Community Care Consulting Proposal: Childrens Advocacy Center of Collin County Consulting Team: Kristi Stiles Karen Huynh

Arnand Singh Hilda Garcia

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Background Information The Childrens Advocacy Center of Collin County provides a safe environment where abused and neglected children receive the support and resources necessary for healing. This includes counseling services, medical evaluations, and assistance with financial issues. In addition to this, they have a partnership with the District Attorneys office to help bring justice to those guilty of child abuse or neglect (Collin County Criminal District Attorney, 2013). Their current location in Plano has served over 40,000 children since opening in 1992 (Childrens Advocacy Center of Collin County). Unfortunately, there is still a large number of abused and neglected children who need assistance, and these children account for 28% of the Collin County population (Collin County). Over the last decade, the number of children in the rapidly growing Collin County has increased by 40%, and yet the confirmed cases of child abuse have increased by 96% (Childrens Advocacy Center of Collin County). As the county continues to grow, especially in rural areas such as Celina, Prosper, and Anna, the organization will continue to struggle to readily provide services due to geographical limitations and the increasing demand of its services (Collin County Texas Online Resources and Information). Figure 1, below displaying the number of children safely removed from abusive homes in North Texas, gives an idea of just how high a demand there is for the kind of services performed by the Advocacy Center (Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, 2011).

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Current Needs In order to address the organizations need to expand services to children in further areas, the Advocacy Center has opened a second location in McKinney. However, compared to the 60,000 square foot location in Plano, the 7,000 square foot facility is only a temporary solution. In the next five years, the organization wants to open a new building on Custer and 121 - an area more readily available to northwestern Collin County and its rural cities. The location would be

between 65,000 and 70,000 square feet in a more prominent area, capable of serving a wider population. In investing in this development, the organization needs to acquire $5,000,000 over the next five-year period. This is potentially a large problem for the Advocacy Center due to their limited budget. The Advocacy Center averages a yearly revenue of $3,000,000 to $3,500,00. Almost all of these revenues are currently being used to fund the Advocacy Centers services (Childrens Advocacy Center of Collin County, Inc, 2011). Their immediate need from Community Care Consulting is $400,000 towards the initial purchase of the land. While the monetary needs are large, the Advocacy Centers biggest struggle is with awareness in Collin County (E. Stanley, personal communication, March 22, 2013). Because the county is the second wealthiest in Texas, with a median household income of $82,765, members of the community have a belief that child abuse and neglect does not exist (Texas Association of Counties, 2011). This is because people tend to associate abuse and neglect with areas with lower income. Figure 2, below, demonstrates a result of this belief of nonexistence. A large percentage of children are forced to suffer until a school official or medical personnel reports the abuse (Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, 2011). Greater awareness is required for more relatives or family friends to step up and report abuse. With our campaign, we will not only raise funds, but we will also involve the community and raise awareness.

Campaign In order to meet the organizations needs, we have organized a campaign called The Traveling Bucket. It will consist of two approaches to raise capital. The first approach is a standard appeals letter that will be sent to corporations and city officials around Collin County. In the letter, we will explain the Childrens Advocacy Center of Collin Countys missions, issues, and goals. This letter will be used to spark interest and awareness for our campaign and will help to ensure that we have support for the success of our campaign. This letter will also serve to inspire community leaders to encourage other community members to help not only the campaign but the Advocacy Center as well. The second approach is a county-wide competition that involves both citizens and businesses. During the competition, the cities of Allen, Frisco, Plano, McKinney, and Richardson will compete with each other to raise the most funds. To raise the funds, each city will have a traveling donations bucket that will move between different businesses in the individual town. These locations will be popular public places, such as the mall, a park, or a museum. For example, a location such as the Allen Premium Outlets would be ideal since it experiences large number of visitors daily (Allen Texas Convention and Visitors Bureau, 2013). Residents will be able to vote on the campaign website which location their bucket will appear next. In addition to this, the campaign website will allow online donations for those that cannot or do not wish to donate in person. Each online donation will also count towards the competition, with online donors being allowed to specify which community they wish to represent. The city that raises the most funds will receive a plaque that will be placed in their City Hall. IV. Components of Campaign Because this is a multi-faceted campaign, the components are broken down in detail below. These include the website, brochure, and letters. A. Website Development and Purpose: The campaign website was created using Wix.com, a website that allows individuals or companies to create professionally formatted websites for free. This reduces the cost burden on both the Advocacy Center and CCC. The development of the site was created with the intention of being a quick and interactive site showcasing the proposed campaign, The Traveling Bucket, rather than the Advocacy Center itself. When a community member enters the website, there are three main objectives they will be looking for: 1. Where their bucket will be next 2. General information about the campaign/organization 3. Making online donations It is with these needs in mind that the layout and content of the website was developed. This resulted in only a small amount of formal text about the organization, and a heavier focus on the campaign and its activities. The goal is to neither undermine the Centers service to the community, or their goal of raising money and awareness. Additional features that enhance the website include progress reports for each city. On the Participating Cities page a dollar value is under each city to reflect the funds raised thus far. This will be updated on a daily basis. Donors can also view a map of their city to see where the bucket has already gone, and vote where it will be next, which will

