S.M.A.R.T. University
Special Minds Achieving Resource Training
Josie Coote, Matthew DeLeon, Kassandra Nieto, Kara Peterson
Executive Summary
S.M.A.R.T. University, which stands for Special Minds Achieving Resource Training, is a non-profit organization based in San Antonio aimed at changing the future for individuals with intellectual disabilities by providing vocational guidance through sensory training and personalized one-on-one education. S.M.A.R.T. University will be working in tandem with local businesses to find job placements for each individual paired specifically with their skill set.
Mission and Vision Statement
Our vision for our business is to create a community where individuals with intellectual disabilities and employers can successfully work together to benefit society. Our mission is to commit to every participant and to help them succeed to their full potential by utilizing their own skill set.
What is the Need?
In Texas alone, there are over six-hundred-thousand reported cases of adults with cognitive disabilities and 200,000 more including children. Bexar county (San Antonio) comprises 63,000 of those cases and as a county, it has the 4th largest amount of people with cognitive disabilities in Texas. Currently, 34% of those with intellectual disabilities are employed in the United States of America. Most often, the remaining 66% don’t even have a chance for employment. Clearly, action must be taken.
How are We Addressing it?
S.M.A.R.T. University will consist of one physical location with classrooms and work space to conduct our training. For the first half of our operation, we will employ professionals who have a passion in line with our mission to train our participants through sensory training and vocational guidance.
We will then work with local businesses in order to place our participants in secure jobs that match their skill set. We will have condensed training sessions with the future employer to make sure they are capable of adapting to a new employment situation and work with the businesses to help them attain their federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit for employment of individuals with disabilities. Once a participant is placed in a job, we will have regular follows ups with both the participant and the employer to ensure that the employment relationship is beneficial to both parties.
Funding
Our non profit will be a hybrid structure non-profit meaning that we will receive our funding from both outside sources (grants/contributions) and from our own revenues from the program. This enables our business to run as a self-sustainable operation if needed, but with outside funding it allows our rates to remain low for our customer base. We will apply for federal grants in order to start our business and then as we begin to earn revenue from our services we will be able to supplement. It will take about $95,000 to start the non-profit, and from then on it will then take $38,000 a year to run it. We will be applying to two main grants. The first grant we will apply for is the Enterline Foundation, which works with organizations that work with young adults with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities and awards $37,000. The second grant we will apply for is the The May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust, which gives grants to organizations that work with people of all ability to better the community. This grants rewards grants from $30,000-$600,000. These funds will help us to start out and secure a building, staff, and marketing strategy and sustain us for the first years of business (as we apply for grants each year).
The second part of our funding plan is our revenues from our operation itself. We charge an initial $500 fee per student as they begin with our program. This will cover their initial meetings with our team in order to assess the individual’s unique condition and abilities. Then our staff will formulate a training program specifically for the student. The student and their family will then determine at what intensity they want to participate in our program. Some may wish to be a full time student coming to our campus 5 days a week, others may want to come at their own speed once or twice a week for an hour or so. We understand that each individual is different and will have different preferences and so because of this instead of charging a bulk tuition cost, we charge at an hourly rate so that families can pick a plan that works best for them.
What sets us apart?
One of the strengths of our non-profit is that it differs from other organizations. While most local organizations such as Morgan’s Academy or the Center for Higher Independence focus on either the life skills aspect or job placement, we provide a combination of life skills training and vocational training in order to best meet all needs that our participants face. Another unique aspect of our business is that we also follow up with business and participants to ensure that the transitions into the workplace are going smoothly for both parties involved. This ensures longevity of employment and a more effective way to determine the success of our program.
Products, Programs and Services
Our business will work closely with primarily two groups: the intellectually disabled participants and the workforce. Our services for the participants include a baseline quiz; we want to first find out more about them and their history. This will also give us an assessment of their needs and skills. On this questionnaire, participants will be asked about their likes, dislikes, skills, strengths,weaknesses, and work history. After this assessment process, the participant will go through a quick physical with a nurse or doctor. We will then meet with the participant and their family to discuss services. We want this to be a very open experience and for the individual and family to be proactive in their services. From there, an Individualized Service Plan (ISP) will be developed. This plan will include when they need to come in, what they will be working on, and their specific goals in the timely manner that was set upon. To make sure the ISP is being followed, we will set up monthly meetings with the participant and their families to discuss the implementation of the ISP. We will discuss where they are and if they are progressing faster or slower than the timeline that was set up. We will also discuss feedback from the instructors so the participant knows how they are doing in the classroom and what can be improved on. After the meeting, we will discuss and update any changes that will need to be done to the ISP.
