HOW CAN WE INCREASE SOCIAL CAPITAL?

Name of social capital building project:

AYPA-Americans for Youth Political Awareness
Short description of your project:
Americans for Youth Political Awareness, or AYPA, is an interest group which is aimed at increasing
both the political awareness and participation of the youth of our nation. AYPA was established on
the 30th day of April, in the year 2015. As we are still in the early stages of our development, we are
looking to add new members who are passionate about our causes, goals, and principles. With an
increase in members and donations will come further development of AYPA, and thus larger strides
towards our goals. The co-founders of Americans For Youth Political Awareness are both dedicated
and passionate and cannot wait to see what comes in the future of AYPA.
Who would be involved in the project (e.g., this class, student government, local charity):
People in the Wake Forest area, as well as surrounding communities.
The nation as a whole
The teachers and PTA
Student Government Association (SGA)
National Honors Society (NHS)
List three goals of your social capital building project:
1- Create a generation that is capable of making their own political observations and
calculations.
2- Increase voter turnout of the future, by developing the political minds of the youth of today.
3- Develop a community in which people can openly express and demonstrate their political
views in a positive way.
List three steps you would take to make your project work:
1- Expand our social media presence through the use of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google
Plus, and MySpace
2- Hold weekly assemblies at popular places in town that would give people an outlet to express
and further develop their political minds
3-Host fundraisers such as carwashes, dinners, and bake sales that will aid in raising funds for
our cause.
Describe how you would measure the success of your project:
We would measure the success of our project by the amount of followers we gain on each of the
social media platforms listed above. Also, we would closely monitor the attendance at each of
our assemblies in order to create a table expressing our growth as a group.
Outline your project timeline:
Week 1: Create a strong, hard-working team who will work day in and day out to insure the
success of this project. The individuals chosen will have to understand that they will not be paid
and their work is out of pure volunteering. Once that is set in stone, a base will be set up, most
likely someone's home. From there further planning takes place.
Weeks 2 & 3: This is when all of the publicity of AYPA will take place. This includes but is not
limited to: creating posters, a website, and brochures to distribute and inform people about the

HOW CAN WE INCREASE SOCIAL CAPITAL?

project. The team will be divided up. Half of the team will be focused on coming up with
creative new ideas on how to spread the project as well as grow it, and the other half of the team
will focus on actually taking the ideas and putting them in action. This time period is extremely
vital and will provide the growth that is needed.
Weeks 4-7: At this point, the project will be beginning to grow and flourish. This is when there
will begin to be public meetings where individuals from the community can come in and speak
their mind on any of the policies along with their own input they would like included or
implemented. At these public meetings is where all the big donors are going to be persuaded to
help the cause and the team will focus on making sure they contribute and dont regret doing so
either.
Weeks 8-20: The project during this time period will be widely heard of and recognized. The
donors that have been persuaded will be dramatically helping to grow the cause and bring it to
the top. This will also be a point where the project will be expanded into many other states and
begin to take over the nation. It is the idea of beginning small and continually to become bigger
and stronger to insure the entire nation will hear the cause. The influence at this point will be far
from small and this could also be a period where more people can join the team since more help
will be needed.
Remainder of time: Focusing on making sure the project keeps succeeding and has that constant
edge and creativity that people will be looking for. Sticking to the root of the project and never
steering from that, especially from larger corporations who may try to take advantage of the
project. And making sure everyone is doing their best and contributing equally.
Outline your project costs:
Posters, brochures, and website: Approximately 500$
-Keeping up to date: Approximately 200$ per month
Holding events as well as catering: Approximately 1000$ (maybe more)
Donors pitching in money: *Varies with each donor*
Commercials: Approximately 5,000$ - 10,000$
Billboards: Approximately 1,000$ - 5,000$
Gas: *Depends on gas prices as well as the distance traveled*
An official headquarter (once grown enough): Approximately 500,000$ or higher