open a community center for women

It looks like what I’m attempting to make (a women’s center that is NOT affiliated with a university) is pretty rare. Either that, or they’re all really bad at putting themselves out there on the intarweb. The only centers that are both in Illinois and on the web are either a)affiliated with a university or b)dedicated pretty much exclusively to family violence/sexual assault issues. On the one hand, this could be good for me, because it means I’d be serving an unmet need. On the other hand, this could be bad for me, because it might mean that my perception of what is needed could be flagrantly off-base, or that there’s no funding out there for what I’m trying to do. It also means that I’m going to have to pretty much invent a form of wheel.

OK, now I’m going to start going through the questions.

Q 1: Who will the center serve?
I know the age group I want to serve: 13+. Hopefully I’ll be able to tailor the services in a way so that they’ll appeal to women of color in addition to whites. I also want women of different ability levels to have footing. Thus the question can be narrowed down to, what geographic community of women will the center serve? And that’s something that not only do I not know, I don’t know how to figure out. It’s going to need to be somewhere in the Chicagoland area, in order for me to get to it easily. Beyond that… well, it’s important to go where the need is greatest. How do I figure that out? What sort of statistics could I use to determine which Chicagoland community I should base the center in? At this point, I have no idea.

Q 2: Who will provide services?
It’s a little early in the game to be worried about this one, I think.

more to come later

WHO
Who will the center serve?
Who will provide services?
Who will administrate?
Who will fund it?
Who is needed to form a not-for-profit?
Who has done something similar?
Who has tried and failed?
Who can mentor me through this process?
Who can I interview for information?

WHAT
What services will be provided?
What facilities will be needed?
What obstacles will be encountered?
What qualifications will those involved need?
What should the center be named?
What should the not-for-profit be named?
What grants currently exist?
What sort of timeline are we looking at?
What are the zoning requirements – could the center be located in a residential area?
What types of (creative) fundraisers exist?
What will the “entrance exam” consist of, for each position?
What will my role be initially? Eventually?
What will S’s role be initially? Eventually? (Note: S is a friend I’ve made recently who has indicated she wants to be involved with the center’s creation.)
What is necessary to form a not-for-profit?

WHERE
Where will the center be located?
Where will the funding come from?
Where can I find service providers?
Where can I find administrators?
Where are other centers similar to this one located? (Could I tour one?)
Where else is there need for a center?
Where could a house be found, vs. an office?

WHEN
When will each of the services be provided? (Along what schedule?)
When can the center be up and running?
When should the center start building on layers of service?

WHY
Why should these services be provided?
Why should people fund them?
Why should the particular community in question be used?
Why should other people want to get involved?

HOW
How much space will be needed initially? Eventually?
How can I get more people on board?
How does one draft by-laws?
How will salaries and wages be determined?
How much money can we raise?
How can I most effectively research to find the answers to these questions?
How can I most effectively spread the word?
How will my center be different from other centers?
How will my center be similar to other centers?
How will I know when I have enough people on board?
How should I design the “entrance exams” for various positions?
How will I know when I’ve found a good administrator?

The best aspect of my new job (receptionist at DCFS) is that, as long as I answer the phones and pay attention to who needs in/out of the building, I can do pretty much whatever desk activity I want. Today I decided to do some brainstorming re: my hypothetical women’s center. I listed all the discussion groups, support groups, and services that I would like to offer. 45 total! Whoa, Nelly! The reason the list is so long is that I strongly desire the center to address women’s lives in a comprehensive manner. Physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, women have needs, and I want this center to have the potential to be helpful in any aspect a woman feels is lacking in her life. I realize that I am going to have to be very careful not to turn this into a “jack of all trades but master of none” phenomenon; to help with that, I started prioritizing that list of 45. I figure we’ll start with a few services and then build on that as we gain renown (and funding!).

I also brainstormed re: what staff will be required to provide those services. The next step will be to look up average salaries for those positions that would be paid (as opposed to using volunteers or interns), to start to get ballpark budget figures.

One key decision I have made is, instead of requiring that positions be filled by persons with X,Y, or Z levels of education and/or work experience, there will be ‘entrance exams’ – if people have gained knowledge and expertise through their life experiences and independent study, for my purposes, they’re just as qualified for these positions. Now, there are certain exceptions to this rule, obviously… but I think on the whole it’s a useful guideline.

OK, I should get going, dinner’s ready.