Ultra-Marathoning for Funraising and Commitment

Dear ALMas Redership,

I, Marvin Espinoza, ALMas blogger, will be running the October 2013 Des Plaines, IL 50 mile ultra-marathon to fundraise for ALMas.

Yes.  That's right.

I'll soon have a fundraising site for it, for you all to see.  And I'll be listing workouts on my marathon blog, too!

GO BIG OR GO HOME!

Sincerely, and with love,
Marvin Espinoza

Book Strategy

As seed capital, the book donations from Robert-Leslie Publishing are going to be critical to get books for our program and children.

Through our UChicago alum contact in Milet Publishing, Pete Beatty, I've just sent him a message asking if he can forward along our orgnaization's information to the appropriate higher ups at Milet Publishing (because contacting them through their "Contact Us" e-mail is just getting lost in the e-mails of thousands of others).

But we're ready to roll!

I'll be contact two more publishing houses today and tomorrow.  We're getting there!

Catherine Corr: Our Official Educational Consultant!

Guys!

It's official!

Catherine Corr, PhD Candidate in Early Childhood Education at UIC, is our educational consultant!

We even made it on her CV!  That's big!

She has been such a huge resource and friend not just for me, but for ALMas and our work.

Thank you, Catherine!

Sincerely,
Marvin

Our First Book Donations: Robert-Leslie Publishing

Everyone,

You don't know how I feel right now, but I want to cry.

Not tears of sadness.  But tears of joy, knowing that we are getting closer to starting this after school program.

My heart is slowly melting in a soothing warmth.

But I know the hard parts are not over yet.

Thank you, Marilyn Overby.  You have brought this boy so much inspiration and joy.

Marilyn was whom I contacted from Robert-Leslie.  And she and R-L are saints.  We have our first book donations.

These are the first few steps towards the work that God put us on this Earth to do.

From the bottom of heart,
Marvin Espinoza

Update! February Goals

All right guys.  January has been a big month.

We accomplished all of our goals!

1.  We applied for RSO status.
2.  We applied for start up capital from the Dean's Fund.
3.  We got our lesson plan template research-approved.
4.  We have engaged in outreach to gather books for our Spring start.
5.  We have a developing partnership with Richard J Daley Elementary.

Next Steps:
1.  Get our members trained in administering and analyzing the UEI's STEP education tool.
2.  Get our members to observe pre-school classrooms.
3.  Get our members trained in classroom best-practices and classroom management.
4.  Plan how to relate Dean's Fund back to the University Community (a requirement).

This is our plan for relating the Dean's Fund back to campus:

AN ALL-STAR PANEL DISCUSSION ON THE FOLLOWING QUESTION:
"Where does immigration, early childhood education, economic opportunity, and cognitive development all intersect?"

Who we're thinking of getting:

Immigration:  Robert Gonzalez, SSA Professor, University of Chicago
Economics:  James Heckman, Economics Professor, U of C
Cognitive Development:  Molly Thayer, Director of Literacy, UEI
Catherine Corr, PhD Candidate in Early Childhood Education and ELLs, UIC-Urbana-Champaign

RSO Application? CHECK

All right, guys.  We passed a major milestone today:  ALMas officially applied for Registered Student Organization (RSO) status, and it looks like all our work is paying off.

Goals achieved:

1.  We've officially applied for RSO status
2.  We've basically secured our school for running our pilot-program with 17 pre-k latino students.
3.  I spoke with Carol Balser, Lead HeadStart teacher at Richard J Daley Elementary, and she seems ecstatic about having ALMas (especially since we're research based!).

The next few steps include:

1. I'm scheduling ALMas training sessions for my Outreach Team, so that we are all on the same page when we call book publishers for book donations and permissions.
1. I already have the list and contact names.  It's now just about implementing the strategy and pitching ALMas to these organizations for publicity (and we're a small pilot-program)
2. Applying to the Dean's Fund for Student Life
1. Average grants from this fund range from $750 - $1500 as a one-time installment for a program that must be integrated into UChicago student life.  
2. That's good news for ALMas, because this is startup capital to pay for the $65/hour rate for the supervising pre-k teacher in our classroom during our afterschool program.
1. We'll be relating this back to campus with a conference on early childhood education with a focus on ELL students and poverty in the United States, as well as the economic benefits of quality early childhood education and development.
3. I'll need to speak with Molly Thayer, Director of Literacy at the UEI, and Catherine Corr, PhD candidate at UIC, to schedule training sessions for our members.
1. Molly for: training our volunteers to use the STEP education evaluation tool
2. Catherine for: training for in classroom instruction best practices
4. I'll need to also schedule different meeting times with Carol Balser, so that ALMas members can observe a pre-school classroom and see what it's like firsthand to work with young children.  (I had to do this multiple times!  And it was a great experience!  But also frightening because little children can get crazy very quickly--tat's what training is for).

To think about where ALMas was at the beginning of the 2012 summer--just an idea--to now becoming an actual program...I don't know, I'm taken aback.  This has been months in the works, talking to all types of early childhood education professionals, academics, and practitioners; meeting with after school programs all around Chicago to understand what works and what doesn't; going through the literature on sociocultural theory, tansfer theory, and all the research on language development as it relates to cognitive development, ability, and economic opportunity--I'm left almost breathless.

But this is no time to take a break.  The best part has just begun.  And it's the best part that takes the most work.

But as Theodore Roosevelt said,

"Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care."

"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."

So then let this be me caring.  By doing.

Pitching Practice: Taking the Next Step

Time to practice pitching for ALMas and maybe get some contacts within the publishing industry to talk about getting permissions and books for our kids!

At Taking the Next Step, kind of a networking event for UChicago undergrads at the Marriott Hotel, Pete Beatty, an '03 graduate!

He works at Bloomsbury Publishing, and right now that publishing house has a series of literacy-dedicated non-fiction picture books. 

Pitching, LIKE A BOSS.

I've asked Spencer Claxton, member of the ALMas' Research Committee to find information on Pete Beatty, because rule number of pitching:

1.  KNOW YOUR PERSON!

That way, you can ask them about their career choices, their history, soften them up as friends--that way, when they see you're not only kind, dedicated, and intelligent, you plan and enact:  you're a shaker with a heart! 

People love shakers with hearts.  Especially when those shakers seem to be little versions of themselves (which is where background information comes in!).

NEVER BE FALSE, however.  The worst thing you can do is LIE.