How LtN Builds Successful Programs - Part II: Succeeding Long-Term
After our selection process, the hard work begins. There are several factors that contribute to the long-term success of our programs. Before we dive in to those factors let’s define success for LtN.
Successful LtN programs have a group of engaged students, coaches and families who have fallen in love with lacrosse. This love of lacrosse provides our students and coaches access to opportunities on the field, in the classroom and beyond. Successful LtN programs offer the US lacrosse community the opportunity to learn, teach and serve.
The Keys to Success
The Kids Come First.
When making decisions about our programming we first think about who it impacts the most -our student-athletes. A great example is our LtN Scholars initiative. It was developed because many of our players were not in school. In our conversations with them we realized the reason was because there were too many barriers in their lives. Barriers that we could reduce, and in some cases eliminate. That decision was a no-brainer.
Adapt. Adapt. Adapt.
No two programs are the same. Schedules change. Cultures are different. Unexpected things happen. Our ability to be flexible within our structure allows us to tailor our programs to the context of the community we’re working with. Conforming our programs to each school, community center and country is critical to our success..
Train Local Staff
Developing local coaches play a huge role in our long-term success. They ensure that our programs are culturally relevant and are able to build relationships within the community better than any foreign staff or volunteer. In April 2018, we were forced to get all our US volunteers out of Nicaragua and our local coaches never skipped a beat. Programs continued as close to normal as could be expected when civil unrest shook the country.
Develop Local Partners
Working with organizations in the community allows us to stick to what we’re good at - using lacrosse to teach life skills. Through our partnerships we get access to fields and a safe place for our tutoring sessions. Partnerships also allow us to provide opportunities beyond lacrosse. Whether it’s English classes, leadership training or creative arts classes. The more we can offer our student-athletes the more they’ll love LtN and the more we can do what we do.
US Volunteers
Our short and long term volunteers train and develop local coaches. They help recruit student-athletes and introduce lacrosse culture at our sites. Once they are home they help grow our network of supporters. Without them we would not be able to successfully launch and maintain our programs.
Get better every day
If we can improve a little bit every day our programs will succeed. Every volunteer and staff member is asked to leave our programs a little better than when they arrive. Doing this ensures that collectively we have a positive impact in the lives of those who participate in our programs.
Our network of donors, fundraisers and ambassadors
Without funding we wouldn’t operate. It is YOU, our donors, fundraisers and ambassadors that ensure we continue to create positive change in the lives of our student-athletes and coaches.
Do you have any questions or comments about our work? Let us know here!
How LtN Builds Successful Programs - Part I: Choosing a Site
We want to make sure that every site we choose has a clear need for the work we do and is in line with our mission of unifying the lacrosse community to promote education and create opportunity for youth across the world. To decide which communities to devote time to and how we work day in and day out on the ground to fulfill our mission LtN developed a rubric to evaluate potential new sites.
The rubric
The rubric assesses six criteria that help us decide whether or not to launch a pilot program. The final score lets us know if we should invest time and resources into a particular site.
Access to Education - How often are kids in school. How high is the barrier to entry? What are they?
Education is at the forefront of our mission. We want to use lacrosse as a vehicle to get kids excited about and valuing their education. We prioritize communities who demonstrate a need for academic support.
Access to Sport/Physical Education - Do children and youth have access to sports outside of school? Is P.E. being taught in school?
We believe that access to sports is critical for youth development. Kids with access to a variety of sports and extra curricular activities tend to be happier, healthier and more successful. LtN gives preference to communities who lack these programs so that we can provide a unique opportunity to learn and play.Potential Partnerships - Are there people/organizations familiar with the needs of the community who can LtN can partner with at this site?
As they say, teamwork makes the dream work. If we can identify community leaders and organizations who want to partner with us we’ll be able to do much more than we could ever do alone. Identifying these organizations is critical to our success.Local Staff - Are there people in the community who we could train to be our coaching staff?
Our experience has taught us that without local staff who believe in the power of sport and are passionate about helping their community we cannot succeed. If we do not see any opportunity to train leaders within the community our programs will not succeed.Current Resources - Do we have the people and resources to run a 3- month pilot program?
We also look critically at our current situation. Is LtN in a place to expand? Do we have volunteers ready, willing and able to help us train and develop future coaches? Do we have the gear we need (sticks, balls, goals, etc) so that we can run programs effectively? The last thing we want is to over extend our resources.
Opportunity to Volunteer - Is the site conducive to hosting short and long-term volunteers?
A critical element of our mission and programs is the ability to connect US volunteers to the world at large. We want to provide the opportunities for coaches, players and lacrosse fans to experience the power of sport first hand. Being able to connect the US lacrosse community to our programs is important. If we cannot do that then we are not fulfilling our mission.
What the score means
Each criterion is scored, one (1) to 3 (three). The sum of all six criterion tell us if we should move forward or not. Her’es how we’ve broken it down.
0-6 indicates the site is NOT a good fit for our programs.
7- 11 tells us we are missing something before we can organize a pilot program.
12-18 lets us know we are a good fit and we should plan to launch a pilot program.
the pilot program
Once we’ve gotten a score we either move forward with our pilot program to see how the community responds. We spend at least three (3) months running our after-school lacrosse programs. The pilot is evaluated on a series of quantitative and qualitative metrics. Based on this evaluation and the recommendation of our on-the-ground staff our Board of Directors votes whether or not to launch programs full-time.
Next week Part II: Succeeding Long-Term
The Versatility of the LtN Experience: Rachel Ziemba
With my return to school rapidly approaching, I can confidently look back and say, what an awesome summer! I luckily got to spend June and July working for LtN in the sweaty yet beautiful Bocas. Seeing LtN’s Panama presence turn just one year old, my fellow interns and I were all reminded of both the progress that had been made in such short time and the great potential to grow that still remained.
Taking this potential as inspiration for action, we all divvied up the many things we hoped to accomplish in order to leave LtN Panama a little better than we found it and got to work. I took the lead on analyzing and reorganizing LtN’s metrics and evaluation methods in place for Nicaragua programs. In addition, I developed a similar system for Bocas, something that had yet to materialize due to the growing nature of our programs there.
Working in a foreign country for a small non-profit with a relatively new presence in the area, this summer proved to be equally as challenging as valuable. I learned to navigate working with limited resources, mastering the art of improvisation and problem solving. Cultivating genuine trust with the local community by immersing myself wholeheartedly also required me to take a few worthwhile steps outside my comfort zone.
“For a Biology major with aspirations to become a physician one day, what struck me most about my time with LtN was how I will be able to transfer all that I learned to my academic discipline and intended career path."
For a Biology major with aspirations to become a physician one day, what struck me most about my time with LtN was how I will be able to transfer all that I learned to my academic discipline and intended career path. While the actual work I do will change one day, it will do so in name only, as the principles that govern working to improve the lives of others using creative, modest methods and solutions will remain the same. Similarly, I know one day I’ll be able to point to my experience connecting with the players and parents of Bocas as a strong foundation for the ability to establish honest, natural relationships with patients and families.
While interning with LtN this summer, I learned to make the most of the available resources to maximize the benefit of my presence anywhere for whomever I may serve. My biggest dream for the future is to be able to care for people in the greatest need, and I’m grateful to LtN for giving me the tools to accomplish my dreams. I sincerely hope that one day I may be able to use my newly-minted background in a small, international non-profit organization to work for a humanitarian cause and help make the world a better place.
As a final sendoff I must say THANK YOU to LtN for an amazing and valuable summer. I will forever carry with me the countless lessons learned in Bocas.