked to help Felipe tie balloons around the walk site. To much delight the sky blue balloons picketed around the walk area gave a celebratory yet corral setup to walk.
Feature on Channel 4 News: To further cast our message of Trotting Thursdays, Channel 4 News was invited to capture students taking "baby steps to better health." Hence the pin up of baby blue and posters charting a course of replacing a cookie with an apple.
7:25am: Lupita has been there through thick and thin. She is the other teammate. From project 1 she has been in and out of meetings, kicking off projects, posting flyers around metro and sometimes keeping me, her bro on task. :) Knowing that she needed to be at school at 7:45am, she kept my phone in her pocket to remind me when it was getting close to 7:25am. The time we were going to leave.
Bro as I am often called, its 7:20am. We gotta go! Knowing that I wouldn't be back to help out with the remainder of the festivities, Lupita and I headed to my my silver Honda to take her to school. (The bell rings at 7:45am) She is my little sister and I love her lots! She keeps me in line and she's my buddy. Her aspirations.... I'm gonna be a fashion designer!
The Final Hours Until Presentation: This project has definately been different from all others. We have done the majority of our planning via email and brief check-ins. Being a regular communicator, this is new to me. But, everyone has there shot to be Team Lead. As the final hours pass until tomorrow's presentation. I will be preparing my portion of the presentation by outlining a sustainability plan for Live Well Westwood. My prior experience working for an elementary schools gives me some insight on what to include and I think its going to be a big help!
The Board Room: If you are reading this and have not purchased a ticket to the boardroom please do! We need all the support we can and If you so happen to wear a t-shirt with Team Martinez on...Thank you!. All I have to say is it has been an exciting time and I hope you can come join us and see all the hard work we put into our projects! I am glad and honored to be a part of the Apprentice and represent Metro State!
Good Luck to My Peers: Its been fun!
Want to know what happens tomorrow and what the judges say... just wait!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
What happens when we're gone?
It takes a village... What I most admire about organizations making a difference in the lives of kids is that in every effort they mobilize the entire community to allow kids the opportunity to dream big. That after every brainstorm they take on inevitable to remove barriers and daily struggles so that hope no longer exists and the stars are no longer out of reach but the possibilities are endless.
This is what its all about: After graduating from high school a few years back (my friends would say add more years!) I decided to volunteer as an AmeriCorps VISTA member (like Peace Corps for US) for my local school district, Mesa County Valley School District #51.
In doing so I was in charge of integrating service-learning in seven schools, ranging from elementary to high school. During my year of service and only making $800 a month, I realized that it really does take a village to raise a child. Getting the community involved to take learning outside the school, we applied school lessons to community service projects in the community by integrating service with academic standards. Towards the end of my 1st year of service I worked with three main schools as a site coordinator. I had the opportunity to work with an amazing woman at Dos Rios Elementary named Sarah Hutchinson. Still trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and what to study in college, she encouraged me to work with her for another year of service as an AmeriCorps member but solely at Dos Rios.
I took her offer and devoted my time to the Dos Rios Elementary Family Resource Center where she mentored me. I learned so much from her and she believed in me. We were two peas in a pod. We both were visionaries and believers that nothing is impossible. I give much credit to my life mentor Sarah for believing in me. She entrusted me to oversee the student youth council, assist in the planning and coordination of the Family Resource Center (FRC) and developing an After School program. The funniest thing is that I used to go to this elementary school and the principal that I had, Mr.Phillips was still there. He too believed in me and assigned the task of developing the school's after school program simply by his trust.
With 70% of the students having Free or Reduced Lunch, the mission of the FRC was modeled after Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Provide basic needs from tooth brushing, a change of clothing, to offering a safe place for children to talk. By focusing on basic needs, the child was able to focus on learning rather than being sick or shoes with holes in them.
This was my beginning: This is where I began my commitment to service. And my journey and experience comes full circle with being able to help out with project 4. But, I will always have a special place for Sarah who I will always call my boss and Mr. Phillips who trusted me.
What happens when we're gone? Even though our projects only last 3 weeks, I chose to make a lasting impact by compiling the team's sustainability plan. So that when we leave Castro, Knapp and Monroe Elementary that we can provide recommendations and the framework for Live Well Westwood to begin a walking and healthy living program in partnership with these schools.
From kids, parents, teachers, principals and the community: It takes a village. And I am glad to help build community so that one child can dream big!
This is what its all about: After graduating from high school a few years back (my friends would say add more years!) I decided to volunteer as an AmeriCorps VISTA member (like Peace Corps for US) for my local school district, Mesa County Valley School District #51.
