“A Problem well stated is a problem half solved” – Charles F. Kettering
According to Kettering, crafting our project proposal was half the battle, but the fun part is just starting! Over the past few weeks our group has worked very hard and gained lots of clarity regarding our projects goals and expectations through research and our community partner. This has enabled us to successfully complete our group proposal which was a big achievement for us. Our group is very excited to move onto the next step which involves community engagement and working with real data from our community partner.
The Proposal Report can be found through this link : Proposal Report
Weekly Objectives and Achievements
Week 1 (September 19th – 23rd)
Objectives:
- Start working on Blog post number 1
- organize a time to meet as a group to work on our first blog
- Contact our community Partner and set a date and time to meet with him
- Research about Breakfast Club of Canada and learn about their mission and aims
- Brainstorm questions we have about the community organization and project
Achievements:
- Had our first group meeting
- In our group meeting we brainstormed ideas about our group interests and what we wish to gain from in LFS 350
- Came up with questions we had regarding Breakfast Club of Canada and our project so that we could ask our community partner once we have a meeting set up
- Started working on our first blog post
- We contacted Robin Ryan through email to set a time to meet with him so that our group could become familiar with Breakfast Club of Canada, and learn about the specific outcomes and expectations of our project
- Completed and posted our first blog post
Week 2 (September 26th-30th)
Objectives:
- The objective of this week was to to meet with our community partner.
- Edit first blog posting for second revision.
Achievements:
- Half of our group (those that were available to meet) met with Robin Ryan, our community partner, on Monday the 26th.
- Our group established what exactly is expected of us for this project from the Breakfast Club of Canada.
- We established a good starting relationship with our community partner.
- We answered all of the lingering questions we had before beginning the actual project.
- We worked towards editing our first blog post in order to correct the areas in which we lost marks.
Week 3 (October 3rd- October 7th)
Objective:
- Finish the final project proposal on Oct 3rd, and then revise project proposal after receiving feedbacks from TA
- Each group member finishes Tutorial Course on Research Ethics.
- Contact community partner and set a specific time and date to visit schools participating in the Breakfast Club of Canada program
Achievements:
- Submitted the final project proposal on connect. Clearly knowing group objectives, methods that we are using to collect data and the aim of the project.
- Submitted individual Tutorial Course on Research Ethics on connect.
Week 4 (October 10th – 14th)
Objective:
- Get started on and submit the second blog post
Achievements
- Confirmed the dates of Alderson Elementary school visit with Robin Ryan which are Oct 24th and Oct 25th.
Moment of Significance
What?
On Monday, September 26th three members of our group had the opportunity to meet with Robin Ryan, the community leader for our project. Unfortunately, only half of our group was available to meet. During this meeting, we discussed both his and our expectations for the project. We were able to learn more about Robin’s goals for the project, and we were given the opportunity to understand why this project is being piloted in the first place. Furthermore, Robin provided us with some history of the organization, to help us understand what the Breakfast Club has accomplished and what they are still out to achieve. To our surprise, Robin ensured our group was interested and engaged in the assignment by giving us the choice of our project for the semester; he wanted this to be a collaboration. Together we developed a rough timeline for the semester, and these dates were confirmed as hard deadlines via email. The meeting was inspiring because of Robin’s passion that he displayed both for his job and the organization.
So What?
Meeting Robin gave us the opportunity to develop a relationship with our community leader. We were able to demonstrate our own excitement about the project which cannot always be conveyed via email. It was important for us to see how passionate Robin is about this project and understand the reasons behind why this project is being established.
Talking to Robin, we were able to understand the dynamics of the relationship between Breakfast Club of Canada (BCC) and the schools in which they support. This is useful to use as insight when we have personal interactions with the Northern BC communities we are studying. In the Ted Talk “Want to help someone? Shut up and Listen!”, Ernesto Sirolli discusses the importance of listening to the needs of individuals in the community before trying to help, instead of jumping to your own conclusions (2012). This is a goal that Robin and the BCC team, hope to accomplish and instill in others. In order for the BCC to provide feedback to schools, it is important to acknowledge the different circumstances and situations experienced by residents of different communities (i.e what access they have to large grocers, how much does their food actually cost). These circumstances influence where money is allocated, the kinds of foods that are purchases, and how they source their food. Once we have established the Why behind a problem, then we are able to develop long-term solutions. We are fortunate to have a group with different ethnic backgrounds, and academic majors because we bring forth different knowledge and problem solving skills. Through our meeting with Robin we were able to establish a relationship between the organization and our group, which has made it easy to approach him with questions and collaborate on the structure of the project.
Now What?
With an established timeline, now have clear expectations set between our group and the BCC. We have received the receipts from Robin, which will be used to analyze how money is spent by each school. Over the course of the next few weeks we will build profiles for each school breaking their spending down in categories of: food groups, store, quantity, and cost. We will be organizing a follow-up meeting with Robin in the week of the 22nd to review our progress and feedback.
Because of the excitement Robin saw we had in the project, he set up two visits two schools where we will be able to see the breakfast programs in action. This will be happening on the 24th and 25th of October (we will be going in groups of 3). Moving forward, it is important to anticipate the presence of challenges and problems that may arise. As Tim Harford explains in his Ted Talk, “How messy problems can inspire creativity”, problems should not always be looked at as aversive elements to a project. He discusses that although often times people tend to avoid or steer away from issues, sometimes facing these problems head on is the best way to work through them. He talks about how problem solving is usually thought of as a step by step process through which a conclusion is achieved by marginal gains. The issue with this is that marginal gains can sometimes guide you, very slowly, down a dead end. He suggest that a better way to problem solve is to “add a dash of mess” (Harford, 2015). He explains that taking unpredictable, random steps at the beginning actually reduces the chances of finding yourself stuck at a dead end. Our group will attempt to use problem solving strategy in challenges we face over the coming months. Our group is committed to maintaining open communication within our group, as well as with our community project leader as we have experienced much success to date.
Upcoming Objectives and Strategies
Objectives
- Receive the complete profile of school receipts from Robin. Enter and organize the data into a spreadsheet based on the quantity, cost and the store the food item is purchased from
- Visit schools that are supported by the BCC and gain a better understanding of how the breakfast program runs through schools
Strategies
- Efficiently subdivide tasks to maximize our efficiency
- Continue regular communication with Robin Ryan to update him on our progress and obtain feedback
- Divide our group into two groups composed of three people to visit Alderson Elementary school on Oct 24th and Oct 25th , through these visits our group members can observe how an ideal breakfast program functions.
- Assign each group member with schools to enter the corresponding data into the Google spreadsheet
Conclusion
Our group has had some great experiences these past few weeks: meeting our community partner, laying out our plans and crafting a proposal, and spending time as a group to digest the course material. We now have a concrete vision for our project. We know the importance of dealing with messy situations, listening to community members, and taking ethics into consideration. Stay tuned for our future objectives as we continue to grow and develop our project and ourselves!
References:
Siroli, E. (2012, November 26). Want to help someone? Shut up and listen! [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXsLtHqfdM
Harford, T. (2016). How messy problems can inspire creativity. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd_j_kw_jZQ