| Name | Faisal |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Saeed |
| Home Address | 7405 Twin Brook Dr Chattanooga, Tennessee 37421 United States |
| Organization Name | Guardian Angels |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | Title: Volunteer Chief Financial Officer I recommend to the board about making most of the Financial decisions, including but not limited to doing fundraising, applying for grants, taking care of expenses, doing all paperwork including filing taxes, Of course, like everyone else, I am a volunteer also, and my CFO title/job does not have any salary, as we all are volunteers. |
| Organization Address | 1220 Johnson Blvd SE Cleveland, Tennessee 37311 United States |
| Website | https://www.guardiannagels.us |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 4232445865 |
| Alternate Phone Number | 4232987808 |
| Email Address | guardianangels@usa.com |
| Alternate Email Address | guardianangels@activist.com |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | As we know in these past years, the climate of not only our country but also the world itself has shifted beyond measures. COIVD-19 created changes that were so sudden and unexpected it truly caused immeasurable issues. However, over these two years, many of us have seen with our own eyes how many small businesses were affected by the pandemic. There were many scenarios of small business investing completely right before the pandemic and being hit with a wave of issues out of their own control. They did not even get a chance to promote their small business and have suffered through the losses. With this in mind, our organization seeks to recognize and provide for these small businesses affected by the pandemic. Specifically, for our minority communities such as Indo-Pak, Arab, Women, and other POC. Our project will design and execute a Covid-friendly "Small Business Fair" aiming to create promotion, profit, and engagement for our Chattanooga community. - The first step our organization plans on taking in order to ensure success is reaching out and working with our partner organizations such as "Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga" , " We Over Me" and "Redemption to the Nations Church". From there, we will put in all our efforts into promoting. - Step two will be to use our local resources to the best of our abilities. We will use TV stations, the news, Radio, local universities, and religious centers to spread the word of our project in seeking small businesses willing to participate. This way, the real small business will be able to be reached by us through multiple means instead of just something like social media. - Step three will be making sure all of our seeking materials specifically provide a link/form of contact where these businesses can submit a Free application/registration to participate in this fair. In this registration process, we will have them outline any and all things they will potentially need in order to attend. Our project timeline shows that hopefully the fair will occur after the anniversary of COVID-19. Therefore, once we see an adequate amount of response from small businesses interested in participating, we will begin the promotional process. Again, with the use of social media as well, we will utilize our forms of communication to amplify the event and create a buzz around it. We want as many local people to come out and support our fair. At this point, in our project, our plan outlines that we will either book the fair space in downtown Chattanooga or camp Jordan. Regardless, we will find a venue that is open and provides for a Covid-friendly experience to allow everyone to join us while also simultaneously keeping our community safe. We will also heavily recommend masks to ensure as much safety as possible. This fair will occur over the span of two-weekends. The first weekend, we will specifically highlight Indo-Pak and Arab small businesses. From our organization's research as well as first-hand experience, we have come to realize that during the pandemic, these two specific groups were very harshly impacted. That pandemic related stressed coupled with Financial issues, also created domestic violence/abuse in these communities as well as severe mental health problems. Thus, we want to create a safe space that allows them to rejuvenate. The second weekend will specifically promote female-owned and POC-owned businesses. As stated previously, we want to highlight our minorities in the Chattanooga community as they have dealt with many extra issues over the course of these past two years. Once we have our dates, venue, small business, promotional materials, and other small beginning points finalized, we will move into the next step. In the registration process, we will ask our small business to specify how they would like their booths set. We will completely provide all materials as well as aid in setting up their booths for the fair free of Charge. This way, the businesses do not need to worry about spreading themselves thin trying to find a way to come to this event. Our organization will completely provide the setup. All we ask these small businesses to bring is themselves as well as the products/services they are promoting. We expect many different types of businesses to join that can very well vary from a food vendor to a jewelry store owner to phone repair booth. In this way, a food vendor can bring their food to sell or a jewelry store owner can display their jewelry and sell as