The proposed project, The Artistic Interpretations from Children of Imprisoned Parents, will provide monthly programming for children of incarcerated parents in Washington D.C., their support networks, and others interested in assisting. The programming will engage students through cathartic artistic expression like poetry, drawing, and photography. The goal is to help the students heal relationships with incarcerated parents, reconcile their identities, finish high school, and pursue higher education. Founder Yasmine Arrington hopes artistic expression will empower the students and break cycles of incarceration. ScholarCHIPS is requesting $10,000 from the DCCAH INNOVATE grant to fund the monthly workshops and create a poetry book at the end of six
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1. a) Provide a descriptive title and a brief, one-sentence description of the project.
The proposed project, The Artistic Interpretations from Children of Imprisoned Parents,
is doing monthly programming for the District of Columbia children of incarcerated
parents, their support network and the people who aspire to assist us in this revolution.
b) What is the project?
The concept is to mentor elementary and secondary District of Columbia students who
are children of (an) incarcerated parent(s) to finish high school, matriculate in college and
graduate through cathartic artistic expression. The organization’s executive director,
Yasmine Arrington, has the motto, The tassel is worth the hassle! In the monthly
workshops, the students will write poetry to be part of a poetry book at the end of the six
months. Visual art such as drawing and photography will also be included. If more
money was allocated, we would love to bring in famous children of incarcerated parents
and/or celebrity parents who did prison time, but reformed their ways. At this time (as a
fairly new nonprofit who has proven substantial work thus far, but may not have how
much artists costs along with guaranteeing the crowd to accompany the featured artist),
we will decline from trying to take a lion’s share of the prospective $100,000 grant and
we’re asking for only $10,000. Engaging our demographic in artistic expression will help
to heal the relationship with the incarcerated parent and reconcile within the importance
of what s/he has to contribute to the world by realizing s/he IS NOT their incarcerated
parent(s). ScholarCHIPS desires to holistically restore each student through physical,
mental, spiritual and financial renewal.
c) Whose brainchild is this?
Yasmine Arrington is the Founder/CEO of ScholarCHIPS. Jeffrey Banks is the grant
writer for the nonprofit organization on this project. Besides being businesspeople, both
are also creative performers who are artists/activists for the disenfranchised in
Washington, DC.
d) How does the project address the criterion Innovation?
So many District of Columbia residents quit high school and the city has one of the
highest dropout rates in the country. The unemployment rate correlates with the dropout
rate with the joblessness rate is still in the double digits (not even counting the people
who ran out of unemployment benefits or never entered the work force because s/he was
a stay-at-home parent and/or has an illegal/unethical profession. Programming from
ScholarCHIPS is desperately needed because many children feel like s/he may continue
the cycle of poverty and being a “career criminal” because their parent(s) is/was
(are/were) incarcerated. Many children are a product of their environment and some
District of Columbia residents don’t have the best examples from people who dropped
out of school, doing illegal thins and/or coming in and out of jail (or prison).
ScholarCHIPS Founder, Yasmine Arrington, beat the odds from having a deceased
mother and a father in prison most of her life. With her oratorical skills, performance
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ability and renaissance nature, District of Columbia teenagers will respond to this
amazing young leader who is only a few years older than them as she graduates from
Elon University this Spring! She has been back and forth from here in DC to her college
campus, her DC constituents haven’t missed a beat as her organization has made a major
impact in the last few years!
e) How does the project address the criterion Responsiveness?
ScholarCHIPS can relate well to the District of Columbia children who have (an)
incarcerated parent(s) because the Founder’s father is incarcerated and she’s a Native
Washingtonian. As an orator who has traveled speaking for this cause, doing beauty
pageants and fashion modeling (that can be incorporated into this project), she’s able to
relate to the guardian caring for the child with an imprisoned mom and/or dad. With
parents who are paroled or a convicted felon (or has a misdemeanor), wisdom can be
shared and imparted so the cycle of incarceration doesn’t continue and the (now) civilian
man/woman doesn’t continue to damage the parent/child relationship with them being
free/paroled.
f) How does this project address the criterion Impact?
The founder, Yasmine Arrington, makes an impact wherever she goes and attracts like-
minded people to work on her team. She has a multi-generational Circle of Support to
rally with her that has resumes just as impressive as hers. She has given out scholarships
to nearly a dozen students and she’s a traditional undergraduate finishing her Double
Bachelor’s Degree in May! That love and support that has helped to propel her to success
she gives back to everyone who she works with. The job offers and fellowships are proof
of the phenomenal achievements in her life and the fruits of her labor.
