The H.E.R. Group Business Plan
OWNERS: Emmanuel Shahid Avraham, President & Chief Executive Officer
Elianah C. Avraham, Vice President
Business name: The Human Excellence Resource Group, LLC
Atlanta, GA 30331
Telephone: 404.504.0329
E-mail: thehergroupllc2@gmail.com
Executive Summary - Company History
The Human Excellence Resource Group, LLC – The H.E.R. Group was once known by other names: (1.) The Life Skills Academy (LSA), (2.) Amer-I-Can Academy of New Jersey established in 1994, founded in 1994 by Emmanuel S. Avraham. The primary contract held under the Life Skills Academy business umbrella was with the State of NJ-DOC. During the time of its 12-year tenure with the NJ-DOC, The H.E.R Group (LSA) provided Re-Entry services for 1500 inmates plus per year with a completion rate of 99%. In 2006 amidst a challenging political climate, the contract with the NJ-DOC was not renewed.
In 2008, in response to a change in its operating environment, The Life Skills Academy was reorganized, established as a limited liability corporation, and renamed The Human Excellence Resource Group, LLC (The H.E.R. Group). The H.E.R. Group is a cognitive system of care for human development, which is purposed to teach life management skills that seek to enhance the quality of each individual life by developing personal skills that reflect an attitude of excellence.
The H.E.R. Group believes that if you can change a person’s thought process and teach human development through life management skills, you can change that person’s life and help them to achieve goals directed towards success. “Human Excellence” is the tool.
Overview of Services:
The Human Excellences Resource Group, LLC (The H.E.R. Group) is located in Atlanta, Georgia, and is headed by Emmanuel & Elianah Avraham. Our company is formerly known as (Amer-I-Can Academy and The Life Skills Academy- LSA).
The H.E.R group provides at-risk youth, youth in foster care system, sex offenders, human trafficker victims, temporary housing for foster children, and adults a support system driven by an emphasis on alternative and proper choices in order to lead productive lives and successfully transition out of the foster care system, juvenile justice system, communities, and the adult penal system.
THREE SERVICE SECTIONS:
(1.) The H.E.R. Group provides support services to include supervising, behavioral management, and transporting/escorting children, adolescents and teens as required through approved authorizations from the social services, individuals etc.
(2.) The H.E.R Group training curriculum is a cognitive human development, life management skills training curriculum that seeks to enhance the quality of individuals through developing personal skills in eight critical areas. The effectiveness of The HER Group Life Management Training (Re-Entry Program) was measured using the rate of recidivism as a performance indicator.
The HER Group showed a recidivism rate of 2.67% within a two- three-year period after being release from incarceration, compared to 35% of a controlled group that didn’t receive our highly effective training - returning within six months of release from prison. This is a ten-fold difference in the effectiveness of the HER Group Re-Entry Program. A second performance indicator –the degree to which participants have adjusted to life outside of prison after 2-3 years– showed that 86.3% reported they were doing “good” to “excellent”, based on a 5-point rating scale with 5 being “excellent” and 1 being “poor”.
(3.) “Maharva House, LLC” - Child Care Institute (CCI) with focus as a Host House - providing temporary housing for children taken into custody by States Child Services.
Mission Statement
The H.E.R. Group recognizes the need to assist youth and adults in overcoming a myriad of family life obstacles and gaining needed skills to effect behavioral change. The mission of the HER Group is to impact individuals by providing a support system that offers alternatives and choices that lead to productive lives.
Many have discussed the “Prison Pipeline” from schools to prison. The H.E.R. Group looks at it in two folds 1.) Schools to prisons, and 2.) Foster Care to prisons. It is what we call “generational curses”. Socioeconomic problems are the great plague of our time. The destruction of our families, educational system, poverty, public housing, gang killings, drug abuse, racism, political corruption, joblessness and poor housing are only a few problems we are facing at the national, state and community levels. This is a global human problem and the solution lays in redeveloping lives within our communities, one person at a time.
