Verizon

Bryan's Journal

Bryan's Background

As a sighted person I had one career in mind. I wanted to be a mechanical engineer. I worked hard, learned a lot, and loved to draft. From board drafting to Auto CAD I loved it all. It did not matter if it was on paper or computer creating exact representations of objects that could be built was fascinating to me. Once I became blind my dream career was no more. The idea of hiring a blind drafter is a pretty crazy thing to ask for. Ok so even though I most likely could not become a mechanical engineer any more I figured I could still find a career in the technology field.

When I was 18 years old I became blind as a result of a motor cycle accident. This life change came with many hardships, the least of which was giving up my Mechanical Engineering career dreams. Adapting to a new way of life was not easy but I was determined to get back up. The sacrifice of things like driving, reading, watching a movie, and seeing the world around me were all things I took for granted. All I wanted when I became blind was a new way to interact with things I once had access to. I knew driving would not be immediate but probably with advancements in technology this could be once again possible. The next thing on my list was to use a computer again. I heard that computers were usable for blind people with the assistance of a screen reader. This notion of being able to control a computer by listening to a synthesized voice was unbeknownst to me. I mean I had seen the way a computer worked. I had taken them apart, used many applications, changed settings, edited pictures, and even used programs like photo shop. Seriously, how would this be done? From the time I received my first copy of JAWS which is the screen reader by Freedom Scientific for Windows, I never put the computer down again.

There was something there that gave me a sense of power. I again had a sense of hope and promise. I knew that if a blind person could interact with a computer even on a small level, that some day they would be able to interact with other aspects of life on a much bigger level.

Soon after I was reacquainted with the computer I started searching for other devices, tools, gadgets, or anything out there that I was never aware of. My search returned many encouraging results. I learned there were tools for scanning printed material and having it read back to you. I found notetakers for the blind that were portable, compact, and did not even use a screen at all. Probably one of my favorite devices I found and still to this day love was the mobile phone along with a screen reader. The fact that I could once again contact my friends and family via voice call or text message made me feel like I could interact with the real world again. Most people do not or could not imagine what it would be like to no longer have access to their mobile phones. There again a piece of life we take for granted, yet rely on throughout everyday life. There is one other big thing my search returned to me. The door was now open and almost unstoppable in the way that the degree at which a blind person could interact with the world was endless. If there was a device to tell you colors of objects, talking computers and phones, scanners that could read you printed material where did the possibilities end? For me this was all I needed to show me that hope lied with in me and the other blind people in the world. Clearly the sighted world was trying to improve the life of a blind person through technology, but there was something wrong with their developments. They were not blind! To be blind is almost unlike any other disability. In a lot of ways blindness is more difficult than other disabilities since 90 percent of everyday life is visual, but a blind person can interact with society in many other ways.

I began hosting a web site focused on technology, software, and programs that are accessible or inaccessible to the blind. This is my second Word Press blog I have created, managed, and customized independently. I have both done this on a Windows machine using JAWS, and currently on a Mac using Voiceover. The problem came when I wanted to create my own web site. I learned XHTML, and did some studying on CSS, but when it came to the designing and building process I found that this was inaccessible with a screen reader. For a sighted web designer features like dragging and dropping can be used. For a blind user this is not possible. For someone using a third party program like Front Page the lay out is there in a templet. For a blind user Front Page is inaccessible with a screen reader. This was very upsetting and forced me to look elsewhere for a web designer. 

I began further dipping my toe in programming so that I could begin to solve these problems. Scripting Jaws can very beneficial for the blind. Here are two examples. JAWS the screen reader for a windows machine comes with a built in script manager. Freedom scientific offers training, a manual, and also Web NRs to teach you how to script for JAWS. I have learned how to write scripts using the script manager. For beginners you can use a very simple and easy to use script manager that allows you to select from a list of functions the script will preform, and also set them to a hot key. The manager builds the script for you and makes sure it is all formatted correctly. For those who are more advanced the manager allows you to simply write your own scripts and compile and run them. This was a great way to make things work for me. I had the ability and the tools to control the way my computer worked for me. I also was able to make some applications work for me. Having the power to expand what was given felt very empowering for me as a blind computer user. The second experience I have dealing with scripting is Apple Script. Where to start with this. Apple Script is its own scripting language and it is very powerful. It comes built in to the Mac operating system. The Apple Script editor allows you to write script, compile the script, run the script, check the script, and also is completely compatible with voiceover the built in screen reader on the Mac. Although Apple script does require you to know the language and to write it in yourself the language is as close to speaking to your computer as it gets. The editor is very helpful in the amount of feedback provided while scripting. If you compile your script and there is an error not only will the error message pop up telling you the error message, but it will also highlight the area of text where your error exists. The accessibility is amazing. The Apple Script Editor is more compatible than most other third party programs that run on the Mac. When I heard about Apple Script I had to try it. I did not know how to write apple script, nor did I know if it would be accessible. After reading a little bit on the language I gave it a try. Wow, I was blown away at how accessible the editor was for me using Voiceover. I was able to access the menu, write my script, read bug reports, edit my code, compile my script, run my script, save my script and assign my script to hot keys. This was seriously a huge accomplishment for me and my use for the Mac operating system. Since then I have begun reading several books on Apple Script and how to write the language. I have successfully written several scripts from a script that tells you your age in months, days, or weeks, to a script that will pull information from an email break it up into event data and automatically place it in iCal as a new event. The power I have with Apple Script is more than I could imagine.