Artistic expression is one of the best ways to get a person’s attention. Since scholarship
awards cannot be given with this grant award, programming will change the lives of the
student participants, everyone connected to them and this movement can become a
revolution! Breaking cycles of destruction like incarceration is powerful work. While
ScholarCHIPS may not be equipped to deal with deeper-rooted issues, we can refer
students and their guardians to counseling resources if something is needed beyond the
small group sessions.
g) Describe how the funds will be used within the funding period.
Work Sample & Uploads
Provide a statementdescribinghow and why the artistic content of the work sample bestrepresents the applicant and/or the p roject.
Describe how this artistic work delivers artistic excellence and achieves stated goals.
ScholarCHIPs Press: http://www.scholarchipsfund.com/#!petguide/cq2w
Yasmine Arrington Poetry Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rvVJtKTkoc
Yasmine Arrington YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/YazzieSPEAKS
Weblink 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0fQ9MXrPmY
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Weblink 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4EBTSKyMkg
Weblink 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsO9epT2KAU
Overview
RequestSummary / Performance Description / SupportNarrative
Have you received a grantfrom DCCAHwithinthe past5 years?
Has your address changedin the past 12 months? No
Request
Organization Profile
EIN XX-XXXXXXX
In Which
Ward is the
Applicant
Located?
4
Legal Status Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Organization
Applicant
Discipline
14-Multi-Disciplinary
Institution
Type
32-Community Service Organization
Organization
Founding
Date
1/9/2013
Organization
Fiscal Year
June 30th
What is the
organization's
mission?
To educate, empow er and inspire children of incarcerated parent(s) through
excellence in programming and mentoring. Our organization w antsto holistically
strengthen this demographic (physically, mentally, spiritually and financially)
through motivating them to pursue and graduate froman institute of higher
education so they know "the tasselis w orth the hassle"!
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Request Details
Provide a descriptive title and a brief, one-sentence
description of the project. Consider this your elevator
pitch.
The project is to do monthly programming for
the District of Columbia children of incarcerated
parents, their support network and the people
who aspire to assist us in this revolution.
If selectedfor the second round of consideration,
applicants will be requiredto provide a five-minute
presentation(“pitch”)to a panel of experts. Select“Yes”
to acknowledge this requirement.
Yes
Select “Yes”below to acknowledge that you have
uploadedan “ApplicationNarrative” thatmeets all of the
following requirements. Review the FY15 INNOVATE DC
guidelines for more details. 1. One single PDFdocument
no more than 3 pages in length. Narratives thatexceed 3
pages will only have the first3 pages submitted for
review. 2. The ApplicationNarrative responds to all
questions as directed on Page 5 of the FY15 INNOVATE
DC guidelines. 3. PDF documentis titled with the
primary applicant’s name (e.g. ABC Arts Organization
Application Narrative) 4. Use at least 12-point font,
single or double-spaced, with 1” margins 5. Label pages
clearly withthe primary applicant name (e.g. ABC Arts
Organization). Place labels in the top righthand corner
of each page. 6. Number pages sequentially;place page
numbers in the bottom righthand corner of eachpage.
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Budget
Project Income
Source Description Amount
In Kind Venue Space $3,000.00
In Kind Food donated by Whole Foods, Trader Joes, My Organic Market,
Yes!Organic Market, Giant, Safeway, Walmart and/or Shoppers
Grocer Stores
$1,500.00
Contributed : GOVT: DCCAH Grant Request INNOVATE Grant Request for ScholarCHIPs $10,000.00
Total $14,500.00
Project Expenses
Source Description Amount
In Kind $500/month venue space donated by How ard University, DCPublic
Libraries or other subsidy
$3,000.00
Printing costs (Programming) This w ould cover the goalof making 500 books from the children of
incarcerated parents who write poetry and draw. This can also go
tow ardsthe promotional campaign on college campus and
elementary/secondary schools
$5,000.00
In Kind Store Donations for monthly events $1,500.00
Marketing Promotion-Mailing Costs This w illcover the $100/w eeknecessaryforwriting public service
announcements and press releases, following up w ith broadcast and
print media, keeping the ScholarCHIPs campaign viral on social
media and email, engaging children of incarcerated parent(s) and
their guardian along w ith shedding light on the importance of this
philanthropic area to the residents of Washington, DC
$2,500.00
Personnel-Technical/Production $250/Month honorarium for the monthly w orkshop facilitator(s)
(total...w hether one or more people are the instructors)
$1,500.00
Personnel-Artistic For graphic design for the monthly events and forthcoming poetry
book
$1,000.00
Total $14,500.00
Electronic Signature
I confirmthat everything included in this grant application is true and accurate to the best of my ability.
YASMINE ARRINGTON