PEACE Domestic Violence Agency Description - Assignment Example

 Scenario Three Program Summary -- PEACE Domestic Violence Agency Overview PEACE Domestic violence Agency is running a welfare program in collaboration and partnership with National Foundation for the trauma victims of Portland community by helping their dependents, and starting the healing process of the affected members from such social evils as sexual attack and domestic violence by educating the community not to practice and promote violent behavior. National Foundation, the funding agency, wanted to ensure that the funds would be used effectively for the stated purpose only. The objectives of the funding opportunity included the well-being of end users of the grant whose lives have been affected by domestic violence. The aim was to reduce the prevalence of domestic violence through increased service provision, education, and awareness. It also included provision of resources for the relatives of imprisoned community members and running a rehabilitation program for those residents of Portland who have been involved in criminal justice system. The two grant programs run by the National Foundation under which it can provide grant to the PEACE are the Small Grants Program and the Investor Program. Both programs have different budgets. The Small Grants Program offers one-time grant of $5,000 to registered charities and Investor Program offers a grant of $150,000 a yeas for 3 consecutive years for any of the program objectives through Supporting Families Program. Assessment The program is built on firm footing by PEACE; it has analyzed the needs of the end users for whom the welfare program has been initiated. It has specifically outlined the geographical area where the needs of the affected people match with that of the National Foundation programs to rehabilitate the affected community members and support the relatives of the victims of domestic violence. PEACE has been providing such services for a long time and has a reputation for its clear vision, strong leadership, and solid financial footing. Needs and Problem Statement PEACE is well aware of the needs of the Portland community. Members of the community have been involved in social crimes like domestic violence against women and children. Focus of the agency has been on educating the Portland community against such wrong social practices. In the last five years there have been many incidents of road rage implicating community members in criminal cases. Needs of the affected community are identical with the mission and visions of both the organizations, the National Foundation and PEACE. These needs are reflected in the aims of PEACE – to improve the standard of life of such families that have one of their family members in prison. The National Foundation’s program, Supporting Families, also supports young people involved with the criminal justice system through a rehabilitation program designed to provide the skills, create confidence in the community, and establish personal support networks to help them in leading a normal life. The problem statement is related to meeting the needs of the end users through sustained communication among the three stakeholders. Any compromise with the fulfillment of the needs may arise depending on the circumstances of the affected community; the results may vary with the expected outcomes. It is very important to identify the societal criminals. The biggest challenge is to bring back in the community mainstream such people who have shown violent tendencies. Situations may emerge for reaching a compromise, which could affect the desired results. Program Planning Program planning is the crucial part of a charitable organization. Planning should be highly integrated with the organization’s mission, strategic planning goals, and needs of end-users. A well-planned program forms the basis of writing a proposal for funding request. Program planning is not an easy job. The structure of a program planning includes program outcome, program goals, objectives and strategies. A number of services under each program can be found by doing a market analysis. Advertising, public relations and sales are the essential promotional tools of program planning. Charities need to develop service delivery methods for producing and disseminating each service. Program planning also includes ways of evaluating success of the program. Charities need to develop key indicators to measure success of the program. Further, it can run pilot programs, hold reviews of the program, and conduct evaluation of plans, which may include evaluation of marketing efforts and public relations. In the context of the community of Portland, PEACE and the National Foundation, the planning has been an integral part of different activities and functions. The program is focused on the unfulfilled needs of the affected community. Definite results are expected from the given program. Further, there is an evaluation process in place. Alternate Funding Other than conventional funding sources charities should contact the non-conventional sources for funding. These non-conventional sources are called alternate funding sources. Charities are one such type of alternate funding although their agenda may differ. Corporations could be another alternate source of funding. Global corporation groups have their own corporate social responsibility agenda for equality, social justice and development. Local governments can also be the funding sources for community welfare and development schemes. Volunteers can also generate funds for charities. Sometimes agencies receive funds from people or informal groups also. Depending on a single funding source could be a major hurdle for any charitable organization in realizing its objectives