2 Executive Summary Abstract Around the World in 80 Days is a free cultural summer program for parents and their children We have over 50 days of various activities from 54 different countries This will be done in the format of a 20 minute expert presentation about a specific country, followed by relevant songs, crafts, and games The staff of our center chooses and recruits the presenters (or they sign up), and will be planning and implementing this project It will be from 1-4pm every week day starting June 2nd through August 15th at the Family Information and Resource Center Who is our Community? Our community consists of Cache Valley residents that are lower-middle income working parents and families This topic appeals to our community specifically because it is a free, and very educational/cultural program that children and parents (or a responsible adult) can participate in over the summer Around the World in 80 days will encourage active involvement in the humanities because families learn about many different cultures and crafts from other countries Our program will spark interest in other languages, philosophies, religions, and visual and performing arts from many different areas around the world With this new learned interest, families can incorporate it in their lives We will attract attention to this project through various forms of social media, word of mouth, flyers, and banners on our building Issues and/or concerns facing our community In Logan, there are many low income family households They cannot afford preschool or summer programs; also, some not qualify for Head Start Additionally, the free programs that are available are difficult to get into The improvement and changes we seek As a result of our project, we expect to see greater knowledge and awareness of other countries and cultures among children We also hope for a greater excitement and higher performance in school with this gained knowledge of language and cultural competency How we will use humanities to bring about this change/improvement We will incorporate language and beliefs of other cultures to our project This helps children to understand that meanings of various symbols, people and places and potentially help them in school Who are the scholars and experts? Our humanity scholar is named Dr Ekaterina Arshavskaya She has a MA and PhD in Applied Linguistics from Pennsylvania State University She is a second language teacher at Utah State University, speaks fluent Russian and has interest in sociocultural theory We also have members of our community and students at Utah State University from various countries who will be our expert presenters As staff, we educate ourselves about other countries to help present as well Why UHC is vital funding UHC funding is vital because it will help us to improve our program, and provide us the means to pay the experts and staff that come in and teach about other countries It will allow us to have and pay a scholar who will help in expanding the knowledge and educational value of this project This funding will greatly assist us in advertising “Around the World” out to the public community; which will help to expand our population and awareness of other cultures 3 Narrative Proposal Project Description Community Description Our community consists of Cache Valley residents; a population of over 48,000 people with almost 16,000 households Over 10,000 are family households and over 5,000 are nonfamily We have over 5,700 children under the age of 18 in those households Also, 23.8 % of those family households with children under 18 have income below poverty level In Cache Valley the majority of our population (66%) speaks only the English language in the home We have a great need to expand our horizons and develop a greater knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of different cultures and the humanities in our community Issues/Concerns One concern is that there is a large amount of families in Cache Valley that have low income These families cannot afford the high cost of humanity enriched summer programs that are offered The few available low cost programs have waiting lists and are hard to get into Our belief is that the children with access to programs rich in the humanities, have a higher performance in school, get along better with those around them, and become well-rounded individuals of our society Another concern is that families can’t afford preschool for their children and they don’t qualify for Head Start They are the families stuck in the middle who seem to be overlooked In addition, many parents in lower income households may not know all of the resources they have There is 28.6% of our population living under poverty income level, which is higher than the Utah average of 12%; income in Cache Valley is much lower than other parts of Utah There is also a general need in Cache Valley to promote and celebrate various cultures, languages and philosophies As students may not have easy exposure to people of differing cultural backgrounds Improvements and Changes This program will help the children in Cache Valley to be more culturally aware of the world they live in This program exposes them to religion, beliefs, languages, food, dance, games, and arts and crafts of different cultures Since our program is free to the public we believe more children of our community can take advantage of it We believe the children that attend our program will return to school in the fall more excited to learn, and deepened in their education of the humanities Who, What, When, Where, Why and How The Logan Family Information and Resource Center is in its 6th year of our program “Around the World in 80 Days” The project starts on June 1st and goes through August 15th, a total of eleven weeks However, there will be a possible week taken off for the 4th of July; totaling 10 weeks The program runs Monday through Friday from 1:00p.m-4:00pm The location of our summer program is in our main building at 50 S 400 E in Logan, UT This project is important because it provides educational and cultural insight to children and parents, at no charge We run this program by receiving many in-kind donations: our building, along with the heating and cooling and upkeep is donated to us through Logan City School District We receive support through Utah State University and AmeriCorps*VISTA who contribute interns and volunteers Local businesses have supported us by offering free or discounted supplies We received a $1,000 grant from Wal-Mart to help with craft supplies for the program Our center also receives supplies that are donated by our patrons A