NEEDS STATEMENT

Summary: THIS PROJECT CREATES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND QUALITY-OF-LIFE IMPROVEMENTS FOR RESIDENTS OF PINE MANORKING’S LANDING, A LOW-INCOME COMMUNITY.PINE MANOR PROJECT

NEEDS STATEMENT

This project spurs economic development and quality-of-life improvements in Pine Manor,PROJECT FEATURES include:

a low-income community, by using specialized-career trainingEmployment (career training, soft skills education, entrepreneurialism)

, Education (soft skills, literacy) H ealth (nutrition education) H unger relief (food bank, community gardensn). , food banks,

and nutrition education seminars.

For residents of Pine Manor, this project willPROJECT OBJECTIVES, to benefit Pine ManorKing’s Landing residents, are to:

Facilitate meaningful careers in southwest FloridaNew Brunswick’s thriving food industry for unemployed, underemployed, or otherwise disadvantaged teens and adults..

Teach soft skills that and improve literacy among at-risk job-seekers, while lowering the education gap to facilitate employment.

Create a unified community identity and mission statement, and promote the hopeful message of that mission with a charitable food-product brand.

Create entrepreneurial opportunities for residents to achieve self-sufficiency by selling food items with the Pine ManorKing’s Landing brand locally and

Foster self-sustaining economic development model by rreinvestinging profits from food-products and rental fees from kitchen in the community and this project.

. Feed thousands of food insecure residents annually and families withby preserving

organic healthy fruits and vegetables from the community garden and from other produce donations annuallyby Harry Chapin and Winn Dixie.

Improve nutritional health for entire households by distributing healthy that residents can make at home recipes that show residents and families how to create healthy, kid-friendly meals at home using only the dry goods and produce they receive from the food pantry.

Teach nutritional health to childrenyouth, as well as and to their parents, using in fun, , interactive, and kid-friendly cooking seminars that teach culinary arts and nutritional health..

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***** This project is a collaboration of Goodwill Golden Industries of Southwest FloridaKing’s Landing, Inc. (GIKLW-SWFL) and board members of the Pine ManorKing’s Landing Improvement Association (PMIAKLIA). The partnership between GW-SWFL and PMIA is an This partnership is established one, and it is based on a long history of us GW-SWFLGIKL and PMIAKLIA sharing our resources to improve Pine ManorKing’s Landing community. For example, PMIAKLIA owns and operatesis owner/operator of the the Pine ManorKing’s Landing Community Center, community center in Pine Manor, whileand GW-SWFLGIKL employs the resident coordinator who runs manages the it. day-to-day operations there. The two main elements of this project are:

1. a community gardenPine ManorKing’s Landing Community Garden (KLPMCG), run by

o S tarted in 2013; run by PMIAKLIA PMIA, and 2. a career-training programCulinaryCooking Training and

CertificationCredentialing (CTC) 1

o S tarted in 2014; run by GW-SWFLGIKL.Although these main elements are not new,, run by GW-SWFL. Both elements have existed for 1 to 2 years, but this project will combines them m in a new way. As a result, tThe roles of of PMIA’s garden and GW-SWFL’s training prograPMCGKLCG and CTCm will expand in this project to accomplish meet new objectives, such as nutrition education, hunger relief, and entrepreneurialism. Their scope is will also newexpand. Before, Use of the community garden was is limited to certain about 30 households and the training CTC program to can only teach certain 10 participants at one time. This project will seeks to affect a much larger portion of the entire - community. The education that CTC provides will be delivered in several new ways to affect more residents, while fruits and vegetables from the community garden will become publicly available for hunger relief and other initiatives.

Culinary Training and CertificationCooking Training and Credentialing (CTC) is a new program at Goodwill Industries of Southwest FloridaGW-SWFLGIKL that is based on a series of trial culinary programs in which GW-SWFLGIKL was involved. The objective of CTC is to equip disadvantaged teens and unemployed or underemployed adults with the necessary skills and qualifications to obtain meaningful careers in the food industry. The foodOur local food industry has in Fort MyersMineral City has been growinghad by 8% average monthly growth since early-2014, ; mmostly this is due to 35% of our region’s economy being 35% dependent on its hospitality industries for tourism. This rapid growth has created a windfall of new food-industry employment opportunities, but Pine ManorKing’s Landing residents are largely excluded from these careers frequently excludes low-income populations, like Pine Manor residents, due to barriers like soft skills, literacy, and relevant barriers of literacy, soft skills, and professional credentials.

