History, Strategy And Future Plans

Our History

Our roots date back to 1991 when Jon Pekel, our founder, began teaching Management: Challenges & Purpose, an introductory course for graduate students in business at the University of St. Thomas in the Twin Cities. For this course, Jon developed 12 printed worksheets to help his first-year MBA students (and their spouses) to envision and plan for their desired future. Now, these worksheets form the basis for this nonprofit organization and its website.

In February 2004 Jon began working with Ed Knudson (long-time friend and owner of ePuget Internet Services of Gig Harbor, Washington) to modify and re-configure the worksheets into a fully interactive website so they could meet the unique educational and developmental growth planning* needs of 8th grade, high school and undergraduate college age young people, with a special focus on @risk-w/high-potential youth** of color based in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota and in Jacksonville, Florida. [See growth planning and at risk youth definitions below.]

In June 2004 we began a beta test of our growth planning process with 8th grade, high school and college students, and some adults. To date, 212 individuals in 20 growth planning groups have used and given us feedback on the process. This includes 105 high school youth in 14 groups, 96 college students in 5 groups, and 11 adult volunteers in 1 group. [Click the two Results Summary links in the left column of this page to see these results or to request a copy of our initial Field-Test Results Report.]

Late in 2006 we began field-testing the addition of financial incentives to our growth planning process. In this new Incentives Program selected @risk-w/high-potential Twin City high school students can earn up to $1,200 in future-use college scholarship contributions and $300 in immediate-use cash payments over a 12-month period for (1) building their Growth Plan, and then for (2) developing and using the self-motivated personal discipline of benchmarking to implement their Growth Plan in their everyday lives. As soon as funds are available, we will also begin an Incentives Program field-test in Jacksonville, FL.

As of August 1, 2008 our prime operational location has shifted to Jacksonville, although our legal address remains in Minnesota. And, our Minnesota operations are now being conducted in partnership with the Neighborhood Involvement Program based in Minneapolis.

During 2008 and 2009, based on feedback from growth planners and extensive additional research on the developmental assets and needs of @risk-w/high-potential youth (especially youth of color), we totally revised the "back office" of our website where youth build and benchmark their Growth Plan, as well as totally revised our mindset & lifestyle change and development curriculum.  We are now in the process of doing pilots of our revised website and curriculum.

Our legal status milestones are May 21, 2004 when we were incorporated by the State of Minnesota under our founding name, Fulcrum Whole-Life Planning Services, Inc.; July 24, 2004 when we were authorized to operate in the State of Florida; October 29, 2004 when we received our Federal Internal Revenue Service 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status designation; and November 17, 2006 when we changed our name to MyGrowthPlan.Org, Inc., now our legally recognized name by the States of Minnesota and Florida and the IRS.

OUR PURPOSE, CORE BELIEF, MISSION & CURRICULUM

  • Our organizational purpose is to train and support @risk-w/high-potential and other 8th grade, high school and college age students in the art, skill, and power of growth planning, thereby helping them succeed in multiple aspects of their everyday life, both while they're in school ... and throughout their entire life.
  • Our Core Belief (as seen in our logo) is that youth grounded in a well-developed Growth Plan have a much better chance of withstanding life's inevitable strong winds.
  • And, Our Mission is to be an innovative, research oriented nonprofit that develops, field-tests, provides and continuously improves best-national-practice youth developmental growth planning services that make a measurably positive and lasting difference in the everyday lives of 8th grade, high school, and college age students ... with a special focus on the unique assets and developmental needs of @risk-w/high-potential teens and young adults of color.
  • Our Recently Revised Curriculum & Website have been specifically designed to help @risk-w/high-potential and other youth and young adults develop and demonstrate a future-focused growth planning self-identity and mindset and a proactive growth planning lifestyle. Introduced while building a Growth Plan and then continually reinforced while implementing it, the curriculum is made up of: (1) Our 12 Growth Planning Worksheets; (2) Our 10 Growth Planning Life-Skills; and (3) Our 30 Growth Planning Biographical Sketches.

[For a complete description of our growth planning process, click this link: How Growth Planning Helps Close the Achievement Gap ... and Helps @Risk-w/High-Potential Youth Succeed In Their Everyday Life.]

OUR TARGET AUDIENCES

We have two major target audiences.

