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B.E.A.T.S. (BLACK ENTREPRENURIAL AMERICAN TALENT SPECTRUM) PledgePage
B.E.A.T.S. (Black Entrepreneurial American Talent Spectrum)
Our mission is geared towards developing and advancing necessary skills within the African American community. We focus on Music Production, Clothing Branding, Photography, Modeling, Video Production, Fashion Runway, and Disc Jockeys. We offer an array of services for the community with outreach programs for young adults interested in composing music, learning to dance in a variety of settings, modeling, Public Relations, Artist Management, Promotions, Music Composition, Audio Engineering, Casting, Modeling, Runway Modeling, Photography, Digital Media, and Web Design. We have set up Team leaders from a variety of Organizations and affiliates to make this dream into a reality. Some of our sister companies that assist us in sponsoring these sectors are Kamel Clothing, Xcellent Revenge Clothing, Ellusionz Modeling LLC, Tyrus Davis Photography, Canvas Photography, TCT Management, iGrindBeats Productions, Sen 7 Records, and KaeWaltStudios. Our goal is to promote real life skills and Talent among the African American Youth, while promoting self worth and esteem. Our motto is “Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.†We give the youth the opportunity to showcase their talent and abilities, while at the same time coach and develop them into well-rounded young adults. The mission of B.E.A.T.S. is the pursuit of the following principles: • Commitment: B.E.A.T.S. wants to inspire pro-social friendships, strong interpersonal skills, create strong written and verbal entertainment communication, and instill a sense of hope in the future. • Responsibility: The focus of B.E.A.T.S. is to empower youth in establishing goals and following through on commitments. • Possibility: B.E.A.T.S. wants to expand the perspective of young people to make them aware of life's possibilities. Creating strategies that are tested and work. • Support: An individual is dramatically influenced by their support system. B.E.A.T.S. Wants to surround young people in a caring, inclusive learning environment. Keys to Success • Establish a strong network of support with the school systems and the local businesses. • Launch a series of fundraising activities that will successfully fund the expanding program. • Establish an effective training program for mentors that will increase their ability to be successful communicators. • Establish an effective monitoring system to protect both the youth and the mentor. B.E.A.T.S. is a nonprofit agency providing mentoring programs for young adults ranging from 13-19 in the New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Philadelphia areas. The program will form partnerships with local school districts and local area businesses. Youth are matched into with a caring adult volunteer who is trained to focus on positive reinforcement, trust building, and the achievement of goals, by engaging youth in one-on-one outing and group adventures in the community. Mentors and youth agree to meet for between 30-40 hours per month for a full year. Ongoing training will continue with mentors on individual case management throughout the year. In addition, BEATS will have monthly mentor support meetings. Start-up Summary Our start-up expenses come to $80,500.00, which is mostly stationery, legal costs, and expenses associated with opening our office/recreational area. We will also need cash to finance the first year of operations. The start-up costs are to be financed by contributions by ten private sponsors. Services B.E.A.T.S. offers our inner city youth, (ages 13-19) an opportunity to work with caring mentors to improve their ability to develop a positive attitude towards their future. The long-term goal of B.E.A.T.S. is to empower the young person to break the habits that are leading to trouble in school and in the streets. We are also focusing on several areas of talent development called Core Spectrums. The target market for B.E.A.T.S. are young people ages 13 to 19 that have developed destructive habits that will lead down a path of hopelessness. B.E.A.T.S. Has created a series of mentoring programs that pair the young adults with a trained mentor who will assist them in developing the habits and perspective that will lead to success and hopefulness in the future. B.E.A.T.S. have six mentoring programs. They are as follows: Core Spectrums • Music Composition – The children will learn how to create music in a studio setting. Some of the Core disciplines learned in our music composition workshops are using Software bundles such as Apple Logic Pro 9, FL Studio XXL (Producers Edition) The main focus of this workshop is to teach young adults the similarities and differences between music composition learned in a traditional educational setting, and learn practical concepts of what happens in everyday studio environments. Children will be recording, and introduce audio leveling and basic engineering. • Photography/Videographer – As a part of our ongoing learning experience in the entertainment business, we have found it necessary to teach young adults about photography. This workshop will be used alongside the Modeling, Artist, and Public Relations spectrums. Young