Sarah Dull and Grace Jackson:
Project Report (Grace Jackson): https://youtu.be/81x43zdn2uE
Course Reflection (Sarah Dull): https://youtu.be/9AWBEcYfghY
Combined projects
Sarah Dull and Grace Jackson
Teacher’s College, Ball State University
EDAC 632-800: Adult and Community Education
Dr. Bo Chang
August 31, 2023
(1). Introduction
The Wabash Center, is a comprehensive service provider for those with disabilities or special needs. According to their website, the mission of the Wabash Center is to optimize the quality of life for people with disabilities or special needs. This is accomplished through their three foundational pillars: 1) Proven track record, 2) Array of Services and 3) Progressive Approach (Wabash Center, 2023). While the Wabash Center offers a wide range of services for all ages, many aspects of their programming focuses on services for adults. The Supported Living and Employment Programs allow adults with disabilities to learn employment and life skills under the supervision of staff members. Likewise, staff members receive training on site as part of their onboarding process, including Direct Support Professional classes as well as classes surrounding the mission, values and and vision of the Wabash Center. Demonstrated in their progressive approach, the Wabash Center focuses on, “continuously pursuing new methods to better serve individuals (Wabash Center, 2023).” This allows staff and the greater community access to a wide range of trainings that build pivotal skill sets while also providing opportunities for continued growth and development on the individual and company wide levels. These trainings include Human Resource related topics such as Bloodborne Pathogen training and CPR along with Abuse Prevention and initial certifications courses that better equip staff members for service and long term advancement. The Wabash Center prides themselves on providing in house training on Behavioral Support Strategies, Direct Care Safety training, and Person Centered Care.
(2). Organizational Structure
There are three categories that support the pre-vocational and job readiness educational programs at the Wabash Center. These categories include individuals served, professional staff members, and Direct Support Professionals (DSP). Reflecting on the organizational structure of Wabash Center as someone that is currently a professional staff member with this organization, I consider the Wabash Center to follow a functional organization style. Please see Figure 1 to see a more in depth explanation of the educational programs and organizational structure.
Figure 1
The organization by demand method that the Wabash Center uses is exemplified in the educational programs, as it ultimately prioritizes individualized learning and accommodating different needs. One example of this is how there are staff members designated for instructing on job readiness skills, independent living skills, and community-based instruction. Since the Wabash Center follows an organization by demand method, they are meeting the needs of the individuals served, the stakeholders, so they are constantly evolving to support this structure. Through these steps, the Wabash Center is not only setting up individuals for success with their services, but they are also ensuring that staff are successful in facilitating learning.
From this point of view, the individuals served would be considered the “customer” within this organization. The Wabash Center is “creating value through service leadership” because they are offering innovative services before other providers, reaching new “customers”, and they are constantly working towards offering new services (Ferro, 1990). Educational program management supports these strategies by supervising DSPs, consistently adapting curriculum materials, and routinely connecting with individuals served and their case management teams
(3). Findings and Implications
As someone who has a vested interest in this organization due to being a current employee, I believed that I had a thorough understanding of the structure and organizational methods of the educational programs within this organization. Even considering this, I feel as though this assignment helped me to better appreciate the unique and significant roles of those that make this programming possible. Since the Wabash Center follows a functional organizational structure, they optimize efficiency and quality of services provided, due to having specific staff members with specialized roles. Overall, the organizational methods of this organization optimize effective and robust educational programming for individuals served. The programming offered is very much so person-centered and individual focused, which is made possible by the hierarchical nature of the functional structure within the organization and the emphasis on the organization by demand method. Being an individual served by the Wabash Center means that your needs will be met with a “continuum of services” and being employed at the Wabash Center means that you will be part of an organization with a “progressive approach” (Wabash Center, 2023). The Wabash Center provides educational programming that cultivates forming a community, people connecting with those that they have attributes in common with (Deggs & Miller, 2011). The primary takeaway is that the Wabash Center is strategic in targeting efficiency and innovation with their programming, and because of this they are able to be a leader in their industry.
When reviewing the organizational structure and mission of the Wabash Center, it is clear that the focus is on the consumer as part of the larger community. While the Wabash Center recognizes and revels in its inception as a group of families searching for better services, the Center has expanded its scope and practice to include a wide range of programming for consumers and the staff within the organization (Wabash Center, 2023). The Wabash Center is a great example of the importance of a strong mission, vision and values which allows for the expansion of programming to preserve these essential elements while strategies and goals change and flex over time (OnStrategy, 2023). What started as a desire for increased services for an underserved population has turned into an organization that serves consumers, families and staff through an organization on demand model. This ever changing model, focused on stakeholders, will allow for continued growth and advancement for all involved with the Wabash Center.
