Context:
Oasis Center works to help young people (15-21 yrs old) overcome serious challenges that prevent them from transitioning into a healthy adulthood. Oasis partners with these young people to address challenges such as homelessness, violence, depression, low self esteem, disconnection, and failing schools. Over the past year, Oasis has been in the initial stages of considering how the development of a social enterprise might advance its youth mission and generate a new source of income. www.oasiscenter.org
Project:
Conceptualize and develop an innovative social enterprise for the Oasis Center that both advances its youth mission and creates a source of sustainable revenue.
1. Food Vendors
The Oasis Center youths will work at mobile food vending carts that are positioned in high foot traffic locations such as the downtown Broadway area of Nashville. The youths will sell food items such as hot dogs, soft pretzels, and soft drinks to visitors and residents. Hours of operation would be from 10:30 AM until 9PM from Sunday through Thursday, while operating until 3AM on Friday and Saturday evenings. It is assumed, until proven otherwise, that all necessary permits and licenses can be obtained for this business. The youths will be paid as employees of the Oasis Center’s business.
2. Flyer Distribution & Sign Holding service
The Oasis Center youths will pass out flyers and/or hold signs for clients who are looking to promote their products or services. Oasis Center employees will manage operation, sales, and financial aspects of the business. The youths will be paid as employees of the Oasis Center’s business.
3. Local Moving Company
The Oasis Center youths will provide the service of moving, delivering, and removing furniture, appliances, and other items for local residents. Oasis Center employees will manage operation, sales, and financial aspects of the business. Customers will pay Oasis Center for labor and all moving equipment. Oasis Center youths will rent necessary equipment such as trucks, moving blankets, and carts and conduct moving services for customers. The youths will be paid as employees of the Oasis Center’s business.
Michael and team,
ReplyDeleteThis is an inspiring project! All 3 ideas are great because they create jobs which keeps young kids busy and excited about their new responsibilities. I think the easiest idea to implement is the flier distribution service but it might bring the least amount of income. My favorite is selling food in downtown. I think that would be fun for some of those kids and might bring high revenues. My concern is that it might be over saturated with vendors and so the city might not be giving more permits. But go ahead with the idea where you have more contacts. So for example, it would be ideal to know 1 or more companies that would be willing to pay for the flier distribution service.
The project is very noble and inspiring. I think there is a great opportunity to make an impact for a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteSolution 1 is great because it both provides work for the troubled youth and gets some good advertising for the Oasis center. This would help to bring in some revenue at first, but I worry about the long term viability. The novelty of the mobile food stations could wear off quickly, making it more of an eyesore that people get upset about. To prevent this, it could vary the food selection from week to week or something.
Solution 2 is a more long term solution if you negotiation kick-back's from the vendors whose flyers you had out. However, I would strongly caution about the image portrayed when handing out these flyers on the street or in the mall. Marketing research suggests that people are often distrustful of messages/images conveyed in this "invasive" manner.
I like the 3rd idea the best. It is a defined service that is measureable, doable, and discrete. Youth can manage this business without a problem and the startup costs are very low. Good customer service will be part of the game, which will teach the youth even more about business and people.
I think it's great that you're doing something to help the community! All three sound like great ideas. But given the constraint that this needs to be done in 3 weeks, you might find some difficulty in doing #1. 2 and 3 can probably be started in the next few weeks. I would go for whichever idea you think it more implementable. 2 sounds quicker, but i think 3 has more potential. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great project! My biggest concern with the ideas is how they will work given the time constraints. Idea 1: I like it, but I think this might involve the most work. With food, there might be health regulations to overcome and having to manage perishable inventory might be an issue. Idea 2: seems the easiest to implement. Idea 3: Might be a happy medium if your team feels that it is feasible. This wouldn’t require having to manage inventory and there might even be a way to just contract out the labor after clients already have a rented truck.
ReplyDeleteI am keen on the fact that you have stepped outside the Owen community and taken on a project that has a real and lasting impact on the Nashville community. Kudos to you!
ReplyDeleteWhile I like all of your ideas, I think that #3 is a fantastic idea, and my reason is as follows. I have had several instances of needing to move one or a couple pieces of furniture to my garage, which is down the stairs and detached from my condo. Hiring a full team of movers, or even a service such as "two men and a truck", is very expensive and therefore leaves me with the one option of finding friends who are willing to come help for the price of a beer or two.
