Back on My Feet
Esta presentción ha sido seleccionada como finalista del desafío
Gamechangers: Change the Game for Women in Sport .
Back on My Feet is a non-profit organization that promotes the self-sufficiency of the homeless population by engaging them in running programs.
Sobre ti
Información de contacto
Title
This field has not b
First name
Wylie
Last name
Belasik
Your job title
Program Director
Name of your organization
Back on My Feet
Organization type
Non-profit 501 (c) (3)
Annual budget/currency
$1.2 million
Mailing address
1520 Locust Street, Suite 804
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Telephone number
610-368-0995
F-a-x number
Country
Estados Unidos
Website
Email address
Alternative email address
Ubicación
Project Street Address
1520 Locust St. Suite 804
Project City
Philadelphia
Project Province/State
PA
Project Postal/Zip Code
19102
Project Country
Estados Unidos
tu idea
Choose your sport: (check all that apply)
Running
If you chose "other" for Sport, please define in 1-2 words below
What approach does your initiative incorporate?
Capacity Building
Year the initiative began (yyyy)
2007
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If your project has a website, paste the web address here:
Ubica tu innovación en el mapa de innovaciones:
Barrier
Social stigmas and prohibitions
Insight
Embed sports with other activities
This field has not been completed.
Name Your Project
Back on My Feet
Describe Your Idea
Back on My Feet is a non-profit organization that promotes the self-sufficiency of the homeless population by engaging them in running programs.
Innovación
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
Back on My Feet is a non-profit organization that promotes the self-sufficiency of the homeless population by engaging them in running programs.
How many people does your innovation serve or plan to serve? Exactly who will benefit?
Back on My Feet directly serves the men and women currently living in emergency assistance housing (over 110 members), but indirectly benefits the entire surrounding community. The entire community is strengthened by our members increasing their self-esteem and daily productivity as well as breaking down negative stereotypes on our group runs four days a week.
Do you have any existing partnerships? If so, please list and describe.
We partner with existing shelters to form our running teams. Currently, we have six teams in Philadelphia with over 110 active residential members. We also have job training partnerships that our members can access in Philadelphia. Members can access job training assistance after two months in our program and exemplary attendance (above 90%).
In which sector do these partners work? (Check all that apply)
Citizen sector (non profits, NGOs) , Private sector , Public sector (government).
How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
The goal of Back on My Feet is to provide a supportive environment in which our members can strive for their goals and support their team-mates. By training and running together, personal bonds are created that enhance an individual's ability to trust and show leadership.
Impacto
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact
Our program has over 110 residential members running 4 mornings a week in Philadelphia from six teams at emergency assistance facilities.
What does impact/success look like? Please list any tangible measures of the impact of your innovation
Success in Back on My Feet can be measured many ways, but below are the results of information that we track each month at team meetings:
Back on My Feet operates in six Philadelphia Emergency Housing Facilities and is expanding to Baltimore in March 2009
112 Residential Members (We are adding a minimum of 25 new members a month to the program with an overall retention rate of 89 %)
435 Volunteers
86 members have completed a competitive race
5 members have completed a half-marathon
2 members have completed a full-marathon
14 members have obtained housing
15 members have secured jobs
10 members have enrolled in job training programs (4 of our members recently started school in November)
33 members have attended one of the three required financial literacy classes
98% have stated their self-esteem has improved
55% have either quit or suppressed their smoking
98% have stated their daily productivity has increased
Is there a chance that your project could change policy (within an institution or government)?
Absolutely, Back on My Feet brings together a cosmopolitan group of individuals each morning on our runs that give the issue of homelessness a name and face in Philadelphia. Back on My Feet seeks to break down existing stereotypes and use running as a vehicle to help our members become more productive in their daily lives and form relationships with young professionals and other socio-economic groups who may not have otherwise interacted, but through the common element of sport.
Aside from financial sustainability, how do you plan to grow the initiative or expand your intended impact?
Our goal for 2009 is to add a new team every two months in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. Also, we are starting a Pilot Program in Baltimore in March of 2009 with two teams.
