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Sailing To A Brighter Future On The Potomac
Alexandria, Virginia
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Helping at-risk youth through environmental work.
Old Town Alexandria was founded as a seaport two hundred years ago. It is located on the Potomac River in Virginia. The Potomac River is a tributary of America's largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay, and flows through four states and the District of Columbia. In 1998, the Potomac River was designated as an American Heritage River. This designation enables the federal government to assist communities along the river with a variety of sustainability and improvement activities. No new regulations are imposed on communities that receive assistance. Old Town Alexandria preserved much of the original architecture and historic parts of Old Town that make it stand out in an increasingly urban environment. However, the development of surrounding areas has had an impact on every aspect of the community and environment.
 Boats built by ASF
The Alexandria Seaport Foundation (ASF) aims to keep the community connected to the historic seaport by through various projects along the Potomac River. ASF uses the Seaportalso Center as a tool to reach at-risk youth in surrounding areas. Many of these youth become ASF apprentices. Although the Foundation focuses on social issues, their activities carry many environmental implications. ASF programs are unique because they provide alternative education programs for young people. Along with these programs, ASF has developed indicators to monitor its organization, projects and participants.
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The Evolution of the Organization
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From At-Risk Ships To At-Risk Youths
Through the use of organizational indicators, ASF has been able to refine its mission and activities. The Foundation began in 1983 as an organization that focused on preserving Alexandria's sea heritage through the use and promotion of tall ships. The tall ship apprenticeship program began in 1992. In 1995, the group's first tall ship was sold and the environmental apprenticeship program officially began. These programs provide jobs for at-risk youth that teach skills, a sense of responsibility, pride and hope for the future.
Organizational Indicators
Number of members/volunteers
Number of hours these members/volunteers work
Number of returning members/volunteers
Number of staff ASF is able to hire
Number of partnerships with other organizations
Number of times ASF appears in the media
Number of people at the events ASF holds for the local community
Number of awards that have been granted to ASF and its staff
Number of projects started or expanded
Number of donors
Amount of money raised
Size of the largest grant each year
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The main ASF facility is the Seaport Center. The Foundation is made up of seven full-time staff and over 450 members and volunteers. They also work with a large variety of federal, state and local agencies as well as many local organizations. With this network, ASF has been able to help troubled youth and improve a significant portion of the natural area around the Potomac River.
The New and Improved ASF
The Foundation has changed its focus from promoting and educating people about tall ships to a more community-centered mission that uses boats as an educational tool for area youth. The mission of ASF is to help at-risk youth, promote sea heritage and enhance the environmental quality of the Potomac River. Some of these programs include wooden boat building, on-water small boat handling and environmental sciences. The environmental programs that involve at-risk youth include the Environmental Apprenticeship Program and damaged wetland restoration projects,. The Foundation also runs the Marine Environmental Sciences Program for local teachers and their classes. Activities include monitoring water quality and studying local wetland ecology. The outcomes of these programs are often hard to measure. For example, how does one measure the impact of environmental education? Often, an alternative measure has to be used such as the number of people that attend an environmental education program.
Environmental Indicators
Acres of wetland grasses planted
Number of fish
Amount of trash collected from the Potomac River
Type of trash collected from the Potomac River
Water Chemistry
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The Alexandria Seaport Foundation's challenge is to meet the diverse needs of the community, while taking into account environmental, political and educational changes. For example, ASF is providing area students with the opportunity to apply what they learn in school to the real world.
GOALS
Promote Alexandria's maritime heritage
Help at-risk youth
Improve the environmental quality of the Potomac River
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Social indicators allow an organization to monitor its programs/projects, participants and itself. The Foundation continues to change and expand its programs. An evaluation of their at-risk youth programs made them realize that cutting vines and clearing trash from wetlands was not stimulating enough for program participants. They changed the program activities so that young people could be involved with growing and planting native wetland vegetation. Another reason that ASF has expanded its programs is to reach as many people in the community as possible. Many people are drawn to the Seaport Center because it is very visible and accessible. Successful programs include:
Dory Boat rides
Wetland restoration field trips
Volunteer clean-ups
Sailing, rowing, boat building and boat handling classes
The Annual Seaport Day (which includes boat exhibits and rides)
Social Indicators
Number of youth hired as apprentices every year by ASF
Number of former apprentices with high school diploma or equivalency
Number of former apprentices with jobs
Number of former apprentices in the military
Number of youth returning to participate in ASF programs
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The Bigger Picture
The Alexandria Seaport Foundation is not the only group working along the Potomac River watershed. There are numerous groups working in the District of Columbia and all four states that contribute to the watershed's improvement. These groups all have their own unique goals, programs and projects. Friends of the Potomac assist communities throughout the Potomac River watershed in conserving natural resources and help new business opportunities. With their help, groups such as ASF can pursue government and private-sector assistance for projects such as the Environmental Apprenticeship Program. By working in loose association with each other, every individual group contributes to increasing the sustainability of the Potomac as a whole.
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Monitoring and Measuring
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How ASF Measures Their Success
The Foundation measures many things in order to know how well its programs are working. Measuring helps the staff understand which programs should be changed or what kinds of programs could be added. ASF uses social, environmental and organizational indicators. For example, in their wetland restoration program, ASF measures how many acres of wetland plants have been successfully planted. This activity contributes to the overall goal of improving the Potomac's natural environment. Another example of how ASF uses indicators is in the diagram below.
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Monitoring of Fundraising
ASF has been able to grow with the help of successful fundraising. The organization has many different sources of funding: federal agency grants, the United Way, various private foundations and corporations, donations, membership dues and special events.
Since the Foundation receives money from many different federal agencies, it has to keep track of how that money is spent. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) also requires nonprofit organizations to track how their money is being spent in order to keep their nonprofit status. ASF gives copies of its grant reports to all of its financial supporters. Measuring progress helps ASF show its achievements to sponsors, the local media and influential politicians. Showing how well programs are working may eventually draw in more funding and attention. This could not be done without clear goals, objectives and indicators.
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Using Outcomes to Navigate
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Good monitoring of program outcomes has helped the Alexandria Seaport Foundation fulfill a community need in a unique way. Monitoring helped the group realize that the money and energy required for the tall ship program could be better spent on other types of projects and programs. It is now important for ASF to check how many apprentices finish high school and find jobs. Keeping records allows ASF to see if the program is meeting its goal to help at-risk youth in the community. A helpful social indicator is to track the number of people at ASF organized events because it shows how many people the group is reaching. It also shows the amount of community interest for continuing events. A good environmental indicator used by ASF is a count of the acres of wetland vegetation they have successfully planted. This indicator shows ASF how large an area is affected by their work.
 The Seaport Center (ASF Headquarters)
One lesson that can be learned from the Foundation's use of indicators is how helpful it is to keep track of many things. ASF uses indicators to see if they are achieving their goals, to determine if their projects are working, to promote their projects and to get funding. They also use indicators to know where and how to expand their programs. This was the case when they expanded the apprenticeship program from building boats to using their boats to measure and improve the quality of the surrounding wetlands. The use of indicators has helped ASF staff to adjust programs to meet the needs of its members, participants and community.
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