May 20, 2008
May 2008--In order to give
EIRP students an even more diverse learning experience, Management
Professors Larry Boone and Linda Sama chose Covenant House and
MOMMA'S House, two non-profit organizations, as the focus of EIRP
for the second half of this semester.
“We wanted students to experience the
different challenges that are presented for non-profits as opposed
to for-profit companies,” says Dr. Boone.
Indeed, the challenges they were presented
with offered unique learning opportunities. Student teams were
asked to help address the concerns associated with organizational
development and capacity-building, volunteer recruitment and
tracking, and business planning for MOMMA'S House, a 22-year-old
non-profit organization founded by Pat Shea and managed by Pat and
her daughter, Deirdre Shea, that provides a home for teenage
mothers and their children.
"In an effort to help MOMMA’S House with capacity building and
organizational development, our team suggested a suite of software
products, such as Excel, Access, and QuickBooks ranging from
$0-$500, which would keep Pat and her staff more organized,” says
undergraduate student Anita Persaud. “We also found an abandoned
building that Pat and her team could purchase in order to help Pat
meet her dream of expanding the organization.”
Inspired by the message of MOMMA’S House, all
teams participated in raising over $1000 dollars through their own
contributions as well as reaching out to family members, faculty
and friends. “These students provided an invaluable service to my
organization,” says Pat Shea, Executive Program Director. “The fact
that they were moved enough to reach into their own pockets had one
of my board members express to me how the actions of these students
renewed her faith in humanity.”
The money raised will be used to purchase some
of the software recommended by the students and Pat has also
indicated that the business plan students presented to her and her
board was probably at least as valuable to her organization as the
funds that were raised. “We have never had a business plan in the
22 years we have been opened, and if I had to hire someone to do
it, there is no way we would have been able to afford it,” she
said. “I am honored to have been chosen to work with the best of
the best Tobin has to offer,” says Shea.
Similarly, several additional undergraduate
teams were asked to build a plan to expand maintenance-training
programs for Covenant
House, a Catholic-inspired not-for-profit entity whose goal is
to help at-risk youths by equipping them with skills necessary to
succeed in life. The students presented with this challenge thought
that Covenant House should pursue an in-house maintenance
subsidiary, which would allow the agency to not only create a new
training program for clients, but also provide secured job
placements upon completion.
“We researched how the maintenance industry
was doing, what the traditional salaries of custodians have been
and what materials would be required in order to provide a training
program,” says undergraduate marketing student Dana Ricci. Students
also created a four- week schedule of topics that should be covered
within the training classes and contacted existing maintenance
companies to learn about best practices and marketing plans that
had succeeded for them.
Lashawn McCauly of the Covenant House felt, "This program was very
helpful to our organization. The proposal from the students gave us
insight on the direction we need to take in our training programs
and we are actually going to implement some of their ideas. We
usually have to pay a consultant for this kind of information, so I
was very grateful."
“As a marketing major what amazed me most
about completing these assignments was that all of the marketing
strategies I learned about at Tobin can be applied to almost every
situation and, even more, participating in EIRP really taught me
more skills than all of my previous classes combined,” exclaims
Ricci. Undergraduate student Tracie Tsirnikas agrees stating that
EIRP, “has been a huge learning experience and the highlight of my
time at St. John’s University. I learned to communicate effectively
with executives and I experienced real-life business obstacles and
how to create solutions,” she says.
The Peter J. Tobin
College of Business has provided the highest quality business
education for over eighty years. Many alumni have risen to
senior executive positions in the financial services community in
New York and around the world. Degrees offered include the
Bachelor of Science, Master of Business Administration and Master
of Science. The College encompasses the School of Risk
Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science, which is housed at the
University’s Manhattan location in the heart of the New York
financial district. Recent recognitions for the Tobin College
include a listing by The Aspen Institute among the top ninety
business schools in the United States whose graduate curricula
reflect a commitment to social responsibility and sustainability.
For further information, please contact Jennifer Maizel at (718)
990-6218 or email Maizelj@stjohns.edu.
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