In doing so I was in charge of integrating service-learning in seven schools, ranging from elementary to high school. During my year of service and only making $800 a month, I realized that it really does take a village to raise a child. Getting the community involved to take learning outside the school, we applied school lessons to community service projects in the community by integrating service with academic standards. Towards the end of my 1st year of service I worked with three main schools as a site coordinator. I had the opportunity to work with an amazing woman at Dos Rios Elementary named Sarah Hutchinson. Still trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and what to study in college, she encouraged me to work with her for another year of service as an AmeriCorps member but solely at Dos Rios.
I took her offer and devoted my time to the Dos Rios Elementary Family Resource Center where she mentored me. I learned so much from her and she believed in me. We were two peas in a pod. We both were visionaries and believers that nothing is impossible. I give much credit to my life mentor Sarah for believing in me. She entrusted me to oversee the student youth council, assist in the planning and coordination of the Family Resource Center (FRC) and developing an After School program. The funniest thing is that I used to go to this elementary school and the principal that I had, Mr.Phillips was still there. He too believed in me and assigned the task of developing the school's after school program simply by his trust.
With 70% of the students having Free or Reduced Lunch, the mission of the FRC was modeled after Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Provide basic needs from tooth brushing, a change of clothing, to offering a safe place for children to talk. By focusing on basic needs, the child was able to focus on learning rather than being sick or shoes with holes in them.
This was my beginning: This is where I began my commitment to service. And my journey and experience comes full circle with being able to help out with project 4. But, I will always have a special place for Sarah who I will always call my boss and Mr. Phillips who trusted me.
What happens when we're gone? Even though our projects only last 3 weeks, I chose to make a lasting impact by compiling the team's sustainability plan. So that when we leave Castro, Knapp and Monroe Elementary that we can provide recommendations and the framework for Live Well Westwood to begin a walking and healthy living program in partnership with these schools.
From kids, parents, teachers, principals and the community: It takes a village. And I am glad to help build community so that one child can dream big!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Project 4: We're coming to an end!
Live Well Colorado: Last Friday we kicked off project 4, where we will be working with Live Well Westwood and Kaiser to promote Walking Wednesdays at three elementary schools in Westwood.
The Reason: Did you know by 2017 that 2 out of 3 Coloradoans will be obese.
Teach them when they are Young: Our project will entail working with 3 elementary schools in Westwood promoting Live Well Westwood or Viva Bien Westwood's Walking Wednesdays!
Stopping Obesity: Starting with kids, we are promoting health living choices while keeping them active. That's why we will be pushing kids to put on their kicks (shoes) and walk to school.
But... There is a big parental concern for safe neighborhoods. So our task is much more than kids walking to school. How do we mobilize parents and the community to make their community safe for kids and families?
Up Next... This is our mission. Even though this is our last, this is our task at hand. We are eager to make a lasting impression and promote Living Well in Westwood.
Join Live Well Colorado: Join www.livewellcolorado.com and learn about what healthy activities are going on in your community.
Stay tuned... and learn about our Hussle (Our Strategy)... Signing Off Folks!
Thanks for reading! J. Martinez
The Reason: Did you know by 2017 that 2 out of 3 Coloradoans will be obese.
Teach them when they are Young: Our project will entail working with 3 elementary schools in Westwood promoting Live Well Westwood or Viva Bien Westwood's Walking Wednesdays!
Stopping Obesity: Starting with kids, we are promoting health living choices while keeping them active. That's why we will be pushing kids to put on their kicks (shoes) and walk to school.
But... There is a big parental concern for safe neighborhoods. So our task is much more than kids walking to school. How do we mobilize parents and the community to make their community safe for kids and families?
Up Next... This is our mission. Even though this is our last, this is our task at hand. We are eager to make a lasting impression and promote Living Well in Westwood.
Join Live Well Colorado: Join www.livewellcolorado.com and learn about what healthy activities are going on in your community.
Stay tuned... and learn about our Hussle (Our Strategy)... Signing Off Folks!
Thanks for reading! J. Martinez
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Our Strategy!
Flooding the Market: Our strategy:
1.) Blanket Marketing: Create a new message that would be tailored to this population through postcards mailings that would marketing tools that would drive consumers to different communication outlets like text message "myhome" and your zip code to 313131 to find your local housing counseling agency and online chats, where consumers could log on to an online chat to have a confidential outlet to communicate and ask questions about foreclosure.
The new message: You are the Key
2.) Partner Advertising: Partner with businesses and organizations that are also being affected by foreclosure. For instance, partner with insurance companies, utility companies (water, cable, electricity) to include the marketing material in billing or add the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline to their billing statements.