Again I found power and confidence. XXX more on the effect of your life with this power XXX

But I still needed help. Not accessibility, but colleagues! Talking to a friend, I was told about this community workshop HeatSync Labs. HeatSync is an open collaboration workspace for many different kinds of professionals who all work with some kind of technology. When I heard about this place I was thrilled, not only to find a place where I could have my web site built, but also it was literally an all in one stop for someone like me. With web designers out front, and tools like lathes and saws and welders all open for community use. Instantly I knew I had found the right place for what I wanted to do. I knew if there was ever a group of people in one room to assist me in making the technology world accessible here it was.

The first visit I had to HeatSync made me connections, partners, and friends. I met one man who told me he would get me in touch with an organization at ASU who did exactly what I was interested in doing. The very next day I received an email from a man from ASU asking me to come in for an appointment. Here again I found connections, partners, and friends who were all open to assist me with any project I came up with. My next visit to Heat Sync I was introduced to things I never really knew existed! I saw my first ever 3D printer--a device which 'print' functional 3d parts out of plastic!. I learned about a Micro Processor design called the Arduino, a mini computer the size of your palm which could be programmed to sense the environment and react. My first night ever there I sat down with people who were all completely supportive and encouraging while they taught me how to use the micro processor and even gave me some pointers on the code.

The first time I ever used Arduino I not only learned the components of the processor but I programmed it to play the first part of the “Pink Panther” theme song through an add on speaker!

But THIS truly was power to shape my world. I was never closer to achieving all the tools a sighted person has. They handed me technology, expected me to solve my own problems, supported me and excited me!

I decided this is the kind of problem solving I'd been looking for. I contact my disability resource center at Arizona State University to inquire into Mechanical engineering, Electrical engineering, and computer engineering courses.

After all with the advancements in technology there has to be a way for a blind person to learn and work in a field like software engineering or computer science. I went to Arizona State University and talked to several PHD grads who all had degrees in either computer science, electrical engineering, or software engineering. After talking to each of these people I came to the conclusion that achieving a degree in any of these programs would be very difficult for a blind person. I did meet a student who was partially blind who was getting his degree in Computer science, but he can see well enough to see his computer screen with zoom text. For every other program I was told that it was mostly all using programming interfaces that are incompatible with any screen reader. This was very upsetting and even more frustrating. In my head I felt that achieving a degree in something like computer programming should be very obtainable for a blind person since it is all done in a programming language which is for the most part text based. This is not the case, and for a blind person the hardest part is not just about learning the material. The university did say that they were willing and ready to accommodate me in achieving one of these degrees but how could I really expect to sell myself in the employment market when I would have to demand accommodations to fulfill my job. As competitive as the hiring market is employers are not looking to hire employees who cannot complete the job on time or independently.

LACK OF POWER. This led to one of the biggest disappointments in recent memory as even the disability office, which is tasked with doing whatever it takes to make all degrees accessibly basically told me these degrees were impossible for me to achieve. They explained computer, electrical and mechanical engineering courses simply couldn't be made accessible. Without a tactile representation of the different components and access to the tools needed to interact with these components they couldn't guarantee me a fair playing field.

Still to this day I have not been able to find a degree in what I truly want to do for the reason that access is not yet available for the blind in the technology world.

Proposal Narrative Discription

Please provide us with a summary of your program or project in the spaces below. Please be very focused in your responses so that we may gain an understanding of your program/project. In "What you will do", for example, summarize what your program/project does to achieve results for those it serves.

Proposal Narrative

It wasn't all easy, though. Yes, the Arduino language was very simple to use, they teach it to children to learn basic computer programming and engineering, but the user interface was not accessible at all. Also the hardware isn't designed for the blind to identify or connect components. I knew there was potential for this device for blind people, but some work would need to be done. This device and its programming language could be a huge break through for the blind community if it could just be made accessible. If the micro processor could control robots, access wifi, control cameras, lights, speakers, and lots of other components for the users who use it, why could it not do the same for the blind. There are devices out for the blind that cost hundreds of dollars if not thousands that assist them in measuring water, reading colors, and notifying them of things around them. With the Arduino the blind person could program their own device to do these same functions for a fraction of the cost, or solve NEW problems.