Reference List
About Us. Wabash Center. (2023). https://www.wabashcenter.com/about-us
Deggs, D., & Miller, M. (2011). Developing community expectations: The critical role of adult educators. Adult Learning, 22(3), 25–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/104515951102200304
Ferro, T. R. (1990). Social and Fraternal Organizations as Educators . New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 1990(47), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.108
Your guide to the strategy development process. OnStrategy. (2023, April 17). https://onstrategyhq.com/resources/developing-your-strategy/
Sarah Dull and Grace Jackson
Teacher’s College, Ball State University
EDAC 632-800: Adult and Community Education
Dr. Bo Chang
September 7, 2023
(1.) Roles and Positions
In this project, the organizational system of the Wabash Center will be explored as well as the roles, positions, and daily activities associated with Stacia Bernard, Director of Day, Family, and Youth Services. Stacia is a leader and administrator within this organization. The Wabash Center is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization located in Lafayette, IN. and Crown Point, IN. This organization has a multitude of different services including Employment Services, Support Living Services, Youth Services, and Family Supports (Wabash Center, 2023). The Wabash Center follows an organizational system that is hierarchical in nature. This hierarchy includes the Board of Directors, the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Program Officer, the Senior Leadership Team, and Program Managers for each service area provided. Please see Figure 1 for a visual of this structure. Stacia has been with the Wabash Center for over five years now and has multiple roles and responsibilities within this organization. She acts as a Program Administrator for several programs that she directly supervises including Family Supports, Youth Services, and Adult Day Services. She also acts as a leader since she is on the Senior Leadership Team.
Figure 1
(2.) Daily Routines and Activities
Since Stacia has multiple roles within the Wabash Center, she supports a variety of different functions within the organization. Even though Stacia is an administrator, her tasks surrounding this role fluctuate daily. These fluctuations are due to organizational needs, deadlines, etc. During the interview with Stacia, she shared that her role as an administrator primarily includes leading program teams, budgeting for multiple programs, stakeholder management, supporting staffing needs, and decision making. These responsibilities are all associated with managers and administrators (Courtenay, 1993). Stacia explains that she is responsible for leading three separate programs, which includes overseeing programming for approximately 175 stakeholders. The stakeholders pertaining to the Wabash Center, are the individuals served, so Stacia also ensures quality of services provided to the mentioned stakeholders. She is also responsible for ensuring that budgets for two separate programs are maintained and that overspending does not occur. Stacia also has to be available to make important decisions for the organization including safety concerns surrounding individuals, employee issues, and financial decisions. Finally, she supports an array of staffing needs for three programs. This staffing role entails supervising six Program Managers and ensuring that approximately 45 Direct Support Professionals are on staff at any given time and properly trained. As noted previously, Stacia is not an administrator by title, but she is certainly an administrator based on the different responsibilities that she consistently manages.
After Stacia and I discussed her role as an administrator, we further explored her role as a leader at the Wabash Center. Stacia shared that she feels her most important role as a leader is to, “Nurture the skills and abilities of emerging and new staff, so that they can feel empowered to make informed and confident decisions”. Stacia’s feelings about being a leader strongly align with the attributes that are examined in the text, which is influencing and motivating others towards a shared goal (Schmidt & Yelich Biniecki, 2016). Stacia’s roles as a leader and administrator closely intersect in several different capacities as well. As an administrator, Stacia engages in stakeholder management, which also supports her role as a leader to create relationships with the stakeholders to further the organization’s mission (Monaghan, 2010). Overall, Stacia efficiently and effectively manages tasks associated with both of her roles at the Wabash Center.
