History, Strategy And Future Plans

Our History

Our roots date back to 1991 when Jon Pekel, our founder, began teaching Management: Challenges & Purpose, anintroductory 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.

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.

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.

In the summer of 2010 we began using a $20,000 Advancing Innovation Grant to field-test our revised growth planning process with graduated 8th graders in a summer camp just before they entered their freshman year of high school. The program is currently underway in a partnership with The Bridge of Northeast Florida located in Jacksonville, Florida.

Our legal status milestones are:

  • On May 21, 2004 we were incorporated by the State of Minnesota under our founding name, Fulcrum Whole-Life Planning Services, Inc.;
  • On July 24, 2004 we were authorized to operate in the State of Florida;
  • On October 29, 2004 we received our Federal Internal Revenue Service 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status designation;
  • On November 17, 2006 we changed our name to MyGrowthPlan.Org, Inc., now our legally recognized name by the States of Minnesota and Florida and the IRS.
  • On August 12, 2011 we were acquired by The Bridge of Northeast Florida, Inc., a nonprofit youth service based in Jacksonville.  Earlier that year, we gave the Neighborhood Involvement Program based in Minneapolis the permanent right to use our growth planning process with Twin City area youth.

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 Black teens.

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, & 2010 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 2010 Operating Plan has four major goals:

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

2) To successfully launch and execute the Advancing Innovation "transition to high school" growth planning project targeted for @risk Jacksonville 8th grade through high school youth.

3) Building on the Phase One Growth Planning Pilot success, to establish a long-term partnership with the Jacksonville Job Corps, and/or with a regional Job Corps location.

4) To explore a variety of leadership succession options, including the possibility of being "acquired" by another @risk youth serving organization.