THE PROBLEM I'm left pondering this 'chicken and egg' problem. How can the world be made accessibly by those who don't understand the needs of the blind? How can the blind solve their problems if the tools are not accessible?

It is untenable to expect the sighted world to make all things accessibly for the unsighted world.

The problem is not always that they do not want to help solve the problem, it is just that they do not fully understand what is necessary. How can a company know what kind of information a blind person needs or wants if they them selves are not blind? For example someone who is born blind could fully never understand what a star in the sky looks like.

As it is now a company, business, school, and society as a whole who works with the blind community is left to guess what is needed or be simply reactive.

The future, though, is collaborative. It is wikipedia. Its letting the people of the world solve their own problems. But a giant demographic is currently left out, not able to put their cognitive surplus to work, to build confidence in themselves, and to use those skills and confidence to find employment that enriches both their life and society in total.

THE SOLUTION What we need is to make the TOOLS of life accessible.

With the ability to independently interact with programming tools I, as a blind person could participate in the development and advancement of technology for the blind. What is the best way to solve a problem one is facing in their life? The answer to this question is simple. Give them the tools to solve the problem, teach them the steps it would take to solve the problem, and send them on their way to solve it.

THE PLAN It is finally at HeatSync labs that I have found partners in this endeavor. We intend to open up the tools of engineering to the blind community.

The issue blind people are facing lies in accessibility to tools that would make them productive and competitive in a work force. Due to the inability to access programs such as programming editors, web pages, and applications for web design the blind community is severely hindered in their ability to be competitive in the job market. A blind computer user has access to a screen reader like Jaws for windows, or voiceover for Mac, which allows them to interact with their machine. As technology advances so does the ability to create more elaborate programs and devices. This is where the problem lies for the blind. As developers build better looking, higher functioning, and more interactive applications and web sites they are not taking as much time to properly tag each item which intern disables the functionality of a screen reader. If designers of of web sites, and developers of higher level programs were careful and conscious to properly label and tag their interactive buttons, links, graphics, images, form fields, and drop boxes the screen reader would know how to interact with the content. As a direct result of this improper designing the ability to successfully build, program, and use devices that could be used for measuring liquid, measuring the temperature of their home or food, recognizing colors of items such as clothing, notifying them of lights that are on, and even just to play with in things like robots. A micro processor is a powerful micro computer that can be programed to carry out functions through the use of components that are connected to it. With a computer to program the code, a micro processor to act as the control center, and a component or two to carry out the requested tasks the amount of problems that could be solved are endless. One such micro controller is the Arduino. The Arduino is a low level programming language that could be very useful to the blind with its many possibilities. The code that is written is compiled and ran on a micro processor. This micro processor can control many different components from LED’s, speakers, cirvos, small motors, heat sensors, light sensors, and many other components like a wifi card. Currently the user interface or IDE of the Arduino editor is incompatible with any screen reader, and the hard ware is very difficult to build on due to its compact design. There is very little to no tactile representation found on the processor. No labels of any kind can be interpreted by a non visual user. Although the hardware is made to be small and compact, there could still be modifications made to make it’s usability more accessible for the blind. The users interface of Arduino consists of a work space where syntax is entered, buttons for compiling, running the process, and a menu bar which is home to many options from example sketches, to settings. For a blind user who wants to build on the Arduino must write their code in a third party text editor then copy and paste into the IDE for compiling and running. If there is an error the user will have no access to the bug report that is generated upon an error and displayed on the screen for easy and quick reference. This is very frustrating and discouraging. Our focus is in bring the full experience of the Arduino and the Arduino hardware to the blind. The focus is in making the IDE completely accessible, in that the user will have complete access to menu options, settings, buttons on the workspace, bug reports that may be generated upon an encountered error, and also syntax description that will notify the scriptor of where the error is located. The hard ware will be modified so that the insertion points are easily located and components can be plugged into without confusion. Each component of the processor will be represented by Braille or tactile indicator to accurately build and write the code based on the place at which the component is connected. The hardware will be built so that it is still small and compact but in a way that each connection point is easily located and connected to. On a stock processor there is a blinking LED to notify the user that the processor is connected and receiving signal. There will be a micro motor in place of the LED so that through small pulsating vibrations the blind user can have the same type of feedback. It is our goal to put the power and independence of being able to successfully program, build and use devices like micro processors. This would only be the start of a great revolution for blind programmers. By opening the door to programming at a small or micro level, it will pave the road ahead for blind programmers on larger scale product designing and building. With the ability to use a device like the Arduino a blind person could independently discover a problem, figure out a practical solution, and sit down to program their thought into motion. No longer would they be forced to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on products that do the same thing. This is a way to put the tools into the underserved persons hands and allow them to solve problems independently.

Join us.

