Form 1023 Written Report

PSPS 2600

April 15, 2019

BREAK: Better Resources for Enabling All Kids

Hope Cody, Katie Darden

Dru Dawson, Victoria Shackelford

Overview

Better Resources for Enabling All Kids, or BREAK, is a 501(c)(3) organized for

charitable and educational purposes. Our mission statement is: “To empower and enable inner

city students with the opportunities to break the cycle of poverty, including tutoring, test prep,

and resume building in an after school setting.” Hamilton County District of Education has

schools in the top 5% of schools in Tennessee and the lowest 5% of schools in Tennessee.

BREAK is hoping to diminish the discrepancies between schools within Hamilton County.

BREAK will also provide tutoring, ACT/SAT preparation classes, resume building seminars, and
scholarship application support and guidance. Through these comprehensive programs, BREAK

hopes to begin to end the cycle of poverty in Hamilton County.

Programs

BREAK programs will be accessible to students in 7th grade through 12th grade at the

following schools: Orchard Knob Middle School, Dalewood Middle School, Brainerd High

School, and The Howard School. These schools have been chosen because these schools are not

only the lowest performing schools in Chattanooga, but they are some of the lowest performing

schools in Tennessee.

Programs will include the following:

Tutoring: Tutoring will be offered in the core subjects of Math, Science, English, and

History and additionally in the category of Foreign Languages. Tutoring will be one of

core programs in BREAK. It is of utmost importance for students to be successful in

their classes at school before anything else. If students do not achieve success in day-to-

day classes, programs such as ACT/SAT prep, resume building, and scholarship help

will become irrelevant. The BREAK tutoring program will provide assistance to students

who need help and close instruction with assignments so they might achieve their

maximum potential.

ACT/SAT Prep: A solid ACT or SAT score is essential for college acceptance. Tennessee

is 43rd in education spending per student at $8,810 per academic year. With low budgets

like that schools, specifically low-income schools, are forced to put supplemental

programs, such as ACT and SAT prep, on the back burner. BREAK will provide after

school ACT and SAT test preparation courses and one on one tutoring to help students

achieve the necessary scores to be admitted to the college of their choosing.

 Resume Building: For many students attending the schools BREAK serves, college

will be unattainable without the necessary scholarships. Now more than ever, colleges

want to see that their scholarship applicants have much extracurricular participation and

volunteer service as part of their application. BREAK will provide a resume building

program in which students will receive one on one guidance and attend seminars to

become informed on how to become involved with extracurriculars, obtain volunteer

service hours, and create resumes that make themselves the most desirable candidates

for post-secondary education scholarships.

Scholarship Application Guidance: Students in the BREAK program more than likely

attend schools whose guidance counselors are nonexistent or focused on issues such as

behavior problems, student absences, or administrative matters. With guidance

counselors focused on other matters, most students receive little to no guidance

about how to apply and receive scholarships. As previously stated, most students in the

BREAK program will be unable to attend college without the help of scholarships.

BREAK will provide guidance on how to apply for scholarship and how to fill out

important forms such as the FASFA, so students will be able to receive the critical

financial aid required in order for them to attend college.

Board

As stated in the bylaws, there will be up to nine members on the Board and no less than

three. The initial Board will have seven members. The Board will vote on new and renewing

members every June. Each term will span a two year duration and no person shall serve more

than three consecutive terms. If a Board member is to miss three consecutive meetings, they will
be automatically voted off. The following are Board members for BREAK and reasonings for

their position:

Tonya Turman: Orchard Knob Middle School Parent Volunteer Coordinator; Turman

provides valuable insight on how to connect to parents and students and is a valuable

contact to get other faculty and administrative support at the schools BREAK serves.

Lewis Card Jr.: Vice Chairman at Card-Monroe Corporation; Card will provide BREAK

with essential contacts for potential large donors that will allow BREAK to expand and

refine programs.

Andy Berke: Mayor of Chattanooga; Mayor Berke will is essential to the Board because

he will add legitmance to BREAK’s programs and will be a critical contact for school

administrative staff to want to be involved and supportive of BREAK.

J.D. Hickey: President of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee; Just like Lewis Card Jr.,

Hickey will provide key donors to the donor base and open doors financially for

BREAK.

Moise Baptiste:Executive Director, Student Affairs, UTC & Global Director of

Educational Affairs, Haitian-American Caucus; Baptiste, who is already involved with

extracurricular programs at Orchard Knob Middle School and Brainerd High School will

be fundamental in connecting BREAK with school administrative staff. Because

he works at UTC, Baptiste will also help with recruiting college students to volunteer

in BREAK’s many programs.

