From Guest Writers and Lead Partners: Scott Chase and Lynn Thorby
Photo from one of the radish gardens that the young men grow
and sell to local chefs.
It was with great excitement that Lynn Thorby and I agreed to be Co-Lead Partners for DSVP’s newest investee, Youth Village Foundation. Having been to Youth Village Foundation as part of the site visit team from the Investment Committee, we knew that the they would welcome our expertise and would be open to new ideas from us.
The Foundation supports programs to educate and train non-violent juvenile offenders who are residents of the Dallas County Youth Village. These programs range from culinary training to dog training and DSVP's networking and engagement resources will enable the Foundation to expand its funding and programmatic sources. The Foundation could also benefit from accounting, strategic planning and board governance skills that DSVP has to offer. These are the skills our partnership is known for and constantly improving. So, our mission at this early stage of the investment is to take those skills and apply them to our newest investee.
As a way to determine how best to deploy our resources, DSVP has the benefit of coordinating an Organizational Assessment for Youth Village Foundation with the Center for Non-Profit Management. The assessment will help determine and prioritize the strategic initiatives that DSVP will engage with on-the-ground.
Next month, we will report on the findings from the Organizational Assessment.
