HW499 Unit 7 Budget and Logistics Plan Example

Training as a Recurring Cost: A Unit 7 Budget and Logistics Plan for the Cotter Bend Moving Afternoons Program

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

HW499: Bachelor's Capstone in Health and Wellness

Unit 7 Budget and Logistics Plan

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Cotter Bend, its staff, wages and every figure are composite; the after-school intervention research and economic evaluation text cited are real.

Assumptions

1. Recreation leaders: 31, median wage $15.25 an hour.

2. Site supervisors: 6, wage $22.50 an hour.

3. Program manager: $34.00 an hour.

4. Evaluation observers: two part-time staff at $14.75 an hour.

5. Employer payroll tax: 7.65 percent on all wages.

6. Leader turnover: about 40 percent a year, roughly 12 new hires.

7. Staff time is counted as a cost because it is paid time that could otherwise go to other duties, following standard practice in economic evaluation (Drummond et al., 2015).

Year One Budget

Launch costs:

1. Leader training, 31 leaders x 6 hours at $15.25, plus payroll tax: $3,054.

2. Supervisor coaching training, 6 supervisors x 8 hours at $22.50, plus payroll tax: $1,163.

3. Program manager preparation and delivery of training across two waves, 80 hours at $34.00, plus payroll tax: $2,928.

4. Equipment kits, 6 x $585: $3,510.

5. Laminated game cards and indoor cards, 6 sets x $48: $288.

Launch subtotal: $10,943.

Recurring costs in year one:

6. Training for replacement hires, about 12 x 6 hours at $15.25, plus payroll tax: $1,182.

7. Monthly huddles, 31 leaders x 20 minutes x 8 months at $15.25, plus payroll tax: $1,357.

8. Program manager coaching visits, 36 visits x 1.5 hours at $34.00, plus payroll tax: $1,976.

9. Equipment replenishment: $602.

Recurring subtotal: $5,117.

Evaluation:

10. Observer time for the February and May rounds, 2 observers x 24 afternoons x 2 rounds x 2 hours at $14.75, plus payroll tax: $3,049.

Year one total: $19,109.

Year Two Budget

1. Training for replacement hires: $1,182.

2. Monthly huddles for ten months: $1,696.

3. Coaching visits, reduced to 24: $1,318.

4. Equipment replenishment: $600.

5. One May observation round: $1,524.

Year two total: $6,320.

Why Training Recurs

A one-time training budget would leave the program, within about two years, run mostly by leaders who were never trained, which is why replacement training and monthly huddles appear as recurring lines in both years.

The interventions that raised activity in after-school programs relied on ongoing staff support, not a single workshop (Beets et al., 2015). With roughly twelve new leaders a year, the program would lose its trained staff quickly if training happened only at launch. Replacement training uses the same six-hour curriculum, delivered by the program manager to new hires in small groups twice a year.

Logistics: Preparing Six Sites

Wave assignment. Sites are assigned to waves by drawing names at a supervisors' meeting in November: three to start in January, three in March.

Gym access. At the four school sites, supervisors will confirm with each principal by December 1 which afternoons the gym is available at 3:20. On other afternoons, the indoor card is used in the cafeteria.

Schedule change. A letter to parents, in English and Spanish, will explain the new afternoon and the forty-five-minute homework period two weeks before each wave starts.

Equipment. Kits are ordered in November and delivered to each site the week before its launch, labeled with the site name.

Training dates. Wave one leaders train in two sessions in early December and early January. Wave two leaders train in February.

How the Budget Was Built

Each line was built from the design, not from a general estimate. Training hours come from the six-hour curriculum and the number of leaders. Huddle time comes from twenty minutes a month for each leader. Coaching visits come from the program manager's plan to see each site twice a month during the first months after launch. Equipment prices come from a sporting goods supplier's quote for the items on the kit list. Observer hours come from the evaluation schedule. Because every line can be traced to a design decision, a change in the design shows immediately what it would cost.

Cost per Child

With 412 children enrolled, year one costs about $46 per child and year two about $15 per child. Most of the first-year cost is launch training and equipment that will not recur.

What the Budget Does Not Include

It does not include changes to leaders' wages or hours, new hires beyond normal replacement or any cost for parents. It does not include the time children spend, since the program afternoon already exists; Moving Afternoons changes how that time is used.

Risks

1. Higher turnover would raise replacement training costs; each additional new hire adds about $98.

2. A school that cannot offer the gym at 3:20 most days would rely on the indoor card's structured games, and studies suggest structured sessions produce less activity than free play (Trost et al., 2008).

3. If the program manager leaves, coaching visits and replacement training would stop until a successor is trained; the plan recommends that one site supervisor be trained as a backup trainer.

References

Beets, M. W., Weaver, R. G., Turner-McGrievy, G., Huberty, J., Ward, D. S., Pate, R. R., Freedman, D., Hutto, B., Moore, J. B., & Beighle, A. (2015). Making policy practice in afterschool programs: A randomized controlled trial on physical activity changes. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 48(6), 694-706. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2015.01.012

Drummond, M. F., Sculpher, M. J., Claxton, K., Stoddart, G. L., & Torrance, G. W. (2015). Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Trost, S. G., Rosenkranz, R. R., & Dzewaltowski, D. (2008). Physical activity levels among children attending after-school programs. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 40(4), 622-629. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e318161eaa5