Michelle Evans, Ph.D.: The esteemed UTC professor of Public Administration and Public

Service classes, former employee of Mrs. Kennedy Shriver, lover of Special Olympics,

proud owner of Hamilton the cat; Evans will provide invaluable insight in categories such
 as nonprofit financial oversight, legal requirements, ethics, governance, leadership,

management, and Board responsibilities for BREAK.

Deborah Flagg: President of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Chattanooga

Chapter, Inc.; Flagg will provide important insight on how to reach and relate to the

deserving inner city students BREAK serves.

Articles of Incorporation

We chose the address of 651 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, Tennessee as the

registered office because it is a convenient downtown location and is in somewhat close

proximity to the schools BREAK serves. If we were need to provide transportation to our

programs, distance would not be an issue.

The five purposes for BREAK and its programs are:

1. To provide educational resources for all kids in low achieving schools

2. To break the cycle of poverty

3. To bridge the gap between the lower 5% of schools and upper 5% of schools

4. To provide ACT/SAT test preparation resources and tutoring for classes

5. To provide resume building and scholarship application guidance and support

We chose these five purposes because we feel as though they will help BREAK best

achieve its mission.

Form 1023

Part I. Identification of Application

 The name BREAK or Better Resources for Enabling All Kids was chosen because it

embodies are missions and tells clients and donors what we are about straight from the start.

Our organization’s website is www.break.org and our email is breakchatt@gmail.com. The

name of the primary contact is Drucilla Dawson.

Part II. Organizational Structure

For BREAK’s organizational structure we chose to be a corporation because most

nonprofits are corporations and by being a corporation we are provided with the most legal

protection.

Part III. Required Provisions in Your Organizing Document

Our reasoning for tax exempt status can be found on Page 1, Article V., and Paragraph 2

of our Articles of Incorporation. The dissolution clause for BREAK can be found of Page 3,

Article XI., and Paragraph 1 of the Articles of Incorporation.

Part IV. Narrative Description of Your Activities

A summary of the activities can be found within the Form 1023 application form.

Part V. Compensation and Other Financial Arrangements with Your Officers, Directors,

Trustees, Employees, and Independent Contractors

 Our Executive Director is Deborah Flagg, our Chair is Tonya Turman, and our Vice

Chair is Michelle Evans. None of these positions are compensated positions because all three

hold seats on the Board and that would be seen as a conflict of interest.

Hope Cody is the Services Liaison and she will be compensated $60,000 a year. Drucilla

Dawson is the Director of Language Arts and her salary will be $56,000. Bailey Ackerson will

be the Director of Mathematics and her compensation will be $56,000 are year. Victoria

Shackelford will be the Director of Social Sciences and her pay will be $56,000 a year. Katie

Darden will be the Secretary and she will be paid $50,000 a year.

The conflict of interest policy can be found within the bylaws of BREAK.

Part VI. Your Members and Other Individuals and Organizations that Receive Benefits

from You

Our services will be provided to students at the following schools: Orchard Knob Middle

School, Dalewood Middle School, Brainerd High School, and The Howard School. Individuals

who receive the benefits of BREAK’s programs must attend one of the listed schools and must

be in 7th to 12th grade.

Bylaws

Board of Directors. As previously stated, the Board will have no more than nine members and

no less than three. The Board shall receive no compensation other than for reasonable expenses.

The Governance Committee shall present nominations for new and renewing members each

June. All appointments to the Board shall be for a term of two years. No person shall serve for
more than three consecutive terms. A Board member who misses three consecutive meetings

shall be removed from the Board.

Officers. The Board shall elect officers for the Executive Director, Chair, and Vice Chair

positions. The Executive Directive shall hold the responsibilities of supervising and conducting

all activities of the organization, subject to the consent and control of the Board. The Chair shall

preside over all meetings of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee. The Vice Chair

shall assume the position of the Chair if the Chair is absent.

Conclusion

BREAK, or Better Resources for Enabling All Kids hopes to carefully stick to all its

plans and program in order to achieve our mission of “Empowering and enabling inner city

students with the opportunities to break the cycle of poverty, including tutoring, test prep, and

resume building in an after school setting.” By executing these programs as best as possible and

conducting ourselves with the utmost excellence BREAK believes we will break the cycle of

poverty and change the course of life for students in inner city schools.