MEG
ENWR 380-04PROJECT PROPOSAL--REVISION SEPTEMBER 25, 2003
Project Proposal
This semester, I am excited about working with an editor at the Charlottesville Pregnancy
Center who has recently been inundated with work and needs my help editing the bi-annual, sixpage newsletter; assembling a brochure for prospective volunteers; and revamping the currently
confusing board members’ manual.
The Charlottesville Pregnancy Center is a non-profit service organization, which assists
women in crisis by helping them explore the pregnancy and parenting resources available to
them. The Center provides an array of services ranging from private crisis counseling, a 24-hour
helpline, and pregnancy, fetal development, and abortion information to physician referrals,
pregnancy tests, and prenatal ultrasounds. The Center is also an excellent resource for women
who have elected to carry their baby by providing them with such things as maternity and baby
clothes, supplies, housing referrals, furniture, and labor coaching. In providing the women with
all the information and resources available, the Center then trusts women to make the best choice
regarding their pregnancy options.
The Pregnancy Center is able to offer all its services free of charge because of the generous
support it receives from families, organizations, businesses, and the over 300 volunteers in the
Charlottesville area. However, this means that the Center must work diligently in maintaining
the community’s support and in promoting others to contribute to balance any turnover. It is
mostly the Center’s published materials that promote the community’s contributions, however,
with the current editor crunched for time this semester, the Center runs the risk of unsuccessfully
reaching out to its support, and ultimately not being able to provide the local women with the
resources they need for their unexpected/unwanted pregnancy.
The Center publishes a bi-annual, six-page newsletter that updates its sponsors, volunteers,
and customers on what the Center is doing well, where it needs to improve, and how those
reading can contribute. Articles are submitted by various staff members, volunteers, and
contributing local organizations. I will help with the newsletter by editing all articles being
submitted and perhaps even writing an article myself.
The Center has also published a volunteer brochure in the past and would like to do so
again this semester. I will be in charge of this brochure and have been asked to alter the style
and content of it in a way that does more to promote/encourage volunteering instead of simply
describing the volunteer positions.
And lastly, the Center would like to revamp its current board members’ manual. The
manual is intended to explain certain procedures, rules, expectations, goals, and issues of the
Center for the handful of directors in charge of running the Center. The current manual is full of
confusing language and I intend to modify it and make it easier for the members to read and
understand. I will also be in charge of devising a computer-based system to make it easier to
add/delete/alter the content of the manual while still maintaining accurate information in the
table of contents, index, glossary, etc.
Personal Qualifications / Problems
Despite the fact that I have never worked at a Pregnancy Center and have had only minimal
exposure to volunteer organizations, I work very well with people and learn quickly. In fact, I
anticipate my lack of experience to actually help me in the tasks that the Center has provided me
with this semester: I will be able to edit and write in a way that clarifies the issues for people,
MEG
ENWR 380-04PROJECT PROPOSAL--REVISION SEPTEMBER 25, 2003
like myself, who have only a vague idea of the problems associated with unexpected
pregnancies.
Task Breakdown
The schedule I have prepared for myself is on a weekly basis and begins on Monday, so I
will have the entire week to complete the tasks.
9/29—Meet with editor to discuss the project in greater detail.
10/6—Edit articles for Newsletter that will be submitted the last week of September.
10/13—Reading Days; meet again with editor and compare old/new articles for his approval;
continue editing.
10/20—Finish editing all articles in preparation for the add/drop date (10/22); completion of the
Newsletter.
10/27—Begin working on the Volunteer Brochure; add information, change format, edit existing
information, interview for new articles, etc.
11/3—Same for this week but finish brochure and get it approved.
11/10—Begin working on the Board Manual and continue with this until the end of the semester.
(still unclear about exactly what needs to be done, but will find out more on Monday 9/29
when I meet with the editor)
COMMENTS ON REVISIONS
I realize that my previous proposal primarily lacked detailed information about my project and about the Pregnancy
Center itself. This was mostly due to poor timing and not being able to sit down with the director of the Center,
Mike, before the proposal was due. Unfortunately, he had a budget proposal due on Wednesday of this week and
could not fit me in before this revision was due. However, in speaking briefly with Mike again, and scouring their
website more closely, I was able to get a better feel for what the Center specifically provides and what my three
mini-projects entail. I clearly included this information and tried to also include who the audience is for each
project. Also, my previous draft was lacking an explicit problem and associated costs. In the third paragraph, I tried
to tie in the goal of the Center with the problem that they are currently experiencing, along with the related costs.