The Characteristics of A Place Called Home

Kimberly Rodgers

BSHS/461

December 21, 2011
Instructor: Therese Schmoll

Inside A Place Called Home The writer of this paper had an opportunity to commit her time and dedication to do field experience at an organization named A Place Called Home. In this paper the writer will explain the characteristics and environments of this organization. It will show how the organization is governed and who the key stakeholders are. It will describe the different strategies the organization uses for public relations, and give details on certain trends this organization has, and how well they are managing the trends. A Place Called Home also known as APCH is a local non-profit organization that provides the at risk youth a chance to be in a positive environment. APCH has a very secured and welcoming family ambiance that strives to offer a variety of services to those in need within the community. They are located in South Central Los Angeles and are very well supported within the community around them. The mission and vision of APCH is specially designed to help the community and is very achievable. Their mission states, “A Place Called Home is a safe haven in South Central Los Angeles where underserved youth are empowered to take ownership of the quality and direction of their lives through programs in education, arts, and well-being; and are inspired to make a meaningful difference in their community and the world.” ("A Place Called Home", 2011). The Vision of APCH states, “In the next 5 years, we would like A Place Called Home to impact the community with: a decline in violent and gang related activities, an increase in High School graduates, an increase in college entrants and graduates, an increase in gainfully employed community members, and a better awareness of health issues in community.” ("A Place Called Home", 2011). The staff at APCH work together to provide the youth ages 8-20 a chance to grow in the right direction. Through the support and hard work of the leaders and staff, the youth learn to trust and regain hope that they can make it in life and learn the skills they need to succeed. The writer quotes the text book that states, “Human service programs deal with the personal and social development of individuals, families and communities. Sometimes they enhance this development through the provision of direct services such as education, training, counseling, therapy, or casework.” (Lewis, Packard, & Lewis, 2007, p. 6). This type of service is demonstrated at APCH; they provide education training such as; tutoring, computer learning, and SAT prep courses. They also provide counseling, health and nutrition information, job placement, music and dance lessons, are classes and more.
The Organizational Structure The Founder and President Debrah Constance started APCH in 1993; she is still in position today. The total staff of APCH is just under 30 employees. The position levels are Executive Director, Director of Development, Senior Developer Associate, Associate Director, and Community Initiative Coordinator. The other departments have an Art Director, Dance Director, Administrative staff, on-site Counselors, a small Multi-media staff, a great nutritional staff, and a few teachers. A Place Called Home has a very large Board of Directors that consists of 12 people. There is also a Board of Lifetime Directors, and a Leadership Counsel that has the commitment of 15 people. In addition to this great leadership and staff, APCH has a large variety of interns and volunteers who dedicate their time to help the youth. APCH has many financial supporters that donate funds on a regular basis to the organization. Close to 90% of their funding is from celebrities such as, Holly Robinson Pete, Taraji Henson, Brian McKnight, Jaime Lee Curtis, Orlando Jones, and Monique; they also receive a large amount of funds from anonymous supporter throughout the year. The other 10% of funds derive from large companies like; Bank of America, AT&T, Herbalife, Kaiser Permanente, Nordstrom, Rite Aid, and Target just to name a few. APCH has been successful in their fundraising because people can see the results of this organization. This organization is aligned with their mission and vision of helping the youth in their community. The funding is another important aspect of a successful company. According to Poole (2002) “Goals and funding are two of the defining characteristics that distinguish a human service organization from other types of social systems (Parsons, 1964). They intertwine to such a degree that we combine them in this first section of the analysis. A human service organization cannot be understood without reference to its goals, and its goals cannot be understood without reference to its primary sources of funding.” (p. 145). As you can see APCH funding is divided into three categories which help to keep their doors open to the community.
Strategies and Trends A Place Called Home has different methods of marketing and public relations. One of their main sources of marketing is using email. They have a successful rate of responses by emailing information regarding upcoming events. The emails are normally very informative with the type of event and all the details. They also spread the word about their organization through word of mouth, and sending information home with the children and youth that are members of the organization. They are well known in the community for certain annual events that are supported by people living in the surrounding areas for their enjoyment. APCH is frequently visited by the new media which helps to spread the word of these organizations contributions to the society. They have many fundraisers throughout the year, and they also mail out detailed brochures that has a list of upcoming events. All these methods of marketing are important to the success of the organization; it all works hand in hand, because without marketing no one would know about the events and fundraisers and they would struggle to keep their vision alive. APCH environmental trends are social because they help the youth that are able to work get jobs within the community, and that also helps the community to grow. Their technology trends are the technical use of the internet to get the word out to get the support from donators, and the community to attend the events. They are definitely facing an economical trend because they are located in a very low income community. With the statistics of the surrounding community, the gang violence, the increase in school drop outs; the grant writers and fundraisers are able to use the demographics and information to get the necessary funds to help the community. The funds have allowed APCH to help decrease the gang violence, and increase high school graduates. The agency must continue to manage the economic trend to keep it positive and show successful results of helping the community they are located in.
Conclusion
In conclusion the writer really believes that A Place Called Home is a very successful organization. She has had the opportunity to experience hands on, and be a part of the family. APCH is very organized due to the structure of the organization and the great leadership behind the scenes. They always try to encourage the volunteers to apply for jobs they have available; they really believe in helping. If they were not doing a great job, they would not have such a great success of financial funders. Anyone is welcome to go to APCH to see for them the work that is being done on a daily basis. They staff has a dedication to the youth and they really love their jobs. APCH is a family community with itself and strive to keep the staff motivated and happy to keep the positive energy flowing.

References

A Place Called Home. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.apch.org/index.php

Lewis, J.A., Packard, T., & Lewis, M.D. (2007). Management of Human Service Programs (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomas Brooks/Cole.

Poole, D.C. (2002, April). Do Public Neighborhood Centers Have the Capacity to Be Instruments of Change in Human Services?. Social Work, 47(2).