Program Participants Description

Who are your program participants and how many will you serve? What are the key characteristics of these participants and are they in any way different from the full set of people who have the problem? In characteristics, we are interested not just in such factors as gender and race, but also defining who you serve by the degree of the challenge to get to the result you intend. We know, for example, that it is much harder to get children to the right literacy level if they are two, rather than one, grades behind in reading and if their primary language is not English. Please know that we view it as a sign of strength that a program/project has defined the people who are most likely to benefit from a particular approach. It is rare that one program is the best fit for everyone.

Program Participants

The focus of this project is directed towards the blind and/or low vision. For those with full vision or who can have nearly full vision with the assistance of aids such as magnifying glass or screen magnifier does not need such a program or modification in hardware. If the user is blind or unable to see a screen and relies on a screen reader the new interface of Arduino will give them full functionality of the programming tools. Also for someone who cannot accurately detect and make use of the hardware as needed, the new modified hardware will give the representation necessary to build proficiently. As a direct result of the program blind and low vision users who have not yet had equal access to building and programming a micro processor to date will now have complete and unequivocal independence in building and programming.

For Whom Will You Address This Cause

Specifically state for whom you will address this cause.

For Whom Will You Address This Cause Description

The program will directly effect the blind and low vision technology enthusiasts around the world who have never before had access to programming or building on a micro processor. As an open source program the Arduino IDE will benefit blind users around the world with a simple download. The Arduino hardware is a micro processor that is low in cost ranging any where from $30 to $80 depending on the components included.

Providing Service Description

What level of intensity (i.e. frequency of service) and duration (i.e. period in which you provide service for a person) are needed for your approach to deliver results? Once you give the number add your thought on rationale.

Providing Service

The Arduino language has great tutorials found online, along with example scripts found right in the menu of the IDE. For the blind users we will provide a detailed layout and description of the hardware,. Also as a supplement to the description of the hardware we will have Braille or tactile labels for each component of the hardware. There are online forums and mailing lists directed towards programmers of the arduino found online at www.sparkfun.com.

Partners & Organizations Description

The Arduino language has great tutorials found online, along with example scripts found right in the menu of the IDE. For the blind users we will provide a detailed layout and description of the hardware,. Also as a supplement to the description of the hardware we will have Braille or tactile labels for each component of the hardware. There are online forums and mailing lists directed towards programmers of the arduino found online at www.sparkfun.com.

Partners & Organizations

A direct partner for our program should be blind schools such as state schools for the Deaf and Blind, and training centers for the blind as in Colorado center for the Blind. Partners like this could be trained and deliver the training to many ethnic backgrounds, age groups, and genders of the blind community.

Verizon Volunteers Description

Could you possibly use Verizon employees or retirees as volunteers in this or other programs/projects? (required) We'd like to alert Verizon employees and retirees who live or work in your area to your need for more help to go with any financial investment we might make. Please think creatively about how you might use additional hands-many of them are very skilled in a variety of ways as mothers and fathers and civic contributors-not just as productive members of our company.

Verizon Volunteers

I think this could be useful if we get to a point where we need drivers to locations, assistance in training, or in making calls for feedback and stats.

Mission

What is your mission and vision and any key points of approach? If you have any principles or values that are actively used in your programs and management please include them as well.

Guidance:

We see mission as what you do and vision as the end state you wish to achieve. The best mission and vision statements are short and clear. If yours is over the length here allowed, please distill to the essence. We are especially interested in how your mission gives you concentration and focus—discouraging you from simply taking on more projects because money is available. Finally, if you have points of approach (values, principles, whatever you might call them) that guide where you go or how you work, do name them and be specific about how they shape your actions.

Examples:

The mission of the Davis Health Alliance is to insure that low income and at risk individuals in our county get and use health care services. Our vision is of a county in which no preventable illness or condition goes unaddressed and no gap in health outcomes based on means, ethnic status or other measure creates disparity.

We have a core belief that behavioral choice is as consequential to health as is the full total of medical science and its delivery.

The mission of School Turnaround is to reverse decline in failing public schools. Our vision is of American schools in which all students achieve at or above grade level. Our strong belief is that every child achieves—no exceptions, no excuses. We are driven by the belief that a child should only be in first grade once.

Draft

HeatSync Labs' mission is to provide the tools, space and the community for students, entrepreneur, artists and garage tinkerers to come together and create their dreams. We aim reinstate an understanding of the tools of creation in our modern throwaway society. Community workshop. DIY science and education. Application in addition to theory.

Achievements

What have you achieved in the past three years for persons in your programs that are most like the project for which you seek our support?

Guidance:

Please know we are much more impressed with how many people have tangibly improved their life than on how much money you have attracted or what awards you may have received—unless the recognition is clearly based on participant outcomes. Also, we do not equate growth with achievement. Just focus on the tangible human gains you have created for those you serve.

