GATHERING GROUNDS COFFEE & ART SHOP

Transcription

1 GATHERING GROUNDS COFFEE & ART SHOP Rankin County School District Always Unique, Never the Same. MANUAL

2 Gathering Grounds Coffee and Art Shop serves as a working classroom for Rankin County high school students with special needs. It is open daily from 8:00am to 12:00pm. Gathering Grounds provides a real life environment for special education students to develop job and social skills that will help them to obtain paid employment in the future. Gathering Grounds is funded by a grant with the Mississippi Council on Developmental Disabilities.

3 OUR FIRST YEAR u December 4, GRAND OPENING of Gathering Grounds Coffee and Art Shop u December 13, First Social Gathering Grounds hosted by Northwest Rankin High School. u January 25, Gathering Grounds hosts a luncheon to thank Bob Boyte Honda for donating $5,000 to the Phase II program. u March 5, Gathering Grounds employees serve as luncheon guest speakers at the 2013 Building Partnerships, Working Together conference. u February Florence High School students host Social Gathering Grounds. u April 12, Walt Grayson visits Gathering Grounds to film Making a Difference segment. u April 18, Making a Difference segment featured on WLBT s 6:00 news. u May Brandon High School students host Social Gathering Grounds. u May 17, Gathering Grounds hosts luncheon to raise money for Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS). u June Three Extended School Year students work at Gathering Grounds. u June 20, Gathering Grounds employees, Julie Paradise, and Jane Smith present at Mississippi disability MegaConference.

4 u July 23, Trust Jones travels to Starkville to present at an Awareness session on Employment First with MS Partnerships for Employment (MSPE). u August 15, Gathering Grounds officially re-opens for school year. u August 26, Gathering Grounds hosts a transition meeting for the RCSD Phase II students. u August 30, Dr. Jerry Alliston holds the MSPE Stakeholders Group Meeting at Gathering Grounds. u Fall Fall Open House (Phase II and four RCSD schools participate)

5 GATHERING GROUNDS From Dream to Reality 1. Find a Location (old Lion s Club building on RCSD County Office Campus) 2. Maintenance of Building (New sink/water filter, Gary s Carpet donated new carpet and installation, Cook & Byrd donated new paint) 3. Furnish Building (Tables, Chairs, Booths, and all other furnishings purchased at Lowe s, Sam s Club, and Restaurant Supply) 4. Get Community Support (Letters of support from Mayor, Board member, Superintendent, and Congressman) 5. Select Coffee (Sipping event hosted at RCSD by Paul Bonds with BeanFruit Coffee. Paul is local and donates 15 cents of every pound sold to Go Ministries in Jackson, MS.) 6. Pick a Logo (Art contest was open to all RCSD students to design the Gathering Grounds logo. Summer Mallary from Florence High School won by vote.)

6 Challenges 1. Transportation One issue that always comes into play when dealing with students and job opportunities is transportation. Unfortunately, transportation requires an abundance of resources that cannot always be accessed. Each school is responsible for getting a driver to commit their time to driving that school s group to Gathering Grounds. Through our grant, we are able to pay for gas and district buses are provided, but we are often limited on what buses we can use due to maintenance and other factors. Distance is, and will always be, a big factor when looking at transportation. When you are in a district that has schools spread over an almost 30 mile radius, the amount of time spent on the road can be a burden on instructional time. Ideally, all assistant teachers will have their Commercial Driver s License to guarantee each group has a driver. This is a transition that is currently being put into effect. By the school year, all assistant teachers will have their Commercial Driver s License. 2. School participation Gathering Grounds currently has five high schools participating, as well as, the Phase 2 program. Luckily, the number of participating schools grows each year due to the successes of the participating schools. We have eight high schools total in the district, so as of now, we are a little over half in participation. These other schools that do not participate have been encouraged to join. Some schools are located a much farther distance from Gathering Grounds as mentioned in the previous section, making it hard on their classroom time and gas to make the trip.

7 3. Grant limitations Although our grant allows us to purchase needed items for Gathering Grounds, we cannot always use grant money to purchase certain items. For example, we cannot use grant money to purchase items for sale. The only sale item we can use grant money for is the actual coffee. All t-shirts and promotional items must be purchased directly from Gathering Grounds Coffee and Art Shop. The limitations on purchases are not unreasonable, but they do make it hard to stock the shop with ALL the necessities to be successfully run. This is why it important to sell items that will continue to bring in a reasonable profit. The purpose of the program is to build job and social skills in our students, but the business must also make a profit to ensure its success over time. Other items sold in Gathering Grounds include pottery and crafts made by the Phase 2 Transition Program. 4. Volume/demand Our problems with volume/demand are actually the opposite of most. We do NOT have a high demand for coffee. Our daily coffee sales are only 5-10 cups per day, meaning we don t use an abundance of coffee each day. This causes a problem when trying to buy coffee in bulk. We order our coffee from a local roaster for an above average price. It proves difficult trying to purchase a bulk order when we are not using very much each day. We store a large amount of coffee in our freezer to preserve the flavors. Although the demand for coffee is not high, we do see demand problems with our snacks. Due to unforeseen issues with Sam s Club, we are not allowed to make purchases there. We must purchase all of our snacks from Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart does not sell the items we need in the bulk amounts; therefore we have to buy smaller quantities. This results in spending more money with shorter expiration periods. When looking at vendors for products, always choose the vendor that can get you the most at one time. This will cut down on ordering and reduce waiting time for customers.

