Mei Harrison

September 14, 2017

Blue 1
Senior Seminar Plan
Research on Topic:

Nonprofit organizations are extremely relevant in the twenty-first century. Economically,

they serve to use surplus revenue to further achieve a purpose or mission rather than distributing

income to shareholders as profits or dividends. They are organized under state law and thus

directors gain the legal protections afforded to for-profit corporations.

The concept of nonprofit work and organizations began as early as the 18th century.

Often times these groups were founded by churches and religious organizations for the

establishment of educational foundations. The early nonprofits operated with little governmental

regulation or advising. The first law to provide tax-exempt status to nonprofits was enacted in

1894 as the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act. As the twentieth century came around, federal and state

governments involved themselves with the establishment and regulation of nonprofits.

Regulation around nonprofits was necessary in order to ensure that they were doing the work

they promised and not taking any profit. Today, regulation is still needed in order to keep track

of all nonprofits under one domain but there are less financial issues from one hundred years

ago.

Nonprofits are almost universally driven by the passion(s) of the founders. They provide

a platform for people to be creative and innovative without having to worry about profit

distribution. Although nonprofits often serve to better the world, there are some concerns that

face the nonprofit sector as a whole. For instance, they are morally required to keep a positive

relationship to primary funding sources and this can become difficult when conflicts arise.
Additionally, nonprofits often receive less government funding than other sources due to the

focus on passion and non collecting a profit. This can be problematic and causes many nonprofits

not to survive their first few years.

The Colorado Meth Project and Rise Above Colorado are nonprofit organizations based

in Colorado that are working to better the lives of youth and adults in the state. Both

organizations focus on prevention of drug abuse, specifically ​methamphetamine, along with

offering prescription drug and general drug prevention resources. As many nonprofits work, both

of these are targeting teens and their perceptions on drugs through educational programs with an

end goal of reducing usage patterns. In Rise Above Colorado’s Colorado Youth Survey, they

found that despite the legalization of marijuana, teen drug use has been stable. Colorado teens

have increased access to drugs and alcohol which makes substance use prevention education a

top priority.

Sources →

http://www.socialeconomynetwork.org/nonprofit-organizations/

http://www.riseaboveco.org/about.html#team

http://coloradomethproject.org

GPS Domains:

Through my senior seminar, the GPS Domains of Communicate Ideas and Take Action

will be addressed. By having my speaker’s present on the work of nonprofits, they will be

communicating their ideas on how to make nonprofit work successful and effective.

Furthermore, they will share their opinions on teen drug misuse which will communicate a real
problem in our region, state, and nation. According to National Survey on Drug Use and Health

(NSDUH) performed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

(SAMSA), in 2013, about 24.6 million Americans aged twelve or older were current illicit drug

users. This represents 9.4% of the population over the age of twelve. Additionally, my senior

seminar will address the domain of Take Action. By presenting to a group of students who are

most likely affected by drug use, this will encourage attention to be brought to the issue and will

begin a conversation of action. According to the Rise Above Colorado Youth Survey, students

aged 15 to 17 overestimated their peer’s use of alcohol and marijuana 32% of the actual reported

use. Due to these statistics, it is imperative for seminars to be held like this one in order to

increase awareness and understanding about drug misuse by teens.

http://momsfightback.org/statistics-drug-use-youth-colorado/

http://healthlibrary.epnet.com/GetContent.aspx?deliverycontext=&touchurl=&CallbackURL=&t

oken=ffe89542-7047-469b-aadd-ceea6d53cb65&chunkiid=11896&docid=/dci/drugabuse

http://www.riseaboveco.org/articles/2016%20RAC%20Youth%20Survey%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

Speaker Explanation:

Jonathan Judge is the current Director of Community Engagement at Rise Above

Colorado. He is an alumnus of the Peace Corps and holds a bachelor’s degree from the

University of Nebraska-Wesleyan and a master’s in international studies from University of

Denver. He served as the director for the International Towne program at Young Americans

Center for Financial Education from 2003 to 2008 where he led the educational program in

global economics. As he advanced in the professional world, he became the program manager
for the Colorado Meth Project and led volunteer networking, outreach to schools, and piloted a

national meth prevention curriculum. At Rise Above Colorado, he works to design, implement,

and monitor social media activity as well as art projects across Colorado.

Judge actually used to be on the DCIS Board and helped to open the first school. This

direct connection to DCIS as well as his involvement in nonprofit and drug misuse makes him a

perfect selection for my senior seminar.

List of Topics:

1. Nonprofit leadership and work in the U.S. and Colorado

2. Rise Above Colorado / Colorado Meth Project

3. Teen drug misuse

4. Fostering change in youth in Colorado

Learning Objective:

Students who attend the seminar will be expected to learn something new about nonprofit

work or a fact about teen drug misuse in Colorado. This will be measured by a verbal

questioning period asking what the audience already knows and a post verbal reflection for

students to share what they learned or found interesting.

Check for Understanding:

 I will check for the audience’s understanding of the presented material by verbal

feedback, body language observations, an active dialogue between audience and speaker, and a

written exit ticket on comprehension of the topics covered.

Logistics:

1. Identify when and where you will conduct your seminar and include an explanation of why
you chose to present your seminar to this class. Give three reasons why your seminar is ideal
with your class.

I am planning to present to a middle school Social Studies class, hopefully 8th Grade Global Service
Learning. Rise Above Colorado is currently having some administrative changes and I am awaiting
an email back from them and Jonathan Judge. I will let you know when they email me back.