A board of director of advisors serves as a key support network as you design, plan, implement, and evaluate all stages of a program.

Board members can help you navigate instructional structures, find and write grants, network to help you find and develop partnerships, and help brainstorm solutions when challenges arise.

 

Aim to have 6-10 people on your initial board, with each person offering a unique set of skills to support your program.

The board should include key members of your institution, people who will be involved in day-to-day operations, and a K-12 teacher or two.

 

Drafting a Mission Statement

A mission statement should be a succinct and powerful statement of the core reason your organization or program exists. Involve your board members and program staff in thinking about the reasons you are creating a philosophy program for young people.

A strong mission statement communicates the “why” and is a single, specific, and memorable sentence. Who are you serving, what are you doing, and why? The mission statement should resonate with everyone involved in and supportive of your organization.

 

What your goals?

When you set goals, consider the population you wish to serve and your desired outcomes.  Setting goals will help you structure the program and inform the partnerships you wish to pursue.

Establish modest goals at first.  Focus on your strengths and those of your board members. 

The success of your philosophy program relies heavily on the strength of your staff and faculty.

 

University and college-hosted philosophy programs for young people often rely on graduate students to teach philosophy.   Nonprofit philosophy programs often rely on current staff or committed community volunteers.  Every instructor for your program should have adequate training and supervision to serve in this role.

 

 

Learning how to philosophize with young students can take time, but we promise you that it is a rewarding experience! It often helps to read literature on different teaching approaches (see the many resources on this site) and to train with people who have experience leading philosophy classes with young people.

Arrange a site or classroom visit (once you have identified your partners).

Here are some key tips:

• Keep your teaching interesting and hands-on
• Class-management strategies for your age group are super helpful!
• Don’t underestimate children’s ability to philosophize

Websites are an easy way to advertise your program and can be very helpful when networking to find partners. Social media is also an accessible means of reaching many people and making your program more visible.

 

Include the following items:

• Mission Statement
• Benefits of doing philosophy with students (see our “Why Philosophy?” page)
• Program offerings (list of activities, events, classes, etc)
• Staff (if a website: list names with pictures and short bios)
• Contact information

If you are part of a college or university, your program website should be hosted on your institution’s website to maximize the appearance of legitimacy.

 

 

Colleges and universities often have designated staff for web page management. See if they can create one for your program!

What schools and organizations will your program serve?

Since a philosophy program does little good without people to serve, this step is crucial. It can often be difficult to get your foot in the door at a school or local organization.

Use your mission statement and programming goals and offerings to help you decide to what schools and organizations to reach out.

Often the best way to make progress with a local school or organization is to leverage your personal contacts.

 

The key here is to develop a relationship with a teacher or teachers. Approaching schools through school district administrative leaders has the potential to result in teachers perceiving your program as being forced upon them. However, an administrator might be able to suggest teachers who would be interested in having philosophy in their classrooms.

 

Remember that teachers are overwhelmed by the growing demands on them. The appeal of a philosophy class run by someone other than the teacher is that the teacher does not have to develop a new skill and set of lesson plans but can observe his or her students in a new discipline with an outside person.

If you don’t know any teachers, you might start by offering to volunteer in a local school, by tutoring or helping in classrooms in other ways. This is a great way to get to know teachers and students.

Once you have cultivated a relationship with a teacher and are ready to suggest introducing philosophy in the classroom, a successful strategy is to offer to lead a demonstration class. This might be a 45-minute philosophy session with young students facilitated by you, with the teacher and other interested adults invited to observe.

 

If you are just starting to do this work, you should consider volunteering your time. It is a great way to gain experience. If the organizational structure you have chosen makes this feasible, you might consider writing a grant to pay for a year of classes in a particular school or schools.

More and more districts have local community funding sources organized for the purpose of paying for enrichment programs in the public schools. These organizations can be a wonderful source for philosophy programs.

 

How can you sustain and develop your philosophy program?

Now that you have implemented your program, it is time to think about sustaining and developing it. This is where your board comes in: hold a meeting to review what you’ve accomplished and to embark on strategic planning. You will want to discuss expanding existing programs, finding new partners, and identifying additional funding revenues such as individual and corporate donors, grants, and sponsorships.

We wish you all the best in this wonderful new endeavor!