Examples:

In the past three years we have worked with 210 women at risk for low birth weights and other problems. Doctors estimate that for this group, about 15 women would be expected to give birth to a child with a generally preventable condition. With our program, that number was seven.

We have worked to date in 52 schools. In 50 of these academic achievement gains of 15% or more in numbers of children at grade level in critical subjects were realized.

Draft

Monthly we run a free to attend arduino workshop where we train kids to adults how to program microcontrollers MORE HERE

Most recently we had been asked to create a workshop series on soldering and arduino for UrbanStew another local nonprofit.

Build and program a tiny micro computer, the arduino, to solve simple problems.

Over XXX free public educational meetings this year. From material, to tools, to processes we want to empower our people with the knowledge they need to succeed. Topics have included:

• Astronomy
• Eagle PCB Layout and Design
• PCB Chemical Etching,Heat Transfer, with FeCl
• Haptic interfaces
• Lock Picking
• Cube.ly 3D printer
• PaperCraft
• Thermoforming
• Idaho Near Space Project Balloon Communications Payload
• High Speed Photography
• Haystack Project
• Working with acrylic
• Glass Working
• Rep Rap made easy
• Teardown party(everyone brings a peice of electronics to tear down for parts in order to understand)
• Lathing for fun and profit
• EL Wire
• Monster plush party (Disassembling plush dolls and sewing them back together with electronics)
• Coffee Science and Arduino
• Arduino and VOIP - Dial-a-Lulz
• CAD/CAM introduction
• Home Brewing

Other:

• Most recently the community raised 10,000 to aquire a laser cutter in order to realize our dreams
• Ran a science fair / music show titled the mustache party
• Host weekly 3d printing meetup event where we foster the innovative field of personal manufacturing.
• Our members have put a balloon payload into nearspace and are now tackling issues related to solar power generation and storage.
• Coached a pair of First Lego League teams this past year. It was the first year for our kids and they had amazing fun. In addition our mentor won best mentor for the season.

Similar Groups

In your geographic area what groups are most similar to you? And what differentiates you from them?

Guidance:

Few groups are so unique they have no comparable organizations. We want to know who you see as most similar so that we can both look at a broader picture of groups approaching the same issues within an area and gain a sense of how you are different. This question encourages you to tell us what we should remember about you that makes you stand out in some ways. Please do not do so by a critique of other groups. Speak to your own strengths.

Examples:

The Care Network of St. Mary’s Hospital and the Health Advocacy Forum are the closest organization we can define. The Network is somewhat different in providing a vertical connection from prevention to post-treatment services for patients and customers of this 450 bed hospital. We, in contrast, are looking horizontally and community wide at how to integrate health providers and services. The Forum is distinct in that it focuses on the rights of people—especially those low income and minority—to health care access. We are less focused on defending rights than meeting needs.

We have several kinds of comparable groups. One is the set of alternative programs that focus on professional development for principals and other administrators. Over 100 discreet “packaged” programs exist for purchase and use by school districts and regional agencies. None have substantial market share. The other comparable area is programs that focus on reversing failure in programmatic rather than leader-driven ways. An example is Success For All, a major reading program used in hundreds of schools nationwide. It provides a prescribed approach for using a dedicated block of time devoted daily in schools to literacy development.

We are different from these and other groups primarily because of our strong intervention approach. We literally see turnaround as a way of hitting failure hard. At the same time we are compatible in that we work with a wide variety of existing programs—be they for professional development, curriculum, or teaching. Our focus is on helping principals spark and lead change and on fully executing existing models and approaches—many of which work but only if more robustly implemented.

Draft

We're most like a traditional academic incubator model mixed with the newer coworking model. Entreprenuers and skilled tradespeople who don't wish to work in an office alone but would rather work side by side with the other brightest minds in the community in order to build their workspace in public

We are part of a larger maker/diy culture exemplified by Make Magazine These spaces are popping up throughout the united states, and globally, all with different visions and goals, but most recently many converging on non profit which of them becoming non profitare listed at hackerspaces.org Heat Sync is a specialized open colaberative workspace brought together with one mission in mind, to improve technology. As an open collaboration workspace we bring many specialized minds together to not only build the best possible technology, but also get different opinions from every perspective.

Participants

Who are your participants? What are the characteristics of the people you will actually include in your program and are they in any way different from the full set of people who have the problem within your geographic focus?

Guidance:

Please know that we view it as a sign of strength that a program has defined the people who are most likely to benefit from a particular approach. Think of how Southwest Airlines wanted only those passengers who valued reliability and low cost over other amenities. In the nonprofit world, it is rare that one program is always the best. Some kids, for example, thrive on a permissive and open learning environment while others need tight structure. We want to know if you have thought through the best fit with your treatment, approach, intervention or program by another name with specific people it will most help to achieve.