The H.E.R. Group is in Atlanta, Georgia, and is headed by President & CEO, Emmanuel Avraham.
The H.E.R. Group has an outstanding record of achievements and a vision for human development through life skills training throughout the community (correctional institutions and public housing developments). The H.E.R. Group concludes that the overarching problem within the socioeconomic structure of America is a general lack of self-esteem; and further contends that only when the self-esteem of individuals is raised can they improve their lives and achieve success through self-determination.
We believe that in addition to understanding the goal setting process, individuals must honestly examine past behavior patterns and choices that have negatively affected their lives. Once an understanding of the past is firmly established, individuals will be able to change their thinking by accepting responsibility for determining the direction of their lives.
The H.E.R. Group is a dynamic, instructional service organization that strives to address the needs of a diverse clientele. It challenges training participants to build more productive life experiences and to experience success in all aspects of living as they learn more about themselves. The H.E.R. Group is proud of its commitment to excellence and equally proud of its performance to nourish the growth of diversity in all aspects of its organization. Its approach to diversity recognizes and celebrates the ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, and religious beliefs of its large client base.
The H.E.R. Group learning process demands a different kind of leadership; whereby instructors are trained to safeguard the learning process by promoting interaction among the participants without passing judgment or imposing personal values and opinions. To ensure instructors have the proper skills, knowledge, and abilities a well-established training academy specifically designed for instructors is in place. In addition, the curriculum is adaptable across multiple sectors including the offender system, human services agencies, public housing tenants, corporations, law enforcement, and the military.
The following programs and services are available under The H.E.R. Group Portfolio of Programs:
- Re-Entry –Juveniles and Adults
- Foster Care Temporary / Host Housing (CCI)
- Behavioral Aide / Life Coach
- Education and Mentoring
- Family and Community Development
According to the US Department of Justice, “Re-entry involves the use of programs targeted at promoting the effective reintegration of offenders back to communities upon release from prison and jail. Reentry programming…is intended to assist offenders in acquiring the life skills needed to succeed in the community and become law-abiding citizens.” A prime example of the success of The H.E.R. Group is in the field of re-entry. The H.E.R. Group Re-Entry Program (operating under The Life Skills Academy) had a long-standing contractual relationship to provide re-entry services to State of the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJ-DOC), Trenton, New Jersey Public Housing Authority, and Camden, New Jersey Public Housing Authority where the curriculum was used extensively in correctional facilities and public housing statewide.
Under the contract with NJ-DOC, approximately 1500 plus minors and adults in state penal institutions were trained yearly from 1994-2006.
The US Department of Justice also reports, “Nearly 650,000 people are released from state and federal prison yearly and arrive on the doorsteps of communities nationwide. A far greater number reenter communities from local jails, and for many offenders and /defendants, this may occur multiple times in a year. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) over 50 percent of those released from incarceration will be in some form of legal trouble within 3 years. (Retrieved June 4, 2010, from http://www.reentry.gov/learn.html).”
The effectiveness of The H.E.R. Group Re-Entry Program in the NJ-DOC was measured using the rate of recidivism as a performance indicator. The HER Group showed a recidivism rate of 2.67% within a three-year period, compared to 26% for an internal NJ-DOC program. This is a ten-fold difference in the effectiveness of The H.E.R. Group Re-Entry Program. A second performance indicator –the degree to which participants have adjusted to life outside of prison after 2-3 years – showed that 86.3% reported they were doing “good” to “excellent”, based on a 5-point rating scale with 5 being “excellent” and 1 being “poor”.
Through the same tracking system saw a serious increase in attitude and motivation to return to school and job search from our public housing tenants that completed our curriculum training.
Products and Services
The H.E.R. Group Portfolio of Core Life Management Skills Training
The HER Group life management skills training operate within the structure of self-help and peer group relationships. The HER Group curriculum is applicable to all people as it transcends race, age, gender, religion and socioeconomic status.