3.) Segmentation Marketing: Because there are companies wanting to make profit from people who are in foreclosure. Some for-profit businesses are pulling credit report mailing lists for every one who has missed one mortagage payment or more... 6 to 8 months before any NED is being filed.
Due to this, we thought it would be wise to compete right along these companies to push our message of "You are the Key" and Free housing counseling services. We have heard stories of lawyers and foreclosure businesses making consumers pay them $900 tbho $3000 to help them get out of foreclosure.
That is why would would like to do the same and pull credit report mailing lists for missed mortgage payments to educate consumers about Free Foreclosure assistance rather than paying $3000 or more for foreclosure help!
Campaign or Targeted: Our marketing strategy can be used a both a monthly campaign or a targeted strategy for marketing specific populations.
As a campaign you can market using partner businesses to advertise and create a foreclosure month that would educate the community and bring awareness to the community. We called it Foreclosure February.
Spring Break: And then there was spring break. We all did take a break from the project, but we were losing time so we planned to meet on Thursday after we had met that prior tuesday with the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline.
But... it snowed like crazy with wind blowing...Blizzard 2009 or it felt like it. So we ended up meeting the next day. Cleaning our cars off toppled with snow.
Meetings, meetings, meetings: Even though this was our plan. It took us till the next meeting to finalize our marketing strategy.
Staying up late: Just 2 days later... we were finalizing our powerpoint presentation and refining everyones tasks for the presentation. We ended up staying up till 12:30am to get things finished.
Wakey, Wakey Eggs and Bacy: I went to bed at 1:30am and decided to meet up with Felipe at 7:00am to print off the powerpoint presentation. I woke up at 6:45am and ended up arrriving at the school by 7:30.
Printing: Felipe has told me since project 2 that we can use his printing account through MSCD to print off anything we needed. Well thinking he still had money in his account I awaited to make a few copies of our powerpoint. But, he said he was out of money because he was printing off his marketing plan that was going to be included in the judge's packets.
Oh No!: Luckily, I have an emergency stash of coinage in my backpack for worst case senarios. From parking cash to the purchase of scantrons. Although, the machine that replenishes your printing account only takes dollar bills. Felipe asked people in the computer lab if they had dollars for exchange. They did and we hussled to print off the powerpoint presentation.
The Presentation: Awaiting our time to speak, we forgot to hand out the judges packets until the time I spoke. Which was 5 slides into the presentation. It was kinda of funny but embarassing. I started with "Well, now that you have your packets, were on slide 6" everyone laughed, but it still seemed a little awkward. :)
The Finish: As Chantay spoke on the last slide, we were in relief that we had finished.
The Judging: The deliberation. We wait and the judges come back to ask us a number of questions. This had to be one of the longest Q & A session we have had in any of our project presentations. They were good questions but some of them were hard to answer. But, we gave a go and hoped we made a good argument.
The Results: We had a lot of great feedback. Even though this was by far the largest judging panel we had. They gave us some really good feedback that helped us in future projects and presentations. You'll have to see at our Boardroom!
The Reward: A One-night stay at the Curtis Hotel with Dinner at The Office and theater tickets to watch " A prayer by Owen"
What a Great Reward!: Everyone was able to attend from the team and enjoyed a relaxing and fun reward. We checked in by 5:30 at the Curtis Hotel and headed to dinner. Getting our food we enjoyed eachothers company. Walking to the theater, I was excited to see my first play in Denver.
The play was long... But amazing. If you have time to kill and want to go to a great play. Go watch a "Prayer for Owen." It's just great to see people act right in front of you with a setting of improvization.
The Comfy Bed: Wrapping up the rainy cold night, I headed to my room to jump into my PJs and sleep in my comfy bed! What a awesome day. From presenation to my one night stay in the Curtis Hotel!
Up Next: Project 4 Revealed...
1.) Blanket Marketing: Create a new message that would be tailored to this population through postcards mailings that would marketing tools that would drive consumers to different communication outlets like text message "myhome" and your zip code to 313131 to find your local housing counseling agency and online chats, where consumers could log on to an online chat to have a confidential outlet to communicate and ask questions about foreclosure.
The new message: You are the Key
2.) Partner Advertising: Partner with businesses and organizations that are also being affected by foreclosure. For instance, partner with insurance companies, utility companies (water, cable, electricity) to include the marketing material in billing or add the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline to their billing statements.
3.) Segmentation Marketing: Because there are companies wanting to make profit from people who are in foreclosure. Some for-profit businesses are pulling credit report mailing lists for every one who has missed one mortagage payment or more... 6 to 8 months before any NED is being filed.