adult will learn how to take High Definition photos and videos. Our learning Laboratory will have adequate computers where they will get the opportunity to edit and tweak Photos, and Videos that will be used for websites, advertisements, and modeling composite cards. We will have representatives and students from the Art Institute assist in the shooting and editing process. • Public Relations and Artist & Repertoire- this workshop will help develop critical thinking skills, and teach basic rules of networking and how to scout for new talent. The training for A&R workshop will show young adults how to market and promote their artists that are utilizing the recording studios. They are expected to understand the current tastes of the market and to be able to find artists that will be commercially successful. The Public Relations workshop will teach the following disciplines: o Contract negotiations o Media contact development o Demo tape creation o Modeling affiliations o Image Shaping o Positive Client Publicity o Time Management o Internet / Media Advertising • Peer Mediation – Often time children find it hard to speak with parents or other elders regarding problems that they are faced with in School or at home. We will have trained counselors that will LISTEN, COACH, and ADISE on a wide variety of topics. • B.E.A.T.S. Discussion Groups - Building lasting communication with our youth often times open up doors to understanding. We have discussion workshops that will be about self-esteem, personal hygiene, business communication, public speaking, résumé building, interviewing skills, and job searching techniques and self worth. This workshop has custom-designed information and discussion groups that enrich parenting effectiveness, especially in the area of cognitive skills associated with family management practices. • B.E.A.T.S. ARTS/FASHION – This workshop primarily handles all areas of fashion design, runway, and dance choreography. With the support of fashion icons and local dance choreographers, B.E.A.T.S. have developed a very popular workshop that focuses on these disciplines. Attendees will be able to learn how to make clothes marketing ideas, storyboarding and sketching. The photography workshops will also work close with this group to capture media from the showcases produced. A More in Depth Look B.E.A.T.S. is a program that is in direct response to the growing number of young people that are either falling through the cracks at school or are already entangled with problems with the law. BEATS offer at-risk youth the opportunity to make a dramatic change in their lives. The program is positioned to be most assessable to young people who otherwise would be swept into the juvenile court system or frequent school detention. The goal of the program is to identify youths who are going have a turbulent transition to adulthood and offer positive support system to avoid the pitfalls that can derail their lives. The focus is slightly different at each level. With middle school students, B.E.A.T.S. provides mentors that serve as developmental role models for young people looking for direction. Sometimes it is as easy as a young person identifying with his mentor rather than a person involved in criminal or destructive activities. Once a student has entered high school with a history of classroom disturbances and poor academic skills, it takes a tremendous proactive effort to assist a student in redirecting their lives. We believe that if we redirect negative influences and replace them with a pro-active positive atmosphere, we can make REAL changes. Many youth are interested in the entertainment industry but fail to understand the logistics behind the scenes that fuel it. We believe that by placing these young adults in realistic scenarios, they can develop key knowledge that can keep them off the streets, and redirect their interest elsewhere. B.E.A.T.S. Market Segmentation Focus B.E.A.T.S. Have a number of market focuses that are key to the program's success. • Youth who are overcoming stressors in their lives, such as poverty, discrimination, abusive situations, addictions, unstable homes, and academic life, are the primary marketing focus of B.E.A.T.S. Mentoring programs foster positive changes through goal setting, self-discipline, skill development, and friendship. • Families are also the marketing focus when adult mentors are able to help youth work on solutions for their family stresses, and provide an objective but caring sounding board. As a result, many youth and their families report improved relations at home. Marketing also attracts mentors to B.E.A.T.S. because they care about kids and their community. The typical mentor-youth relationship demands a commitment that must be sold to the potential mentor. For most mentors, this experience changes their lives, taps their inner resources, and challenges their convictions and beliefs. • Ultimately, B.E.A.T.S. is marketed to inner city youth as a critical social support system impacting young African Americans. B.E.A.T.S. Strategy and Implementation Summary There are three focuses to B.E.A.T.S. program implementation: • First is the creation of a network of contacts with local Law enforcement, Churches, community leaders, and school district super attendants. • The second is the recruiting