grant would help us further enrich the experience of our clients and provide an opportunity to purchase some resources that will contribute to the overall sustainability of the program Themes, Issues and Approaches The atmosphere and theme of our project is surrounded with cultural enthusiasm “Around the World in 80 Days” will start out with the children each receiving their own passport They get their passport stamped with the name of every country they visit during the summer We then sing our theme song that teaches children that even though they are different and come from all over the world, they all have similarities It is very wonderful to see the children learn the song They are heard singing it throughout the day while working on crafts or playing a game After the song, the children pretend to board an airplane We show them videos or pictures of what they might see and hear when they reach a designated country Our presenter then tells us more about customs, beliefs and traditions and will show items from that area They might show us a dance done in that country, or what types of clothing people might wear We try to give the children a good idea of what a day in the life of a child from another country and culture might be like We play music that brings the mood and feel of the culture while the children work on crafts or play games that come from that country Planning that has taken place Over the time that our program has been running, we have collected five years worth of planning materials such as: songs, artifacts, music, crafts, stories, language learning materials and more for over 50 countries We have other planning documents stored on the computer including calendars, the templates we use for printing passports, and other materials we use to organize the program We have names and numbers of previous presenters so we can call and organize the dates when it would be convenient for them to come and present their country As of a few weeks ago, our project already has some presenters signed up; and we are in the process of recruiting more We also are working on our funding and budget for the project When summer draws closer we will be having planning meetings each week to work and plan out the details of each day The Need or demand for this project In the year 2011 we had an attendance of 1,493 people In the year 2012 that number grew to 1,594 Last year in 2013 we had an attendance of 1,741 Each year our numbers are growing We see parents who come in and have a desire for their children to learn different languages and to participate in programs free of cost Families really enjoy our summer program that has an easy-going atmosphere of learning and cultural enthusiasm The Need for UHC Funds The numbers of patrons attending our program are very large Additionally, our staff consists of only two employees and one AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer, so we are in extreme need of staff help Not only during the hours of the program are we in need of assistance, but also because we spend a great deal of time planning and preparing throughout each week, before and during the summer It takes a lot of time to arrange presentations and prepare 2-3 crafts a day for each day of the week Also, we need to enhance our program with more knowledge about different cultures A scholar would help us with this tremendously The chosen scholar for this grant also provides an opportunity for us to partner with the ESL program at Utah State University This partnership would serve two exciting purposes First, it would allow the FIRC center to have a larger pool of student presenters available with knowledge of many different countries and cultures This partnership would greatly improve the knowledge and resources of the FIRC Center and provide a more culturally diverse education for participants Second, this partnership would give student presenters (many of whom would be part of USU’s ESL program) a safe and encouraging environment in which they can teach others and practice the use of their own English skills Schedule Information 9:00am: Open center 10:30am-11:30am: We teach a free preschool class Ready! Set! School! 11:30am-1:00pm: Finish preparing crafts and materials and setting up for “Around the World” 1:00pm-3:30pm: “Around the World” program 3:30pm-4:00pm: Clean up and prepare for the next day Evaluation Plan Over the summer we expect and hope to see many positive growth and outcomes of “Around the World in 80 Days” As qualitative outcomes, we expect to see: ● A more enriching program than last year; from more volunteers and knowledge coming in from our experts ● A broader knowledge of cultures among the children that attend ● A better cultural awareness ● An excitement, interest and appreciation for others cultures ● A more positive attitude about going back to school and a greater excitement to learn In order to measure these outcomes we will give out questionnaires to the parents to fill out in behalf of themselves and their child We will collect the questionnaires and put the data into an excel sheet to organize and evaluate all the information In order to communicate the information collected, we will include this evaluation sheet into the Final Report Key Personnel Dr Ekaterina Arshavskaya is our humanity scholar Ekaterina is originally from Moscow (Russia) Her MA studies took place in the applied linguistics program at the Montclair State University (NJ) in 2008 and she got her PhD in applied linguistics at Penn State in 2013.She has worked as an EFL/ESL instructor for over 11 years Her previous work assignment took place at Penn State where she taught academic writing courses to both undergraduate and graduate international students as well as worked with the International Teaching Assistants (the ITAs) Currently, she is an assistant professor of English as a Second Language (ESL) at the Utah State University (Logan, UT) Her research interests include second language (L2) writing and preand in-service L2 teacher education Dr Arshavskaya is a member of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) She will be helping us find and organize our presenters for each country She will come to our planning meetings and to assist in the planning process and expanding our knowledge about languages and culture Ekaterina will also be coming to help implement our program through presenting and gathering materials needed for each week Our Director of the project is Claudia Brilliant, who has been the director at Family Information and Resource Center since 2006 Claudia has been the director of “Around the World in 80 Days” for