Due to this, we thought it would be wise to compete right along these companies to push our message of "You are the Key" and Free housing counseling services. We have heard stories of lawyers and foreclosure businesses making consumers pay them $900 tbho $3000 to help them get out of foreclosure.
That is why would would like to do the same and pull credit report mailing lists for missed mortgage payments to educate consumers about Free Foreclosure assistance rather than paying $3000 or more for foreclosure help!
Campaign or Targeted: Our marketing strategy can be used a both a monthly campaign or a targeted strategy for marketing specific populations.
As a campaign you can market using partner businesses to advertise and create a foreclosure month that would educate the community and bring awareness to the community. We called it Foreclosure February.
Spring Break: And then there was spring break. We all did take a break from the project, but we were losing time so we planned to meet on Thursday after we had met that prior tuesday with the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline.
But... it snowed like crazy with wind blowing...Blizzard 2009 or it felt like it. So we ended up meeting the next day. Cleaning our cars off toppled with snow.
Meetings, meetings, meetings: Even though this was our plan. It took us till the next meeting to finalize our marketing strategy.
Staying up late: Just 2 days later... we were finalizing our powerpoint presentation and refining everyones tasks for the presentation. We ended up staying up till 12:30am to get things finished.
Wakey, Wakey Eggs and Bacy: I went to bed at 1:30am and decided to meet up with Felipe at 7:00am to print off the powerpoint presentation. I woke up at 6:45am and ended up arrriving at the school by 7:30.
Printing: Felipe has told me since project 2 that we can use his printing account through MSCD to print off anything we needed. Well thinking he still had money in his account I awaited to make a few copies of our powerpoint. But, he said he was out of money because he was printing off his marketing plan that was going to be included in the judge's packets.
Oh No!: Luckily, I have an emergency stash of coinage in my backpack for worst case senarios. From parking cash to the purchase of scantrons. Although, the machine that replenishes your printing account only takes dollar bills. Felipe asked people in the computer lab if they had dollars for exchange. They did and we hussled to print off the powerpoint presentation.
The Presentation: Awaiting our time to speak, we forgot to hand out the judges packets until the time I spoke. Which was 5 slides into the presentation. It was kinda of funny but embarassing. I started with "Well, now that you have your packets, were on slide 6" everyone laughed, but it still seemed a little awkward. :)
The Finish: As Chantay spoke on the last slide, we were in relief that we had finished.
The Judging: The deliberation. We wait and the judges come back to ask us a number of questions. This had to be one of the longest Q & A session we have had in any of our project presentations. They were good questions but some of them were hard to answer. But, we gave a go and hoped we made a good argument.
The Results: We had a lot of great feedback. Even though this was by far the largest judging panel we had. They gave us some really good feedback that helped us in future projects and presentations. You'll have to see at our Boardroom!
The Reward: A One-night stay at the Curtis Hotel with Dinner at The Office and theater tickets to watch " A prayer by Owen"
What a Great Reward!: Everyone was able to attend from the team and enjoyed a relaxing and fun reward. We checked in by 5:30 at the Curtis Hotel and headed to dinner. Getting our food we enjoyed eachothers company. Walking to the theater, I was excited to see my first play in Denver.
The play was long... But amazing. If you have time to kill and want to go to a great play. Go watch a "Prayer for Owen." It's just great to see people act right in front of you with a setting of improvization.
The Comfy Bed: Wrapping up the rainy cold night, I headed to my room to jump into my PJs and sleep in my comfy bed! What a awesome day. From presenation to my one night stay in the Curtis Hotel!
Up Next: Project 4 Revealed...
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Project Three: Foreclosure
What is project 3: Working with the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) we were set out to create a marketing strategy that would target two zip codes (80134 & 80138) in Parker.
The Reason: Foreclosure. CHFA identified these two zip codes as areas with low call volume to the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline and an area with high NED homes.
Terms of Foreclosure: (NED) is "Notice of Election and Demand." The notice that is filed with the public trustee placing a home into foreclosure.
Time Frame: It can take up to 6-8 months for a homeowner to be placed into foreclosure or for a Notice of Election and Demand to be placed on a home.
Loss Mitigation Counseling: Because of this time frame, it is encouraged that homeowners speak with a housing counselor to prevent foreclosure.
Foreclosure Assistance Fair: We started our project by attending a foreclosure fair in Arvada. Special Agent Banks aka Chantay was our Team Lead. After taking a detour because of the wrong address. We (Chantay, Rachel , Felipe and I ) finally arrived at the forclosure fair.
Reality: The reality of foreclosure set in as individuals and famlies attended workshops, spoke with housing counselors and picked up brochures linking services that they might potentially need in the near future.
