The Twenty-Twenty Corporation

The Twenty-Twenty Corporation is a nonprofit organization based in Baltimore, Maryland. The organization serves the youth residing in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The organization focuses its efforts on its two primary youth-centered missions: positive recreational opportunities and educational enhancement and support.

History

The organization was founded in December 2005 by Robert Bandy, Jr. of Washington, DC. It was incorporated in Maryland that same month and received its 501(c)(3) exemption in January 2007.The organization's first year of business solely entailed recreational activities for the area youth. In January 2007 The Twenty-Twenty Corporation joined the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations (MD Nonprofits). [MANO]

Organization

The Twenty-Twenty Corporation is organized into five divisions of appointed staff (each with several subsidiary appointed offices) and two elected offices, the Office of the President and the Board of Trustees.

The Office of the President includes the President/Chief Executive Officer, the Public Policy Liaison, the Secretary and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (who also serves on the Board of Trustees). With the exception of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, none of the elected officials have voting powers.

The Board of Trustees has an authorized strength of nine elected officials. Trustees are elected by the Voting Members.

Members of the Corporation are divided into two categories: "Voting Members" and "Members". Voting Members are those donors in the top 75th percentile, based on accumulated donations. Voting members, as the title suggests, are authorized to participate in nominations and elections, present and organize events (with Corporate endorsements), participate on special committees, represent the Corporation on certain events (with Presidential endorsements) and authorize/sponsor the participation of any otherwise unqualified individual in any Corporate program. Members are the participants, in general, of Corporate programs. Members do not have voting or sponsoring power, but are recognized as regular participants in Corporate programs and are entitled to preferential access to such programs.

Recreational Opportunities

Originally, the Corporation's mission was solely to provide positive activities for area youth to have the opportunity to engage in. The founder's premise was that time spent enjoying the events offered by the Corporation would be well invested in positive activities and not in negative and delinquent behavior. Thus, the backbone of The Twenty-Twenty Corporation's operations focuses on providing recreational activities to the youth.

Many of the activities are organized based on inquiries and requests from the youth consensus. All activities are offered at no cost to the attendees.

Educational Enhancement and Support

The Division of Operations, Office of Educational Services manages the program which focuses on educational support. The STRIKE (Supplemental Training Remedies and Individual Knowledge Enhancement) Program is designed to provide cost-effective tutoring services to the membership base served. Currently the tutoring services are at no cost to the student. Students must be enrolled in a primary or secondary school in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area and their performance should be deemed to be in need of assistance by the Board of Trustees. Tutors evaluate the needs of the students and organize tutoring sessions to accommodate the student's academic needs, the guardian's transportation obligation and the organization's capacity to provide quality services to a reasonable number of students.

More recently, the STRIKE Program has been offerred to Baltimore City Public School System at no cost. The Corporation's efforts are organized to provide focused and maximized aid to one school for a predesignated period of time, then extend this same opportunity to a different school. There is a special concentration on student organization, material understanding and scholastic ethic (work habits and integrity). There is no difference in the quality of service offered to the students of the "Focus Group" (the school being partnered with at that particular time) and those from other jurisdictions or those whose school is not a part of the focus group. In both cases the services are on a volunteer basis and no student is obligated to join in or continue the program.

The STRIKE Program's Goals and Vision

The Twenty-Twenty Corporation’s investment is in the early education and empowerment of the Baltimore-Washington community. The organization seeks to deter the desire to drop out of school, increase the students' understanding of each subject matter, inculcate the seriousness of a basic secondary education in the student and encourage college as a continuation of education.

The Twenty-Twenty Corporation offers one-on-one attention to thestudent to help supplement the concepts learned in school. Many people utilize tutoring services to brush up on concepts that they may have forgotten over time, to better understand concepts that they find to be more difficult than others, or to help prepare themselves for an important exam that is forthcoming. [ [http://www.guidestar.org/index.jsp GuideStar nonprofit reports and Forms 990 for donors, grantmakers and businesses ] ]

Other Missions

The Greatest Gift Program is an incentive for area youth to receive a gift for any occasion at no cost to them. Youth are required to have attended at least two of the Corporation's events, complete a short application and a 500 word essay on a pre-selected topic. Youth compete with others who submit an application during the same time period.

Metro Volunteers provides local philanthropic organizations with a pool of qualified volunteers for a number of tasks. The Corporation lends out its volunteers to its partner organizations to help supplement their missions.

References

* Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations, Membership List, 2006
* GuideStar.com, 2007

External links

* [http://www.marylandnonprofits.org Maryland Nonprofits]
* [http://www.pabc-dc.org Pennsylvanie Avenue Baptist Church]
* [http://www.twentytwentycorp.org The Twenty-Twenty Corporation]