2012
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Strategic Plan 2012-2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN .................................................................................................. 3
OVERVIEW ....................................................................................................................................................... 4
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ...................................................................................................................................... 6
YOUNG VOICES (YV) HISTORY ...................................................................................................................... 7
YOUNG VOICES’ MODEL DIFFERENTIATES IT FROM ITS PEERS ............................................................... 8
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES AT A GLANCE ...................................................................................................... 9
GOAL A: YOUNG VOICES SITE EXPANSION PLAN ..................................................................................... 10
GOAL B: LEADERSHIP TRAINING ACADEMY IMPROVEMENT PLAN ......................................................... 11
GOAL C: ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING PLAN ........................................................................... 12
YOUNG VOICES EVALUATION PLAN ........................................................................................................ 13
YOUNG VOICES BOARD DEVELOPMENT PLAN ...................................................................................... 16
Current Board Structure............................................................................................................................ 16
New Re-Designed Board Structure ........................................................................................................... 16
YOUNG VOICES BUDGET PROJECTIONS ............................................................................................... 19
YOUNG VOICES STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN .............................................................................. 20
YOUNG VOICES BOARD WILL MONITOR PROGRESS BY REVIEWING TARGETS ................................... 23
APPENDIX A: DETAILED SITE EXPANSION PLAN ...................................................................................... 26
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN
This plan was developed with the full engagement and support of the Young Voices board, staff and youth.
Feedback and input were actively sought from several key stakeholders including community experts on
national expansion, fundraising, evaluation and board development. Young Voices would like to extend a
special word of thanks to the following people for the time and energy their committed to the development of
this strategic plan:
YOUNG VOICES STRATEGIC PLANNING LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE
James Day, Board Co-Chair
Perri Leviss, Board Member
Karen Feldman, Executive Director
Peter Chung, Program Coordinator
Emily Harris, Program Coordinator
Julian Santiago, Youth Board Member
Rosa Ramos, Youth Board Member
YOUNG VOICES BOARD MEMBERS
James Day, Board Chair
Rosa Ramos, Junior, Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex, Youth Board Co-Chair
Ivy Barclay, Junior, Paul Cuffee School, Co-Chair, Fundraising Committee
Joan Khattab, Financial Advisor, Merril Lynch, Co-Chair, Fundraising Committee
Perri Leviss, Management Consultant, Co-Chair, Membership and Recruitment
Africa Smith, Junior, Paul Cuffee School, Co-Chair, Membership and Recruitment
Julian Santiago, Sophomore, Dr. Jorge Alveras High School, Secretary
Carrie Bridges Feliz, Health Disparities and Access to Care Team Lead, Department of Health
Anabel Castillo, Junior, Paul Cuffee School
Cendy Chery, Sophomore, Classical High School
Candido Moya, Junior, Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex
Joanna Roberts, Policy and Research Analyst, RIPEC
COMMUNITY EXPERTISE
Michael Fournier, Senior Vice President, Operations YMCA of Greater Providence
Bill Allen, {title?}
Mary Claire Knight, Management Consultant
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OVERVIEW
Over the past 6 years, Young Voices has grown into one of the leading youth advocacy and leadership
development organizations in Rhode Island. Our mission is to transform urban youth into powerful advocates
who have a voice in every aspect of their lives. We accomplish this by training youth through a twice weekly
Leadership Training Academy (LTA) in advanced research, public speaking, and debating skills to prepare them
to work with powerful adults to shape district, local, and statewide policies that impact the future of our State.
We believe young people are uniquely positioned to inform decision making and deserve to have a seat at the
table whenever decisions are made that impact their lives. Currently, Young Voices serves over 130 youth a
year in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls, Rhode Island.
For the past six years, Young Voices has been supporting youth at our main Providence site to push for
effective education policies at the statewide level. This work has included successfully pushing for an equitable
state funding formula, effective teacher evaluations, and teacher certification that is connected to classroom
performance, as well as playing an active role in helping RI’s leaders obtain a $75 million Race to the Top
grant.
In 2010, Young Voices implemented a new model to support students at "turnaround" schools to ensure that
they have real input into the redesign of their schools. This model, which includes weekly, on-site trainings,
was started at Central Falls High School and replicated at another high school in Providence. It supports
students to work closely with the principal to implement student-centered learning policies to improve the
school. Students study the school’s reform plan, get the input of the whole student body on it, and work
alongside the principal and teachers to implement changes suggested by all the students such as changing the
structure of the school day, creating hands-on learning opportunities for struggling students, and improving
the actual quality of teaching in the classroom.
We are now ready to share this model with more schools throughout Rhode Island, while continuing to build
our capacity and strengthen our service delivery. To develop a clear road map for achieving this goal, Young
Voices recently completed an intensive nine month strategic planning process. As a result of this process,
Young Voices now has three year plan that outlines three primary goals that Young Voices will pursue over the
next three years:
1) The Expansion of Youth Leadership Programs across the State: Young Voices will be expanding to three
additional turnaround school sites over the next year in Providence and Pawtucket. This will allow the
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organization to increase the number of youth that is served through Young Voices’ Leadership Training
Academy to 180, an increase of over 35%.
2)
Program Enhancements to Improve Services to Youth: Young Voices will expand opportunities for
youth by helping youth prepare and plan for post-secondary opportunities including college and supporting
youth to build their work readiness. Young Voices will also increase the number of youth leadership
opportunities within the organization and build additional partnerships that will allow youth to work on
additional policy issues and network with more adults.
3) Focus Investments in Young Voices Organizational Capacity to Support the Achievement of these Goals:
Young Voices will increase the use of data and evaluation results to better deliver services to youth and
expand and restructure the board to better leverage the skills of all board members/other volunteers to
support the organization, and obtain diversified revenue streams.
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Young Voices has grown exponentially. Three years ago, we had one site with 40 students. By the end of the year, we will be reaching more
than 180 students at six sites across RI including: our main site in a donated church space in Providence; Central Falls HS; Shea HS in
Pawtucket; and 3 Providence high schools.