Finding Resolve: After sitting down to speak with Brothers Redevelopment, a non-profit that assists people with housing counseling to prevent foreclosure. A woman interrupted to ask a question on the topic of foreclosure. Having a arm full of papers in her hands, she sought advice about her home. Having not missed a payment, she said its just about getting there and is there anything I can do?
Reflecting: The woman had brought all her paperwork as to seek a result or resolution of her situation. Even though events like the fair are not meant and fit to hold a actual housing counseling session, the conversation lasted about an hour and a half. Thinking about all that was said, I examined what could be done differently?
I am a functionalist: Before the Apprentice Challenge, I used to work for Foothills United Way as a program manager for the PIE program. PIE is a matched-savings program designed to match participant savings at a 4:1 ratio in order to purchase their first time home, attend college or start a small business. The goal is to help people save their way out of poverty.
One of my jobs was to write grants. Upon reviewing the data, I noticed numerous individuals joining the program but exiting the program within a few months or upon reaching theirs savings goal of $750 dollars. Why?
A further examination: New to the program I began reviewing the process of how we qualified participants from start to finish and investigating the why? After much review, I concluded that many participants joined the program especially the first time homeowner track without knowing whether they were ready to buy a home.
The Idea: Creating a readiness assessment. A readiness assessment would be combined with our application, but it would ask further questions allowing us to have snapshot of a participants lifestyle. Such questions like: Do you have transportation? Do you currenty have a monthly budget? Do you save? How long have you been at your current employement? Do you know your credit score?
Above all the goal of the readiness assessment was to gauge how ready a participant was to save each month and successfully graduate from our program. By scoring these different questions, it allowed us to determine what areas of support a participant may need to successfully complete our program and purchase a high cost asset.
Bleeding into Project 3: Using the same concept of the readiness assessment, I reflected at the Arvada fair that this system needs to be more efficent. Even though the woman who came in sought advice and the fair wasn't the right forum for a housing session. I could only imagine what a real housing counseling session maybe like, and how much time is spent in a session.
If our mission was to develop a marketing strategy, what happens then to the housing counselor... I thought? If this much time is spent in a session and we flood the two zip codes with marketing material that would make homeowners begin to start calling the hotline and the housing counselors then what happens next?
Understanding foreclosure from a Housing Counselor perspective: Learning that if our marketing strategy were to come into play and an increase call volume to the Housing Counselor would exist...how would the agency cope with this? The Douglas County Housing Partnership (DCHP) handles all of Douglas County and Parker exists in Douglas County. As of now, there is only one part-time housing counselor that handels foreclosure assistance counseling.
The Plan: Develop a uniform application that people can access via internet to register and apply for foreclosure assistance. Once a participant fills out the application and it is submitted, it will be sent via email to the housing counselor and already scored. Giving a priority listing, that would allow the housing counselor to manage their case load by already having a priority score on the application ( [1] Pre-Foreclosure counseling to [5] Immediate Foreclosure Assistance)
Our Theme: "Keep it simple for the Homeowner and the Housing Counselor." By having people fill out the application online, individuals will be able to be referred to their housing counseling agency with a full profile. Making homeowners feel that they are taking their first step in resolving their situation with a click of their mouse.
By submitting an application online, housing counselors will reduce the amount of time spent on reviewing paperwork during a session and more time finding a solution to prevent foreclosure. By receiving the application with a priority score, it will allow housing counselors to regulate its caseload and become a better advocate for the consumer in neogiating a deal with the lender. Freeing up time and ensuring a efficent process that keeps it simple for the homeowner and the housing counselor.
Up next... Our strategy for flooding the market, Meetings and our Presentation!
The Reason: Foreclosure. CHFA identified these two zip codes as areas with low call volume to the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline and an area with high NED homes.
Terms of Foreclosure: (NED) is "Notice of Election and Demand." The notice that is filed with the public trustee placing a home into foreclosure.
Time Frame: It can take up to 6-8 months for a homeowner to be placed into foreclosure or for a Notice of Election and Demand to be placed on a home.
Loss Mitigation Counseling: Because of this time frame, it is encouraged that homeowners speak with a housing counselor to prevent foreclosure.
Foreclosure Assistance Fair: We started our project by attending a foreclosure fair in Arvada. Special Agent Banks aka Chantay was our Team Lead. After taking a detour because of the wrong address. We (Chantay, Rachel , Felipe and I ) finally arrived at the forclosure fair.
Reality: The reality of foreclosure set in as individuals and famlies attended workshops, spoke with housing counselors and picked up brochures linking services that they might potentially need in the near future.