During this time, we will teach them any basic skills they need for employment. They will be taught how to read, communicate, write a resume, and to use technology. The goal is for them to not only be able to use these skills at a job but intheir everyday life. Once they master all the skills they need to learn, we will organize interviews with potential employers. An employee of S.M.A.R.T. will accompany them to the interview. Once the participant has landed the job, specific job training will start. It is important they feel really comfortable before they start their job. It is also imperative that they are trained properly. We will then set up a meeting with the manager and make another ISP with the employer and participant to set up goals and duties that should.be accomplished. After all these steps have been completed, there will a graduation to celebrate their accomplishments. If they leave their job, then they are more then welcome to come back to us for services to find them a new job or they can use the skills we taught them to find one on their own. The goal is for them to gain skills that will last them a lifetime and can help them in the future as well.
Once they have graduated the program, there will be follow up sessions with them to make sure they are adjusting fine and meeting the goals and expectations that was set in their ISP in the beginning. The first six months after they have graduated, sessions will be every two weeks. There will also be follow-up meeting with their employer. In this meeting we discuss where our participant is on the ISP, what they can improve and their accomplishments. We will then tell our participant what the employer discussed and where they are on the ISP. This will ensure that boths sides are happy and help determine what factors, if any, need improvement. After the first six months we will meet with the participant once a month. After the first year, meetings will occur quarterly. We believe that constant communication with them will help them succeed in the long run with their jobs.
We will employ ten to fifteen teachers. These teachers will work hands on with our students to teach them the vocational training they need. We will have five social workers/ counselors. In this position, students will be divided amongst different counselors. These counselors are the ones who will have the monthly meetings, interviews, job training, and post interviews. We will have two job recruiters who will constantly be scouting for new job markets for our university to work with. We will have one doctor who will do the beginning physical for our students. There are also ten volunteer positions where they will assist the teachers and be under their supervision.
We have two schedules the students can follow. One is a half day, where you can go from 8 A.M to 12 P.M. The other is a a full day where you can go from 8 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. This will be decided by your initial meeting with your counselor and part of the ISP. The counselor will also determine and state on the ISP how many days a week a student attends. In these days, the students will be working on individual goals with sensory training. This will include different stations depending on the ISP. There will be resume writing stations, interview preps, and different skill based stations. There will be breaks throughout the day for students to eat and socialize. Breaks will be approximately every two hours but are subject to change with individuals needs. The days are subject to change for the students on a month to month basis depending how they are progressing according to the ISP.
The second part of the business will be to work with the local workforce. They are a huge part in what we do with our clients. We want to build a good relationship between the university and the different employers by working alongside with them, with consideration to any suggestions they have in mind. We will also actively work to pursue new relationships with potential business partners that we feel would benefit our participants. This a two way street so we plan on really being involved not only with the actual employer but with the businesses that partner with us.
Future Programs
We are starting our first program in San Antonio, Texas, but would like to eventually expand to the Houston, Austin, and Dallas areas. Our company would like to expand our programs to include participants from the local high schools. We would offer workshops for high school students where they are able to start and participate before they graduate high school. In this program, we will focus on social and life skills so when students graduate from high school, they will be ready to move on to the University curriculum. In addition, our company would also like to implement a bilingual program in the future where we could include as many people as possible. After all, Spanish is the second most spoken language in not only Texas but also the United State as well. We want to provide our services and make them accessible to all who need them.
How are we making a change?
We will assist the community of people with intellectual disabilities to facilitate training so that they can find sustainable jobs. Our business would create a place for them to learn and grow in the skills that they already have as well as expanding and developing new skills. We believe this training and development can change their quality of life by helping them gain a sense of accomplishment in their everyday life. We are providing them a service that will get them an opportunity to be a part of a local community. This opportunity will also give the participants an equal chance to work which is a luxury most of us have.
Op-Ed
Jerry Roman, Contributor, April 5th, 2018
Joblessness and the Hidden Minority
In the United States, 76% of all adults are currently employed. However, if that scope is narrowed to adults living with a physical or cognitive disability, the number drops drastically to 35%. This startling comparison about unemployment raises many questions but the one addressed today is why the current government has not addressed such an incredibly low employment rate? With over 50 million citizens classified as disabled, how has such a large portion of the workforce remained untapped?
