Showing posts with label wishlist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wishlist. Show all posts

Thursday, March 31, 2016

This is the type of support some in PPS give to PPS Summer Dreamers

In spring 2016, I put in a pool permit to get ready for Summer Dreamers so that our summer staff can work with the existing kids at Obama at the pool -- and work with a renewal of swim skills with the kids I coached in past years as part of PPS Summer Dreamers. 

The permit was denied. The denial says, "NO SUMMER DREAMER STUFF."

I wanted to have ONE practice on Wednesdays from April to June. 

Go figure.

Futhermore, in future years this permit would be considered a blessing -- because there is an ANSWER. MOST of the time, interactions with PPS administrators have no replies. Silence. 


Sunday, February 21, 2016

Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership BetaBurgh proposals

Three proposals were made to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnerships for its BetaBurgh RFP (request for proposals). The grants are for up to $10,000 each. See the text of those links by surfing around the site, Swim.CLOH.org.


Directory: http://swim.cloh.org/betaburgh/
  1. Open water swimming, Swim.CLOH.org  http://swim.cloh.org/betaburgh/Swim_CLOH_org_text.html
  2. River lagoons, 4RS.org  http://swim.cloh.org/betaburgh/4RS_org_text.html
  3. Floating pools feasibility, Rauterkus.com http://swim.cloh.org/betaburgh/Rauterkus_com_text.html

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Two things to think about with Pittsburgh's next Superintendent of Schools

The first thing we need from a new superintendent is an approach that supports school and community sports. I'll devote a different post to that topic. Here is another set of insights that we should put high on the list.

I think that the new superintendent needs to understand buildings, building schools, and building school culture as applied to the buildings that they reside within.

I hate to write this as I am generally a "software" kind-a guy who stresses the PROGRAMS and not worried about the the "hardware" and the bricks and mortar. The buildings take a back seat to the teachers, the school culture, the education and the dynamic learning that can and should happen. But golly, in Pittsburgh, we got issues with old buildings and bad decisions within the buildings and huge capital overhead that is not helping to retain our sense of pride and scholarship that should be happening.

I get to go to a lot of school buildings as we travel around with sports programs. Our city facilities are weak. Sure, CAPA is sweet. But, as I see CAPA, I hate that it is grades 6-12 rather than just 9-12.

Westinghouse & Carrick got nice upgrades not too long ago, but have you seen what has been done at many suburban districts? BP, Lebo, Penn Hills, Baldwin, West Allegheny, USC, etc. And the schools we have visited elsewhere beyond W.Pa are sensational.

In terms of taxpayer interest, the school and capital questions should loom large for a superintendent search process. Managing a building project and construction teams is way beyond the comfort zone of what's in place now. And, PPS can't even get a penny on the dollar for its existing and non-utilized facilities.

PPS made some serious, generational mistakes with Schenley, with South Vo Tech and many other building and grounds assets.

I think the new superintendent should be able to point to their professional history and say that these X-Y-Z schools were rehabed, re-build, opened, and construction was managed flawlessly for the course of these multi-year efforts. And, I want to get construction firm testimonials with lots of documentation and critical review on those mega projects.

Above rant began at the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1684791538424529/

Monday, August 17, 2015

Knight Foundation Prototype Grant

Project title: CLOH.org: Creating Literate Olympians Here

What is your project (200 word limit):

The CLOH.org project is to further develop, refine and release open-source, scalable, tools and an on-going process for building conation especially for teens, communities and media partners.

Tools include:
  • Digital Badges
  • Mobile Apps
  • Admin Software
  • Wiki Pages
  • Ebooks
  • Kits for coaches, teams, camps, leagues, communities, schools, public safety officers, and newsrooms to guide the deployment of the digital badges on Goals from CLOH.org.
  • Campaign assets for marketing such as email outreach bots, posters, demographic target lists, maps, info-graphics, YouTube channel, etc.
Process includes:
  • Mindful discussions about volition, conation, striving and the brain's executive functions.
  • Goal setting approaches, lessons and examples for consumers.
  • Expert interactions of many different sports.
  • Amplifying purposeful media coverage of striving Olympians and their support teams.
  • Partnerships and re-branding strategies for media executives.
  • Researching outcomes.