Finding Resolve: After sitting down to speak with Brothers Redevelopment, a non-profit that assists people with housing counseling to prevent foreclosure. A woman interrupted to ask a question on the topic of foreclosure. Having a arm full of papers in her hands, she sought advice about her home. Having not missed a payment, she said its just about getting there and is there anything I can do?
Reflecting: The woman had brought all her paperwork as to seek a result or resolution of her situation. Even though events like the fair are not meant and fit to hold a actual housing counseling session, the conversation lasted about an hour and a half. Thinking about all that was said, I examined what could be done differently?
I am a functionalist: Before the Apprentice Challenge, I used to work for Foothills United Way as a program manager for the PIE program. PIE is a matched-savings program designed to match participant savings at a 4:1 ratio in order to purchase their first time home, attend college or start a small business. The goal is to help people save their way out of poverty.
One of my jobs was to write grants. Upon reviewing the data, I noticed numerous individuals joining the program but exiting the program within a few months or upon reaching theirs savings goal of $750 dollars. Why?
A further examination: New to the program I began reviewing the process of how we qualified participants from start to finish and investigating the why? After much review, I concluded that many participants joined the program especially the first time homeowner track without knowing whether they were ready to buy a home.
The Idea: Creating a readiness assessment. A readiness assessment would be combined with our application, but it would ask further questions allowing us to have snapshot of a participants lifestyle. Such questions like: Do you have transportation? Do you currenty have a monthly budget? Do you save? How long have you been at your current employement? Do you know your credit score?
Above all the goal of the readiness assessment was to gauge how ready a participant was to save each month and successfully graduate from our program. By scoring these different questions, it allowed us to determine what areas of support a participant may need to successfully complete our program and purchase a high cost asset.
Bleeding into Project 3: Using the same concept of the readiness assessment, I reflected at the Arvada fair that this system needs to be more efficent. Even though the woman who came in sought advice and the fair wasn't the right forum for a housing session. I could only imagine what a real housing counseling session maybe like, and how much time is spent in a session.
If our mission was to develop a marketing strategy, what happens then to the housing counselor... I thought? If this much time is spent in a session and we flood the two zip codes with marketing material that would make homeowners begin to start calling the hotline and the housing counselors then what happens next?
Understanding foreclosure from a Housing Counselor perspective: Learning that if our marketing strategy were to come into play and an increase call volume to the Housing Counselor would exist...how would the agency cope with this? The Douglas County Housing Partnership (DCHP) handles all of Douglas County and Parker exists in Douglas County. As of now, there is only one part-time housing counselor that handels foreclosure assistance counseling.
The Plan: Develop a uniform application that people can access via internet to register and apply for foreclosure assistance. Once a participant fills out the application and it is submitted, it will be sent via email to the housing counselor and already scored. Giving a priority listing, that would allow the housing counselor to manage their case load by already having a priority score on the application ( [1] Pre-Foreclosure counseling to [5] Immediate Foreclosure Assistance)
Our Theme: "Keep it simple for the Homeowner and the Housing Counselor." By having people fill out the application online, individuals will be able to be referred to their housing counseling agency with a full profile. Making homeowners feel that they are taking their first step in resolving their situation with a click of their mouse.
By submitting an application online, housing counselors will reduce the amount of time spent on reviewing paperwork during a session and more time finding a solution to prevent foreclosure. By receiving the application with a priority score, it will allow housing counselors to regulate its caseload and become a better advocate for the consumer in neogiating a deal with the lender. Freeing up time and ensuring a efficent process that keeps it simple for the homeowner and the housing counselor.
Up next... Our strategy for flooding the market, Meetings and our Presentation!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Project Two: The Moral of the Story
Remember How I told you to remind me about being Optimistic? Well, here it goes... What I learned from this project was having a clear vision of our plan. By having a clear plan, everybody...meaning Felipe and I ... had a clear idea of how things were going to play out.
Learning from Eachother: Felipe and I worked together every step of the way. Sometimes interrupting to spit my idea out, I learned I have to listen before I speak... one idea write my thought down before I interrupt.
Ok, to the Moral: In such cases you can always be prepared, you can always have a plan. Yes, Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. But, in the end you have to remain positive and optimistic. At the Rally on March 7th as Felipe describes in his blog I was in a little panic.... Yes, I would say just a little...Don't ask Felipe though :)
But, overall Felipe was like "Come on dude, It's going to be alright. Don't worry! It's going to work." With just a little time, we refocused our plan and organized ourselves back at square one. We were back in business and the plan didn't flop. It was these words of encouragement that I often heed that were spoken to me in a time of anxious panic.