(3.) Qualifications
Stacia noted that some effective qualities of leaders would be fairness, compassion and the ability to build and maintain relationships with stakeholders. Administrators, however, would be defined by quick action, decision making, organization and supervision. Her role as both administrator, and member of the leadership team, has allowed her to have one foot in both worlds and more easily see the overlap between leadership and administration. She described the nuance between the two roles as relational versus hierarchical in many ways. Her role as administrator has her in a position of power over many consumers and stakeholders but her dependence on relationship building and empathy allows her to lead and guide her teams. This allows for staff to feel empowered in their decision making as mentioned previously. Catherine Monaghan similarly summarized that “management is concerned with achieving objectives. Leadership involves developing objectives while creating relationships among stakeholders to turn visions into reality” (Monaghan, 2010). Stacia’s overlap in leadership and administration is allowing her team to turn vision into reality through the relationships she fosters. However, Monaghan and Stacia would argue that the biggest difference between leadership and administration is found in the skills needed to hire, evaluate and develop staff (Monaghan, 2010.) While many staff members can be leaders due to their experience and skills, administration is dependent on the management functions found in developing staff members competencies, continuing education and job training. Likewise, administrators must balance “the tension between serving the needs of learners and ensuring the financial success of programs and organizations” (Monaghan, 2010). This is noted in Stacia’s budgeting for multiple programs that would not be found in similar stakeholder roles that provide leadership but not administration.
(4.) Implications
After completing this assignment I was surprised by the overlap between leaders and administrators at the Wabash Center. While Stacia’s role as an administrator includes a wide range of administrative tasks like budgeting, supervising and problem solving, many of her tasks are related to leadership through motivation, team building and cultural competency. With Stacia being more readily available to staff and consumers, she is able to demonstrate how she is both a leader and administrator. She is a primary example that not all leaders are administrators but that administrators often lead when acting in ethical, empathetic and creative ways demonstrated by commitment to their organizations (Schmidt and Yelich Biniecki, 2016). While administrators are defined as effective when demonstrating leadership, problem solving, team building and communication, they must also be self-directed, organized and flexible to help administer the day to day operations of the organization(Schmidt and Yelich Biniecki, 2016). With Stacia’s wide range of roles, she is able to demonstrate these tasks while also being actively engaged with her teams, demonstrating the resilience necessary to lead along with problem solving in the day to day challenges presented to her team. Stacia is able to gather her team in such a way that they can attain their common goals and a more desirable outcome. Stacia demonstrates Schmidt and Yelich Biniecki’s (2016) idea that you are not able to be a productive administrator without some leadership qualities and skills. Her ability to relate to her coworkers and consumers allows her to demonstrate the cultural competency and empathy needed to lead her team and directly impacts the long term success of the organization as they continue to work towards their mission of providing a wide array of services with a proven track record and a progressive approach.
Reference List
About Us. Wabash Center. (2023). https://www.wabashcenter.com/about-us
Courtenay, B. C. (1993). Managing the Differences in Public, Private Organizations . Adult Learning, 4(4), 13–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/104515959800900404
Kasworm, C. E., & Monaghan, C. H. (2010). Management and Leadership . In Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education (pp. 177–186). essay, Sage Publications.
Schmidt, S. W., & Yelich Biniecki, S. M. (2016). Organization and administration of adult education programs : a guide for practitioners. LAP, Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Sarah Dull and Grace Jackson
Teacher’s College, Ball State University
EDAC 632-800: Adult and Community Education
Dr. Bo Chang
September 14, 2023
(1). Income and Expenses
Stacia Berndard with the Wabash Center, was once again interviewed to obtain information pertaining to income, expenses, funding, and other factors that may impact the organization’s budget. Stacia provided valuable notes and feedback that helped us to better understand and digest the overall structure of the organization.
The Wabash Center’s main sources of funding include community contributions, private donations, grants, and reimbursement through the Indiana Medicaid Waiver. The Wabash Center is very active in applying for grants and utilizes a variety of different grants to help fund their different programs. The majority of these grants are obtained through government resources or local community funding programs, which aligns with the idea that many adult education programs are focused on funding one student at a time (Eurydice, 2019). They also rely heavily on reimbursement from the Indiana Medicaid Waiver, since they actively bill services for hundreds of individuals that utilize this waiver system.
The Wabash Center has to consider a multitude of different expenses when planning for their fiscal year and the budget associated with this year. The primary expenses that the Wabash Center is concerned with include employee wages/salary, facility maintenance, program supplies, and equipment. The Wabash Center has to maintain the upkeep of their over 20 different properties and/or buildings and they also utilize different sources of equipment, such as accessible vans, to facilitate adult learning. Finally, the Wabash Center employs over 400 people and must adequately compensate these employees. Wages/salary, facility maintenance, and equipment are all fixed expenses because they are regularly anticipated and planned for (Galbraith, Sisco, & Guglielmino, 1997). The primary variable expense that affects the Wabash Center is program supplies. Since the Wabash Center obtains funding and reimbursement based on the amount of services they provide and individuals they serve, most supplies are purchased based on the number of enrollment in each program.