of social welfare. There is a process which the fund applying agency needs to follow. If the funding agency is convinced that the needs of the people are well placed to grant funds and there is sufficient proof that the agency responsible for implementing the program is genuine, there should not be any major hurdle in getting a partner agency. No funding agency will be ready to support a non-profit agency if its credentials are doubtful. Examining the credentials of PEACE in this respect, it has a good track record of doing welfare work in adjacent communities. It has already convinced one of the leading funding agencies – the National Foundation – to support its visions of working for the welfare of the needy people. Fortunately, the funding agency has the same mission and vision of helping the Portland community against domestic violence. When the major stake holders have aligned interests, there should be reduced risk of any misappropriation or mismanagement of funds. At any point of time if the charitable agency is not working up to the expectations of the funding agency, and the funding agency withholds the funds, the charitable body should have sufficient funds in its coffers so that its welfare activities affected. Alternate funding can help the charity in providing uninterrupted services. In case the funding agency finds that the funds are being manipulated and misused by the charity, it is right in the interest of the end users to stop the release of funds. In the context of the National Foundation and PEACE, hopefully such a situation should not arise because PEACE is a reputed charity and possesses a good track record of serving the human and welfare cause of the surrounding communities. The ideal path for any charity should be to work in partnership with the funding agency so that there remains little scope of arranging alternate funds. Implementation Implementation of a program in non-profit organizations happens internally. It is related to designing and marketing of the program. Marketing includes finding the communities and their needs, developing relevant products for the needs of the communities. A marketing analysis shows the position for the charity to start work Any non-profit program’s implementation requires evaluation that depends on the choice from a number of evaluations like goals-based, process-based, outcomes-based, etc. Generally, nonprofit organizations show an inclination towards outcomes-based evaluation of the implementations because of many reasons: There are limited funds and only results can better evaluate their perfect usage. Community needs are always on the rise. Focus remains on the differences made in the conditions of the community and finally benefits to the end-users can be measured better through outcome based methods. In this regard, it is highly recommended that PEACE adopts the outcome based method of implementation so that it could win the confidence and faith of the funding agency by showing results on the investments made. It would help in the timely release of funds and create goodwill for the charity for arranging funds for the future welfare programs by the same funding agency, which in this case is the National Foundation. Evaluation Program evaluation helps in finding the impact of the services rendered. Evaluation of outcomes is needed to convince the funders that funds are being used for the purpose they were released. Evaluation reduces the risk of charities misusing funds on less crucial social aims. It helps in meliorating the service delivery system more effective and cost-efficient. Strengths and weaknesses of a program can be identified for further future improvements. Sometimes changes in the program divert the mission and aim of the program; evaluation can help in verifying that the program is genuinely executed. There are many other reasons also of evaluating the programs As outcomes need to be evaluated for the perceived benefits of the programs at the initial stage and after the programs, benefits can be evaluated in the short-term and long-term. The basic parts of outcome evaluation are derived from the program, viewing it as a system with four parts namely inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes. One can evaluate any program through this system view. Inputs are resources and goods that are used in the activities of the program, which may include anything related to equipment, staff, volunteers, facilities, money, etc. These are easily identified and are used by most of the organizations for their welfare programs. Activities are taken for the end users of the programs, which may include teaching, counseling, sheltering, feeding, clothing, etc. Outputs are units of service rendered for the program, for example, the number of people taught, counseled, sheltered, fed, clothed, etc. Outcomes are realized benefits for taking part during or after the program like in a smoking cessation program, an outcome could be quitting of smoking. Outcome targets are set targets for the evaluation of the program. Targets are in percentages of participants agreeing to quit smoking, for example, in the current or the next year. Outcome indicators of the program are the trends towards the future, for example whether in the next six months smokers would quit smoking or not as based on their current percentage of quitting smoking. For any charity evaluation process should be followed earnestly. PEACE also needs to dedicatedly pursue its social welfare aims by collaborating and partnering with its funding agency, the National Foundation and end users, the community of Portland. References McNamara, Carter. (2010). Basic guide to program evaluation. Free Management Library. Retrieved from http://www.managementhelp.org/evaluatn/fnl_eval.htm Read More