In my bio, you can read about my thoughts on how we precieve barriers. In one more moment, I had the chance to offer the same optimism in return. As Felipe worked on the Powerpoint all night and we were still up at 2am. Felipe worried we wouldn't be done in time for our presentation. Another worry, we wouldn't have time to practice. With encouragement, I said "Felipe, Don't worry we'll get it done and You'll do fine on the presentation" To much awe, we did finish our powerpoint in time and he rocked the presentation.
Overall, the moral is: Stay optimistic! In times of doubt, we can't consume ourselves in what if's and fears. We need to believe we can see over this horizon and remain positive. Many times we can’t see beyond our own clouded perception, a barrier that blocks our sight. But, as time passes, we begin to see our obstacles through a different lens, one that allows us to see optimism in the face of unknown fear. A time when we allow ourselves to percieve a different outcome.
A thought came to me... while reflecting on doubt and how to walk away from it. A reflection of something that was once good and now no longer exist. I sketched this quote on a napkin... it resolved a moment of perception I had... It may not make sense and have no cadence, but it made me think about where I stood.
Learning from Eachother: Felipe and I worked together every step of the way. Sometimes interrupting to spit my idea out, I learned I have to listen before I speak... one idea write my thought down before I interrupt.
Ok, to the Moral: In such cases you can always be prepared, you can always have a plan. Yes, Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. But, in the end you have to remain positive and optimistic. At the Rally on March 7th as Felipe describes in his blog I was in a little panic.... Yes, I would say just a little...Don't ask Felipe though :)
But, overall Felipe was like "Come on dude, It's going to be alright. Don't worry! It's going to work." With just a little time, we refocused our plan and organized ourselves back at square one. We were back in business and the plan didn't flop. It was these words of encouragement that I often heed that were spoken to me in a time of anxious panic.
In my bio, you can read about my thoughts on how we precieve barriers. In one more moment, I had the chance to offer the same optimism in return. As Felipe worked on the Powerpoint all night and we were still up at 2am. Felipe worried we wouldn't be done in time for our presentation. Another worry, we wouldn't have time to practice. With encouragement, I said "Felipe, Don't worry we'll get it done and You'll do fine on the presentation" To much awe, we did finish our powerpoint in time and he rocked the presentation.
Overall, the moral is: Stay optimistic! In times of doubt, we can't consume ourselves in what if's and fears. We need to believe we can see over this horizon and remain positive. Many times we can’t see beyond our own clouded perception, a barrier that blocks our sight. But, as time passes, we begin to see our obstacles through a different lens, one that allows us to see optimism in the face of unknown fear. A time when we allow ourselves to percieve a different outcome.
A thought came to me... while reflecting on doubt and how to walk away from it. A reflection of something that was once good and now no longer exist. I sketched this quote on a napkin... it resolved a moment of perception I had... It may not make sense and have no cadence, but it made me think about where I stood.
"Never to be disappointed, we will always forgive good fortune"
In Closing: Forever giving and Good will
The Presentation
As the Team Lead... this story never seems to end. After tackling this project and competing with Team Tripple Threat, we still had one more objective...The Presentation.
Till the Very End: Felipe and I worked hard on Project 2. With no lifeline (community volunteer who would assist us) we grappled with this challenge to showcase our resliency. Till the very end, we were compelled to work hard and win! Working on our powerpoint we highlighted main points that would zinger our success...
Such Zinger topics included, but not limited to:
Text 'Ewaste' to 313131 ... Auraria Campus E-Cycle Rally... Featured E-Cycle story in The Metropolitian ... Volunteers ... 15 Day Countdown ... Post-Rally Education ... Survey... Demanufacturing Slideshow... Update Voicemail!
Not done, yet: Felipe worked on the powerpoint for the evening while I put together the last touches of our post-educational prospects and last minute voicemail. Through our text messaging service, I recorded a message that would be sent to all our phone numbers that were collected through the rallies informing them about our success. Scheduling the phone call to be sent at 9am the next day while our presentation began--I thought what a strategic move!
"Jesse, the Powerpoint "says Felipe: Felipe was already over the powerpoint and wanted some help. After setting all our slides on a table we deleted some and refined our presentation. Still at school till 10pm we closed the West Classroom (Rm 244) Computer Lab. We ended up stayed up until 1 or 2 am to finalize our discussions on our Powerpoint. After a couple practices, we decided to cut a few pages to decrease the amount of time we spoke. The goal... have our presentation be under 20 minutes. We were already over by 6 minutes, so we got to cutting.
