Teen substance abuse prevention program
Proposal: Imagine your agency or program is seeking funding to promote the wellbeing of individuals, families or communities from the JEM Foundation. As the applicant, you are required to submit a draft of your proposal.
Grant size: Applicants are encouraged to request funding in the amount of $300,000 or less per year. Assume your project will be funded for one year.
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES:
- This section will include the following components:
- Mission statement 1-2 sentences
- Program and Implementation Plan, including activities and units of service 3-5 pages
- Statement of evaluation ½ page
- Cultural sensitivity ½ page
- Program sustainability ½ page
- Goals and objectives using 3-4 goal statements with 2 process objectives and 2 outcome objectives for each goal statement. Single spaced 1-2pages
- Logic model 1 page
- Gantt chart 1page
- BUDGET: (1 page) This will be single spaced
- Use excel to prepare a simple budget
Use APA 7th edition
Paper should be 8 pages
What I have so far (need more):
Activities:
I will hire a therapist to provide therapy for teens struggling with substance abuse or problems that eventually lead to drug use. I will also bring on interns to help with this program that way I don’t have to take away from my budget and they can get credit for their hours. This program will take place at schools and through zoom.
Preparatory Section: Location
I will send an e-mail to a couple of local schools in Orange County, asking them if they want to participate in our program. If they would like to participate, we would pass out flyers to the students that has our program information included and how to get in touch with us. The program will offer therapy to students who want it to help them cope with issues in their lives that might lead to substance abuse if not dealt with. The therapy will take place at school with their approval, if not then the session will take place on zoom. We will offer therapy once a week for six months, per student.
Sample Grant
Program Activities
Mission Statement
Healthy Relationships is a marriage education program to assist all couples who may be at risk for divorce or separation. We aim to support this population by adhering to their needs and educating them on healthy relationship habits to ensure an increase in overall partner satisfaction.
Preparatory Activities
As the program director of Healthy Relationships, I will be responsible for ensuring that our program gets executed and off to a strong start. Our program will be held at Rockharbor Church. While the church is willing to open their facility for us to utilize, we will help cover costs such as electricity and water during our time there. The various activities and workshops will be held in the main sanctuary and counseling sessions will occur in multiple classrooms and staff offices.
The church is located at 345 Fischer Ave, Costa Mesa. The church is generous enough to let our marriage and family therapist interns use their staff offices to conduct counseling sessions. I have worked closely with Rockharbor’s Pastor, Aaron Ophaug, to guarantee all of this as well as have a contract written that will be completed and signed. He has agreed to share information about our program on their “Events and Resources” portion of Rockharbor’s personal website, which can be viewed at https://rockharbor.org/.
I will oversee hiring four marriage and family therapist interns. These interns will work part time and gain the hours and experience needed for their licensure. The interns are required to have 1-2 years of experience working with couples, preferably in a counseling setting. I will be posting the positions at California State University Fullerton’s career center website as well as in their office. Additional postings will be flyers posted in the Education Classroom building hallways and online at Indeed.com and Snagajob.com.
To increase interest to potential interns, our program will be responsible for hiring a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) who is qualified and trained to supervise interns. This position will be posted on Indeed.com and Snagajob.com. With the help of the hired interns, we will create pre and posts tests and surveys to measure the success of our program and the progress of the couples. The pre and post tests used with the therapy participants of our program will measure their satisfaction levels, stress management and knowledge of divorce factors.
I will oversee the collecting of these tests for our use. A contract must be read, adhered to, and signed by all the participants (one per couple). The contract will give the couples an idea of expectations, goals, the importance of working together and an explanation of confidentiality for the counseling sessions. I will make copies for our
records in addition to providing a copy to the couples.
I will also hire four marriage and relationship educators. These jobs will be posted on California State Fullerton University’s career center website, Snagajob.com and Indeed.com. In addition, I have been in contact with the university’s Human Services department about any potential candidates they are aware of through their professional network. The main requirement is that they must have two years of teaching marriage and relationship in either private setting or in a college setting.