What assumptions will you test? (200 word limit):

CLOH.org tests social media growth in 2016, with the Rio Olympics. CLOH.org can amplify mindful striving on a world stage. Individuals, support systems and the process of goal setting gets celebrated. Social media hooks to goal-setting spins forward as athletes prepare to compete. Athlete research happens on wiki pages we fortify and host.

The mindfulness trend and buzz gets tested among athletes, sports and inter-city youngsters facing deprived opportunities. Digital badges cost next to nothing to deliver yet have great intrinsic value. Mindful pursuits and building conation can fix the American Dream.

Conation refers to the act of striving, of focusing our attention and acting with a purpose. Conation means striving in a way that results in our energy's being managed and focused on a goal.

Three capabilities / faculties of human behavior are: Cognitions, which is knowing; Affection, which is the ability to value things or people or ideas; and Conation, which means striving in a way that results in our energy's being managed and focused on a goal. Conation is an inclination (as an instinct, a drive, a wish, or a craving) to act purposefully.


Who is the audience / user of this project? How will they be impacted? (200 word limit)

Teens are the prime audience as well as parents, guardians, coaches, teachers, mentors, athletic administrators, guidance councilors, league officials and public safety personelle. Everyone can embrace open-source digital badges as they are free and can help with goal-setting, a universal act that more can do.

All get a better appreciation for the goal-setting process, a life-changing endeavor that can help in sports, school and career.

It is easier to reach engaged teens who are active in school and club sports teams. Celebrity athletes can draw a lot of attention. Post-Olympics, many can share their story of striving to goals and present a goal-setting foundation for others with the CLOH.org digital badges.

Superstars can speak about digital badges to help lead the future generations on their quests.

News directors, reporters and sports media professionals are an target audience as CLOH.org hopes to spin coveage to better illustrate the cognition cycle. Media coverage of goals, (similar to Sports Illustrated's Face In The Crowd) are expected. Media partnerships and education and branding opportunities with digital badges can occur with those in media conference rooms.

Media outlets have enriched and additional, localized coverage for their reuse.


Who is on your team? (200 word limit):

Mark Rauterkus, executive head coach of the Swim & Water Polo Camp, sponsored by the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp, and conducted with Pittsburgh Public Schools Summer Dreamers Academy since 2010. Rauterkus has coached since 1976 and was recently women's water polo coach at Carnegie Mellon University. His aquatics programs have more than 30 on the staff. and in his career he has coached more than 10,000 and published more than 100 books.

Kay Atman, Ph.D., has the formal rank in the University of Pittsburgh School of Education as Associate Professor Emerita. Since 1972, her sideline company, Curriculum Innovators & Implementors, Inc. has provided educational materials and support to adults interested in improving their own record of goal accomplishment as well as teachers of pre-school and post-secondary students and parents who want to learn how to coach the maturational development process at work in their students/children. Her career has be devoted to goal-setting research and a new, peer-reviewed article is due next month concerns approaches with conation and cancer survivors.

Richard Swartz, CEO of the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation, a 501(c)(3), community development organization in Pittsburgh.


What progress, if any, have you made on this project?

In 2015, programs received $5,000 in foundation funding from The Sprout Fund and Pittsburgh City of Learning. More than two dozen digital badges were designed and introduced this summer. A pilot program for Summer Dreamers in 2015 was operated called, Mindful Eating, Yoga and Multimedia.

Cooperation with many partner agencies, locally and nationally, continues to develop including Pitsburgh Public Schools, Citiparks, Eastside Neighborhood Employment Center, American Water Polo Assocation, SKWIM USA, The Pittsburgh Marathon, and GNC.

More than 50 7-inch Android tablets were obtained for campers in 2015 and are on-hand for future use and events. A crowd-source campaign was planned but not implemented.

A suite of CLOH.org web sites and a wikia with more than 5,000 pages at wikia.com exists. Prior experience with app creation, publishing coaching books, and software insure these outcomes can be a reality with the prototype assistance.



