A Meeting with Barrios Unidos

Members of the MIIS FA09 Barrios Unidos Finance Function Consultation Team with directors Nane and 'OT'. Team members include Darren Daley, Orjada Tare, Rizayel Mukahev, Jesse Pluim and Ryan Gonzalez.

I am currently taking Finance Function for Non-Profit Organizations and have been assigned to consult with a local NPO to diagnose a financial management process (cash flow diagnostic, procurement system, diagnosis of budgeting system, financial statement diagnosis, etc.) of that organization and provide recommendations.  In order to do this, we have to develop our own diagnostic tool from which we should assess the organization.

I have found this course to be very useful since I have almost little professional experience with regard to finance.  I really like the hands-on approach of the MPA program at MIIS in general.  Some of the main goals of the course so far include understanding what “meaningful financial information” is and how it can be used for better decision making.  We are encouraged to think about the ‘big picture’ and which requires us to employ ’systems thinking’ to get at root causes rather than just fixing symptoms of major problems.

In short, we have decided to conduct a cash flow diagnosis for Barrios Unidos, a Santa Cruz based organization that promotes peace (anti-gang) and offers mental health services to at-risk youth in the Santa Cruz area.  Through the years, Barrios Unidos has become a movement and has seen many other chapters of Barrios Unidos spread throughout the country.

We held our second meeting with BU on Friday, October 30th.  It was a big one for us because a few board members.  We went on to conduct a SWOT analysis (a strategic planning analysis method) of their current cash flow system as their perceptions and insights are very important to the work that we’re doing.  Unfortunately, like many other non-profit organizations, the economic downturn has also severely impacted Barrios Unidos ability and has forced them to operate in ‘emergency mode’ in the effort of making it to tomorrow.

The next step in the process is to expand upon the SWOT that was conducted to further develop our diagnostic tool.  We have a lot of work ahead of us… wish us luck!