You could fill a niche and possibly achieve very large scale with idea #3 by serving people like me for a reasonable cost. It has low capital requirements - you don't need a truck, and no real expensive machinery is needed - and I can imagine in a city with tons of musicians needing to move pianos or heavy music gear, there is an ongoing need for this sort of service. Not to mention all the apartment and condo communities in the Nashville area where people face situations like mine every day.
Go for it.
Great cause!
ReplyDeleteI like #1 and #2. Mobile food vendors can be highly successful, especially around crowds of college kids with lots of disposable income. Similarly, there is a huge potential market for any advertiser - flyer distribution and walking billboards can be a great lead generation tool
#3 could run into some liability issues. Also, you may run into a societal constraint with people not trusting at-risk youths with their belongings.
I think this is a great idea and something that students would definitely get involved in championing if given the opportunity. i personally think that solutions 1 and 2 would be the best in terms of teaching youths the value of hard work. Solution 2 sounds a little bit degrading and could potentially have a negative impact on these youths development. #1 seems like it would be difficult to implement and the hours of operation seem a little extreme, but I definitely see potential for something like that to be effective especially during the lunch rush. #3 might be difficult just in terms of liability issues and finding business. Great idea and good luck!
ReplyDeleteI like all of the ideas you provided. The local moving company idea is great to get the youths out there while teaching them about service and operating a business at the same time. You could perhaps propose a joint effort with a local moving company, since they already have the client base and knowledge at operating in this industry. Food vendors is also a good idea, since it is simple yet effective in achieving your goal.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in terms of practicality, I would be aware of a couple of issues. The moving company involves list of clients and a long term effort that may not be achievable in this class. Permits and licenses would also take a longer period. Flyer Distribution in my opinion would be the most practical option in the time frame of this class.
To echo everyone else, this sounds like a great project that will actually really benefit your client which is aweomse!
ReplyDeleteAs for the solutions, I think ideas #1 and #3 present more rewarding means of employment for these young adults. There's something that just seems slightly hollow about holding up a sign for someone else as your day job.
The food vendors idea seems to be fairly fleshed out in terms of the details, which makes it seem like the most viable option. I also think that the moving company idea would be great, but you may run into seasonality issues which may be a problem if you need a steady revenue stream.
My last thought would be for you to conduct a short survey to gage the interest of the young adults at the center. As with everyone, they'll be more likely to succeed if they like what they're doing.
I like all three ideas a lot. Idea #2 would seem to be the simplest to implement, due to potential liability concerns with the other ideas. Dealing with food or demanding physical labor would have lots of restrictions that would need to be handled.
ReplyDeleteI think of all the ideas, that #3 is the most easily implemented. When starting a business, you have to be able to measure the results of the output, customer satisfaction phone call follow ups would do the best job of this. Not only would it weed out the participants who are committed to the job, but it would also allow for quality control--ie giving the best workers the most assignments. The hot dog cart would be good too, but it might be harder to track revenue and hot dogs sold. Would the street vender pay an upfront "cart rental" fee and for the raw materials before going out? That might work. #2 isn't as measurable, unless you could somehow link business dollars to the flyer.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the big problems with such a problem is keeping the youth engaged in whatever activity they do. Idea 2 would bore most young people and they wouldnt be engaged. Idea 1 may expose the at-risk youth to the streets and potential hazards. I believe that idea 3 would be most effective in achieving your goal because it encourages physical activity and real-life work experience that could be used as a resume builder.
ReplyDeleteMichael, et al. --
ReplyDeleteThis is a really cool project. I have a special place in my heart for kids like this because I used to work as a volunteer teaching "life skills" to children in similar situations. Their potential -- and struggles -- blew me away. What they wanted more than anything else was for someone to trust in them and to make them feel valuable. All of your solutions accomplish this.
My vote is for the food vendor solution. Besides the fact that they will learn valuable business skills (handling money, inventory, etc.), they will also learn valuable social skills by dealing with the public. I also think that there's something good about having them sell something tangible; business operations can be easier to understand.
I think option #2 also sounds good, but option #3 worries me a little. The potential for damage to other's property is high, as would be the cost of insuring a group of teenagers (I would assume). I'm also not sure that, as a client, I would want people in my home whom you describe as violent, depressed, and disconnected. Moving requires a lot of teamwork, and these kids may not be fully emotionally equipped to deal with that type of interaction.