Esta presentación se trata de
Sustenibilidad
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
Our funding is carefully spread across the following percentages so as to not become to reliant on any one source:
35% from individuals
25% from foundations
15% from corporations
20% from events
5% from Back on My Feet merchandise
Fuente de financiamiento
Annual budget
For 2009 our proposed budget is $1.2 million
Annual revenue generated
For 2009 our proposed revenue is $1.4 million
Number of staff (full-time, part-time, volunteers)
We currently have 7 full-time staff, 1 part-time staff member and over 450 volunteers.
What are the main barriers to financing your initiative, and how do you plan to address these barriers?
Our main barrier to financing is the relative youth of our organization. Many foundations and other sources of support are only available after three years. We have addressed this barrier by being transparent in our operating structure and tracking all elements of the successes of our program.
What are the major challenges with regards to partnerships?
The biggest challenge in potential partnerships is finding the best companies or organizations to partner with that will best serve the needs of our members. For example, we won't partner with a job training organization unless they offer services that will directly benefit large numbers of our active members. This can be challenging with the number of members we have and the amount of skills they both want to learn and how to implement what they know already.
La historia
What stage is your project?
Ongoing project .
What was the motivation or defining moment that led to create this innovation? Tell us the story.
Anne Mahlum would pass by a homeless shelter every morning on her daily run and began to develop a rapport with the men outside on the corner. What started out as waves and smiles from a distance became more intimate as they developed a comfort level with one another. And one morning a simple idea stopped her in her tracks....
With a call to the shelter and the astounding support from the community and the media, Philadelphia's first Homeless Running Club was well, up and running. The first run took place on Tuesday, July 3rd at 6 am...and now 19 months later, we are operating in six different shelters. It's pretty amazing.
Running is such a beautiful metaphor for life,” said Anne Mahlum, Founder and President of Back on My Feet. “Life is about choosing different roads and our program teaches the importance of choosing roads filled with opportunity, hope and happiness.”
Please tell us about the social innovator behind this initiative
Anne was born and raised in North Dakota. She attended St Cloud State and moved to the east coast to attend graduate school at American University. Anne then moved to Philadelphia to work as the Director of Outreach for a non-profit organization, the Committee of Seventy. However, Anne, a life-long runner, hadn't found her true passion until she had the idea for Back on My Feet over a year and a half ago and hasn't questioned her decision to make Back on My Feet her main mission in life.
(Optional) To be eligible for an additional prize, please select age range
27 or older
 | 163 weeks agoCynthia Drayton said: Hi Wylie, Congratulations on being selected a Gamechangers finalist! You have an easily replicated model and it’s great to see that ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 163 weeks agoEmma Moutrie said: Hi BOMF Your project caught my eye and i have just read over your entry and i admire the work and progress you have made so far. Just ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 163 weeks agoKathy Webb said: Hi Anne - Im so happy to see that your work made it to the top 13!! You deserve to be recognized for the great work you and your team ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 170 weeks agoRenata Affonso said: Hi Anne, I would like to invite you to join the Women Win group at http://sportforchange.changemakers.net/en-us/group/womenwin. Just ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 170 weeks agoKevin Carroll said: Hello Wylie + the BOMF team! It's great to see the convos that quickly generated about your work - very cool! It's evident from ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 170 weeks agoAnne Mahlum said: Hello Liz! We are very excited about the prospect of starting Back on My Feet programs in cities around the country, however we stay ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 170 weeks agoAnne Mahlum said: In our program we currently have over 110 active members, however only 16 are women. This is due to several factors, but the biggest is ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 170 weeks agoAnne Mahlum said: Hello Ziba! Thanks for your comment, we are so grateful to have Jeannette in our corner and we wouldn't have been able to build Back ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 170 weeks agoAnne Mahlum said: Hello Kevin- This is Wylie Belasik, Program Director for Back on My Feet. Thanks so much for your kind words! In answer to your ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |
| 170 weeks agoLiz Abzug said: Hi Anne: I agree with Ziba who stated above that your program is very replicable and is a prototype that should be brought to other ... about this Competition Entry. - leer más > |