Worried Once More: Will we have time to update our powerpoint? That was certainly a question that we running through Felipe's mind...Taking the optimistic approach at 2am I was like sure no worries...we'll just get up at 6am and be at the school computer lab by 7am.
@ 7am: Dunn, dunn, dunnnnnn.... (This is my musical score of detriment!...oh no!) So were at the computer lab (West classroom 244) at 7am putting our final touches on the powerpoint.
What were the final touches you ask... Well inserting live action photos of us working away, deleting slides and making our packets for the judges.
We only have 10 minutes, What?: Such suspense...right. With only 10 minutes to spare we printed off our powerpoint in color and inserted them into our presentation folders. We had to be there by 8:30am to ensure that nobody would be late to the presentations that started at 9am. Briskly walking to the Administration Building, we made it right at 8:30am. Already prepared we sat drinking our coffee, organizing our thoughts and ready to present our side of the challenge.
A Flip of the Coin... Heads or Tails? As heads was called team Tripple Threat chose to have us go first. We were ready, but after being heavily involved in every aspect of the project (the both of us) we knew we couldn't talk too much and had to stick to our points.
The points we sometimes forgot: In the end, we sold our case on project 2 but we did leave out some of the fun details.
The Judges: They deliberate... we wait.
The Q & A: I love the Q & A session because it allows room for us to discuss sections of our presentation that we might have missed through the questions.
The Results: We Won! & I was so happy!
The Reward: Going to the Nuggets game with a tour of the facilities along with watching the team practice courtside. I was awarded two additional tickets that would allow me to invite whoever I wish.
The Reward Night... To be continued....
Till the Very End: Felipe and I worked hard on Project 2. With no lifeline (community volunteer who would assist us) we grappled with this challenge to showcase our resliency. Till the very end, we were compelled to work hard and win! Working on our powerpoint we highlighted main points that would zinger our success...
Such Zinger topics included, but not limited to:
Text 'Ewaste' to 313131 ... Auraria Campus E-Cycle Rally... Featured E-Cycle story in The Metropolitian ... Volunteers ... 15 Day Countdown ... Post-Rally Education ... Survey... Demanufacturing Slideshow... Update Voicemail!
Not done, yet: Felipe worked on the powerpoint for the evening while I put together the last touches of our post-educational prospects and last minute voicemail. Through our text messaging service, I recorded a message that would be sent to all our phone numbers that were collected through the rallies informing them about our success. Scheduling the phone call to be sent at 9am the next day while our presentation began--I thought what a strategic move!
"Jesse, the Powerpoint "says Felipe: Felipe was already over the powerpoint and wanted some help. After setting all our slides on a table we deleted some and refined our presentation. Still at school till 10pm we closed the West Classroom (Rm 244) Computer Lab. We ended up stayed up until 1 or 2 am to finalize our discussions on our Powerpoint. After a couple practices, we decided to cut a few pages to decrease the amount of time we spoke. The goal... have our presentation be under 20 minutes. We were already over by 6 minutes, so we got to cutting.
Worried Once More: Will we have time to update our powerpoint? That was certainly a question that we running through Felipe's mind...Taking the optimistic approach at 2am I was like sure no worries...we'll just get up at 6am and be at the school computer lab by 7am.
~Remind me to discuss why being optimistic is important!
@ 7am: Dunn, dunn, dunnnnnn.... (This is my musical score of detriment!...oh no!) So were at the computer lab (West classroom 244) at 7am putting our final touches on the powerpoint.
What were the final touches you ask... Well inserting live action photos of us working away, deleting slides and making our packets for the judges.
We only have 10 minutes, What?: Such suspense...right. With only 10 minutes to spare we printed off our powerpoint in color and inserted them into our presentation folders. We had to be there by 8:30am to ensure that nobody would be late to the presentations that started at 9am. Briskly walking to the Administration Building, we made it right at 8:30am. Already prepared we sat drinking our coffee, organizing our thoughts and ready to present our side of the challenge.
A Flip of the Coin... Heads or Tails? As heads was called team Tripple Threat chose to have us go first. We were ready, but after being heavily involved in every aspect of the project (the both of us) we knew we couldn't talk too much and had to stick to our points.
The points we sometimes forgot: In the end, we sold our case on project 2 but we did leave out some of the fun details.
The Judges: They deliberate... we wait.
The Q & A: I love the Q & A session because it allows room for us to discuss sections of our presentation that we might have missed through the questions.
The Results: We Won! & I was so happy!
The Reward: Going to the Nuggets game with a tour of the facilities along with watching the team practice courtside. I was awarded two additional tickets that would allow me to invite whoever I wish.
The Reward Night... To be continued....
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