More than 360 youth have participated in our leadership training. 95% have dramatically increased their leadership skills. 100% graduated
high school, and 96% have gone on to college/secondary education. Our first class of students just graduated college.

Youth have made a measureable impact on our public education system, successfully pushing for stronger teacher evaluations and fair
graduation requirements, and partnering with RI leaders to get an education funding formula passed and to obtain $75 million through Race
to the Top.

Our youth have also worked to improve their own schools: students at Juanita Sanchez HS in Providence and Central Falls HS surveyed the
entire student body, asking them what could be done to raise the graduation rate. They presented a detailed report to their principals, and
have been meeting monthly with the principals since then. Along with the principal, they worked to implement policies in that have made
measurable improvements in the school, such as: new discipline policies; changing the structure of the school day; creating hands-on
learning opportunities for students who are behind; and improving the actual quality of teaching in the classroom. These new policies have
already made a major impact: in Central Falls, the graduation rate increased from 51% to 70%!

Our work supporting youth to make a real difference while transforming their own lives gained us nation recognition. We have been
recognized by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Council for Teacher Quality for our work around teacher evaluation.
The Annenberg Institute at Brown University wrote about our work in its Voices in Urban Education periodical.
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YOUNG VOICES (YV) HISTORY
2006-2007
YV is founded.
YVs serves 40
students from
Providence.
Staffed by 1 FT and 1
PT co-director.
2007-2008
YV youth conduct
1st survey of 1,000
Providence youth,
which is presented
at a major forum.
The survey shows
that education is
the youths’ main
concern, and YV
begins to focus on
education reform.
2008-2009
YV organizes 100
people to attend
Board of Regents
hearings; youth
successfully testify
for stronger teacher
standards.
YV shares its model,
training adults in
Woonsocket and
Central Falls to use
the LTA, and
establishes the LTA
at Central Falls HS
YV increases the
number of youth
served to 80, an
increase of 50%.
2009-2010
2010-2011
YV partners with RI is
Ready to get 1st
Education Funding
Formula in 15 years
YV partners with
ACLU and others to
successfully push
back graduation
requirements; helps
to organize 300
people to attend
Regents Hearing.
YV youth serve on
Race to Top Steering
Committee, and help
RI get $75 million
Central Falls HS is
designated as
turnaround school;
YV creates its model
for authentic youth
voice in school
turnaround.
Youth lead national
press conferences
about school
turnaround.
YV replicates
turnaround school
model at JSEC, and
increases the
number of youth
served to 120.
YV changes staffing
model to a single
director and hires 2
additional full-time
staff.
2011-2012
YV youth testify at
State Board of
Regents hearings
about teacher
certification
YV youth testify at
multiple State
House hearings at
about graduation
requirements.
2012-2013
YV to open 2 more
turnaround school
sites in Providence
and 1 in Pawtucket,
increasing the
number of youth
served to 180.
Our model for youth
voice in turnaround
is highly successful;
students at both
schools get seats on
every decisionmaking body and
successfully push for
changes that impact
the school.
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YOUNG VOICES’ MODEL DIFFERENTIATES IT FROM ITS PEERS
YOUNG VOICES
PROGRAM MODEL
TRAINS YOUTH AS PROFESSIONAL ADVOCATES:
Trains youth to present themselves as professional
advocates, speaking and participating within
traditional structures such as the legislature and/or
school level decision-making committees.
PrYSM (Providence Youth Student
Movement)
Trains youth in “direct action” activism
and community organizing strategies.
Media program to train youth to use
modern technology to learn about and
share information on issues related to
social justice and equality with the
community.
Partners with College Visions to help youth prepare
and plan for college.
TARGET POPULATION
EXPANDED URBAN REACH: Providence, Central
Falls, Pawtucket
Low-income youth of color from: Providence Public
High Schools
Central Falls H.S.
Juanita Sanchez H.S.
Alvarez H.S.
Tolman H.S.
Mt Pleasant High School.
Youth led outreach and educational
programs to peers about non-violence,
health, and civic engagement;
Current Campaign: Racial Profiling
PRIMARY ADVOCACY FOCUS ON EDUCATION
ISSUES.
GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS
YOUTH IN ACTION
Partners with College Visions to help
youth prepare and plan for college.
Providence
Southeast Asian youth
Partners YVs, Prysm and DARE to