This section also gives you a place to tell us about relative degree of challenge and to relate cost to degree of barriers. We know, for example, that the difficulty and expense to get someone a job who is drug-addicted, has poor English, or lacks a high school degree is very different than for people who have none of these core issues. We also encourage your speaking to the assets and strengths of your participants on which you can build.

Examples:

Our approach is best fitted to pregnant women – whether young or older who lack both knowledge of pre-natal care value and of a place to go to get it. We are less well suited to persons with more education and means who may well have access to health care but don’t now choose to use it. Many smoke to excess, use alcohol or drugs, and have problems with weight gain. Our cost is relatively high as we are dealing with people who have historically had or used virtually no health care. We will work with 100 women in this category, most of whom have incredible self-reliance capabilities on which we can build.

Our focus is on the principal and we believe we can be most successful when they share two characteristics: 1) they have not been head of a failing school for more than three years. (Beyond that we think they are more likely to be part of the problem than the solution.) and 2) they must believe that their school is failing some of its students and that this is strongly unacceptable. (This eliminates the principals who acknowledge low test scores but note that the reason is demographics, not anything they could do differently.) This means that out of a market of 12,000 failing schools, we believe our approach is fitted to about 3,000 schools. We will work with 50 schools next year within the latter group.

Draft

We will utilize our members and connections to the blind community to leverage our technological skills. We are technologists who have several blind in our midst, friends and families. In addition we will utilize our allies within the blind community including XXXX

Approach

What approach are you using to achieve results?

Guidance:

Most programs are not a random set of activities. They are a coherent strategy to achieve a result. Please do not offer us a detailed work plan. Rather, tell us a few core elements of your particular way of solving a problem and why you think it is the best way to engage participants and help them get to the success you have stated. If you could place this in the context of other approaches you might have used but didn’t, that would add to our understanding.

Examples:

Our approach has two key elements: 1) to develop a personal relationship with pregnant women at strong risk of not getting and following medical guidance in such areas as diet, smoking, and exercise. We see this relationship (which most often is through a mentor, adult friend of other person who has a relationship with the young woman) as critical to identify and build. And 2) we provide all needed support services to the pregnant woman to deal with the issues that stand between that person and a healthy baby. These can involve housing, money, or other factors beyond health.

Before deciding on this approach we looked at other models such as media campaigns. Our conclusion: No amount of information or pleading without this personal relationship as the key to informing and persuading would be effective with these young women.

Our approach is intervention—with a set of principles used in turnaround in business, hospitals, and other organizations. We focus solely on the principal as the key to a successful school and enter in the form of an intervention agent—our school turnaround specialist. We use six specific strategies: diagnosis, target-setting, messaging, use of data, alignment, and successful classrooms. These are described in the separate document conveyed with this proposal. We are not successful because we have better ideas of improving schools. Our comparative advantage lies in executing strategy within schools in a robust way—and concentrating our attention on the building leader as the key to change.

Intensity of Approach

What level of intensity (i.e. frequency of service) and duration (i.e. period in which you provide service for a person) are needed for your approach to deliver results?

Guidance:

Our sense is that many programs fail not because they are a bad approach but because they are not implemented with enough intensity or duration to make a lasting difference. This is your chance to tell us what it really takes to achieve a result that sticks! We are impressed with groups that have clear assumptions in this area and would rather invest in lower numbers that get a result than high numbers who just get a service.

Examples:

We work intensively with two participant groups: pregnant women and friends/relatives who are influential with and supportive of that person. We average five hours of contact with the helper and two with the pregnant woman per month during pregnancy and for one month after birth. Any less of an effort would not we believe, have an effect on the health of the babies.

We include 6-8 site visits by a turnaround specialist to each school in our program. Any fewer would not keep up the focus. And more would lead to other forms of relationship that could well inhibit our intervention approach. We are not trying to be the best friend or shoulder to cry on. We are a change partner, accepted if not initially embraced for our ability to help principals lead to academic success.

Intended Outcomes

What results are you committed to achieving — meaning outcomes from services — and for how many persons? Please put the number who achieve in the context of those who participate.

Guidance:

The fact that people have completed a program, read your materials, sat through counseling or a workshop is not a result. The result is what they get from what you offer. This distinction is critical. Please—focus on changes in behaviors and conditions for people—not on their activities in your programs or their level of satisfaction. Please put the number who achieve in the context of the number you serve.

In most cases, you succeed because people change their behavior—whether to quit smoking, exercise, wear a seat belt, or anything else. We urge you to focus on behaviors rather than attitudes because they are critical to success and much more readily verified. We do not know the value of increased self-esteem or creating more positive attitudes toward something until you tell us as your result what people can achieve with higher self-esteem or more positive attitudes than they could achieve without them.

In a few situations, you are focusing on a condition more than a behavior. For example, the quality of a body of water or of a community’s level of social capital. In either case, the more specific you are the better.

