Dennisha’s Village: One Person Raising a Community

PADM 6400
Lenyorsita Faison

Dr. Melisa Beeson
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, Michigan
July 29, 2013

Introduction Founded in 2010, in the city of Battle Creek, Michigan, Dennisha’s Village (The Village) is an organization that was inspired by youthful experience and a dream to assist young women in becoming their best, in spite of any mistakes made in life. Founder Dennisha Ware, had this inspiration due to her own teenage pregnancy that was not given the support and positive parenting skills; that she too also needed in order to make a difference within her own life. The “Village” became a passion in serving a purpose. With a determination and a strive for growth Ms. Ware never gave up on her dream to becoming an independent woman in search of making a difference within the lives of others. She describes some of the hardships of becoming a young mother with all the mistakes and how no familial assistance was available to give her guidance. The organizations mission is:
To be an advocate for all teen parents, in connecting and providing them with the necessary resources in order to raise their children and become successful adults.
It is Ms. Ware’s belief that if the community takes an initiative in training young parents in child care, parenting skills and furthering long term goals. With the right training and support it is felt that future mothers’ will become self-supporting and have the ability to make better informed judgments in their homes as well as how they interact with their children. Her idea is to give young women a clear view of just what it takes to being a parent. Educationally these ladies are ill-equipped for what obstacles will arise during the child rearing years. But it is with education; parents can better provide security, a better standard of living and be the role model to their children.

Structuring Dennisha’s Village is comprised of six board members, who are non-active within the organization. One goal is to have members that are very much hands-on to interact with the clients and hosts fundraisers, in order to be able to supply the young mothers with clothing, baby essentials, counseling and educational mentoring. Unlike Florence Crittenton National (an organization that once facilitated solely in adoptions), The Village’s main goal is to educate and give these young women a direction that is positive and motivational. To Ms. Ware, the organization could be best served with board members who have a passion for the mission and are team players who are working towards the same goal. According to Brown 2011, Dennisha’s Village can be described as an open system. With the continual interaction within the City of Battle Creek, services are provided based on the needs of the community. Its’ staff are occasional volunteers who have come to believe and support the work in which Ms. Ware is achieving. With the organization still in the infancy stages, The Village is in need of some organizational structure. Modifying the lines of authority, span of control and arrangement of work function would add layers to the organization. Management efforts to make an organization more flexible and responsive have produced a recent trend toward decentralization in decision making by lower-level managers, who are closer to where the real work takes place and are knowledgeable of the problems first hand (Robbins & Judge, 2012, p. 206). This modification would create departments, give some authority to areas where needed and would delegate tasks among the entire organization; instead of one person doing the task of many. Structurally the organization is formalized on a low to moderate level. There are policies and procedures in place in accordance with the State of Michigan. The Founder/Executive Director has set the standard and approval is done by the Board of Directors without input or careful review.
Operational
Operationally The Village