Industry-recognized credentials improve career prospects for applicants by bolstering their credibility vis-à-vis employers. Participants in the CTC program all earn ServSafe® Food Handler’s Certifications, which FloridaNew Brunswick laws require for all types of food-industry employment, and which are universally recognized by food-industry employers. CTC teaches participantsParticipants also learn fundamental soft skills, like resume writing and interview preparation, while as well as job-readiness training, both of which simultaneously improve literacy levels. also improving their literacy through job-readiness training. Participants in CTC earn ServSafe® Certifications, which are required by Florida law for all food-industry employees. These credentials bolster their resumes and attest to their industry knowledge. DuringIn the rest of theeach 6-week long CTC course, participants benefit from 180 hours of classroom time. Much of it is spent doing hands-on learning in the teaching kitchen at Pine ManorKing’s Landing. Here participants learn comprehensive culinary arts skills from PyroPaulo Rodriguez, an experienced, certified head chef. As a former at-risk youth who became a professional success, Chef PyroPaulo is also a symbol and source of encouragement, especially to the youth of Pine ManorKing’s Landing. The goal of CTC is to foster not jobs, but careers. Career-employment includes self-sufficiency due to livable wages and a higher quality-of-life due to employee benefits like health insurance and retirement plans. . Out of the six trial culinary courses that took place before CTC, in which GW-SWFLGIKL was involved, After the program, graduates are qualified for meaningful employment that includes livable wages and employee benefits that ultimately lead to self-sufficiency for participants and their families. Nearly 70% of participants, including teens and adults from Pine ManorKing’s Landing and similar communities, achieved from trial culinary courses gained food-industry careers. With the newWith this program, we expect 80% of CTC modelparticipants to achieve, which includes the best attributes from all of the earlier trial courses, we expect 80% employment in food-industry careers, and all at a lower cost- per- participant than previous courses..

The CTC program location is a teaching kitchen located in a separate building adjacent to the Pine ManorKing’s Landing Community Center. The Pine Manor community center has an industrial-kitchen facilityThe building’s structure was funded by a federal CDGB grant award, but the key components to complete the teaching kitchen, including all essential kitchen equipment, were provided by grant funding to Pine ManorKing’s Landing from the GannettGarnet Foundation in 2013. Without the GannettGarnet Foundation, there would be no teaching kitchen at Pine ManorKing’s Landing. Perhaps the biggest benefit of the teaching kitchen for this project is it empowers CTC to deliver services directly to its target population of Pine ManorKing’s Landing residents.

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that was renovated in part with Gannett Foundation grant funding in 2013. The kitchen enables CTC to affect the best outcomes possible by bringing specialized-career training directly to its target population in Pine Manor. The presence of CTC in Pine Manor also enables its partnership with PMIA’s community garden for this project. The Pine ManorKing’s Landing Ccommunity Ggarden at Pine Manorwas, built started by PMIAKLIA with support from multiple grant funders, includinging in 2013Fiskars Corporation, Dardens Restaurants, and the Fort MyersMineral City Sunrise Rotary Club in 2013. is lLocated just outside of the Pine ManorKing’s Landing cCommunity Ccenter., T theis half-acre garden PMCGKLCG currently currently feeds upwards hundreds of residents who of 30 family households who manage individual plots with of diverse types of blends of organic fruits and vegetables, including many that areproduce items that are native to FloridaNew Brunswick. In this project, PMCGKLCG will increase production by consolidating individual plots to production will be increased, and the community garden will create a provide local access to healthy, organicsustainable sourcing model for locally grown nutritious foods to fight community-wide hunger and increase nutritional health, especially among youth. produce in a sustainable model.

Food insecurity is a community-wide issue in Pine ManorKing’s Landing is a food desert where food insecurity, obesity, and malnourishment are community-wide issues., as are obesity and malnourishment. Partly thisThese issues areis partly thea results of poor nutrition education, especially for youth. AnoThe other part contributing factor is poverty or more specifically thea lack of personal andor public transportation from Pine ManorKing’s Landing to locationsgrocery stores where healthy foods are sold, such as grocery stores. As a result, residents’ Ddiets can consist of low-quality fast foods or processed snack foods sold at what foods are locally available, primarily processed snacks from convenience storeslocations reachable by bike or on foot, such as convenience stores and gas stations. In a food desert like Pine Manor, wasting healthy food is unacceptable, but The Pine ManorKing’s Landing Community Center previously tried distributing produce items from the community garden or donated by Harry Chapin and Winn Dixie directly to residents, but theTthe short shelf-life of organic produce causeds it to spoil quickly, especially after it sat out in the humid FloridaNew Brunswick climate for a few hours. In addition, on food distribution days through Harry Chapin and Winn Dixie, some produce is unclaimed but usable. So oOur plan with this project in this project will beis to preserve these produce items by vacuum sealing themit and storing themit in a freezer. Then we will distribute these healthy fruits and vegetables to thousands of Pine ManorKing’s Landing residents annually through the community’s food bank, as well as provide home delivery to elderly residents.We will can then distribute healthy fruits and vegetables to thousands of residents annually through the Pine Manor food bank, located at the community centerand potentially through home delivery to the elderly who are unable to come to the food bank.