We urge you to suggest a clear result as you develop your program but then revisit it when you have covered all elements in our format and thought it through as carefully as possible. The best targets are shaped by a complete understanding of your program.

Examples:

We will work with about 200 pregnant women at risk for low birth weight and other preventable infant issues in a 24 month period. Of these, 175 or more will deliver babies without preventable problems and within normal birth weights.

Of the 35 schools in our program, at least 32 will achieve their turnaround targets set for one school year. The minimal gain is a 15% increase over the previous year in key specified subjects by those student groups (often minorities) that are lagging behind.

Draft

Empower the blind to solve problems for themselves. Create the tools to open up embedded system design programs across the country for the blind.

How will you know?

How will you know when your expected results have been achieved? What information or evidence will you use to verify success?

Guidance:

Foundations often ask you for an evaluation plan. We are much more concerned with your looking at assessment as an integral part of what you do to track to and verify success. Think of it this way: forget us—how will you know when to celebrate success?

Verification (yes or no—did you achieve stated results?) is easier and less costly than evaluation (to answer the questions about what happened) but it is not easy to approach.

You may well be able to use existing data bases or rely on existing measuring instruments. Or you may be able to use observations and reports by others, or in some cases self-reported behaviors.

Examples:

We will verify achievement by hospital records and doctor reports as needed. While confidentially rightly restricts any individual information, the 3 hospitals at which mothers in our program deliver have agreed to give us an aggregate report (no names—just overall numbers) for the names we give them. They have checked with ethics sources and agreed to do this as long as they report five or more babies. With a smaller number they do not believe confidentiality is preserved.

We use scores on the high stakes test to verify achievement. In those instances where the test is considered unreliable, we agree upon a different test. In those instances where we might conceivably focus on creative writing, problem-solving or other skills not readily measured by “tests”, we will rely on established and explicit rubrics that are competency based and verified by persons not associated with those students or our program.

Percentage user reached?

About how many of the people in your result might reasonably achieve this gain if your program/project were not undertaken? How does your intended result compare with what would have happened without you? That is, how many people would get to the result you state if you did not exist?

Guidance:

Our return on grant investment is not the result you set. It is the difference between your result and what would have happened without you. If for example, a program says that it will get 70 people out of 100 in a program to the achievement of getting and keeping a job but that evidence suggests that for people like those served 50% generally get a job in a year, the value of the program is 20 jobs, not 70.

We are not asking you do original research. Just rely on whatever information exists about outcomes at the most specific level you can get it. Past rates of achievement in a school or neighborhood beat a district or a city. And a city beats a state or the nation. If no information exists, use the most educated guesses you can find. Guidance counselors, for example, can often look at a description of your participants (or, better yet, a sample of names) and tell you with reasonable accuracy about how many are likely to pass next year, become pregnant, use drugs, or experience another outcome.

Examples:

Of the 100 high risk women with whom we will work the best projection is that 20 will give birth to a child with some preventable issue, including low birth weight. Our target of no more than 5 women experiencing this problem is 15 healthy babies beyond what would have happened without our help.

The schools with whom we work have generally seen no rise in test scores in the past 2-3 years in the subjects where we set targets. Beyond this, our results of a 15% higher test score are set not to last year’s scores but what would be predicted by a trend line. For example, if a school has been going up by 5% a year in achievement in an area, we set a target of 20% to be 15% higher than what would be projected without us.

Broader Gains?

Are there broader gains and benefits that will be realized if you are successful that we should be aware of when considering your project/program?

Guidance:

You may have benefits to add such as:

• The “life cycle” cost savings from solving a problem.
• The value of model-building or testing with implications for many programs.
• A test of ways to reduce costs, again with long term financial implications.

Please be specific. We are less interested in broad contributions to values than in specific benefits for people and the organizations that support them.

Examples:

The average added cost nationally of a low birth weight baby in the first three years of life is $30,000. For the 75 such conditions we anticipate preventing the cost savings (to insurers and payers) is $2.25 million. In addition the disposition and skill in these women of getting and using information to change what they do to be successful is clearly generalizable to many aspects of their life.

The impacts of a failing school are substantial. Our average size school is 700 students and our program, on average, is a direct factor in at least 25 students staying in school and graduating high school. The cost of each dropout (which is primarily due to lack of academic success) is projected at over $1 million in lost earnings and $600,000 for cost of added government support. The total cost savings per school over the lives that are changed is $40 million. The long term gains in quality of life from core literacy and numeracy capabilities are equally compelling.

Another impact concerns our methodology. We are showing many education funders the indispensable value of coupling the up-front design work they do on buildings, curriculums, and other matters with an in-school presence to insure robust implementation of design.

Draft

Our goal is to release all of our work into the public domain. The hardware design files and java patch changes will be accepted into the main project meaning this work will only need to be funded and completed once for all people everywhere to begin to see the benefits.