Family and Community Development
- Foster Care Temporary Housing
- Behavioral Health / Life Coach
- Youth-at-Risk: Prevention and Intervention (Alternative to Incarceration)
- Parent Training / “Welfare to Work”
- Family Ties, Not Family Lies
Re-Entry
- Re-Entry: Adult and Juvenile Offenders
Education and Mentorship
- Leadership and Role Models
- Behavioral Aide / Life Coach
- Tenants from Welfare to Work
- Reducing Recidivism among Juveniles
- Harvest School Project (K-8)
Human Services
- Youth and Seniors RECONNECT
- Maharva House
- Beautiful Ladies United (BLU)
The H.E.R Group operates within the structure of self-help, peer group relationship guided by an instructor, the training methodology consists of:
1. Phase One and Phase Two:
Audio and visual aids may be used to assist all trainees including the illiterate, learning impaired and the reading disabled.
2. Critical Issues Discussion:
Each participant is allotted time to comment without interruption, group members comment on what was previously said or offer new subjects for discussion.
3. Controlled Interaction:
Lessons are sometimes repeated to ensure comprehension and maximum Retention.
The cognitive human development life-management skills curriculum is designed to raise self-esteem and teach individuals how to empower themselves and turn their lives around with positive self-esteem, self-determination, and by becoming responsible and productive citizens.
The H.E.R. Group believes that if you can change a person’s way of thinking - thought process, and teach human development through life-management skills, you can change that person’s life and help them to achieve success.
Once participants graduate from the program, they can teach these skills to others and help put an end to the cycle of despair and dependency on the welfare system, lower the unemployment ratio and empower individuals within the community.
The H.E.R Group personnel possess diverse experience in all aspects of personal development and reformation including working with former gang members and public housing tenants who eventually became staffers to the program. For this proposed work, we will seek to select a team of experienced training instructors. Each will have extensive knowledge in our curriculum, philosophy and methodology.
A key component is that some of these employees and instructors are their own success stories. Some have lived within the same environment and arisen from some of the same circumstances and hardships as the participants, making their ability to relate to the participants even greater and narrowing the intimidation gap, which can often be prevalent in a teaching environment.
Their experience will assure that the program reflects and meets the needs of the participants and will be the correct combination of proper structure and practical knowledge that will a have a positive impact on their lives and communities.
A host of concepts, ideas, terms and programs are presented in this curriculum. The program lays a map for success. Focus, determination, commitment, discipline and responsibility are just a few of the key terms that have been used in conjunction with the lessons for setting goals and reaching one’s highest potential. Upon the completion of this course, the successful participant has grown in self-confidence, made personal changes in habits and developed a strategy for reaching their goals. They are in control of their destiny and fully motivated and equipped with the components necessary to launch them into their favorable future.
Price Structure
It is our experience that a fixed price contract bases on materials, supplies, and service charges represents the most appropriate method to facilitate the implementation and administration of services.
Fixed price contracting should appeal to the sponsoring agency for the following reason, which is stated below as in the Federal procurement regulations:
(SPR 1-3, 404:2). “...this type of contract...places maximum risk upon the contractor because the contractor assumes full responsibility, in the form of losses, for all costs under or over the firm fixed price, corporations has the maximum profit incentive effective cost control and contract performance. Use of fixed-price contract imposes a minimum administrative burden on the contracting parties.”
Goals and Objectives
The primary goal of The H.E.R. Group is enhancing the life management skills of individuals in the community, foster care system – housing, and community-based programs, including youth and adult offenders, students, and parents. The H.E.R. Group also has the capabilities to work with government and human services agencies. The H.E.R. Group strives to achieves its mission and goal by offering a training curriculum that seeks to enhance the quality of each individual life by developing personal skills in eight (8) critical areas:
Motivation, Habits, Attitudes, and Conditioning. By helping each participant to identify his or her potential and maintain a high level of motivation, the program opens the door for continuous striving toward success; enabling them to seize the opportunities and capitalize on potential, moving them from an attitude of self-doubt to self-determination by restructure habits, attitudes and condition processes.