Visual Media. (Up to 3 files)


Organization: Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation

Location: 5149 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224



Sunday, June 24, 2012

Wish list


I'm going to start a wishlist. Asking can't hurt, right? Some of my life wishes do come true, so I might as well better document them on the blog.

Wishing for: 100+ t-shirts for the Summer Dreamers Swim and Water Polo Camp.
I've asked a few places and some are expected, but getting additional shirts will go a long way in helping with laundry. 
In the past years, we didn't really need t-shirts. T-shirts don't help with one's swimming. And, we were not going places. If you go to the zoo or Kennywood, and all the kids wear the same t-shirt -- that's great. We just went to the school pool, mostly. Now this year, we will be going places -- running through the Hill District to the YMCA or Citiparks Ammon. So, looking like a team and looking similar would help better keep an eye on everyone.
Furthermore, the kids are going to run. They'll sweat. If they run in shirts we provide, then they can keep the school shirt in a school locker and run in our shirt. Then they can change after swimming and not need to bring a change of clothes. 

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Working with Citiparks on Summer Dreamers, or not

9/17/09
to Duane

To Director of Citiparks:

Hi Director,

I saw that Mike R. was in the court room. Eeeks. Hope you all are not
snowed under too too bad.

I'd love to strike up a conversation with you about the Pgh Public
Schools RFP for summer 2010 enrichment.

The deadline for those RFPs / proposals is Oct 2. And, there is still
a good deal of red tape for me to navigate.

I'd like to see if it is possible to get some cooperation in the grant
/ proposal requests.

For instance, for the 5 weeks of the camp, July 12 to Aug 13, 2010,
we'd love to have a group of up to 25 kids use the Schenley Ice Rink
building as a possible classroom -- mainly in case of rain, from the
hours of 12:30 to 3:30. They would also run at the track and use the
park.

By all means, there are funds to pay for this but they have to be in
the budget. Federal stimulus funds are being spent.

I'd also like to see if we could deploy in our plans:

-- Bike Oval at Highland Park / Washington Road
-- Swim pool visits with a Lifeguard camp
-- Sports movies in an outdoor setting -- perhaps at a school / i.e.,
Movies in the parks
-- Market House for some special events
-- Sand volleyball courts at Highland Park Pool

Ashley, Duane 

9/18/09
to me
Mark...I already have staff pulling together a proposal of sorts based
on our past involvement with the School District.  However, a two
pronged approached might not be a bad idea........However, I sincerely
think that they already know who they will fund...and it won't be us.

Mark Rauterkus 

9/18/09
to Duane
Hi,

I do not know what proposals and providers the PPS will fund and who
they will not fund????  But, it seems to me that PPS is just new to
this range of activities and are grabbing for a lot at first blush --
up to 2,500 kids or so. Wow. That's huge. If that is the case, then
they'll need everyone's help.

If possible, I'd love to meet with Citiparks staffers who are working
on the PPS summer 2010 enrichment opportunities / RFP. Who is pulling
this together for you?

Furthermore, I know that the main new employees of the PPS had a
meeting with the folks at Phillips Elem as to what they've done in
cooperation with Citiparks in the past years. There is a great success
story with Citiparks and PPS at Phillips with Mr. Netchi the principal
there and your staffers. Well done. That is a large part of the model.

But, my questions still remain about me organizing a camp experience
and trying to deploy some Citiparks spaces for the activities.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Letter from school

This came, and when it did, I didn't tell anyone. And, I don't think we changed any behaviors. There was nothing to bark at. Same old, same old. 

 

Sunday, September 17, 1995

Partnerships with other publishers. Plans from SSS.

This plan was a big effort with the SSS. Sales reps were hired. Then this 50+ business plan went out via the mail. The other publishers were contacted based upon past interactions. Dozens of publishers came to consider the plans. 
All in all, the economic business conditions for sales to independent book stores were headed south. Bookstores were going out of business more and more. Printing costs spiked too. 

I was doing Amazon before Amazon was doing Amazon, sorta. The internet was just starting to get into gear. I had SportsReader.com, SportSurf.Net and Sandlot.com, among some other domains. FreeTeam.org too.