engage in joint advocacy efforts.
Providence
Low-income youth of color from:
Providence Public High Schools
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GOALS AND OBJECTIVES AT A GLANCE
A: EXPAND TO THREE ADDITIONAL TURNAROUND SCHOOL SITES BY THE END OF THE 2012-2013 SCHOOL YEAR:
Objective 1: Beginning Young Voices programming in Alvarez High School, Providence by June 2012.
Objective 2: Begin Young Voices programming in Tolman High School, Pawtucket by October 2012.
Objective 3: Begin Young Voices programming in Mt. Pleasant High School, Providence by January 2013.
B. IMPROVE YOUNG VOICES LEADERSHIP TRAINING ACADEMY BY ENHANCING THE SERVICES AVAILABLE TO
YOUNG VOICES YOUTH
Objective 1: Expand opportunities for youth by helping youth prepare and plan for post-secondary opportunities
including college and supporting youth to build their work readiness.
Objective 2: Build partnership to expand opportunities for youth to work on additional policy issues.
Objective 3: Increase youth leadership opportunities within the organization (outside of policy advocacy) including,
but not limited to: opportunities to facilitate meetings, manage the website, photograph events and do data entry.
Objective 4: Provide expanded opportunities for youth-adult partnerships and networking.
C. MAKE FOCUSED INVESTMENTS IN YOUNG VOICES ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY TO SUPPORT THE
ACHIEVEMENT OF THESE GOALS
Objective 1: Increase the capacity of the organization to use data/information in an ongoing way to information
program design and strategic decisions.
Objective 2: Re-design our board composition and committee structure to more effectively support the strategic
plan.
Objective 3: Develop a strategic fundraising plan that will support the implementation of the strategic plan.
Additional plans for how these goals will be achieved can be found on the following pages.
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GOAL A: YOUNG VOICES SITE EXPANSION PLAN
Young Voices plan to expand to three additional turnaround school sites by the end of 2012-2013 school year and grow the total youth served from
130 t0 180 youth as follows:
 Begin Young Voices programming in Alvarez High School, Providence by June 2012, serving a total of 20 youth per year.
 Begin Young Voices programming in Tolman High School, Pawtucket by October 2012, serving a total of 20 youth per year.
 Begin Young Voices programming in Mt. Pleasant High School, Providence by January 2013, serving a total of 20 youth per year.
We plan to accomplish this expansion with the current staffing structure. The projected growth by site per year is shown in the table below:
Total Projected Youth Attending the Program for 30 Days or More Number of Youth
2012-2013 2013-2014
Downtown Providence (Statewide Site)
45
45
Central Falls High School (School Site)
20
20
Januita Sanchez Educational Complex, Providence (School Site)
15
15
Alvarez High School, Providence (School Site)
15
15
Tolman High School, Pawtucket (School Site)
15
Mt. Pleasant High School, Providence (School Site)
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TOTAL
95
125
Number of Youth
2012-2013 2013-2014
Downtown Providence (Statewide Site)
65
65
Central Falls High School (School Site)
30
30
Januita Sanchez Educational Complex, Providence (School Site) 20
25
Alvarez High School, Providence (School Site)
15
20
Tolman High School, Pawtucket (School Site)
20
Mt. Pleasant High School, Providence (School Site)
20
TOTAL
130
180
2014-2015
45
20
15
15
15
15
125
Total Projected Youth Served By Site
2014-2015
65
30
25
20
20
20
180
Note: See detailed expansion plan in the Appendix for more detail.
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GOAL B: LEADERSHIP TRAINING ACADEMY IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Young Voices intends to improve its leadership transformation academy for youth by enhancing the services available including:




Expanding opportunities for youth by helping youth prepare and plan for post-secondary opportunities including college and supporting
youth to build their work readiness.
Building partnerships to expand opportunities for youth to work on additional policy issues.
Increasing youth leadership opportunities within the organization (outside of policy advocacy) including, but not limited to: opportunities to
facilitate meetings, manage the website, photograph events and do data entry.
Providing expanded opportunities for youth-adult partnerships and networking.
We will accomplish this expansion with the current staffing structure. A year by year plan for implementing these enhancements is outlined in the
table below:
Goal
Provide students with
access to “networks of
power” & expand
opportunities for youthadult partnerships,
including relationships with
alumni.
Build partnerships to
expand opportunities for
youth to work on additional
policy issues.