The answer is certainly not a clear one, but there are several contributing factors to the issue. First off, many do not recognize this group of millions as a minority within our society. While many would think this to be a great step for the disabled to escape segregation because of their physical/mental condition, this is actually a hindrance of the success of these individuals. Individuals with a disability are generally willing and able to work a moderately normal job (given their specific mental or physical condition) but many people fail to recognize that their work environment does not foster a compatible employment option.
To clarify, an individual’s only disability may be that they can’t walk but are perfectly able to work a desk job in an office. Their only obstacle? The physical location of their employment does not have a wheelchair ramp to reach the front door. Because of a single difference in an environment, that individual cannot be employed by the company.
The same could be said of a mentally challenged adult who wants to work and interact with many different people. He wants to achieve this by bagging groceries at a local grocery store, but the training for the job assumes he can read at a high school level even if the job itself doesn’t require reading. This hinders him from ever gaining the job despite his willingness and physical capability. This mean that more awareness is needed to draw attention to the many differences of individuals who hope to enter the workforce. Once employers begin to see the disabled as a special minority that needs to be adapted to, there can finally be progress in how such individuals will find employment. To summarize, one of the main factors to such low employment rates of disabled adults is not due to their disinterest in finding employment, but rather the few work environments that can adapt to (generally) small differences in such individuals. Change must be made, but the “how” will have to vary. Just like every other human being, those with disabilities are unique, but no less deserving of a chance.
One aspect of the change being made in the status quo is S.M.A.R.T. University, a local non-profit institution, that is designed to specifically to train individuals who are motivated to get a job but simply lack the training or skills. S.M.A.R.T. University, located in San Antonio, works with students straight out of high school who have a variety of both cognitive and physical disabilities. This non profit hopes to provide a source of hope and possibilities for the local special needs community and will continue to help address the problems of unemployment for years to come.
Event Plan
Name: S.M.A.R.T University’s Wonderland Excursion!
Date: Saturday, April 27th 2019, from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm.
Location: 5223 David Edwards Drive, San Antonio, Texas, 78233.
Purpose: The purpose of SMART University is to help people with mental disabilities learn how to succeed in a career of their choice, but before that can happen, we must first draw new potential students in by conducting fun events such as this one. We must also keep our current student base, and so events like these won’t hurt. Need
The students of SMART and their immediate family will want to celebrate with our graduating class for this year while remaining safe, happy, and under budget. We also need to get our message out to more students o part of this event is aimed at welcoming and informing potential new students and their parents with information sessions and social activities.
Solution
We are going to Morgan’s Wonderland for one day. Our attendees will love our event because it brings family fun, food, and entertainment while promoting a local business and good cause.
We will set up booths to represent our different programs and educate all guests on what we do at S.M.A R.T. University
Advantage
Our event has three primary advantages: it is fun for everyone, it costs relatively little, and it is easily accessible.
Unique Value proposition
The entire idea of Morgan’s Wonderland is that it’s an amusement park designed to fit 100% of people, not just 80% or 90%. There is almost no other amusement park in Texas or even the greater United States that does this. It’s not everyday that an opportunity where people with disabilities can join with their families in a day of fun at an amusement park for less than $50!
Audience
Past, current, and future participants and their family and friends. Donors, and local businesses that we work with. (For future members we will go to San Antonio school districts special need programs and group homes).
Channels
We will put out a press release to schools and parents, send a pitch letter to the San Antonio Express, and post flyers at schools, in the surrounding area of SMART, and to the local businesses. We will give out invitations to past and current participants. Local radio stations will promote on air. We will also engage with our audience with our social media presence.
Key Metrics
Ticket Sales and attendance.
Costs
Venue-$3,000 with discount from Morgan’s Wonderland.
Advertisement- $1,000
Entertainment- $1,000
Revenue
Admissions
Ticket for family and friends-$10 a ticket
Past, current, and potential participants- $5.00
Raffle tickets-$10.00
Each student / guest will be expected to provide their own transportation. The staff and faculty of SMART University will have arrived at 9:00 am on the 27th to ensure the various amenities are in place and ready to go, such as our guest passes, group markers, location trackers, informational booths, catering, sound system, etc. We will be buying out 15 acres of the 25 acre park and allow a free-roaming system coordinated by our head of event planning and sensory training teacher, Dr. Patrick Walsh.