It is preferred, but not required, to have experience with young couples who were in a serious relationship, engaged or newlywed. Further training on various types of relationships and couple dynamics will be provided upon hiring. These professionals will be working with couples in a group setting with many different workshops. After obtaining the position, these educators will help in creating and implementing our activities and workshops for the couples in the therapy program.
Supplies necessary for our program will include printer paper, pens, other office supplies.
The church has allowed us to utilize their printers and projectors for any program related needs with the agreement that we will replace ink cartridges and bring our own computers for the projectors. We will be offering snacks each day, so this will be a reoccurring cost during the program’s life span. The hired interns, as well the other staff, including myself, will assist in purchasing snacks; the interns and other staff will be reimbursed with the use of our budget.
After each month, there will be a celebration party for the couples that are still in the program, as way to congratulate them on completing another month of our program. This party will mainly consist of pizza and will be purchased from our budget. The participants of our program will be couples from the surrounding cities of Orange County, with minimum age requirement of 18. These couples can range from seriously committed, to engaged, newlywed and married for years.
The church will announce our program to their congregation during their services on Sunday mornings and have information on their
website to assist us in spreading the word. On our end, we will post flyers around the city and share a digital flyer on social media by asking our friends and family to share it on their pages. In addition, we will be doing outreach events at various campuses, local events, and shopping areas such as malls.
Each couple will be assigned a marriage and family therapist intern for their therapy sessions that will take place every week for 1 hour. These interns will be coached by our licensed marriage and family therapist to ensure that they are as ready as possible before each session.
They will also debrief after each session with the licensed MFT to go over any questions and concerns they may have about the couples they are serving. Also, as a disclaimer, all the interns will remind the couples that they are agreeing to receive counseling services from an intern as stated in the contract.
Training materials will be required and utilized for training our interns and be used as a reference to our staff members. Materials will include educational videos and various informational printouts that are related to marriage and healthy relationships. These materials are available via online such as YouTube for the videos and different marriage and relationship websites. These will be of no cost to us since they are available to anyone to access for free. Coffee and doughnuts will be provided on each training day and will come from my own personal funds.
Implementation Plan
Therapy
Program participants will enroll in on-site confidential couples counseling provided by our program at their own discretion. Counseling will occur in the staff offices of the Rockharbor church and each session will involve a couple and a marriage and family therapist intern.
Sessions will take place take place Wednesday-Friday from 5-8pm, and Saturdays from 3-6pm.
The duration of each session will be an hour, with each session beginning on the hour. The hour will consist of 45 minutes of counseling, followed by 15 minutes for the marriage and family therapist intern taking notes and completing necessary paperwork. Each marriage and family therapist intern will offer 3 one-hour sessions a day, Wednesday-Saturday, totaling 12-hour sessions per week. In total, each marriage and family therapist intern will deliver 48 hours of therapy per month if couples attend each session.
The end of the program will yield a total of 480 hours obtained by each intern to put towards their hours for licensure. Participants will complete pre and post-tests/surveys to ensure their progress is measured. The test will measure the couple’s overall satisfaction with their spouse or partner and gauge their strengths and areas of opportunities. The marriage and family interns will assist the participants in analyzing their results and create individualized plans for each couple to promote a healthier relationship.
Educational Classes
The marriage and relationship educators will run workshops that are geared towards the couples strengthening their foundation and commitment. These classes will be taken by the participants in conjunction with their couples counseling either after their scheduled session on the same day or on a different day of their choosing.
These classes will be an hour long, running Wednesday-Friday, from 5-8pm, and Saturdays, from 3-6pm. Each marriage and relationship educator will offer 3 one-hour classes a day, Wednesday-Saturday, totaling 12-hour sessions per week. In total, each marriage and relationship educator will deliver 48 hours of classes per month, provided the couples attend the classes. The end of the program will accumulate a total of 480 hours per marriage and relationship educator.
Couples Counseling
Each couple will have a marriage and family therapist intern who they will meet with once a week for one hour each time. Couples will sign up for times on a first come, first serve basis. The interns will be those who applied and were chosen based on their display of healthy communication and relationships, as measured during interviews by myself.