YEAR 1 (2012-2013)
Build a board mentorship program
Further engage alumni by:
 Hosting an alumni event
 Inviting an alumni to speak at LTA
 Invite Alumni to major YV events/activities
YEAR 2 (2013-2014)
Build on Year 1 by:
 Engaging alumni on the
Fundraising Host Committee
and involving alumni in
fundraising asks.
 Research new networking
opportunities.
YEAR 3 (2014-2015)
Build on Year 1 and 2 by:
 Evaluating the board
mentorship program
 Securinh alumni representation
on Board (3 classes of YV will
be college graduates by then)
 Providing new networking
opportunities.
Maintain current partnerships and research new
partnerships.



Cultivate potential new
partners based on previous
year’s research & begin one
new partnership
Research additional issue areas

Analyze current partnerships to
identify gaps
Create at least one additional
partnership in a new issue area
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Goal
Increase youth leadership
opportunities within the
organization (outside of
policy advocacy)
Help youth prepare and
plan for post-secondary
opportunities including
college. Support youth to
build their work readiness.*





YEAR 1 (2012-2013)
Continue to offer current youth leadership
opportunities:
Continue partnership with College Visions (CV) to
provide college support
Partner with the College Planning Center of RI to
provide college readiness workshops to our students
Continue offering resume writing & interview skills
workshops to students
Maintain relationship with post-secondary partners
including Year Up, Youth Build



YEAR 2 (2013-2014)
Expand to offer additional
opportunities to include:
 Updating the website
 Managing a blog
 Marketing
Continue existing college
readiness partnerships and
with students, identify
additional resources needed
Continue to offer resume &
interview workshops, maintain
& research new partnerships
and with students, identify
additional resources needed

YEAR 3 (2014-2015)
Based on youth input continue to
identify and expand leadership
oppportunties.

Analyze current college readiness
partnerships to identify gaps &
additional resources needed

Analyze current post-secondary
partnerships and workshops to
identify gaps & additional
resources needed
GOAL C: ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING PLAN
To support the organization’s ability to achieve these goals, Young Voices plan to make focused investments in its’ organizational capacity as
follows:

Increase the capacity of the organization to use data/information in an ongoing way to information program design and strategic decisions,
including formally evaluating the impact of the Young Voices program.

Re-designing the Young Voices board composition and committee structure to more effectively support the strategic plan.

Developing a strategic fundraising plan that will support the implementation of the strategic plan.
Detailed plans for achieving these objectives are found on the following pages:
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YOUNG VOICES EVALUATION PLAN
To demonstrate the impact of the Young Voices model, we plan to increase the capacity of the organization to use data/information in an ongoing
way to information program design and strategic decisions. Specifically, we would like to answer the following questions:





Are schools with YV more effective learning environments for youth?
Are youth shifting education policy change in RI?
Is youth advocacy growing in Providence, Central Falls and Pawtucket?
Are youth demonstrating growth?
Are all youth growing ` leadership and advocacy skills?
Below is an evaluation plan that outlines the indicators, sources, timing, methods and instruments that will be used to answer these questions.
Questions
Indicators
Timing
Sources
Methods
Instruments
Desired Outcomes
Are schools with
YV more
effective learning
environments for
youth?
HS Graduation rates
Annual
School Dept or RIDE
data
Data sharing
agreement
with individual
school districts
InfoWorks
Outcome 1: Graduation rates
increase
Analysis of
compiled
minutes
Focus group
questions
Attendance and tardiness
rates
Presence of student voice
in decision-making
School year
Minutes from
meetings
Student opinion
influencing prioritization
of school policies and
implementation
School year
Interviews with
school leadership,
SIT
Hands on, experiential
learning in the classroom
Annual
survey
Young Voices survey
Teaching
method/behavior
Annual
RIDE- Survey Works
Evaluator
conducts
interviews
Students
distribute and
collect YV
surveys
Interview
questions
Young Voices
survey
RIDE survey
Data collection
Outcome 2:
Increase in the use of student
input in decision-making
regarding school policies and
operations.
Outcome 3:
Student voice and opinion
influences the application of
hands on learning and effective
discipline.
Outcome 4: Student opinion
and input is considered in the
scheduling of the school day.
Outcome 5: The annual survey
results will be used to update
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Questions
Are youth
shifting
education policy
change in RI?
.
Indicators
Timing
Sources
Adequate funding for
education
Annual
Fair funding formula
legislation
Improved teacher quality
Annual
Educator evaluation
results
Board of Regents
Graduation requirements
are fair and meaningful
Ongoing
Methods
from InfoWorks
Annual review
of legislative
laws
RIDE Task force
meeting
minutes
Instruments
Desired Outcomes
the school improvement plan.
Documents:
Testimony,
during
forums
Outcome 1: HS graduation
requirements will include
multiple measures of success,
not limited to testing
Meeting
minutes,
recorded
decisions
Outcome 2: Pilot
implementation of a student
constructive feedback tool in
two school districts.
Outcome 3: Fully funded and
equitable funding formula for
schools.
Is youth
advocacy
growing in
Providence,
Central Falls and
Pawtucket?
Are youth
demonstrating
growth?
Youth engagement in
legislative process
Participation in public
forums
Community
advocacy
Documentation
in committee
minutes
Any media
attention
Building partnerships with
decision makers
Membership on:
School
Improvement Team,
Principles leadership
team, committees
Minutes from
meetings with
attendance of
members
noted
Increased leadership skills
Presentation as confident
Ongoing
Nov/Dec
April/May
Monthly
Presentations at
state house
Goal sheet
LTA
Rubric
Videotaping
Outcome 1: 300 youth will be
actively engaged in policy
making process at the
municipal and state levels.
Goal sheet is
used as a
formative
Outcome 1: Present
information with supporting
evidence so that the
organization, substance and
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Questions
Are all youth
growing `
leadership and
advocacy skills?
Indicators
advocates
Timing
Sources
Methods
hot shots, all
presentations
Effective communication
skills
Ongoing
Videotaping
Increased critical thinking
Ongoing
Rubric
Depth and rate of
participation in YV
program and activities
Weekly
Youth services
Data analysis of
attendance and
participation
Daily
attendance
collection
Outcome 1: 70% of all YV
participants will attend 30 days
or more annually
Documentation of
rotation schedule
for small group
leadership
YV daily activity
plans
Consistent
activity plan
format
Outcome 2: 20% of all YV
participants will attend 60 days
or more
Minutes from board
meeting
Analysis of
youth
participation
Analysis of
growth
Evaluator
review
Alignment with
common core
Recording of youth
ask meeting
Instruments
assessment
Rubric to
assess
demonstratio
n and
presentation
Desired Outcomes
style are appropriate to
purpose and audience.
Outcome 2: Written arguments
that support claims in an
analysis of substantive topics or
texts, using valid reasoning and
relevant and sufficient
evidence.
Evaluator
review
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YOUNG VOICES BOARD DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Young Voices intends to re-design its board composition and committee structure to more effectively support the strategic plan. The charts below
show the current board structure and planned new structure:
Current Board Structure
Young Voices Board of Directors
Membership and
Recruitment
Committee
Policy
Committee
=Current volunteer entry points
Fundraising
Committee
Adhoc Event Committee
New Re-Designed Board Structure
Young Voices will redesign its board to achieve the following goals:




Provide support and oversight to the goals of the strategic plan, including program evaluation.
Increase potential entry points for volunteers into the organization
Achieve a stronger infrastructure for recruiting, training and retaining board and committee members.
Increase the organizations ability to engage the resources, expertise and influence of other “friends” of the organization.
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The new board will be organized as depicted on the chart on the following page:
Alumni
Advisory
Group
New Re-Designed Board Structure (Cont’d)
Young Voices Board of
Directors



Program Evaluation
Mission Adherence

Development
Committee
Program Fidelity



Mission Compliance
Sustainability
Legal/Liability






Resources, expertise, influence that could help the
organization
Post-secondary Prep, Graduation, Youth-Adult
Connections
Governance and
Personnel Committee
Fundraising, PR and Marketing
Subgroups:
Individual/Corporate
Giving
Events
Promoting/Expanding the
Brand
Friends of
Young Voices
Board Development Cycle
Board Engagement/
Monitoring
Personnel Policy Oversight
= new volunteer entry points
Notes:


All committees will be co-chaired by an adult and youth board member.
Certain committees can engage non-board members (see green arrows)
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In addition to restructuring the board, Young Voices will engage in an ongoing board development campaign to recruit and train new board
members as outlined below:
Action Step
Assessment of gaps on the board
Identify potential board member prospects
Recruit prospects (prioritize prospects, identify a cultivation and recruitment strategy)
Provide orientation to all new members
Provide specific board training as needed around key expectations
Engage each new board member in a standing committee
Ensure that a succession plan is in place for each leadership role; identify members with leadership potential
and cultivate them
Annually review needs and gaps and prospect and recruit new members
Timeframe
Dec 2012
Dec 2012 through Jan 2013
Jan 2013 through March 2013
April 2013
Ongoing
April 2013
Ongoing
Ongoing
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YOUNG VOICES BUDGET PROJECTIONS
Young Voices expects to be able to implement the strategies in this strategic plan with its current staffing and cost structure. Between 2012 and
2015, it expects that costs will increase by 5% primarily because of the increase in stipends as a result of serving more students, small cost of living
adjustments for the staff and a small anticipated increase in overall costs due to inflation. The overall cost per student will decrease from
$1849/student per year to $1346/student per year as the Young Voices program and staff reaches full capacity. The organization does not
anticipate the need to use any of its reserves during this period of time.
Projected Expenses
2012 (Actual)
2013
2014
2015
Total Personnel Expenses
Total Non-Personnel
Expenses
$211,048.00
88%
$218,500.00
88%
$220,350.00
88%
$220,850.00
88%
5%
$29,300.00
12%
$29,258.00
12%
$29,958.96
12%
$30,494.14
12%
4%
Total Expenses
$240,348.00
100%
$247,758.00
100%
$250,308.96
100%
$251,344.14
100%
5%
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YOUNG VOICES STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Young Voices expects that it will need to raise $ $880,720.00 cumulatively over the next three years to support its work and the implementation of
this strategic plan. To accomplish this, Young Voices intends to grow its overall revenue by 28% over 3 years by implementing the strategies
outlined on the following pages.
Current State
The start-up and early growth of Young Voices has been supported through several key sources of funding:
1) Fundraising from Individuals and Events: Each year, Young Voices raises money from individual donors through the annual event, board
giving and one-to-one asks.
2) Multi-year Grants: In 2011, Young Voices had four multi-year grants, presenting 50% of the organizations total revenue.
3) Challenge Grants: Challenge grants represent 8% of the organizations revenue and are a key strategy for increasing our fundraising
amounts.
4) Partnerships: Young Voice has several ongoing partnerships. One, with the Mayor’s Office of Substance Abuse, would be to partner with
them to reduce teenage smoking. Another key partner is the districts of Providence, Central Falls, and Pawtucket, where the school-based
programs are operating; the districts are partly funding this work.
5) Consulting/Earned Income: Young Voices has ongoing consulting relationships with a number of partners, including: RI KIDS COUNT, RI
Student Assistance Services and Sojourner House. Our role in these partnerships is to provide one or more of the following services: youth
conducted resources, focus groups, and/or general youth participation initiatives. These relationships are expected to continue.
Key Strategic Goals and Strategies
Young Voices anticipates a Young Voices expects a significant decline in grant funding from multi-year grants starting in 2014 because the grant
environment has become extremely competitive. In anticipation of this shift, the organization has identified three key development strategies with
the goal of diversifying the organizational funding base and decreasing the organizations reliance on large, multi-year grants to no more than 35%
of total revenue as follows:
20
1) Build a Partnership with a National Organization to Share Best Practices in Youth Education Organizing: Young Voices is currently
creating a national-level partnership with Youth on Board to share best practices in youth education organizing with organizations around
the country. Youth on Board is a well-respected, national organization with existing relationships with major national funders who have
expressed an preliminary interest in investing in this project. Work is underway to cultivate those relationships and develop a plan. Starting
in 2014, this initiative is expected to raise $60,000 for the organization.
2) Continue to Grow Young Voices Individual Donor Base: Young Voices has grown its individual donor base from $2500 in 2007 to $43,700 in
2012, represents 18% of the Young Voices’ total revenue. This is an increase of 1648%. This has been achieved by increasing youth
involvement in donor asks, building the organization’s annual event and closely managing board giving. Young Voices intends to continue to
build this revenue area by another 53% over the next three years by expanding challenge grant opportunities, and increasing the funds
raised from Board Contributions, Individual Donors, and our annual event.
3) Develop New Earned Income: Young Voices plans to launch a new income-generating and youth leadership building opportunity with its
youth. Currently, youth play a major role in planning the annual fundraising event. In addition to procuring most of the auction items, they
also donate services (such as babysitting and landscaping) for the auction. These are some of the most popular auction items, raising an
average of $2000 for the event. A significant number of youth have expressed interest in offering these services year-round with the goal of
giving youth an opportunity to build their entrepreneurial and networking skills and earning some income with the guidance of Young
Voices staff and while sharing a portion of their profits with Young Voices. Young Voices expects that will help the organization raise an
additional $10,000 in funding per year. The project would be managed with the current staffing structure.
The revenue projection below shows the organizations projected growth in revenue by category:
21
Revenue
Grants
Board Members
Individual Donors
Fundraisers, events, sales
Challenge Grants
Partnerships
Consulting/Earned Income
Interest income
Health Insurance Rebate, Misc
Carryover from Prior Year
Reserves
Total Revenue
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
2012
%
122,600.00
50%
14,200.00
6%
14,000.00
6%
15,500.00
6%
20,000.00
8%
28,107.00
11%
1,750.00
1%
90.00
0%
1,800.00
1%
24,924.00
0%
244,983.00 100%
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
2013
173,400.00
16,000.00
23,000.00
19,000.00
27,500.00
23,200.00
$20,000
90.00
1,800.00
303,990.00
%
57%
5%
8%
6%
9%
8%
7%
0%
1%
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
0% $
100% $
2014
%
92,950.00
35%
17,000.00
6%
25,000.00
9%
19,000.00
7%
40,000.00
15%
46,200.00
17%
25,000.00
9%
90.00
0%
1,800.00
1%
267,040.00 100%
2015
%
$ 105,400.00
33%
$ 19,000.00
6%
$ 27,000.00
9%
$ 22,000.00
7%
$ 40,000.00
13%
$ 74,800.00
24%
$ 25,000.00
8%
$
90.00
0%
$ 1,800.00
1%
$
$
0%
$ 315,090.00 100%
Percent
Change
2012 2015
-14%
34%
93%
42%
100%
166%
1329%
0%
0%
0%
29%
22
YOUNG VOICES BOARD WILL MONITOR PROGRESS BY REVIEWING TARGETS
Twice a year the Young Voices Board of Director will monitor progress by measuring the achievement of the following targets:
STRATEGIES AND OBJECTIVES
TARGETS
Expand to Three Additional Turnaround School Sites By the End of the 2012-2013 School Year
Objective 1: Beginning Young Voices programming in
Alvarez High School, Providence by June 2012.

