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NHMC Narrative Description of Activities

New Horizons Maritime Center (NHMC) was formed exclusively for the charitable purposes of providing a dynamic hands-on, apprentice-based learning environment, designed specifically for youth development and community betterment. These programs have been developed from a concern for at-risk and troubled youth who struggle to succeed in the traditional educational system and who often drop out of school before graduating from high school.

NHMC will offer after-school programs, educational workshops, apprentice possibilities, and a safe place to pursue productive and useful life changing educational activities. Through the restoration of donated boats needing repair, and under the careful supervision of NHMC staff and volunteers, youth groups and other interested people in the community will learn a wide variety of trade and social skills necessary for success in today’s competitive world. Participants will gain a greater sense of tradition, respect, and societal values as they tap into the rich maritime traditions our country has to offer. New interests will be developed and innate potential realized.

Programs will begin in the Spring of 2013 with the restoration of a fleet of Star sail boats, as well as scratch building of the Bella 10 rowing boat. Using the Star and Bella boats as a learning/project platform, the focus of NHMC will be to teach trade skills to youth. The restoration / building projects will provide opportunities for scholarly research as well as all of the various facets of yacht restoration including reading lofting plans, collecting research data, photo documentation of the restoration progress, welding, woodworking, painting, marine electrical systems, navigation instrumentation, and safety requirements. These trade skills will require the practical application of math, physics, science, language comprehension, problem solving and technical drawing. Self-esteem and feelings of success will be natural by-products as benchmarks are completed. Not only will the youth involved feel the impact of this project but it will also be felt by community leaders, correctional institutions, tradesmen who serve as mentors, friends and family of the youth as well as the extensive worldwide sailing community. These life altering stories will be documented, filmed and written about for future generations.

Upon obtaining 501(c)3 status we will institute the following 5 phases of development. Interwoven throughout each phase will be an emphasis on research and documentation of participants.

PHASE 1

  • Interested parties will be contacted. Personal contacts in the community will be established with local news sources informed and social media announcements.
  • Fundraising will begin. Board Members have various donors already committed.
  • Youth Groups and disadvantaged populations will be contacted as well as community groups including veterans and disabled populations. The local Sea Scouts have already included us as a charter member of their organization to work specifically with their chapter.
  • Grant Writing will begin.
  • Marketing (including press releases to local media, web page, newsletters and phone calls).
  • Master plan will be established for the restoration of fleet boats.
  • Film documentation will begin.

PHASE 2

  • Storage / work space will be secured at Utah Lake State Park.
  • Fleet boats moved into secure storage area.
  • Timeline of restoration process.
  • All equipment original to Star boats will be inventoried and documented.
  • The conference room at the State Park visitor’s center will provide a temporary space for information dissemination. A classroom to conduct research and also to teach participants basic maritime skills (reading lofting plans, collecting research data, photo documenting restoration progress, painting, and safety requirements) will be needed.

PHASE 3

  • Locate suitable land for permanent NHMC facility.
  • Establishment of permanent home for NHMC as a restoration site, future educational, outreach facility, museum, and community maritime resource center.
  • This institution will showcase restoration works in progress. Tours and information dissemination will be geared towards public walk-throughs and interaction. Maritime history and education will also be available to the public.
  • Restoration of historically important sailing vessels, as well as applicable boat building projects will continue.
  • Youth will be involved in both volunteer and paid capacities.

PHASE 4

  • Building of the New Horizons Maritime Center. The establishment of New Horizons Maritime Center would serve as a repository for not only the practical documentation of how Star restorations occurred, but also the human element of education, hard work, vision and craftsmanship. For now, all of NHMC’s program activities will be carried out in a location near the shores of Utah Lake in space leased for this purpose. Our goal is to obtain a building with dedicated workspace, classrooms, museum, and staff offices to give a more permanent home to NHMC and its activities.
  • Focus on increased youth and public involvement.
  • Continue to restore and build unique or important sailing vessels.

PHASE 5

  • As an end goal, youth involved with the restoration of these vessels, will have the opportunity, if they wish, to crew the finished Star boats in formal sanctioned racing competitions. The feeling of accomplishment and ownership in the restoration process, followed by the opportunity to put those skills to use in the competitive arena of ocean racing, will be a powerful tool in developing self-confidence and promoting new and meaningful life directions.

It is anticipated that NHMC will receive additional donations of sailing vessels in various stages of repair, as well as the equipment and tools needed to provide continual learning opportunities for apprenticing students.

All donated funds will go toward the furthering of these programs and organizational overhead costs. It is anticipated that administrative costs can be minimized and the vast bulk of funds used in pursuit of its mission.

The restoration of each sailing vessel will be documented and made available to the public through NHMC’s website (presently, not public domain), on-site tours and e-newsletters that will be continuously updated to feature historical data and restoration work in progress. These “outreach tools” will help further the educational goals of the organization and provide transparency to donors wishing to know how their contributions are being used. Our film documentary will also play a large roll in fundraising, public education, worldwide interest and hopefully a PBS documentary. These tools will not only chronicle the progressive restoration of the sailing vessels, but more importantly, the transformation in the lives of those involved in the process. The rescue mission of saving historically significant sailing vessels is compelling, but the bigger vision of rescuing our at-risk and disadvantaged youth is at the heart of what NHMC desires to accomplish.