As forTo promote nutrition education, the Chef PyroPaulo, the CTC instructor, will create create healthy, kid-friendly recipes that use incorporate the food pantry ingredients. These will be distributed to residents at the food pantry. . TheChef PyroPaulo, along with CTC instructor and CTC program participants, will also put on nutrition education and health seminars and cooking demonstrations on food pantry days that are fun, interactive, and applicable to youth and adults. Examples seminars include a “beat the heat smoothie day,” where youth residents create unique their own juice smoothies ideas usingwith fruits, vegetables,garden produce and herbs, all from the community garden, whilewhile also learning about their nutritional values. of those ingredients. These seminars will occur on food pantry days and other occasions each month and incorporate garden and donated produce.

Unemployment and underemployment are fundamental problems in Pine ManorKing’s Landing. While The CTC program addresses this by preparinges residents for meaningful food-industry careers. Another way this project will create employment for residents is by encouraging entrepreneurialism. , this project will also provide other employment help, including promoting self-employment. Another use forProduce from the community garden garden produce will also be be toused in canning and pickling seminars for residents. Canned, pickled, or even fresh food products will then be adorned with a label that promotes Pine ManorKing’s Landing community and the mission of this project as a charitable brand to promote awareness and raise proceeds outside of Pine ManorKing’s Landing. Entrepreneurial can it, pickle it, or package it fresh, and then adorn it with a Pine Manor brand

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label that promotes the community and the mission this project. Rresidents will be empowered as entrepreneursby this project to sell the food products created from the community garden at farmer’s markets and and flea markets,, which are popular in our region, as well as as well as to local restaurants—. Pine ManorKing’s Landing garden has already found a loyal customer for its collard greens with a local barbecue restaurant. Of the net profits from self-employment, Pine ManorKing’s Landing entrepreneurs will receive 70% of net profits from these sales, will go to the entrepreneurs, while 30% of profits will be reinvested in the garden community garden and this project. As another revenue source, Tthe teaching kitchen facilities in the community center will also be be made available for daily rentalrental to local food entrepreneurs, in southwest Florida, such as caterers or food cart vendors. These internal revenue streams will not only relieve funding pressure for GW-SWFLGIKL, PMIAKLIA, and grant funders, it also will make key aspects of this project self-sustaining. All rental fees will be reinvested in this project. In summary, this project will create foster self-sustaining economic development and raise the qualify-of-life for disadvantaged residents of Pine ManorKing’s Landing in Pine Manor while also benefitting the quality-of-life of its residents with regard toby providing employment, increasing literacy, , education, health, and improving nutritional health, and combatting hunger for thousands of residents annually.

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Pine ManorKing’s Landing is the epitome of an at-risk, disadvantaged community. Pine Manor Located in central Fort MyersMineral City, is a it is a 3,500-person suburban community neighborhood of extremely low-income minorities, immigrants, and white residents that mostly , mostly lliveing in family households. . The mMedian-household income isis $24,000 for a a four-person household. As a result of this widespread systemic poverty, Pine ManorKing’s Landing has high crime rates, while residents suffer from low levels of employment, education, and literacy. unemployment and crime rates are high, while literacy and educational levels are low. Residents are are geographically and socially isolated isolated, literally and symbolically, because neither public nor private personal and public transportation are isscarcely really available. le, which also limits As a result, Pine ManorKing’s Landing residents are prevented from economic participation or social integration in Fort MyersMineral City, their economic and social integration in Fort Myers overall, as evidenced by their de facto exclusion of Pine Manor residents from local careers in the growing food -industry. Pine ManorKing’s Landing residents include lifelong community members, though many are tentative renters with low economic stability. Since turnover of residents is high, improving community unity is an important objective of this project. The community garden has already begun to improve the unity of Pine ManorKing’s Landing as a central place of interaction and a source of community pride. Evidence of this is in Pine ManorKing’s Landing’s crime rate, which has been gradually decreasing since 2013 when the community garden was started. In 2012, there were 271 crimes reported in Pine ManorKing’s Landing, including 41 Aggravated Assault and 55 Simple Assault96 assault cases. In 2014, 162 crimes were reported, a 41% overall decrease; the 2015 crime rate promises to be even lower. careers. Isolation also means nutritional health is low throughout Pine Manor because residents have no access to fresh fruits or vegetables. Diets consist of what foods are locally available, primarily processed snacks from convenience stores reachable by bike or on foot. As an isolated food desert with high rates of crime and low levels of employment and literacy, Pine Manor is the epitome of an at-risk, disadvantaged community.

