College of Business Administration

Social and Ethical Issues in Business

Y.M.C.A. Oz of San Diego

GROUP MEMBERS:

Rey Arquero
Jennifer L. Cagayat
Roanne Martinez
Brian Wong

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The goal of our project is to promote awareness of YMCA Oz San Diego to various businesses within the community and, at the same time, to inform them of how they can provide assistance to the facility through monetary and/or item donations.

Background:
YMCA Oz San Diego was established in the North Clairemont area in 1970. (In 1975, a second Oz location was set up in Carlsbad to offer its services to the youth and their families living in the North County.) Oz San Diego, a non-profit organization, is a group home for youth (ages 13-17) who are experiencing troubled lives. Oz San Diego provides shelter to youth who are abused, runaways, just off probation, and/or are waiting to be placed into foster care. During their short- or long-term stay at the facility, the youth are provided counseling by professionals and trained volunteers. In addition, youth keep the facility clean and cook their own meals. By doing so, the youth learn how to take responsibility for themselves and to work with others they live with. The choice behind the facility's name is from the story, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." A well-known line from that story, "There's no place like home," relates to Oz San Diego's continual goal of "reunification of the adolescent with his/her family when this is appropriate." Government funding does help out the facility but not entirely. The growth of Oz San Diego can also be attributed to the support of community donations and fundraising.

The mission of YMCA Oz San Diego is "to enhance youth, family and community well-being in an effort to prevent delinquent behavior, promote youth self-sufficiency and encourage family stability and reunification."

Project Development:
Leda Calma, General Office Assistant for the Clairemont facility, was glad to hear of our interest in working with the organization. She told us that she needed help seeking monetary donations from businesses. In order for us to approach businesses about the facility, she provided us printed, informational articles on the background of Oz San Diego. Our management group became really interested in the program that Oz provides to today's troubled youth. On March 6, 1997, our group took a tour of Oz San Diego (Clairemont), under direction of an Oz counselor. We were really impressed by the exceptional maintenance of the facility. We asked what else we could do to help in addition to seeking monetary donations. We later obtained a "wish list" from the facility, which included items such as a TV, VCR, walkmans, videos, and clothing. In our original plan to raise funds, we had planned on holding a fair in a Clairemont mall. Our mission was to involve surrounding businesses to sponsor booths (food, game, prizes) and local radio and television stations to assist in raising community awareness of YMCA Oz San Diego. We called various mall sites, but found out that there would be time constraints getting approval and holding the fair in time for our presentation. After many group meetings, we agreed to raise funds and obtain needed facility items by contacting local businesses. We made many phone calls to various businesses to obtain the contact person's name and addresses so that we could customize each sponsor letter we delivered.

Project's Successes:
As of our class project presentation date, we were able to reach close to 40 local businesses by visitation, letters and/or phone calls. We believe that we were successful in our primary goal of raising community awareness of YMCA Oz San Diego. Target at Sports Arena Blvd. is kindly donating ten T-shirts to the facility. Sears at La Jolla Village Drive have agreed to donate clothing, videos, and walkmans for the youth. The committees in those departments at Sears will contact us when the donations are finalized. We will assist Ms. Calma in picking up those donations at a later date. We are still waiting on several businesses, such as Sportmart, Circuit City, and TJ Maxx, since approval of donations need to go through their corporate offices. We plan to continue our efforts in obtaining facility needed items and monetary donations for Oz San Diego. It is wonderful to know that there is an organization out there that is available to accommodate troubled youth. Otherwise, those youth may end up living on the streets and getting into trouble. It is possible that one day, someone you know might need the services that Oz San Diego provides. The shelter would not be in effect today without funding. Young people today are tomorrow's future leaders. The opportunities that YMCA Oz San Diego serves is a great leap forward in getting the lives of these troubled youth and their families back on track.

Moral Frameworks:
Social contract theory states that "morality consists in the set of rules, governing how people are to treat one another, that rational people will agree to accept, for their mutual benefit, on the condition that others will follow the rules as well." The youth at Oz San Diego are governed by a set of rules that stresses self-awareness, social skills, responsibility, respect, open communication, and positive growth. The rules will mutually benefit the youth as well as the community in providing a safe environment for growth. Deontology is "an ethical theory that holds actions are morally right or wrong independent of their consequences." It is the duty and right for society to take care of its youth. They are tomorrow's future leaders. Utilitarianism is "an ethical theory that holds that an action is right if it produces or tends to produce the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people." The YMCA helps create responsible young adults and stabilizes families. Thus creating the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people. Justice "consists in giving each person his or her due, treat equals equally and unequals unequally." The facility operates on a point system. The youth earn points by completing chores, following rules, and accomplishing individually targeted behaviors. The more points accumulated, the greater the privileges. The losing of points creates a red flag for possible discipline. Leopold's Land Ethic states, "a thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. . .it is wrong when it tends otherwise." The mission of Oz San Diego is "to enhance youth, family and community well-being in an effort to prevent delinquent behavior, promote youth self-sufficiency and encourage family stability and reunification." By the very mission of YMCA Oz, the youth, family, and community will be preserved. Relational accounts of moral reasoning "ask us to recognize and take seriously the moral worth of relationships, particularly those characterized by caring." YMCA Oz San Diego is staffed 24 hours/7 days a week. The counselors, volunteers, and youth interact on a daily basis. The formation of relationships and caring are inevitable. Libertarianism "suggests right action consists in maximizing the capacity for free, informed personal choice." Youth have the choice to seek help from YMCA Oz San Diego to find positive solutions to personal, interpersonal, family, and school problems.

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