Effective Communication: Let’s Talk about It. Expressing oneself and communicating can be two entirely different matters. Understanding how one’s expressions inhibit dialogue between people is a key to communication. Many participants in The H.E.R. Group training program are initially introverted and resistant to expressing their emotions, but evolve as communicative, freely expressive persons over the course of the program.
Goal Setting. Individuals often look at obstacles as insurmountable, consequently creating negative attitudes because they do not understand alternative goal setting processes. The H.E.R. Group training curriculum, a goal is examined within the context of a peer group to determine if it has the essential components required for true attainment.
Problem Solving and Decision Making. While many individuals have gone through years of formal education, most have not received training in basic problem-solving skills. The H.E.R. Group problem-solving and decision-making processes assist participants in finding and applying practical solutions to everyday problems.
Emotional Control. Individuals who are unable to keep emotional problems from interfering with work or social outlets, often experience difficulties, which lead to less-than-desirable outcomes. By understanding emotional stress and pressure, participants cultivate the ability to bring stress and pressure under control, thereby becoming functional and productive under any circumstance.
Family Relationship: Where Do I Fit? Strong family relationships tend to help drive a person toward achievement. The H.E.R. Group’s strong family components are designed to achieve greater understanding of family member roles and responsibilities while providing practical guidelines to bring the family together as a positive, cohesive, and supportive life force.
Financial Responsibility. Individual earning potential and spending habits determine financial responsibility. Learning sound money management and budgeting practices is vital for all socioeconomic levels and is a clear indication of maturity and self-responsibility.
Employment Search and Retention: Getting and Keeping a Job. Guidelines are provided to assist participants in career exploration, job search, interviewing, and other critical areas such as punctuality, conflict resolution, productivity, and promotion.
Core Competencies
Community leadership
- Adopting community-based leadership
- Building trust
- Co-constructing purpose and strategic planning
- Acting together
- Deepening, sustaining, making the work of change a way of life
Solid organizational infrastructure
Managing complex initiatives
Linking community needs with resources
Exhibiting a moral system of belief
Modeling prosocial connectedness
Promoting positive development with prevention of risk
Core Values and Behaviors
Responsible stewardship – responsible and accountable to spirituality with time, energy, influence, service, and resources
- Strategic leadership – translates goals and objectives into action plans, leverages resources to meet objectives, committed to continuous improvement
- Honesty and integrity in all operations – openly demonstrates accountability, speaks out on challenges and risks
- Teamwork and collaboration – works collaboratively across boundaries and the matrix, breaks down barriers to achieve results
- Demonstrates respect for others – promotes inclusion, builds and maintains trust
- Open, transparent communication – shares information, decisions, and seeks multiple viewpoints
- Innovation – seeks new opportunities, drives positive change and creates organizational and customer value
- Develops self and others – energizes others and builds diverse, high-performing teams, committed to continuous learning
Management and Organization
Senior Management Team (SMT)
Emmanuel S. Avraham, President & Chief Executive Officer
Elianah Avraham, Senior Vice President
Dr. Ethel Lett, Senior Adviser
Michelle Dance, Program Manager / Trainer
Yolanda Sample, Strategic Operations & Management
Vera Jackson, Consultant Business Development & Expansion
Nasik Christian J. Williams, Operational Manager
Elijah Avraham, Communication Director
Jeremiah Odeh, Lead Supervisor
Ivory Hargrove, Assistant Reviewer / Lead
Kadmiel Avraham, Business Expansion and Opportunities
Safiyya Sharif, Executive Administrator / Life Coach
Professional and Advisory Support
List the following:
- Board of Directors and Management Advisory Board
- Attorney and Accountant
- Insurance Agent and Banker
- Consultants
- Mentors and Key Advisors