(2). Budget and Funding
Stacia highlighted several different factors that can impact the budget for the Wabash Center. The primary factor that impacts the budget is the number of enrollees in programs. This is such an important factor because the Wabash Center receives direct reimbursement based off of the services they provide. If their enrollment is low, then they lose financial resources, but if enrollment is high then they have the potential to make a small profit. Another small factor that can affect the overall budget is supply costs. The Wabash Center is proud to offer interactive and community-based education opportunities, but this can sometimes be a concern when supply costs rise with economic inflation. For example, the Wabash Center has to be mindful of the cost of gasoline when transporting individuals to community-based education opportunities, as this cost increase is not always calculated into their annual budget. The Wabash Center mostly uses a short-term operating budget, which makes it easier for them to manage the regular fluctuations that impact their budget (Erikson, 1993).
The primary sources that support the funding of the programs at the Wabash Center include a variety of different grants. Some of these grants include grants through the United Way, the Community Foundation, and a Direct Service Workforce Investment grant. The Wabash Center also receives funding through private donations and contributions. When attaining funding for adult education programming, the lack of funds available contributes to the development and continuation of programming. While adult education funding has increased since its inception in the 1970s, the type of funding has shifted to a large majority of loan programs for student financial aid and for military and workforce development spending (Alamoprese & Sivilli, 1992). This reduces the federal funds available to sustain programs like those found at the Wabash Center. Through the use of privatized funding and grants, the Wabash Center has been able to expand its scope and the services it is able to provide. However, the use of privatized funding and grants puts restrictions on the ways the funds may be used along with the influence that private donors can bring to the programming provided. By finding long term sustainable funding from Federal programming, the Wabash Center would be able to address some of the concerns in the fluctuation of funding. While the Wabash Center taps into funding programs with workforce development, they could also seek funding through the Social Services Block Grant, Employment and Training Administration Grants, and the Work First Grant (Burnwell, Preston & Bailey, 1990). By utilizing Federal Funds with a lower range of qualifying criteria and a larger group of programming, the Wabash Center could use short-term grants and funding to fund additional projects while maintaining their yearly budget.
(3). Implications
When reviewing the funding and budgeting of the Wabash Center I was surprised at the limited Federal Funding to the program. While the Wabash Center provides a wide range of adult education programming, little of the funding is supported by the wide range of Federal Funds available for adult education (Alamoprese & Sivilli, 1992). The shift in adult education training to a “benefit to society” mentality greatly affects the funding provided to sustain and support the population of disabled adults found at the Wabash Center. When funding transitioned from growing communities and social implications to tax payer benefits, many groups were left to find additional funding. The Wabash Center continues to be affected by these changes as they have to focus on short-term budgeting plans to allow for budget shortfalls from limited donations and reduction in private grants. When the large portion of adult education programming is focused on military educational expenses and student financial aid, the equitable access for many diminishes (Alamprese & Sivilli, 1992). Likewise, the workforce development programming found in many local community colleges and technical schools takes up the lionshare of workforce funds, leaving organizations like the Wabash Center left to hunt for privatized grants that often come with additional rules and regulations not found in federal funding opportunities. Those private funds ebb and flow more due to the donations needed to fund many of those programs, like those supported by the United Way. By having to find new ways to fund programming, the Wabash Center must make difficult choices to provide the services and educational programming available in their center and prioritize the current needs over proposed growth. When utilizing a budget that is dependent on enrollment and supply costs, the Wabash Center must make difficult, yet creative, choices in how funds are spent to best serve their mission and community while also keeping balanced books and open buildings.
Reference List
Alamprese, Judith & Sivilli, June. (1992). Study of Federal Funding Sources and Services for Adult Education. Final Report.
Burnwell, B., Preston, B., & Bailey, S. (1990, January). Federal Programs for persons with disabilities. ASPE. https://aspe.hhs.gov/reports/federal-programs-persons-disabilities-0
Erikson, C. G. (1993). Developing and maintaining adult education budgets. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 1993(60), 39–44. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.36719904703
Eurydice. Welcome to Eurydice. (n.d.). https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/adult-education-and-training-funding-44_en
Galbraith, M. W., Sisco, B., & Guglielmino, L. M. (1997). Budgeting and Financing . In Administering successful programs for adults: Promoting excellence in adult, community, and continuing education (pp. 59–73). essay, Krieger Pub. Co.