the past five years Claudia will be spending 40% of full-time on the project She will be overseeing the project, making sure it runs smoothly and things go according to plan She will plan the minutes for the meetings, help organize the scheduling of the presenters, and help with organizing the supplies needed for the crafts and games She will be in charge of publicity for the project Basia Lopez and Kimberly Davies are going to be our full-time employees (Basia is an AmeriCorps* VISTA member) who will work together to assist in planning and implementing the program each day Basia will also be assisting in publicity She is receiving her bachelor’s degree in Family Life Education and has a lot of experience with traveling and other cultures around the world Kimberly has helped plan and organize Around the World in 80 days the summer of 2013 and has experience with how the project should be implemented Audience Our audience for this project mainly attracts parents with young children 2-14, mostly from Cache Valley However, we have families join us from Box Elder and Rich Counties as well We serve parents and families who are looking for things to in the summertime with their children, and our project provides a cultural learning experience for them All of our representatives and volunteers involved will be helping to plan and implement lessons and crafts We will have a planning meeting once a week to organize our lessons and crafts for different countries The staff of our center will help to evaluate the project by helping to write and distribute questionnaires The staff will also be there at the center each day helping to plan and implement our project by helping with the lessons and providing the materials needed This summer of 2014 we estimate about 1900-2000 patrons to attend and participate in ”Around the World in 80 Days” Last summer we had approximately 1,741 people visit our center for our project With this grant, improved advertising, and more volunteer experts we expect to have an increased number of patrons attend this summer Publicity One of the ways we plan on publicizing “Around the World in 80 Days” is through social media We have a blog, Facebook, and Twitter account Through these means we plan on advertising and recruiting volunteers who wish to participate Additionally, we plan on creating posters and signs on our building and throughout the community; such as Elementary schools, local grocery stores, and other community organizations We also have a brochure distributed that contains information and dates about “Around the World” There are Utah State University scholars and AmeriCorps* VISTA Public School Partnership volunteers that will announce and get the word out about our summer program as well They will announce at different elementary schools and at the University Through these means we plan on crediting UHC by putting the name and logo of the organization on each sign we make By posting through social media we will also give credit through naming UHC as our funding organization Included in our program is a passport that we give out to all the children that attend To credit UHC we plan on putting the logo on this passport In doing so, it will say that UHC made it possible for them to “travel” to each country this summer Lastly, at our end-of-the-summer staff and volunteer celebration event, we will orally give credit to UHC as one of our main contributors to an expected successful summer 7 Contributing Organizations ● Cache County School District ● Logan City School District o Donates the building and heating ● Utah State University o Contributes interns ● AmeriCorps Vista Public School Partnership program o Contributes volunteers ● Local Businesses: o Wal-Mart ▪ $1000.00 cash donation o Staples, JoAnns, Michaels, Hobby Lobby ▪ Donates craft items and gives discounts for supplies for crafts Budget Explanation Our estimated annual program cost is $22,134 Of this, $12,134 are In-Kind Contributions We have received a $1,000 cash contribution from Wal-Mart this year, and we will pay for the rest of the $9,000 out of grants that we receive to run the Family Information and Resource Center In-Kind Contributions: $7,250 Our building, including the heating and cooling, is donated to us by Logan City School District $2,100 On average we have one Utah State University intern from the Family, Consumer and Human Development program working with us The interns volunteer an average of 300 hours, compensated at $7 an hour We don’t always have an intern Availability depends on whether students decide to their internship at the FIRC and if it happens during the summer months $2,784 AmeriCorps*VISTA Public School Partnership has donated one of their volunteers to us for one year She is paid a monthly living allowance of $928 This amount reflects the three months she will be with us during the program Cash Contributions: $1,000 Wal-Mart donation for craft supplies Budget: $2,500 $5,500 $500 $500 Director, Claudia Brilliant, part-time (15 hours per week) salary for summer months(3 months x $833.3= $2,500) Employee salary, Kimberley Davies, full time (35 hours per week) for summer months(3 months x $1,833.3= $5,500) Program resources in the form of books and other media to improve the library and help with “Around the World in 80 Days.” Program supplies such as art and craft materials as well as show items representing different cultures UHC Proposed Funds: $750 Honorarium for Humanities scholar, Ekaterina Arshavskaya $3,150 Summer Associate full-time salary from AmeriCorps*VISTA Public School Partnership which is $2,100 for 35 hours a week for 10 weeks, and we will be paying half the salary for another full-time AmeriCorps*VISTA $1,050 (The other half will be covered via donation from the Public School Partnership) $850 Honorariums for student volunteer presenters and other scholars (28 presenters X $30 = $850) $100 Office Supplies including postage, paper, envelopes, ink, office organizers, & telephone $150 Publicity materials such as banners and flyers ... order to measure these outcomes we will give out questionnaires to the parents to fill out in behalf of themselves and their child We will collect the questionnaires and put the data into an... organize the scheduling of the presenters, and help with organizing the supplies needed for the crafts and games She will be in charge of publicity for the project Basia Lopez and Kimberly Davies are... Life Education and has a lot of experience with traveling and other cultures around the world Kimberly has helped plan and organize Around the World in 80 days the summer of 2013 and has experience