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| WE served over 3000 kids and families from our old facility, with the Mystic and the Boat Basin in service, we will double that number and keep CCB afloat for years to come. WE GOTTA GET THE FUNDING THOUGH! |
That last part probably has you a bit perplexed as this is the first mention of the end of the BBB. Yes it only opened in September and yes we survived the winter, but the State and Local officials are doing their level best to drive us out of existence over the floating boat house. The reason, a certain DEEP official says floating structures are not legal in Connecticut. Not you have to permit them or they need to be inspected. The DEEP, has said with a straight face, Floating Structures on not allowed in Long island Sound from New York to Rhode Island and that we must remove it from the water or face fines. Not Connecticut waters, not take it to a safe harbor in another State, REMOVE IT FROM THE WATER ENTIRELY. Talk about over stepping your bounds and the heavy hand of Government.
Well if we must, we must. We have to figure out how to haul a 10-ton concrete dock that will likely break apart if not fully supported at all times. A simple travel lift wont work- it'll snap in half. We need the mother of all dry docks to hoist it up out of the water so we can build it and then put it back in to sail it away to a land where our efforts are actually appreciated. Good thing we are next to the largest shipping maintenance yard on the East Coast- Too bad it's under foreclosure by the City of Bridgeport and Direktor is out of business in Bridgeport. But then again, we did just see a USCG cutter hauled out this winter and there are rumors someone is working over there- so maybe we could convince them to haul our dock so that we may finish building it and then put it back in the water to sail to some far away port where we are welcome.
How does that save the Boat Basin- well it doesn't. If the Boat Basin is to succeed, we will have to figure out a way to secure our facility and belongings without a boat house. I have no clue how we'll do that. So lets hope someone reads this and sees how tyrannical the DEEP is being and decides to re-examine the case and allows us to park our Boat House on a commercial mooring in Bridgeport Harbor. But either way, if we haul it to shore and then sail it away (if we have to), we can then come back hopefully some day soon when we have finished the project and once again rebuild the junior program which has been held hostage ever since we left the landfill.
So what about the Mystic? Well one of the reasons why I took on the Mystic was to figure out a way to pull CCB (and me) out of the crack and set us on a smooth course. I went $250,000 in debt to build CCB with the hopes that I would be reimbursed some day when she succeeded. It's clear that on our current course that wont happen. So we had to diversify in a dramatic way if I am to stay alive and CCB is to meet it's obligations.
Hence the Mystic- By developing the Mystic we create a steady income stream for CCB, we can keep the Boat Basin afloat and we can create a few jobs with CCB while we are at it. Everybody wins and its all for a good cause to boot.
But we gotta get the Mystic first and that's where the problem lies. We need to put $500,000 down on the Mystic to take ownership by May 1 and that is what I have been working on 7 days a week since February doing. I have called, emailed, written, and talked to every grant making organization, financial institution and politician I can think of to make this happen. But to no success.
Keila Torres of the Connecticut Post said something really nice to me at Media Day a few weeks back. When I said to the group of reporters when asked how "real" the plan was, I responded that I was a dreamer and optimist but that I still believed. "You may be" said Keila, "but everything you have ever said you were going to do- you did." That was probably one of the nicest things I have ever heard, but unfortunately it had one unintended consequence- it killed my escape clause.
I can't quit now. Just cause its hard, doesn't mean its not worth doing. And if it was easy, everyone would do it. The question is how?
Well yesterday I set the wheels in motion. The first step is the hardest- how do you make someone want to give you $100,000 for your idea? Its never easy to get $25 for something that yet to be, let alone $100,000. Well it gets a little easier when you get a boost forward from the same Government that is making your life so difficult.
CCB has always taken pride in the fact that we do not rely on Government funding to succeed. And we still dont. But right now there is a big push to create jobs, get the economy moving and do some cool things to make Connecticut a great place to live. Enter the Department of Economic and Community Development.
They are now offering the Small Business Express Program where small businesses can obtain up to $300,000 in low interest loans and $100,000 in matching grants for job creation and business expansion. The Mystic will create at least 15 jobs this quarter, will serve at least 240 kids this summer and another 1000 adults in the next year and will be an icon for the rebirth of the Connecticut. Could you think of a better business to fund than that?
But to get it, you need to have existing capital- at least $100,000. So before we can get the $400,000 in DECD funding, we would have to have at least $100,000 in private funding. But then again its a chicken or egg scenario- you cant get the big funding if you don't have a lot of little funding first and you cant get the smaller funding without the promise of the bigger funding.
However in the fundraising world we make scrambled eggs all the time. The promise of $400,000 to bring this project home should convince a few private donors that this project is worth doing and get them to contribute the $100,000 because without the $100,000 we cant get the $400,000. That's the theory anyway and it is a way forward.
So once the initial $500,000 is in place, we can then start generating revenues, booking students, selling sponsorships and doing what we are supposed be doing, selling sailing. We can't do it without the first two pieces but with the lion's share predicate upon the success of the lamb's, and the reality that we have a pretty good business plan, I am very certain we can find a few friends to contribute the $100,000 to make this happen. So now the $1.8 Million project is down to $100,000 to make it start- that's how we make the impossible happen.
And once we have revenues coming in, The Bridgeport Boat Basin, the floating boat house, the ramp and all the other challenges, get the funding they so richly deserve and so desperately need and we can continue to build a better Connecticut.
So did I solve world hunger last night at 2AM. No. But did I solve the riddle of how to create a $1.8 Million Project when you don't have $10 to rub together? That I did. So dogs, thank you for waking me up and sorry for the long blog. Now you can have breakfast and go for a walk. Thank you.
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