LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT - CAREER PREPARATION - SOCIAL CHANGE

Passionate about a cause that is much greater than yourself?

Want to leave a legacy as more than just an athlete?

Looking to apply your leadership skills beyond the classroom and playing fields to make a significant and sustainable impact on the world?

Want to make a real difference but you don't know where or how to start?

Here is a rare opportunity for you to join forces with a group of compelled and passionate student-athlete leaders to make a difference in causes of your choice all over the world.

SALSC MISSION AND PURPOSE

Student-Athletes Leading Social Change (SALSC) is a passionate and powerful movement of student-athlete leaders committed to making a significant difference on a local, national, and international level.

Our mission is to ignite and harness the power and passion of student-athlete leaders from our Leadership Academies across the country toward real, systemic, and sustainable social change.

Our purpose is to inspire, equip, support, and connect compelled student-athlete leaders who want to make a difference with important causes that desperately need their passion and talent. We believe that through the connection and collaboration of compelled leaders around the world, real social change can be envisioned, enacted, and sustained.

SALSC SPHERES OF INFLUENCE

Because the world is such a big place and there are so many worthwhile causes, SALSC will focus on three primary Spheres of Influence:

SALSC Local

SALSC Local focuses on initiating and implementing social change programs on campus and in the local community. For example, a SALSC Local initiative might sponsor, market, and conduct a half-day Student Leadership Summit for area junior high students. Or a SALSC Local initiative might partner with a campus group to lead or support a program on campus.

SALSC National

In collaboration with other SA leaders from our Leadership Academies across America (North Carolina, Pitt, Illinois, Notre Dame, Michigan, Georgetown, Baylor, Winston-Salem State, Lehigh), SALSC National focuses on researching, planning, and implementing social change programs on a national level. For example, one such initiative might collect and donate previously-owned sporting equipment and uniforms to a youth sports program in a disadvantaged community in the United States.

SALSC International

In collaboration with other SA leaders from our Leadership Academies across America, SALSC International focuses on developing and leading social change programs on an international level. For example, SALSC International might initiate, fundraise, and implement a water project for a remote village in Africa - or coordinate, fundraise, and help to build a school in Vietnam, Zambia, or Bangladesh.

In addition to making a real impact on the world, SALSC also provides interested student-athletes with practical career experience. SALSC members will play important roles in leadership, management, marketing, public relations, fundraising, finance, photojournalism, etc.

SALSC STRUCTURE

SALSC is a completely voluntary program for interested student-athlete leaders who desire to get the most out of their college experience and become agents of change. SALSC provides student-athletes with a specific avenue through which they can put their leadership abilities into action. The program allows student-athletes to utilize skills which have made them successful on the athletic field (e.g. their passion, commitment, leadership, communication skills) in another arena.

Many student-athletes have a passion to serve their community/world in new and innovative ways and have ideas which they wish to put into action, but currently lack funds and guidance to make these ideas a reality; SALSC hopes to provide student-athletes with both.

Upon returning from their projects students will have positively impacted their community/world, and the benefits will extend to the students themselves as well; they will have gained hands-on experience in social entrepreneurship.

The program is flexibly designed to meet the demanding time commitments of student-athletes. Student-athletes who are most passionate about social change and are willing and able to commit the time can apply to join the SALSC Leadership Team.

The SALSC Leadership Team will communicate regularly via text and email throughout the year in selecting, planning, and implementing the social change initiatives. We will also have occasional conference calls and when possible, web-conferencing.

Other student-athletes who want to be involved, but may have less time to commit when they are in season, can contribute as time permits. Fifth-year and red-shirt student-athletes are often in an ideal position to participate and are encouraged to join.

SALSC LEADERSHIP TEAM

SALSC will have a core group of 10-20 student-athlete leaders who will serve as the key Leadership Team. The Leadership Team will co-determine and coordinate the focus of the social change initiatives, especially on the national and international levels.

SALSC Leadership Team members will be expected to be highly involved in the program and will gain valuable real world experience in being the primary drivers behind the planning, organizing, fundraising, marketing, conducting, and evaluating the social change initiatives.

Depending on your interests, talents, and career goals, you can choose to be involved in a specific area of the program such as marketing, research, fund-raising, public relations, sponsorships, logistics, etc.

And, for those who want to travel nationally and internationally to implement the social change initiative(s), our goal is to raise enough money to completely fund your travel expenses as permitted by NCAA rules.

SALSC Process and Anticipated Timeline

1. Student-athletes apply for SALSC Leadership Team Positions (June)

2. SALSC Leadership Team is selected (June)

3. SALSC Leadership Team and interested student-athletes brainstorm and research a variety of issues that they would potentially like to address (July)

4. Interested SAs put together a detailed social change initiative proposal describing the cause and their proposed solution (paying particular attention to need, impact, sustainability, costs, viability, and scalability) (August)

5. SALSC Leadership Team reviews proposals and selects 1-3 they want to support and get behind for at least the next year (local, national, international) (September)

6. SALSC further researches and immerses themselves in the issue, interviews those who are experiencing the issure and trying to alleviate it, and understands the cause from all perspectives. (September-October)

7. SALSC designs or finds programming that will systematically and systemically address the issue (September-November)

8. SALSC forms committees to promote awareness, enlist others in the cause, implement their action plan, and address the issue (marketing/pr, fundraising, logistics, implementation, etc)(October-May)

9. SALSC solicits funding via grants, corporate sponsorships, donations, etc. (October-May)

10. SALSC implements a pilot program (traveling to location - national, international) (June)

11. SALSC evaluates effectiveness and impact of programming (surveys and reflection paper) (July)

12. SALSC creates ways to sustain and/or scale program for long-term success (July)

This cycle then repeats itself each year as new leaders get involved and new initiatives are adopted - and/or previous initiatives are sustained or scaled up.

As you can see, SALSC is a highly ambitious and active program, but one we feel will pay great dividends for student-athlete leaders, schools, and the many people around the world they seek to serve - for decades to come.

If you want to get in on the ground floor of what could be one of the most meaningful and significant experiences of your college years and beyond, we encourage you to apply for the SALSC Leadership Team.

The SALSC Leadership Team application is linked below and needs to be returned to Jeff Janssen at jeff@jeffjanssen.com by Friday, June 26, 2009 at the latest. Again, we are only accepting a total of 10-20 leaders for the SALSC Leadership Team so this will be a highly competitive process. We are seeking more than mere applications, we need passionate commitments.

http://www.teamcaptainsnetwork.com/public/321.cfm

Should you have any questions, please contact SALSC co-founder Jeff Janssen (Janssen Sports Leadership Center) at jeff@jeffjanssen.com or (919) 303-5321.

We look forward to having you join us on this amazing journey!

Ali Hawkins (UNC '11), SALSC Co-Founder

Jeff Janssen, SALSC Co-Founder

STUDENT-ATHLETES LEADING SOCIAL CHANGE

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT - CAREER PREPARATION - SOCIAL CHANGE

Connecting compelled student-athlete leaders with critical causes for leadership development, career preparation, and significant social change.