Morgan’s Wonderland is not only a great venue, but is also a significant donor to SMART University, and has graciously provided our even with a great discount, allowing our event to only cost $3,000 dollars for the day, including the cost of meals, drinks, individual rides, etc. We will be setting up four information booths in the Tortuga Bay Pavillion right in the center of all the action so that our potential new students and their parents/loved ones can learn more about SMART University throughout the day. We will have an introductory booth to summarize the purpose and programs available at SMART, a sensory training booth to illustrate with examples some key teaching techniques employed by our head of sensory development, Dr. Tonya Gordon, an employment booth that showcases the stories from several SMART alumni who have succeeded in their newly gained jobs, and an admissions booth that walks the new potential students through the process of enrollment and what to expect out of the process.
We currently have one hundred students who are enrolled and are each allowed to bring three guests who must pay the guest price. We anticipate that six hundred people in total will attend our event, however we are prepared to handle up to nine hundred with the amount of food and space accounted for. We have forty staff members, and twenty unpaid volunteers who have already been working for SMART, to coordinate the event as it takes place.
Pitch Letter
To Bexar County ISD Special Education Program Directors:
We at S.M.A.R.T University are here to offer you a wonderful opportunity for your students! S.M.A.R.T. University, as you may know, is a non-profit organization specifically designed to be a follow up vocational training program for students after they finish high school. Our goal is to partner with the local schools in an effort to show students and their families the possibilities for their future after graduation.
We are presenting a fun filled day of activities that cater to the special needs of each and every one of your special education students. The event that we have to offer your students is an exciting day at Morgan’s Wonderland to celebrate our first year as a non-profit as well as to celebrate the alumni of our university. Not only do we want to celebrate our students, but we would also like to inform prospective new students of the wonderful things our organization does.
All of the games and entertainment at this event are specifically geared towards those of the special needs community. This event allows those that would normally not be able to participate with their families to finally enjoy their time at an amusement park with their families in a day of fun. This event is also a good opportunity for all of your hard work and training to be put to use by being able to see what all of your very well valued time and energy have been put towards.
This event will be an enjoyable and entertaining day for children of all ages whose lives have been impacted by a special needs disability and we invite you to spread to word and join us on Saturday, April 27th at Morgan’s Wonderland!
Press Release
Morgan's Wonderland Helps S.M.A.R.T University Celebrate its 1 Year Anniversary by significantly increasing enrollment
S.M.A.R.T University uses the priceless experience that Morgan Wonderland offers to increase enrollment by 50%.
San Antonio,TX-April 21, 2019
Over 800 people attended the first annual Anniversary Bash on April 20, 2019, in support of S.M.A.R.T University, which helps young adults with intellectual disabilities by giving them hands on vocational training in the San Antonio Area. This Anniversary Bash included rides, food, music, hands on learning booths, and a raffle all took place at our gracious sponsor, Morgan's Wonderland. Everyone was invited to this fun event which helped increase enrollment by 50%, making this the most successful recruiting event to date. This was also to help celebrate the University’s first ever graduating class!
The big success of the event was the hands on learning booths. Booths were set up to help everyone get a sneak peak of the hands on sensory training the S.M.A.R.T University offers through their curriculums. Other booths were set up to talk to teachers, current students, and alumni. There was one last booth to sign up for enrollment which was a huge success.
“The success of this event is really asstonishing! We are happy to welcome all new members to our S.M.A.R.T family”, explains Matthew DeLeon, one of the founders of S.M.A.R.T University. DeLeon continues, “ I am so happy that S.M.A.R.T University is making an impact to all these people and am glad that everyone had a good time today.”
About S.M.A.R.T University
S.M.A.R.T University is a nonprofit that is based out of San Antonio that provides vocational training to young adults with a intellectual disability. Our curriculum is very hands on as we teach them through sensory learning. All the proceeds that were made at this Anniversary Bash will go to student scholarships, educational equipment, and future programs that will directly benefit the students. For more information visit us at www.SMARTUNIVERSITY.com
About Morgan's Wonderland
Morgan’s Wonderland provides a unique experience as the world’s first ever accessible family fun theme park for people with all disabilities to have a fun experience. With 25 acres and with purpose built attractions, the enjoyment is everywhere. Offering finishing details that will ensure that you and your family will have a good time. For more information visit www.morganswoderland.com
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