BILLYS PLACE.PDF

Created: 02/21/2018 • Last updated: 03/06/2018
General information
Organization Billy's Place
Contact First name Kris
Contact Last name Friedman
Contact e-mail kris@billysplace.me
Contact phone number 623-203-8036
Address
Street 21448 N 75th Ave Suite 6
City Glendale
State AZ
ZIP Code 85308
From what tribe is the Gila River Indian Community
organization requesting the
grant?
Total grant amount request 25000
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The Gila River Indian Community offers multi-year awards. If your organization is
requesting a multi-year grant for this project or program from the Gila River Indian
Community, enter the amount to be requested each year.
Amount
Year 1 (Gila River Indian
25000
Community Grants Only)
Year 2 (Gila River Indian
Community Grants Only)
Year 3 (Gila River Indian
Community Grants Only)
Year 4 (Gila River Indian
Community Grants Only)
Year 5 (Gila River Indian
Community Grants Only)
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Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2018
Cover Sheet
Municipality Information
1. Date of Application: 2/27/2018 (NOTE: Click or use up/down arrow keys to move among
fields)
2. Name of City, Town or County: Maricopa County
3. Mayor (City or Town) or Board of Supervisor’s Chairman (County): Steve Chucri
4. Mailing Address: 301 W Jefferson Ave Suite 960
5. City: Phoenix State: Arizona Zip Code: 85003
6. Acknowledgement of Submission by Authorized Municipality Representative:
Typed Name/Title: Zachary Wolfe, Finance Department Signature:
Applicant Information
7. Department/Organization Name: Billy’s Place
8. Is this a 501c non-profit Organization? No Yes If yes, attach IRS Determination Letter
9. Application Contact Person: Kris Friedman Title: Executive Director
10. Phone Number: 623-203-8036
11. Mailing Address: 21448 N 75th Ave Suite 6
12. City: Glendale State: Arizona Zip Code: 85308
13. Email Address: kris@billysplace.me Website Address: www.billysplace.me
Project Information
14. Project Name: Grief Support Groups
15. Purpose of Grant: Billy’s Place is a comfortable, supportive and safe environment where children and
young adults develop coping skills to integrate into life’s challenges after the death of a loved one.
16. Priority Funding Area Healthcare
17. Annual amount requested $25,000
18. Number of years that funding is 1
requested
19. Total amount requested (annual $25,000
amount x number of years)
20. Has your organization received past no
funding from GRIC? If yes, list each year
and amount
21. Geographic area served West Valley
For Office Use Only:
Data Entry Receipt Evaluation
Outcome A Approval Recommended/Amount $ A Denial

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2018
Narrative
Please structure your proposal to provide the following information in the order indicated. Provide the narrative
in paragraph form in the text field provided. Please be thorough but strive for brevity.
1. Briefly describe the organization’s history, mission and goals.
Billy’s Place is a grassroots organization founded in 2012, by Juli Schragel. When Juli’s son, Billy
was 15 months old, her husband and Billy’s father died in a motor vehicle collision. When the family
moved to the City of Peoria, they soon realized there were no grief or bereavement services in the
Northwest Valley.
Juli and her son, now age 14, have worked together to use what they have learned to help others
know there is hope during the grieving process. Billy’s Place is a tribute to children and families who
will forever be changed and challenged by the death of their loved one. The organization is primarily
operated by 45 volunteers devoting endless hours each year, providing therapeutic grief support to
at risk children and their families.
Billy’s Place understands children’s profound grief after a significant loss affects their daily lives,
academic and social functioning, roles in the family, and growth toward adulthood. After a loss,
children frequently display low self-esteem, poor academic skills and behavior problems. Many
children are socially marginalized – a secondary problem of childhood/early adolescent grief – and
are at risk to dropping out of school.
Billy’s Place is a comfortable and safe environment where children meet several times per month to
address common themes after a death. These themes include anger, shame, isolation and regret
while given the opportunity to grieve and heal alongside their peers. Current services include
ongoing peer support/education groups for children, teens, young adults, and their family members.
The groups are available free of charge to at risk children, teens, young adults who have
experienced the death of a mom, dad, brother, sister, or primary caregiver. Concurrent groups are
facilitated for parents and caregivers to provide parallel services.
Billy’s Place considers several factors which can influence a child’s grief including: the child’s age,
personality, stage of development, previous experiences with death, cultural and religious beliefs,
prior relationship with the deceased, the cause of death, patterns of interaction and communication