1) @Risk-w/High-Potential Youth** - Our Primary Audience. Working in mutual support groups, we help at risk high school age youth and college age young adults develop a future-focused growth planning self-identity and mindset of seeing themselves as a unique individual with a high-potential future, and a proactive growth planning lifestyle of being able to envision, plan, and maintain step-by-step forward-progress momentum towards achieving their goals and realizing their vision. This service is offered in partnership with high schools, colleges, youth organizations, juvenile justice programs, churches, workplaces employing part-time high school youth, etc.

      2) Volunteers - Our Secondary Audience. We also help exceptional college students and caring adults learn our growth planning process in the hope that they will volunteer to become Growth Plan Coaches or Support Network Members assisting at risk high school and college age young people develop and implement their personal Growth Plans.

OUR VISION, STRATEGY, & 2009 OPERATING PLAN

  • Our 2010 Vision is that by the end of 2010 we will be recognized and respected within the Twin City, Jacksonville and in selected other youth-serving and funding communities for providing innovative and effective, best-national-practice growth planning services to 8th grade, high school and college age young people ... with a special focus on @risk-w/high-potential youth of color.
  • Our Basic Strategy is to only provide our growth planning services in partnership with organizations already serving @risk-w/high-potential youth. We do this because we believe Growth Plans have a more lasting and positive effect on @risk-w/high-potential youth when they add to and reinforce other educational, developmental, and skill-building activities.

      And, our Long-Term Strategy is in two parts:

1) To "license" use of our website, curriculum, and growth planning process to youth-serving organizations, high schools, and colleges throughout the nation so it can be adapted to meet their own distinct needs.

2) To develop volunteer entrepreneurial coaches who find their own small groups of youth to coach in growth planning. Retired adults, adult fraternities and societies of color, and employee groups of color are prime targets for these volunteer entrepreneurial coaches.

  • Our 2009 Operating Plan has four major goals:

1) To continue to expand and evaluate the Minneapolis Henry High School Growth Planning Program.

2) To secure funding to expand the Minneapolis Henry High School Program and to establish longer-term potential school and youth organization partnerships in Jacksonville.

3) To establish at least 4 longer-term potential school and youth organization partnerships in Jacksonville, including the Job Corps in Jacksonville or at some other location.

4) To secure additional Board Members from Jacksonville.

OUR STAFF

Currently, while funding is being sought, our staff includes two volunteer and one part-time paid position. Jon Pekel is the volunteer full-time President, Phillip Miner the volunteer part-time Vice President & Chief Partnership Officer,and Alex Leonard is the paid part-time Growth Plan Coach.

________________

NOTES::

* Growth Planning -- A Definition.  Simply put, growth planning is a self-identity, mindset & lifestyle change and development process that helps @risk-w/high-potential and other youth and young adults to avoid or move away from what we call a “Street Survival Mindset & Lifestyle” *** … and to develop and measurably move towards what we call a “Growth Planning Mindset & Lifestyle."  Specifically, we define growth planning as:

"the learned art and skill of having a lifelong continuous growth mindset and a proactive, self-motivated, and self-disciplined lifestyle that uses the three skills of (1) visioning, (2) goal-setting, and (3) step-by-step benchmarking to continuously improve our self as a person and to achieve our vision and goals."

** We define "@risk-w/high-potential youth" as . . . "8th grade, high school or college age young people in danger of not successfully completing high school, college, a trade school, or skill training program ... thereby limiting their ability to live up to their high potential for success in all aspects of their life."  We actively seek opportunities to work with all @risk-w/high-potential youth, with a special emphasis on working with youth and young adults of color.

We have identified Six @Risk-w/High-Potential Youth Early Warning Signs, any one or a combination of which could put a young person severely at risk: 1) A severely disruptive family life, without several caring adults significantly involved in their child & youth development; 2) A history of poor grades or repeated behavior problems at school; 3) Risky sexual behavior that could result in disease or a teen pregnancy; 4) Repeated incidents with the law; 5) Frequent use of drugs or alcohol; and 6) Allowing society's prejudicial barriers or what others think of them to keep them from succeeding at school or in other aspects of their life.

*** IMPORTANT NOTE: It is our firm belief that the “street survival” mindset & lifestyle has played a very positive role in enabling many teens to survive family, neighborhood, or other problems.  But, to truly succeed in all aspects of their everyday life, we also believe that they now need to move beyond “street survival”…towards living with a growth planning mindset & lifestyle.