Sarah Dull and Grace Jackson
Teacher’s College, Ball State University
EDAC 632-800: Adult and Community Education
Dr. Bo Chang
October 4, 2023
(1). Income and Expenses
Human Resources Management (HRM) is a crucial department within any organization because without them, the rest of the organization would not be able to complete essential functions. HRM at Wabash Center encompasses a variety of responsibilities, with these main responsibilities including talent acquisition, employee screening, retaining acquired staff, documenting employee performance concerns, managing employee benefits, and annually training all staff. These essential functions align with the basis of HRM and the overall theme of managing the company’s primary asset, which is their employees (Schmidt and Yelich Biniecki, 2016). To gain a deeper understanding of how the HRM department operates at Wabash Center, I interviewed Lindsey Guinn who is the Training and Professional Development Coordinator.
(2). Routine of HRM
The daily activities of Lindsey Guinn, Training and Professional Development Coordinator at Wabash Center, includes numerous diverse tasks. Lindsey explained that each day can look drastically different for her, but she does have several primary tasks that she is responsible for. These daily tasks usually include facilitating staff trainings, auditing staff compliance regarding trainings, marketing different professional development opportunities, planning professional development workshops, meeting with other departments and stakeholders to determine their current hiring needs, and attending a variety of meetings.
It appears as though Lindsey actively participates in each of the core functions of HRM. She follows policies and procedures by maintaining different trainings, she supports the recruiting process, she engages in legal compliance by auditing training records, she conducts regular trainings, and strategically plans different professional development opportunities (Schmidt and Yelich Biniecki, 2016). All of these are crucial to not only the HRM department at Wabash Center, but they help ensure that each specific department has adequately trained staff, making the organization’s services more effective.
There are several activities that are available to adult learners. These mainly include organization annual trainings, “Leadership Meeting”, and “DSP Career Academy”. Wabash Center has required annual trainings that meet state criteria that instruct employees on CPR/first aid, behavioral intervention strategies, general safety practices, and human resources. Wabash Center also hosts a week-long “new employee orientation” for all new employees to attend these training sessions. When interviewing Lindsey, she explained that Wabash Center offers two main professional development opportunities to their employees, these are “Leadership Meeting” and “DSP Career Academy”. Both of these programs allow professional and/or direct care staff the opportunity to attend workshops facilitated by professionals to learn more about industry related practices, management techniques, and more.
These trainings and professional development activities are primarily planned by the HRM team of eight employees and are strategically scheduled each calendar year. The HRM team organizes these trainings by modifying trainings and professional development activities to prioritize state requirements and new industry knowledge. Once they have made these changes, they then prepare all materials, advertise the professional development opportunities, and provide in person sessions to facilitate these trainings and workshops. This method of planning and implementation follows a more directive approach since it does not account for the opinion of other stakeholders (Kilgore, 2003).
Funding, planning and compliance are the greatest factors impacting the Adult Education provided at the Wasbash Center. With the HRM group providing the largest portion of the trainings, compliance will always serve as a leading factor when planning for Continuing Education opportunities within the organization. This leads to some of the opportunities being focused on vocational skills, the skills needed to complete the job, over adult education opportunities that focus on learning for personal development (Kapur, 2019). With funding fluctuating based on donations and grants, this also forces the HRM team to prioritize regulation based programming to ensure that staff are accessing the necessary content for compliance while also meeting their continuing education hours. This allows for trainings to hit multiple content markers at a lower budget point. However, this causes the individual needs of learners to become secondary and removes much of the opportunity for stakeholder input as mentioned above. While the HRM team is identifying the training needs and training options that should be considered as noted by Barbara Glackin and Cheri Folkner (2009), they are currently unable to address all needs of learners employed and also create a schedule around the needs of the Wabash Center over the needs of the target audience.