and training of mentors. • The third is the development of fundraising strategies. Fundraising Strategy B.E.A.T.S. funding sources include private donations, federal and state contracts, grants from private foundations, school districts and business sponsorship. The program's fundraising Coordinator has established a number of contribution options that a supporter can select from. • Cash Donation: From $1,000 to sponsor a youth for a year to $30 to fund the Outdoor “CLEANUP†Challenge that all participants take part in. • Gift of Appreciated Stock: a gift of appreciated stocks, bonds, or mutual funds can both support the program and provide tax saving to the donor. • Legacy Gifts: a planned gift in a will, trust, or other estate plan. • Corporate Giving and Sponsorship: Businesses can provide cash or grants. Businesses are also encouraged to participate in the B.E.A.T.S. fundraising events that take place throughout the year. These events include Fun Runs, Wine Tasting, Bike Races, and Raffles. • Food Store Community Partnership Program: B.E.A.T.S. receives a portion of what is spent in local food stores when the shopper uses the program card when making purchases. The card will be scanned at the checkout and the program will receive credit for the sale. Funding Forecast B.E.A.T.S. forecast of revenues for 2011 is $267,396. The stable core funding is from Federal/State contracts, private foundations, and the school districts. Yet anticipated growth from these funding sources is estimated to be only 5% over the next three years. B.E.A.T.S. will focus on rapidly increasing funding from sources where the percentage growth is projected to be higher. The targets are private donations, business sponsorships and fundraiser campaigns. By 2013, estimated revenue should be in excess of $350,000. Marketing Strategy B.E.A.T.S. believes in the goal of leaving no child behind. The goal is to raise the visibility of program to assure that: • Referral sources will use the service; • Funding sources will support the program; • Adults will volunteer to be mentors. The marketing strategy will be to successfully sell this new resource to the schools and the local business in the area. This will be accomplished by a referral coordinator who will create and maintain a network of contacts that will serve as the referral source for the program. Brochures will be developed to sell the benefits of the program to both potential referrers and participants. The referral coordinator will provide progress reports for the referring program, school, or agency. The goal will be to build an effective marketing program on the success of the mentoring relationships. A marketing effort will also be implemented to attract and retain quality mentors for the program. The program's mentor recruiter/trainer will make presentations to local political institutions, and private businesses selling the benefits of participating in B.E.A.T.S. program. Reward activities will be planned for mentors. These activities will be used to recruit new mentors from the friends and associates of current mentors. The core of the marketing strategy will be the creation of the program's Board of Directors who will be chartered with the responsibility of selling the benefits of the program to the community. Management Summary B.E.A.T.S. management team will consist of the Board of Directors and the program's executive director. A team of professional program and fundraising managers will be assembled to manage and grow the program. Personnel Plan The following table summarizes our personnel expenditures for the first three years. B.E.A.T.S. will have the following staff. • Fundraising/grant coordinator; • Mentor recruitment/training coordinator; • Core Spectrum Workshop Coordinator; • Office manager. ABOUT FOUNDER Keith Burroughs a 29-year-old college student from Brooklyn New York, who learned at a early age how rough life could be as a young adult, formed this non-profit company. It is his distinct belief that you do not have to be a product of your environment to succeed. Join me on Facebook "Keith Kaelo Burroughs" We want to hear from YOU! Please email me ideas, concepts and anything that you think that will enhance our BEATS conglomerate. KeithB@igrindbeats.org For more information please contact Keith Burroughs Sr at KeithB@iGrindBEATS.org Mailing Address PO BOX 851 WOODBURY NJ 08096 Telephone 347 556 8005 Direction for Donation: Any amount is appreciated! Please send a check/ money order to: iGrind B.E.A.T.S. PO BOX 851 WOODBURY NJ 08096 On the check/order please put iGrindB.E.A.T.S. If you wish to donate using paypal, please follow the instructions: 1. Before giving a donation, please make sure that you have a pay pal account. You can easily set it up by visiting this website: https://www.paypal.com/ (Make sure it is verified with your bank account. ) 2. After setting up your paypal account, click here: https://personal.paypal.com/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=marketing_us/send_money 3. To the right of the website page, locate “TOâ€, put Kaelodesigns@yahoo.com 4. “Fromâ€, put your email address 5. Click “Personal†and Click “GIFT†6. Click “Continue†• Please email to let me know your donation amount so I am able to keep track. Sincerely, Keith Burroughs Sr. keith@iGrindNation.com |