8 5. Location Gathering Grounds Coffee and Art Shop is located at 1220 Apple Park Place behind the Rankin County School District County Office Building in Brandon, MS. We are housed in the former Lion s Club building. We are very fortunate to be housed in an on campus location that does not require extra expenses such as rent, electric, water, etc. The downside of our location is that we are very hidden from the main road and often very hard to find. Multiple customers have commented on how difficult it is to understand where the coffee shop is located. We have recently teamed up with local groups to begin a possible beautification process for Gathering Grounds. This will hopefully increase visibility and make it a more inviting facility. 6. Advertisement/community involvement Advertisement will always be hard for a program like Gathering Grounds. There are allotted funds for advertising in our budget, but advertising is very expensive. We are limited as to what amount or scale of advertising is realistic. The majority of our advertising is through print and social media. Printed media is distributed though the community and schools. Gathering Grounds has created a Facebook page to serve as its primary source of community outreach. Since creating the page, we have seen a huge bump in sales/community support. Phase 2 Transition Program also has a Facebook page. Both pages information can be found in Appendix A.

9 Successes 1. Student growth/outcome Student growth and outcomes will always be Gathering Grounds primary focus. Our students run the shop as part of a Career Preparation curriculum to prepare them for real life jobs. In this curriculum, students focus on money skills, social skills, appropriate work behavior, and basic knowledge of today s work force. Listed below are just a few of the positive outcomes for our former Gathering Grounds employees. The majority of these students went on to the Phase 2 Transition Program. o Student A- 22-year-old black male-currently working as shift manager at local McAlister s Deli o Student B- 22-year-old black male-currently working at Bob Boyte Honda o Student C- 22-year-old white female- currently working at Bright Minds Learning Center o Student D- 24-year-old white female-currently working at Hometown Vet Clinic o Student E- 21-year-old black male- currently working at Smith-Wills Stadium o Student F- 23-year-old white male- currently working at Brandon Elementary School (custodial staff) o Student G- 23-year-old black male- currently working at Pelahatchie Elementary (cafeteria staff) o Student H- 23-year-old white female- currently working at Pelahatchie Bay Convenient Store/Restaurant o Student I- 22-year-old white male currently working at Goodwill Industries

10 2. Community response/involvement/open House/awareness Over the past 4 years, Gathering Grounds has served as a window for our local community and state to see how students with disabilities can learn and create positive outcomes for themselves. The program has been fortunate enough to attract local organizations that want to assist in helping our students. We have seen everything from coming in to support the shop to making monetary donations to our Phase 2 program. We are best known in the community for our seasonal Open Houses. These open houses serve as a fundraiser and a way for the community to see our kids at work. During open house, students are present to serve coffee, assist customers, bag items, and run the cash register. This is the time when most of Phase 2 s student-made pottery and crafts are sold. People will wait outside in line to get into our open houses, which are usually very busy. The community has also been involved through various news articles printed and aired on television. This has brought in customers from not only our local community, but from all over the state. 3. Employee of the Month Starting in the school year, Gathering Grounds implemented an Employee of the Month program. This program allows students the opportunity to get recognition for their hard work, as they would in a real life job setting. The students are very aware of the honor and work hard to earn the title. The RCSD Foundation has also partnered with us to ensure proper recognition of our employees. Currently, the Employee of the Month receives the tip jar for the entire month, a certificate of recognition signed by the Superintendent of Education for RCSD, and a $15 Chic-Fila gift card provided by the RCSD Foundation. The student also takes a picture with the Superintendent to be placed on the RCSD webpage. All of this must be cleared with parents first by making sure the student has Photo Permission forms on file with their individual

11 school. We also contact the parents personally to inform them of their child s accomplishment and get verbal permission for pictures and interviews.