(3). Implications
This assignment detailed the importance of and differences between Adult Education and Vocational Education. Kapur (2019) notes, “In vocational education, individuals develop their skills, which are required to carry out their job duties appropriately where Adult Education can include continuing education classes and learning for personal development.” The Wabash Center provides a combination of both forms of education in their new employee orientation and their ongoing professional development courses.It is worth noting that the professional development courses provided by the Wabash Center are not student centered but are more focused on the regulations provided and best practices for the field. While this provides learners with necessary updates, especially for license compliance, it does not provide equal rights and opportunities to learners (Kapur, 2019). Lindsey Gunn noted that the HRM team plans, prepares and facilitates the trainings based on the needs of state requirements on new industry techniques. It is vital, as Kapur (2019) states,” (that they are) making use of appropriate teaching-learning materials in accordance to the requirements of the learners; and providing equal rights and opportunities to the learners.” This would be the greatest area of focus if I were the Director of the HRM for this organization. Providing in house adult education opportunities is a large draw for support professionals. However, we must consider their wants and needs when planning, providing and implementing these programs. By providing for stakeholders interests, we are able to greatly facilitate knowledge acquisition of learners while also improving the programs provided by the Wabash Center. Strengthening the educational programming provided by the Wabash Center will also help with recruitment and retention of employees which benefits the stakeholders and organization as a whole.
Reference List
Barbara C. Glackin & Cheri A. Folkner (2009): Planning, organizing, and hosting a workshop—It's all in the details, Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 47:1, 74-89
Kapur, R. (2019). Planning and organization of adult education . Researchgate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335572347_Planning_and_Organization_of_Adult_Education
Kilgore, D. (2003). Planning programs for adults. New Directions for Student Services, 2003(102), 81-88. doi:10.1002/ss.92
Schmidt, S.W., & Yelich Biniecki, S.M. (2016). Organization and administration of adult education programs. Information Age Publishing Inc.
Sarah Dull and Grace Jackson
Teacher’s College, Ball State University
EDAC 632-800: Adult and Community Education
Dr. Bo Chang
October 24, 2023
(1). Introduction
There are numerous factors that have significantly impacted marketing strategies for various organizations. Two of these primary factors include, long lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the prevalence of social media. These factors impact the financials, staffing, and organizational outcomes components of many organizations. Wabash Center is no stranger to these implications, as they have experienced both staffing difficulties and financial considerations within the last several years. Wabash Center continues to provide vital services to the Greater Lafayette community, but they are simultaneously experiencing high rates of employee turnover. As society continues to recover from changes after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and becomes more proficient in utilizing social media resources, Wabash Center may benefit from adjusting their marketing plan. The goals of this marketing plan would be to one, hire new employees to fill staffing needs and two, access more financial funding for various programs. This plan will reach anyone over the age of 18 as that is the minimum age required to be employed at Wabash Center, professionals, and families. The hope of marketing to these different groups is that Wabash Center will be able to meet staffing outcomes, connect with professionals for funding resources, and educate potential families/clients on the services that Wabash Center provides. Overall, these strategies should expose this select group to Wabash Center’s services, which aligns with the purpose of implementing marketing techniques (Schmidt and Yelich Biniecki, 2016).
(2). Marketing Strategies
When developing a marketing plan for the Wabash Center I first had to consider the target population and the population's needs (WVABE Instructor Handbook, Section 7, 2008). I will do this by focusing on the consumers within the Greater Lafayette area and identifying the undeserved gaps within our programming and the greater community. By focusing on self-improvement, attainment of life skills and community involvement, I am able to focus the efforts of my organization with the completion of a needs assessment. This first strategy allows us to use both a Community Needs Assessment and an Agency Needs Assessment. Following the needs assessments I can then create marketing materials that highlight the programs within our organization and adapt our program to meet customer needs (WVABE Instructor Handbook, Section 7, 2008). The use of Community and Agency Needs Assessments allows for the Wabash Center to focus its efforts in a streamlined, efficient manner that directly impacts the recruitment of employees and stakeholders. The needs assessments also allow for intentional shifts and adaptations within programming to better serve the community which can help increase funding for programming over time.
The use of needs assessments help pivot to our second strategy of Brand Positioning. Toni Palmer states that, “Brand Positioning is the perception of your program, school or degree in the minds of your customers and stakeholders (Palmer, 2007).” Brand Positioning allows us to define how we want our organization perceived through the use of relevant attributes and supporting facts while also creating visuals which support our positioning (Palmer, 2007). By following these tenants, we can rebrand the community image of the Wabash Center to focus on recruitment, funding and community education. Brand Positioning builds on the results of needs assessments to more easily identify the key groups we want to reach, their individual and communal needs and the attributes of our programming that meet these needs. By identifying these connections, we are then able to develop a social media marketing plan that highlights the programming we offer that meets the needs of our stakeholders and the community at large.