The marriage and family therapist intern will listen intently to the couple’s background, issues, strengths and weaknesses, and anything else related to the couple’s relationship status. Questions appropriate to furthering the counseling process and assisting the couples with their journey to a healthier relationship will occur. Each couple will meet with their marriage and family therapist intern for one hour every week, which amounts to 4 hours every month. The program duration will be ten months, which equates to 40 hours that each couple will have with their marriage and family therapist intern.
Statement of Evaluation
To ensure the effectiveness of our program, numerous outcomes will be measured. For example, to determine the overall increase in couple’s satisfaction with each other, on-site marriage and family therapist interns will administer pre-tests and post-tests. These tests will determine their satisfaction rate at the beginning of the program as well as after each week throughout the duration of the program to measure their progress.
Cultural Sensitivity
Divorce is widespread problem that diminishes people and their families and Orange
County is has one of the highest rates, according to the Orange County Register. It does not matter what race you are, it affects everyone, from all cultures and backgrounds. It is vital that all professionals working with our program to understand this, even when couples look like they are doing fine. No race, culture, or anyone from any background is exempt from divorce. While this may be common knowledge for many professionals, it will still be discussed during training.
Due to being in Southern California, we will aim to have some bilingual staff or arrange to have translators to accommodate for our Spanish speakers. Most of our posts and flyers will be in English, but we will make them available in Spanish as well. Since this program is geared for adult couples, we will strive to talk with them openly and as honestly as possible, treating them like mature and responsible people.
Program Sustainability
To ensure that Healthy Relationships continues thriving after its one year of funding, several actions will be implemented. One example is fundraising, which our program will be conducting two fundraising events, one in July and the other in November. These are both 5k/10k walk/run events that we have collaborated with the city of Anaheim, who agreed to help us arrange street closures and traffic control. All proceeds, will go towards sustaining Healthy Relationships.
In addition to these fundraising events, our program will apply for more grants prior to the end of the year. National Organization for Marriage is an organization that offers grants to many program areas, with a high priority on marriage sustainment. This organization would be an important sponsor for Healthy Relationships because it is the largest organization that is devoted to all matters related to marriage.
Goals & Objectives
Goal 1: Build strong healthy relationships among intimate committed partners.
Process Objective 1.1: By February 28, 2019, 12 couples will enroll in couple’s therapy as measured by therapist’s records.
Process Objective: 1.2: By February 28, 2019, 12 couples will enroll in marriage workshops as measured by sign-in sheets.
Outcome objective 1.3: By November 30, 2019, as a result of 12 couples participating in couple’s therapy, there will be a 40% increase in intimacy, as measured by on-site therapist.
Outcome objective 1.4: By November 30, 2019 as a result of 12 couples participating in marriage workshops, there will be a 40% increase in couple’s satisfaction as measured by surveys.
Goal 2: Increase knowledge and utilization of relationship related resources.
Process objective: 2.1: By February 28, 2019, 12 couples will enroll in marriage education classes as measured by sign-in sheets.
Process objective 2.2: By February 28, 2019, 12 couples will enroll marriage resource classes as measured by sign-in sheets.
Outcome objective 2.3: By November 30, 2019, as a result of 12 couples attending marriage
education classes, couples will have a 40 % increase in overall understanding of behavioral risk factors of divorce as measured by survey.
Outcome objective 2.4: By November 30, 2019, as a result of 12 couples attending marriage resource classes, couples will have a 40% increase in overall knowledge of relationship related resources as measured by questionnaire.
Goal 3: Decrease overall stress among couples
Process objective 3.1: By February 28, 2019, 12 couples will enroll in on-site confidential counseling provided by the couple’s program as measured by therapist’s records.
Process objective 3.2: By February 28, 2019, 12 couples will enroll in stress management classes provided by the couple’s program as measured by sign-in sheets.
Objective 3.3: By November 30, 2019, as a result of 12 couples participating in counseling, there will be a 40% decrease in overall stress-levels as measured by surveys.
Objective 3.4: By November 30, as a result of 12 couples participating in stress management, there will be a 40% increase in overall stress management skills as measured by on-site therapist.
