News

Asperger/Autism Network (AANE),  Boston, works with individuals, families, and professionals to help people with Asperger Syndrome and similar autism spectrum profiles build meaningful, connected lives, by providing information, education, community, support, and advocacy - all in an atmosphere of validation and respect. They are seeking CCT’s help to increase awareness of their services in urban and rural communities, as well as to identify any unique needs in these communities. www.aane.org

Career Collaborative, Boston, teaches unemployed and under-employed adults how to build careers by providing job-readiness and job-search classes and coaching, job placement, and two years of career mentoring. Career Collaborative has a deep understanding of their client population, eighty percent of whom were born outside of the U.S., many with a BA/BS or advanced degree. The CCT project includes a market segmentation analysis, articulation of an employer-focused value proposition and recommendations for future expansion opportunities. www.careercollaborative.org

Clarendon Early Education Service (CEES ), Lawrence, has a two-fold mission: to provide quality, culturally sensitive and affordable childcare and nutrition services and to promote small business opportunities for women and men in the Massachusetts Family Child Care industry. Clarendon is the largest nonprofit Family Child Care organization providing training and support services to early childhood educators/care givers (ECE/CGs) under a contract with Massachusetts’ Department of Early Education and Care. They have asked CCT to conduct a feasibility study for developing innovative on-line courses to expand their portfolio of training and education services, provide a market assessment, make pricing recommendations, and provide ROI and risk analysis. www.clarendonearlyeducationservices.org

The Family Van, Brookline, educates, counsels and assists community members in strengthening and protecting their bodies and minds in a welcoming, non-judgmental environment. In their mobile health van, they serve city neighborhoods with the largest prevalence of preventable disease, providing screening, counseling and onward referral through staff, volunteers, and health professionals in training. CCT will conduct a SWOT analysis of several audiences to help them prioritize opportunities, refine their mission statement and develop a unique value proposition. www.familyvan.org                                                                                                                                                                                            Friends of Holly Hill Farm (FHHF), Cohasset, works to benefit local communities, provide healthy food, and educate people of all ages about the practices of conservation and sustainable farming. FHHF leadership is looking to create a sustainable organization that can operate without the ongoing support of the founding family, and they need a more strategic and focused approach. CCT will conduct a review of the FHHF portfolio of farming and education programs to help their leadership decide which programs to prioritize for growth, where to focus on improving program economics and operational efficiencies, and where to limit or discontinue investment. www.hollyhillfarm.org                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Judge Baker Children’s Center, Roxbury, strives to ensure that every family has access to the highest quality behavioral health services, through evidenced-based services that drastically reduce the length of treatment. A national leader for over 100 years, Judge Baker services include a school, a hotline, and outpatient clinics at their Roxbury Crossing headquarters. To meet the growing demand for services from families in the Metrowest, Judge Baker is opening up a satellite clinic in Waltham. They would like the CCT team to provide an analysis of their new target market, conduct interviews/surveys of health professionals and parents to understand families’ wants, needs, and ability to pay, and provide research on best practices of highly regarded clinics around the country. www.jbcc.harvard.edu                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            NEADS (National Education for Assistance Dog Services), Princeton, MA, has trained over 1800 service dogs for veterans, children on the autism spectrum, people with developmental disabilities, and the deaf to provide independence through canine assistance. The service dogs go through a rigorous five-step training process, culminating in final training provided by prison inmates. The organization’s immediate challenge is with recruiting and retaining inmate trainers. After a decade of stability, recently they have experienced significant trainer turnover. The CCT team will assess NEAD’s operations to develop recommendations for a sustainable staffing model that incorporates risks, opportunities and impact. www.neads.org                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The Welcome Project, Somerville, develops leadership and life skills through its specialized English as a Second Language courses, which enable 450-500 immigrants to learn to navigate the school system, use a computer, and take an active role in their community. As they begin to draft their next strategic plan, they would like CCT’s help with identifying the best expansion opportunities based on their internal capabilities and constituent needs. The CCT team will conduct a SWOT analysis with an emphasis on opportunities and their feasibility, along with a benchmarking study of peer organizations. www.welcomeproject.org                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Young Audiences of Massachusetts (YAMA), Boston, educates, inspires and empowers the youth of Massachusetts, including disadvantaged and special needs children, through the arts. Their arts learning programs for students in PreK-12th grade consist of assembly programs, hands-on workshops, and in-depth residencies. The environment in which YAMA operates is changing due to media arts becoming subject to education standards, the increasing potential to teach STEM through the arts, ever-changing advancements in technology and new discoveries about how children learn. All of these dynamics are occurring simultaneously with decreased arts funding. YAMA would like their CCT team to design and conduct an assessment to identify highest priority needs to address in their program development and delivery. www.yamass.org                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             YouthBuild Boston (YBB), Roxbury, stands out as an innovative nonprofit offering a hands-on approach to building trades training for underserved young people from the Boston area, while promoting core values of youth development and community service. YBB has identified a strong need for a facilities maintenance apprenticeship program among large building management companies. In response, they have developed a pilot apprenticeship program with support from the Commonwealth, in collaboration with Winn Companies and Wentworth Institute of Technology. YBB would like their CCT team to develop a growth strategy to expand the apprenticeship program with Winn Companies, across the state and to other areas of the country. The team will help YBB define the program’s value proposition, make recommendations to refine the business model, and provide a roadmap for expansion. www.youthbuildboston.org