Service Learning Proposal.

Service Learning Proposal for Animal Safehouse of Brevard

By: Patricia Parker

September 23, 2010

Meredith Tweed

WST 4002

Community Partner Profile:

Community Partner: Animal Safehouse of Brevard
Community Partner Contact: (407) 620-6865, http://www.animalsafehousebrevard.org/

Community Partner Mission Statement: “Our objective is to form a network of foster families to provide homes for pets of domestic violence survivors until they can be reunited in a safe living environment. We provide all food, supplies, vet care, and other essentials throughout their stay with us. We also help women reunite with their animals post-shelter by assisting with pet deposits and transport." (ASHB)

Political and/or Social Basis for Organization: "According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (www.ncadv.org), there were 113,123 reported cases of domestic violence and 180 domestic-violence related homicides in Florida in 2008. Women and children should not have to leave their pet(s) behind." (ASHB)

The Proposal

Memorandum

TO: Meredith L. Tweed

FROM: Patricia Parker

DATE: September 24, 2010

RE: Proposal to Write a Feasibility Report for a Service Learning Project

The following is a proposal to outline the needs, rationale and feasibility for a service learning project to benefit Animal Safehouse of Brevard. The following proposal contains background on the need for and benefits of a ASHB project, an outline of the work I plan to do, the rationale for its inclusion in WST 4002, and a scheduled timeline. This proposal may need to be revised after beginning the project and must be flexible to meet the needs of the Service Learning project and the community partner.

Problem:

Animal Safehouse of Brevard is a relatively new nonprofit organization that has yet to establish itself in many ways, but especially financially. Often, the resources needed for animal care in the wake of receiving a new charge just aren't there, in which case, Leandra, like many business proprietors, is forced to pull from her own pocket to meet her organization's needs. This business model can only be effective for so long, before the financial and the physical toll become too much for proprietors. The mechanics of this problem, among others, in the process of establishing a business as a woman, are my primary interests, and while I can't fix the entire problem, I can certainly offer a different perspective than most other service learning students, as my emphasis is focused on one of the most significant roadblocks Animal Safehouse is encountering while endeavoring to empower women.

Plan Proposal:

I will be working with Leandra in fundraising for the organization, as well as shadowing in its basic managerial and financial aspects. This is a very small scale organization, both in person power and resources, despite that it addresses an issue that is usually ignored or underrepresented in terms of solutionary action. In similar situations, this often leads to dishearteningly severe declines in operational viability, and can preclude progress for women to establish themselves as contributing members of their communities. My work will focus only on how to prevent this from happening to Animal Safehouse, by taking into my charge the discrepancies in financial resources, while analyzing what factors can contribute to the alarming inconsistencies in the success rates of male versus female run businesses.

Rationale for Women's Studies:
My research is more referential of small businesses (profit-based) owned by women and the issues involved in the startup process and why these problems exist, but the financial problems in running this organization are very similar. The only organizational differences is that it hinges on donations or fundraising, rather than profit. I want to come to some understanding of the difficulties of running an organization, any organization, that hinges on financial resources, while being a woman operating in a unabashedly capitalistic, self-serving society. There are very interesting implications to doing this with a nonprofit, as the act of charitable activism is counterintuitive to the nature of how we perceive our world economically, yet depends on the same resources in order to survive. The discrepancy in the success rates of female versus male-run businesses is astronomical, and I'm curious as to why this is the case. As a social constructionist, I'm not one to say that women are inherently less able to handle the stresses of the financial sector, but the interplay of certain outside factors, especially discouragement from applying for the credit which will make the endeavor initially possible, needs to be isolated and understood, so that women aspiring to be financially successful, independent of any cosigner, can make educated decisions regarding the viability of their projects. Pulling from the article, "Women's Studies, Neoliberalism, and the Paradox of the Political," which we've read recently, one potential problem I can isolate regarding women as operators in a capitalist society, especially concerning small businesses, is that "the rise of corporate power is relative to the increasing disenfranchisement of flexible laboring bodies." (Rubin 248) While this is not directly relevant to my field research, it does give me a perspective from which to base my thoughts when attempting to aid in the financial successes of ASH.

Action:
I have been emailing Abigail Malick, the Service Learning Coordinator, and Leandra about my goals for this project and what they need done, beyond the more traditional service learning suggestions (transport, cleaning, animal interaction, fostering), and it seems that there are a lot of opportunities for fundraising and tabling for education and opening up dialogue. Their financial resources are currently very depleted and I plan to be taking a very active role in learning about that aspect of the business, so my activity will reflect this.

Timeline: 

October 10- Orlando Pride Fest Orlando

October 23- Veg Fest Orlando

October 30- Suntree Fall Festival

Works Cited

Animal Safehouse of Brevard. 2010. Animal Safehouse of Brevard. 24 September 2010.

Beins, Angela and Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, eds. Women’s Studies for the Future: Foundations, Interrogations, Politics. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2005.

Word Count: 944