12 Vision for the Future 1. Volume/Demand It is our hope that with increased community awareness/involvement, our demand will grow. At this time, the primary income for our business is pottery made by Phase 2 students. This is what brings our customers in. Offering daily specials and advertising via social media has proven to bring in customers, and we will continue to work towards growing our customer base. We will soon be offering custom embroidery and monogramming that will be done by Gathering Grounds student employees, as well as Phase 2 students. The embroidery machine was purchased with grant money to add another skill to our students resume. 2. Vendors We have spoken with a variety of food vendors in our area through local food shows and conferences. It is our goal to eventually use larger scale vendors to stock our shop to increase profit. Buying at local stores has proven to not be cost effective. One negative to buying with larger vendors is the bulk order requirements. We are currently in talks with vendors such as General Mills to possibly lower the order requirement to ensure our success and reduce losing money. 3. Community involvement Community involvement can only be increased through better outreach within our district. We are not a normal business and do not follow the same advertising strategies like a local business would. Every day we are brainstorming ways to get our name out there using print and social media, as

13 well as using our students and local schools to promote Gathering Grounds at their campus. As with any business, this will take time. We hope to increase the amount of exposure through tv stations and local newspapers. Any assistance through other local businesses would also increase the community s involvement in our program. 4. School participation The success of this program will rely heavily on school participation. We are currently in the process of brainstorming on ways to make school participation increase. Several factors go into this including transportation and support staff. It is our goal to make Gathering Grounds a requirement in our local school programs as part of their Career Preparation curriculum, but at this time, that is not an option due to a variety of factors, including transportation.

14 What is the Phase 2 Transition Program? Phase II was created by the Rankin County School District to provide students with an opportunity to continue the skills they learn at Gathering Grounds. It is a transition program that helps students with disabilities (ages 18 to 21) to become productive members of society. Regardless of their individual differences, our students are provided with the skills and tools to successfully transition into the work world following completion of their high school education. In order to achieve this goal, our students are provided the opportunity to transfer the skills learned in the classroom to the community. Functional skills that aid our students in transition to work world fall in the areas of vocational, leisure/recreation, and community living. In acquiring these skills, our goal is for our students to live independently and gain employment in their communities. Below is an overview of the Phase 2 Transition Program: A personalized transition planning process is the guiding force in developing how any given student s school services look. Each student has an IEP that we will use to make sure each student is getting what he or she needs. His or her schedule will likely be much different than a typical school schedule. During a student s time in Phase 2, he or she will participate in a Person Centered Planning session with local agencies.

15 Making connections: Phase 2 staff helps students and families make meaningful connections with adult services and supports: ongoing transition planning, parent education, collaboration with agencies (e.g., Hudspeth Regional Center, Vocational Rehabilitation, etc.) and resource planning, etc. NOTE: These connections can extend to personal and family networks that might be useful in forging employment and other opportunities in the community. Program services are community-based. The home base for the program is currently located in the heart of Rankin County. The majority of instruction takes place in real community environments throughout the Brandon, Pearl, Flowood, and surrounding areas. Our curriculum focuses on community based and functional activities. Phase 2 is NOT an academic-based program. Students have a personal schedule of community based work, personal management, and recreational activities. In addition to learning, these activities help build community membership. Instructional activities may include any or all of the following: o Employment preparation: The primary program focus is employment preparation. Work-based experiences help build vocational skills. o Personal management activities: Personal management activities in the community allow students to use and refine functional social, communication, and personal management skills (e.g., money management, managing a personal schedule, navigating the local

16 community, etc.). These activities might include shopping, eating at restaurants, banking, etc. o Recreation and leisure activities in community settings: Recreation activities in the community also allow students to develop functional social, communication, personal management skills in the areas of recreation and leisure (e.g., working at YMCA, bowling, visiting libraries, going to movies, shopping, etc.) o Pedestrian safety training: Students will receive ongoing instruction in walking and crossing streets in the community. This will include learning to navigate Rankin County. o Personal and disability awareness, self-advocacy, personal/community safety, functional, social, communication, and mobility training are interwoven in all activities. Pottery and crafts, including monogramming, sewing, and painting, are also a BIG part of the Phase 2 Transition Program. These items are all handmade by Phase 2 students. Once finished, they are sold in the art room of Gathering Grounds Coffee and Art Shop. Money made from these items goes towards continuing the program and providing materials for crafts, pottery, cooking, etc.

17 Steps needed to sustain Gathering Grounds Funds- Grant Money/Coffee Shop Income Community/District Support- Outreach Faculty/staff- Required Teacher Units (Funding) School Participation-Transportation/Scheduling Positive student outcomes- Continuation of Phase 2 Transition Program/Individual School Outcomes Outreach Used for Community Employment Development 1. Social Media (website/facebook) See Appendix A 2. Community involvement 3. Open Houses 4. Local event participation 5. Job shadowing/training (Phase 2) Student training- See Appendix B 1. Documents 2. Schedules 3. Curriculum 4. Local school training

18 REAL ADVICE 1. Make it about the STUDENTS. If you make it about the money, it will NEVER work. 2. It s ok if you only make $ Make sure you have district/school/community support. You can t survive without it! 4. Be open to change everyday.

19 APPENDIX A SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISEMENT

20 FOLLOW US

21 OPEN HOUSE ANNOUNCEMENTS Via Facebook

22 APPENDIX B STUDENT TRAINING DOCUMENTS