Young Voices has started programming in Alvarez High School By June 2012 and is
serving at least 15 youth by the end of the 2012-2013 school year.
Objective 2: Begin Young Voices programming in
Tolman High School, Pawtucket by October 2012.

Young Voices has started programming in Tolman High School By October 2012 and is
serving at least 15 youth by the start of the 2013-2014 school year.
Objective 3: Begin Young Voices programming in Mt.
Pleasant High School, Providence by January 2013.

Young Voices has started programming in Mt. Pleasant High School By October 2012
and is serving at least 15 youth by the start of the 2013-2014 school year.
Improve Young Voices Leadership Training Academy by Enhancing the Services Available to Young Voices Youth
Objective 1: Expand opportunities for youth by helping
youth prepare and plan for post-secondary
opportunities including college and supporting youth to
build their work readiness.

By 2014-2015, Young Voices will have completed an assessment of college readiness
and post-secondary opportunity programming needs and developed a plan to
address the gaps through partnerships.
Objective 2: Build partnership to expand opportunities
for youth to work on additional policy issues.

One new policy partnership will be developed and implement in 2013-2014.

An additional new policy partnership will be developed and implement in 2014-2015.
Objective 3: Increase youth leadership opportunities
within the organization (outside of policy advocacy)
including, but not limited to: opportunities to facilitate
meetings, manage the website, photograph events and
do data entry.

At least 3 new youth leadership opportunities will be offered by the end of the 20132014 program year.
23
STRATEGIES AND OBJECTIVES
TARGETS
Objective 4: Provide expanded opportunities for youthadult partnerships and networking.

A board mentorship program will be developed and implemented in during the 20122013 program year.

At least 1 alumni will be serving on the Fundraising Host Committee and involved in
making donor asks by the end of the 2013-2014 program year.

At least 1 alumni will be serving on the Board of Directors by the end of the 20142015 program year.
Make Focused Investments in Young Voices Organizational Capacity to Support The Achievement of These Goals
Objective 1: Increase the capacity of the organization to 
use data/information in an ongoing way to information 
program design and strategic decisions.
Objective 2: Re-design our board composition and
committee structure to more effectively support the
strategic plan.
Beginning 2-1-13 data analysis on attendance and participation rate will be used to
inform outreach strategies and program design.

By 2-28-13 and evaluation partner will be identified and initial planning for an
effective evaluation design will begin.

By 8-31-14 an evaluation of program impact will be completed.


By November 2012 a new Board Committee Structure will be approved.
By December 2012 an enhanced recruitment strategy will be functioning within the
Governance and Policy Committee
By April 2013, five (5) new Board Members will be identified and engaged in
Orientation.
By May 2013, the new committee structure will be fully functioning including
adult/youth leadership and 2013 goals/objectives
By June 2013 a Friends of Young Voices (including Alumni) will be defined and reach
out “membership” will be in place
By 2015, overall revenue will increase by 29%



Objective 3: Develop a strategic fundraising plan that
will support the implementation of the strategic plan.
By 1-31-13, Data collection measures will be identified and data entry completed.