well. However, we will also personally be providing free snacks for any attendants of the fair, including the small business as well as the people who come out to support them. This way, there is something for everyone but if anyone wants to really dig in they have all these food vendors to eat from. Additionally, the fair will consist of music and we plan on hiring local artists willing to perform or play their music. Again, we want to invest in our small creators within our community as much as possible. People will be able to walk around this fair and stop by each booth to enjoy all the little things that they don’t typically get to see. At the end of the day, the small business will get to keep 100% of their profits from the fair. We will not ask them to give us anything in turn as this will hopefully serve as a boosting opportunity for their business. Both of these weekends will be a wonderful jumpstart for our local small business that were heavily impacted due to the pandemic. We will be able to highlight our minorities as well as create Covid-friendly space and events for everyone in our community to enjoy after being cooped up for the past two years. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | First of all and foremost, this plan will bring exposure to small businesses as they were the one who suffered most in Covid Era. It will bring people out in to the community in a pandemic-safe manner resulting in help with mental health issues that were caused by being couped up inside due to Covid-19. Additionally, businesses will be able to sell their products, take orders, make future contacts, and thus kickstart the economy back to pre-Covid Era. All in all, our project not only seeks to improve the current conditions of those who were most affected by the pandemic but also create opportunities of foundation for the future. |
| Where would your project take place? | At a big venue where we can be Covid-19 friendly. Most likely the pavilion, Camp Jordan, or a suitable Venue that fit our needs. |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 60000.00 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | Yes |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga - $10,000 |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | $50,000 |
| If funded, when would your project start? | March 23, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | about one to two months at the most |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | We will have feedback portal from the businesses that will allow for up to date information regarding concerns or positive outcomes. We will have a separate feedback section from the General Public with details about how useful they found the Fair to be, if they have done any business with the vendors, and if they plan on using any of those vendors/small businesses in the future. After the fair, we also intend to send out a survey after the 3-month mark as well as the 6-month mark to the small businesses that participated in the event. Instead of generic questions, we plan to specifically ask if they saw an improvement in their business and if they would be interested in repeating the process. Hopefully, with the collective responses of the participants as well as attendees, we will have a large pool of information to work with for future projects as well as strong milestone achievements. |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | We have worked with Community Foundation of Chattanooga during the Tornado Relief, we have worked with We over Me, with Mr. Chris Sands of City of Chattanooga, as well as numerous other organizations in the past, and we are proud to say that the very positive references and Feedback from these partners says a lot about our accountability. We do have a process of rigorous bookkeeping, but our main advantage and winning combination for our Accountability and transparency is that NONE of our staff / Board Members get paid for anything. We all are just volunteers, and this volunteering and Service were the core foundations of creation of this organization. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | - Will create job opportunities for food vendors, musicians, etc. - Allows for exposure of small business and their products/services - Also bring revenue right back into the Chattanooga community in a COVID-19 safe manner - Small business will keep any profit they make from the fairs/selling their products - We will set up our own booth selling useful, informative merch and those proceeds will go directly into women/domestic violence care |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | We have great working partnership with CFGC, We over Me, and they have a vast network of Members and organization that will help. We will Churches like Redemption to the Nations, Mt. Olivet, Seventh Day Adventist Church on Standifer Gap , Hickory Valley Baptist Church to help out. Our Volunteer CFO is an Imam at the Masjid Muhammad/ Islamic Center of Chattanooga, so we will spread the word in all three Islamic Centers/mosques. Additionally, we intend to utilize the younger population's interest such as the diverse community already present on our local colleges as well as UTC campus. |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? | We have been helping communities since 2016. We have our main office in Cleveland, TN but also have registered offices in Chattanooga. Our mailing address in Chattanooga is: 6148 Lee Hwy suite # 248 Chattanooga, TN 37421. |