Half Way goal?

Half way through your project, how will you know if participants are on course to achieve results with the time and money remaining?

Guidance:

The easy answer to this question is that we have spent half the money and are on course with our work plan. This, unfortunately, says nothing about the relationship between money spent and participant progress. The key is to shift the focus from what you do to what your participants are getting. We call these interim success point milestones.

There are two ways to approach milestones that may work for you. First, you can list your key activities and ask of each just what participants need to get. For example, your activity might be to offer three workshops. The milestone question is what do participants need to get from those sessions to predict that they will later change their behavior in the desired direction.

The second approach is just to ask yourself what predicts success. What do we know to look for during the middle of a program that says participants are “getting it” or in other ways on track? This approach as the value of insuring a focus on predictive factors, which may well include: 1) how many people have already achieved the result; 2) the number who are reflecting changes to predict later success; and 3) any key “infrastructure needed for full success-whether a curriculum designed, an assumption tested, or anything else.

Examples:

Our key predictive factors are as follows:

Establishing the key relationship we rely upon before the end of the first month of pregnancy. We look for women who say they want to stay in touch with this person and value the connection.

Early evidence of a person following medical or broader health advice. If we do not see a change in behavior by the end of the second month (whether eliminating smoking or excess drinking, exercising, or anything else) we are not likely to see more major changes later. And we run out of time for changes to be consequential.

Where we are in danger of missing these milestones we get mobilized—up to and including an intervention with the woman in which substantial influence by caring individuals is introduced but with no explicit coercion.

Our principals work with teachers to gain readings on child progress at four points during the year. These are not “practice tests” but rather clear demonstrations of the knowledge and competency that needs to build if a child is to pass the high stakes test in the Spring and become proficient in a core subject.

When insufficient number of students are on track at these four points in time, course corrections are made, first at the individual teacher level and then with broader resource realignments as needed.

Key People

Who are the persons you see as critical to program/project achievement and what attributes of these people most predict success?

Guidance:

This is a critical element in predicting project success. People are more powerful than great plans, a big committee, or even a lot of money in achieving results. While you may first consider resume details - e.g., degrees and years of experience—do recognize that in many areas, there is no strong correlation between these factors and ability to run an effective project. Much research suggests, for example, that on-job learning is far more useful to people than is what they learned in a classroom years ago. And when a person has 20 years of experience that may be good or it may not! For more depth on some characteristics of successful project leaders click here for http://www.rinstitute.org/sparkplugleaders.

Examples:

Suzie Johnson has strong passion about all babies having full life expectancy by being born within normal weight range and with no preventable health issues. She has shown strong success at personally working with pregnant women and those who most influence them to get and follow prenatal care while at the Guilford Hospital for 8 years. She is tenacious and very energetic—and her enthusiasm spreads to all staff who works with her. She is not an expert in prenatal care but knows how to connect participants to people who are.

Turnaround Specialist, Margarita Sanchez commits to achieve the academic achievement gains stated for the four Ft. Worth elementary schools with which she will work. In addition to turning around two elementary schools while principal, Margarita last year worked with six elementary schools, in School Turnaround, which all hit their targets. She is considered by the principals with whom she works to be “strong medicine”. They like her much better at the end of the year when for the first time they are progressing than they do after one month!

Key partners/intermediaries

Are any partners or intermediaries who must play a key role for you to achieve success? If so, please list them here along with the role must they play and the evidence that they are committed to play that role.

Guidance:

Some grant makers are fond of getting letters of support from political and other leaders. For example, a banker notes that his bank is committed to lending $50 million to a given neighborhood. That’s impressive only until you stop to think that is what banks do to make money! Unless there is a specific commitment to lower rates or change credit standards, this is not a powerful statement.

Please focus on those groups who have to play a role for you to be successful and on their commitments to play that role. An intermediary is a group or person (often a gatekeeper) whose behavior you do not control who must do something for you to succeed—and often just to enter a setting. A partner is a group whose skills or talents augment or counterbalance your own as a part of program delivery.

Examples:

We rely on three major medical practices to change what they do to offer a “warmer” first experience for our at risk pregnant women. Here are their commitments.

Dear Joyce, We of the Woodson Gynecology Group understand that the women you serve are not used to getting medical health and may resist coming to us. We commit to providing a nurse-practitioner highly skilled at welcoming and encouraging a relationship to be the first person your participants meet here.

We are dependent on the school district to support our principals and to stay out of their ways. Here is the letter from the Superintendent:

Dear Mildred, We commit as a condition of School Turnaround to not introduce any new programs to Frowein Elementary School this year without your agreement and to release Principal Marvin from district meetings and programs that would directly interfere with his participation in School Turnaround. We understand that our keeping this pledge is a condition of your warranty for school success.