By the 2014 fiscal year, the total percentage of revenue from grants will be no more
than 35% of total revenue.

By 2014, a fully-funded partnership will be in place with Youth on Board.

By the end of the 2012-2012, Young Voices will have developed a business plan for its
24
new earned income strategy.

The new earned income strategy will be implemented by the 2013-2014 program
year.
25
APPENDIX A: DETAILED SITE EXPANSION PLAN
YEAR 1 (2012-2013)
Site
Status
POLICY GOALS
PROGRAM GOALS
Downtown
Providence
Established Site
(Statewide
site)
Central Falls
High School
Established Site
(School site)
Juanita
Sanchez
Educational
Complex in
Providence
Established Site
(School site)
Alvarez High New Site
School in
Providence
(School site)
Statewide education policy
-To ensure fair graduation requirements
-To achieve student voice in teacher evaluation
Other policy work
-To achieve health & environmental policy
goals in partnership with RITCN, Sojourner
House, Dept. of Health & state leaders
School-based policy
-To achieve more effective discipline policies,
increased hands-on learning in classrooms, and
a more effective school schedule
-To ensure students receive credit for outside
learning through Expanded Learning
Opportunities (ELO)
Other policy work
-To achieve Tobacco environmental policy
goals in partnership with RITCN & CF
Prevention Coalition
School-based policy
-To achieve more effective discipline policies,
increased hands-on learning in classrooms, and
a more effective school schedule
-To ensure students receive credit for outside
learning through ELO
School-based policy
-work with United Providence
-TBD (based on student survey)
YEAR 2 (2013-2014)
YEAR 3 (2014-2015)
-To offer LTA twice weekly
-To participate in State
House hearings (during
legislative season)
-To offer LTA 2 times/wk
-To participate in hearings
-To measure progress on
policy goals
-To address new policy
issues as they arise
-To offer LTA 2 times/wk
-To participate in hearings
-To measure progress on
policy goals
-To address new policy
issues as they arise
-To offer LTA weekly
-To offer program as an ELO
-To meet monthly with
school leadership
-To sit on school decisionmaking committees
-To present 2012 schoolwide student survey results
-To offer LTA weekly
-To offer program as an ELO
-To meet monthly with
leadership
-To sit on committees
-To measure progress on
policy goals through annual
student survey
-To offer LTA weekly
-To offer program as an
ELO
-To meet monthly with
leadership
-To sit on committees
-To present 2014 student
survey results
-To offer LTA weekly
-To offer program as an ELO
-To meet monthly with
school leadership
-To sit on school decisionmaking committees
-To measure progress on
policy goals through annual
school-wide student survey
-To offer LTA weekly
-To meet monthly with
school leadership
-To conduct school-wide
student survey to determine
2-Year Action Plan & policy
-To offer LTA weekly
-To offer program as an ELO
-To meet monthly with
leadership
-To sit on committees
-To present 2013 student
survey results
-To offer LTA weekly
-To offer program as an
ELO
-To meet monthly with
leadership
-To sit on committees
-To measure progress on
policy goals through annual
student survey
-To offer LTA weekly
-To meet monthly with
leadership
-To sit on committees
-To measure progress on
policy goals by conducting
-To offer LTA weekly
-To meet monthly with
leadership
-To sit on school decisionmaking committees
-To create and present
26
Tolman
High School
in
Pawtucket
New Site
School-based policy
-TBD (based on student survey)
(School site)
Mt.
Pleasant
High School
in
Providence
(School site)
Start
Date:
Jan. 1
’13
15
School-based policy
-TBD(based on student survey)
goals
Action Plan & policy goals
annual student survey
-To offer LTA weekly
-To meet monthly with
school leadership
-To conduct school-wide
student survey to determine
2-Year Action Plan & policy
goals
-To offer LTA weekly
-To meet monthly with
school leadership
-To conduct school-wide
student survey to determine
2-Year Action Plan & policy
goals
-To offer LTA weekly
-To meet monthly with
leadership
-To sit on school decisionmaking committees
-To create and present
Action Plan & policy goals
-To offer LTA weekly
-To meet monthly with
leadership
-To sit on school decisionmaking committees
-To create and present
Action Plan & policy goals
-To offer LTA weekly
-To meet monthly with
leadership
-To sit on committees
-To measure progress on
policy goals by conducting
annual student survey
-To offer LTA weekly
-To meet monthly with
leadership
-To sit on committees
-To measure progress on
policy goals through annual
student survey
27