reDiscover Center Action Plan
This plan includes both short-term and long-term actions
The rDC Action Plan consists of four subsections: Outreach, Fundraisers,
Programming, and Recruitment & Employment
OUTREACH
● Translate all our information into Spanish, on the website and on printed materials
● Getting the word out about scholarships
○ Making a scholarship page on rDC’s website providing easily accessible information on how to obtain scholarships for families in need
○ Post on social media as long as there are scholarships available to make sure they get used
○ Design and print out fliers that have all possible options of financial aid to display at the front desk
○ Partnering with organizations who work with low-income youth in the Mar Vista area, such as but not limited to: The Mar Vista Family Center (MVFC), Venice Arts, Boys and Girls Club, Dreamhaus LA, Mobile Mural Lab, Side Street Projects, 18th Street Art Center, and A Place Called Home
● Servicing events in both affluent and under-resourced communities
FUNDRAISING
● The Director of Development’s primary focus should be to host fundraisers and apply for grants directed towards serving under-resourced communities.
○ This includes hosting an annual online/in-person fundraiser selling staff, student, and board artwork to raise money for a scholarship fund
● Offering a sliding scale to increase donations for financial aid
○ This is a way to incorporate small tax-deductible donations from individual purchases. Any option on the sliding scale that is above base cost can go directly towards more scholarship options to those who need it.
○ This will be a step towards offering a sliding scale that goes below the cost of programming to accommodate the needs of under resourced families.
○ Examples of how the sliding scale method could be applied to rDC:
■ Lowest price - cost of program
■ Low-mid price - cost of program + donation to provide a MakerChat ($20) to a family who can’t afford one
■ Mid price- cost of program + Makerchat ($20) & Tinkering Tool Kit ($70)
■ Mid-High price- cost of program + At Home Tinkering Together ($125)
■ High price - cost of program + Online Camp ($300)
■ Highest price - cost of program + In-Person Camp ($550)
PROGRAMMING
● Alongside recruiting and hiring a more diverse staff, the Director of Programming will design and implement programming that is collaborative and informed by marginalized inventors, artists, and thinkers
● Begin a more robust curriculum to do with sustainability by first acknowledging environmental justice initiatives in LA County in our existing curriculum, such as:
○ working with communities in Compton dealing with the water crisis
○ LA River pollution initiatives
● Ongoing training for our staff, including and highlighting how to conduct conversations in the classroom regarding race
● Diversifying our library and supporting vendors in an effort to highlight BIPOC inventors, artists, stories, and businesses. The following are some examples.
BOOKS TO BUY
Ada Twist, Scientist
Andrea Beaty
Rosie Revere, Engineer
Andrea Beaty
Sofia Valdez, Future Prez
Andrea Beaty
Farmer Falgu goes kite flying
Chitra Soundar and Kanika Nair
The Unstoppable Garrett Morgan
Joan DiCicco and Ebony Glenn
How do bridges not fall down?
Jennifer Shand and Srimalie Bassanie
How do seesaws go up and down?
Jennifer Shand and Srimalie Bassanie
Antiracist Baby
Ibram X. Kendi
NEARBY BUSINESSES
Eso Won Books
Book Store
Industry Cafe & Jazz
Eritrean + Ethiopian Cuisine
Delvigne Croissant
Patisserie
Honey’s Kettle
Southern
Janga by Derrick’s
Jamaican Cuisine
JR’s Barbeque
BBQ
Milk and Brookies
Desserts
The Jerk Spot
Jamaican Cuisine
RECRUITMENT AND EMPLOYMENT
● Targeting all future board, intern, staff and student recruitment within the communities we want to work with, because only they will know where we can target our focus and the best way to relay opportunities to their community.
● Targeting recruitment for Black & Indigenous board, intern, staff and students must happen while keeping in mind this is not to show diversity but to redistribute power and have integral transformation.
● Host paid-guest lecturers and teaching artists who work directly with under-resourced communities within Los Angeles County.
● Create a team to evaluate and support pay equity. This includes additional transparency in leadership job roles and performance.
● Provide more support from the leadership staff for facilitator/staff training by having an onboarding training process and lead facilitator training.
Addendum
1: Amara Leipzig has spoken with our Director of Development, Francesca McCaffery, who has told them one of the main reasons she knows she was hired was to bring in specific funding to serve the local, underserved communities that we have stated here. She has told us she is excited to help us establish new relationships with local agencies whom we can partner with, and offer our free services and scholarships to, is very on board to plan a new fundraiser focused upon selling the art and creations of Staff, the Board and our youth, and will be working with the Staff to ensure that scholarships are being implemented-offering herself as a liaison to help establish new, working relationships with these agencies and orgs serving at-risk, low-income, Black and Latinx youth.
2: Barb Noren has brought it to our attention that we already have Ada Twist, Scientist and Rosie Revere, Engineer in the library.