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The concept of vVoluntarism is fundamental central to the missions of GW-SWFLGIKL, PMIAKLIA, and this project. For example, GW-SWFLGIKL Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida, for example, has 800 employees but more than 1,700 volunteers. Some GW-SWFLGIKL programs require a modest program fee from participants, but this can be waived in exchange for 8 hours of volunteer hoursservice. Oftentimes, participants do perform theirthese 8 hoursvolunteer service atin Pine Manor’s community gardenPMCGKLCG. GW-SWFLGIKL also has a volunteer coordinator, Natalie Tursi, who manages a network of diverse volunteers. GW-SWFLGIKL also participates in, from people with severe disabilities or at-risk youth to affluent professionals or college students. court-ordered volunteer programs and service learning opportunities for disadvantaged K-12 students or college students studying disability services.

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For this project, PMIAKLIA will use local volunteers from Pine ManorKing’s Landing to manage the garden, preserve produce, and create food products. Volunteers will be taught subjects like soft skills and literacy, nutritional health, and entrepreneurialism. Volunteers from outside Pine Manor will also be used, including studentService learning volunteers interns from FloridaNew Brunswick Gulf Coast University will also join in the projecty.

SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT

GW-SWFLGIKL programs , including CTC, served 39,630 people in 5 counties in 2014. The capacity to serve 1 of every 30 people in southwest FloridaNew Brunswick is one we developed over a long charitable history. We fund about 55% of our program costs with retail revenues from our 30 retail stores. The rest we get through grant awards from our community partners, like GannettGarnet Foundation. Last month, our organization wasGW-SWFLGIKL was named 2015’s the Best Charitable Organization in southwest FloridaNew Brunswick by public opinion. Our programs also receive regional media attention, including recent stories about CTC and Pine ManorKing’s Landing garden on The News-PressNews Time and NCPR’s local WQGCU affiliate.

PMIAKLIA has been active in Pine ManorKing’s Landing for over 30 years, where it has provided prevention-oriented services to prevent delinquency among at-risk youth and promote self-sufficiency among disadvantaged adults. Given its its efficacy as a point of entry for residents in need of services and referrals, PMIAKLIA has the capacity and expertise to manage grassroots economic development strategies in Pine ManorKing’s Landing community.

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GW-SWFLGIKL uses EPTO Data System software specially designed byfrom Social SolutionsScenes Inc. to record. ETO records comprehensive demographic information and performance data about participants and program results based on several variables. For this project, PMIAKLIA and GW-SWFLGIKL will use ETO and other external data collection tools to record demographic information data for participants and performance data outcomes for individual project aspects. For exampleExamples of recordable data include, ETO will tell us the number of residents who received produce fruits and vegetables for hunger relief or or attendedded seminars for nutrition education, or the performance results of CTC participants. Employment outcomesFor employment outcomes, we for CTC graduates and entrepreneurs will also be recorded course performance results and employment resultsusing follow-up interviews. We will also record nNarratives detailing specific impacts of this project on certain individuals or families in Pine ManorKing’s Landing residents will also be recorded. All data and narratives will be shared with GannettGarnet Foundation.

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We will continue to fund this project long-term using diversified funding streams,. These will includinge internal funding from GW-SWFLGIKL and PMIAKLIA, as well as grant funding from GannettGarnet and other sources, and revenue generated by this project for reinvestment. ***the garden and kitchen. A past funder of CTC was the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. We will pursue funding from that source again in late-2015. The consensus feeling among GW-

SWFL and PMIA, however, is We feel that that Gannett Foundation is an ideal partner for this project because of its commitments to community-focused economic development the initial grant helped us jumpstart this program and a second grant will help take the

next step in sustainability of the program while generating immediate positive outcomes for the residents of Pine Manor.

***** This project does not have funding secured after October 2015 for CTC courses or for equipment to performfor food preservation., which is required for providing hunger relief, nutrition education, and employment training.

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Thank you,

Ethan Lazuk

http://www.gannettfoundation.org/guidelines.htm

Grant Application Checklist:Send one copy of the application form and your proposal of no more than five pages (plus attachments) to the local newspaper publisher. Do not send a proposal to the foundation offices in McLean, VA, unless it addresses local needs in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

Your grant proposal must contain the following information:

[1.] completed Gannett Foundation Grant Application Form [2.] IRS letter of determination for 501(c)3 tax exemption[3.] one-page project budget, and a one-page summary organizational budget[4.] Project proposal of no more than three pages that includes:

o needs statement objectives of the project to be funded whether the project is new or ongoing constituency to be served community and volunteer involvement

o sustainability statement  your organization's qualifications to carry out the project how the project will be evaluated plans for continued funding of the project, if applicable list of other funding sources, committed and applied for

[5.] pertinent recent publications may also be included

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