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also be updated as needed (note: Richardson is currently the only city with map and voting information). Typically on campaign websites and documents a large emphasis should be placed on showing testimonials and personal stories participants of the program have gone through (Donation Website). However, due to the sensitivity of the childrens situations, both the Advocacy Center and CCC are striving to protect their privacy and exploitation by not using testimonials as a means for generating donations. B. Brochure: The brochure is intended to provide a supplementary, awareness-raising overview of the Advocacy Center and child abuse in Collin County. The brochure will be sent along with the appeal letters and will accompany the traveling donation bucket of each city. In addition to this, brochures will be placed in area high schools in order to raise awareness among students, a large demographic that should not be overlooked. With over 126,000 grade school students and an annual growth of over 35%, local students are a potentially huge source of both awareness and donations (Collin County). Upon opening the brochure, the viewer is greeted with both an introduction to the issue of child abuse in Collin County as well as a short overview of the Advocacy Centers function. The inside panels of the brochure consist of a description of the Advocacy Centers various programs. Images are included to help the reader visualize these programs. To help the reader understand just how severe an issue child abuse is, a panel has been dedicated to conveying statistics of child abuse. Finally, the brochure educates readers on the signs of child abuse and displays how to report suspected child abuse and donate to the Advocacy Center. It is not only hoped that the brochure moves the reader to donate to the Advocacy Center, but also that the reader feels a greater sense of responsibility to prevent child abuse in the future. C. Letters: There will be two types of letters sent, one letter to city mayors and city council members and another letter to corporation executives. The letters to the city mayors and city council members will ask for support in the success of our campaign. This is especially crucial since the cities will be competing against each other. The letter will explain the Childrens Advocacy Centers background, needs, and the campaign we have created to solve that need. They will be asked to be advocates of our campaign. This will consist of them raising awareness of the large amounts of child abuse and neglect in Collin County. By supporting the campaign and encouraging people to donate, the level of interest and awareness of the campaign will increase. People are more likely to be involved once they know that a city official supports and backs the campaign. This will allow for both larger numbers of donations and larger amounts of those donations. In turn, the success of the campaign will help to raise further support. The support of the city mayors and city council members will be vital in achieving the goal of the campaign. Our second letter will be directed to the corporations in the area of Collin County. Through this letter we will also be explaining our organizations needs and background. Our goal through this letter is to acquire involvement from important community leaders that will guide peoples attention to our organization. This will not only generate awareness but it will also be an opportunity to form a relationship with a donor that has more resources to donate. Also many of these companies employ people from Collin

County and therefore will make it easier for us to connect with the community by making them aware that they are donating to a local cause. The main drive for the letters is to both receive funds and generate awareness from important community leaders that will help guide the community while creating support and attention for our campaign. V. Anticipated Results of Campaign With this campaign we hope to raise the initial $400,000 needed by the Advocacy Center for the initial purchase of land. If the campaign is a success this year, we will continue the campaign annually for at least five years in order to continue to aid the Advocacy Center in its McKinney area investment. In addition to this financial goal, we hope to enable the Advocacy Center to better serve the community by raising awareness not just about the Advocacy Center, but also about child abuse in general. By uniting each community in Collin County to raise funds for the Advocacy Center, each participant will not only learn about child abuse and the services of the Advocacy Center, but will gain a greater sense of civic responsibility. This will result in both greater community awareness and community involvement, enabling the Advocacy Center to better help area children and obtain long-term sources of manpower and additional funding from the surrounding communities.

References: Allen Texas Convention and Visitors Bureau. (2013). Shop. Retrieved from http://visitallentexas.com/index.aspx?NID=8 Childrens Advocacy Center of Collin County. Retrieved, from http://www.caccollincounty.org/ Childrens Advocacy Center of Collin County, Inc.. (2010, 2011). Financial statements for 2010 and 2011. Retrieved from http://www.caccollincounty.org/donate/why-donate.html Collin County. (n.d). The numbers. Retrieved from http://www.co.collin.tx.us/business/numbers.jsp Collin County Criminal District Attorney. (2013, Jan 19) Crimes against children division. Retrieved from http://www.collincountyda.com/children.htm Collin County Texas Online Resources and Information. Retrieved, from http://collincountystation.com/ Donation Website. (n.d). How to make a donation website. Retrieved from http://donationwebsite.net/#/how-to-make-a-donation-website/4562374790 Stanley, E. (2013, March 22). Interview by Stiles, K. Texas Association of Counties. (2011). Collin county profile. Retrieved from http://www.txcip.org/tac/census/profile.php?FIPS=48085Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. (2011). DFPS Data Book 2011. Retrieved from http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/About_DFPS/Data_Books_and_Annual_Reports/ 2011/default.asp