The final strategy for marketing takes the results of the needs assessments and the focus developed through Brand Positioning to create a cohesive Social Media Marketing Campaign. The needs assessment will help to determine the easiest ways to reach demographics found within the data set. This then allows us to choose which Social Media platforms to use the most and which Social Media markets to put funding into. With TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn having sponsored and ad generated posting, we want to be able to decide where to spend the marketing budget funds after creating content such as videos, photos and graphics. By using a wide range of Social Media, we are able to directly recruit employees through LinkedIn while also demonstrating the work of our organization through interviews, virtual tours, “day in the life” clips and special programming on our company TikTok, Facebook and Instagram pages. These videos not only allow us to reach potential employees but also gives us the opportunity to reach the community members who help fundraise for our center and the potential consumers of our programming. An example of a potential post is shown below.
Since research has shown that marketing messages need to focus on how to incorporate adult education into an already busy life, targeting social media posting allows for potential consumers and employees to interact with our content while scrolling through social media they already use (Brown, 2004).
(3). Implications
When speaking with the Director of Development, Erin Hallet, at Wabash Center, she shared that she wants to use creative ways to help market the services that Wabash Center offers as well as to broadcast employment opportunities. Erin shared that she recognizes the importance of traditional marketing techniques, but feels that unique techniques can really help people understand the “why behind the services” and the “needs that the organization has”. Considering these stipulations, these are the techniques that I might recommend for Wabash Center:
● Interviewing both staff and individuals served to share their testimonials on various social media platforms. This technique would make the organization seem more personable and “real”. It could also give potential applicants a better idea of what the culture at Wabash Center is like and gauge overall employee satisfaction.
● Hosting tours of the programming space for potential community partners and donors to better understand the impact that Wabash Center has on the community. These tours could be guided by a senior leadership team member and they could provide examples of activities that occur in each space.
● Engaging in more community outreach opportunities, such as speaking at local schools and to share what services are provided and connecting with local service organizations to discuss financial partnerships. This could also be partnering with local colleges and universities to advertise employment opportunities.
● Holding a “fund this campaign” for different programming needs. Donors could be given a breakdown of what different financial contributions could fund for programming needs/support. For example “$100 funds cooking supplies for four individuals for one month” or “$1000 funds transportation to community education opportunities for one individual for an entire year”. I think presenting fundraising opportunities in this manner makes the process more exciting and the needs more tangible.
Ultimately, I think appealing to the preferences of donors, while catching the attention of potential staff members, should be the priority for Wabash Center when considering marketing strategies. I feel confident that the techniques mentioned above would help support Wabash Center with the organization’s outlined outcomes.
(4). Summary Table
Goals | Strategies | Rationales | Possible Results |
Increase staffing numbers | Agency Needs Assessment. Social Media Marketing | After completing a needs assessment within our agency, we are able to market our office directly to potential employees with the services our center provides. | By opening the center for direct tours, along with staff testimonials, new staff can be more easily recruited. By experiencing the “real” Wabash Center, potential employees can see the full potential of the job and have a greater understanding of the work they will be doing within the center. |
Increase program funding | Social Media marketing. | By increasing community knowledge of programming through Social Media marketing, fundraising efforts can be encouraged and promoted. | By increasing community outreach opportunities and running campaign fundraisers, we are able to increase funding by letting the community know the programs provided by said funds and drawing connections with the relationships shown through community outreach projects. This directly correlates to the community knowledge portion below. |
Increase community knowledge of services | Using Social Media to provide tours, “day in the life” and consumer interviews. | By showing consumer and employee perspectives in social media posting, the community can become more knowledgeable about the services provided at the Wabash Center. | By increasing community knowledge of services provided, we hope to draw more community members into the work that we do and allow for more enrollment in our programming. More knowledge or services allows for more people to be served by the outreach provided and the direct services provided by the center. |
Reference List
Brown, J. A. (2004). Marketing and retention strategies for adult degree programs. New directions for adult and continuing education, 103, 51-60.
Marketing, recruitment, retention, and follow-up in ABE programs WVABE Instructor Handbook Section 7 2008 – 2009. West Virginia Adult Basic Education . (2008). https://wvde.state.wv.us/abe/tcher_handbook_pdf/section7.pdf
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Schmidt, S.W., & Yelich Biniecki, S.M. (2016). Organization and administration of adult education programs. Information Age Publishing Inc.
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