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2018
within the family, stability of family, availability of opportunities to share and express feeling and
memories, and parental styles of coping with stress.
Billy’s Place embraces a variety of modalities to help children including art, music, drama, poetry,
storytelling, and writing/journaling. Activities help children: (1) build self-esteem; (2) reduce feelings
of guilt; (3) reduce anxiety about expressing feelings; (4) learn skills to help diminish a sense of
isolation and loneliness; (5) learn appropriate ways to cope with anger; (6) understand causes of
death; (7) eliminate fear that loved ones will be forgotten; (8) understand everyone grieves
differently; (9) foster friendships with peers who share the common experience of the death of a
loved one; and (10) have fun. The youngest children heal and speak about their grief often with “play
therapy” as their little hearts cannot find words to express such trauma.
In addition to seven grief support groups monthly, Billy’s Place also hosts four community events
each year: (1) Hike for Hope; (2) Balloon Release; (3) Butterfly Release; and (4) Children’s Grief
Awareness Day Candlelight Vigil. Each opportunity provides informal support as children and
families collectively gather in honor of their loved ones and in support of each other. In 2017, 734
community members participated.
The big picture goal for Billy’s Place is to grow into an independent space and serve the community
as a grief resource center with a team of at least three (3) full time employees and two (2) part time
employees.
2. If the applying organization is non-municipal or a non-profit 501c, please describe your relationship with
Arizona municipalities including past and present support, whether through partnerships, collaborations,
in-kind contributions, grants, tax-based funding or other. Describe the supporting municipality’s role in
this project. If the applying organization is a municipality governmental sub-division please enter the
text “Not applicable.”
Billy’s Place received general fund support from the City of Peoria in 2017 and applied again in
2018. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has agreed to support Billy’s Place funding
request to Gila River Indian Community.
3. Describe the proposed project and planned goals and activities.
The goal for the 2018 program are as follows:
1) To be known as the grief resource center in the Northwest Valley

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2018
2) Serve 1150 community members through our main program areas
Billy’s Place programming teaches families healthy concrete coping skills that are easily utilized and
integrated into everyday life. Billy’s Place curriculum is designed to build family cohesion, promote
mutual respect, encourage open and honest dialogue and strengthen the family unit. Each program
goal helps lay the groundwork to ensure the child becomes a healthy, well-adjusted adult and the
adults in their lives are equipped to better support their needs.
Providing a safe and nurturing place for children and families navigating their grief is the sole reason
Billy’s Place exists. Studies demonstrate peer support is one of the most effective ways to help
children and those who love them. Grief can often make children and teens feel isolated and
different from their friends. Billy’s Place helps children understand they are not alone, different or
weird because of their thoughts and feelings, although the journey is very difficult and will last a
lifetime, they will learn skills to cope in their new world of missing someone they love.
Bereaved children tend to act in ways that those around them may not recognize as grief reactions.
For example, a quiet toddler may have more tantrums, an active child may lose interest in things he
or she used to do, or a studious teen may engage in risky behavior. Whatever a child’s age, he or
she may feel unrealistic guilt about having caused the death. Sometimes bereaved children take on
adult responsibilities and worry about surviving family members, or who would care for them if
something happened to their caregivers.
Billy’s Place groups are led by staff and trained volunteer facilitators who help to provide a safe
environment for the children and teens to express themselves. All facilitators participate in a
comprehensive training that teaches them about group facilitation skills and the impact of grief on
children, teens and their families. Some facilitators have personal grief experiences and many are
mental health professionals.
Groups follow a curriculum based on Dr. Alan Wolfelt’s “Reconciliation Needs of Grieving Children”
focusing on:
1. Acknowledge the reality of the death.
2. Move toward the pain on the loss while being nurtured physically, emotionally and spiritually.
3. Convert the relationship with the person who has died from one of presence to one of memory.
4. Develop a new self-identity based on a life without the person who has died.
5. Relate the experience of the death to a context of meaning.

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2018
6. Experience a continued supportive adult presence in the future years.
Children are divided by developmental ages into groups of 3-5 year olds, 6-9 year olds, 10-13 year
olds, teens, and young adults. The groups offer a mix of opportunities for children and teens to share
their personal story and talk about their grief, validate their feelings and experiences and help them
feel less isolated in their grief. These opportunities include sharing as well as a structured activity
using art, music, storytelling, poetry, writing, and drama. All participants, regardless of age, are able
to use the “I Pass” guideline, which means they get to decide when, and how much they wish to
share with the rest of the group.
Concurrently, adults meet in their own groups for the death of a spouse/partner, death of a child or
as a primary caregiver to a grieving child. These sessions provide opportunities for mutual support
and sharing, as well as education about the unique challenges of parenting grieving children and
teens. Peer support/education groups have proven to be highly successful in helping children learn
healthy coping skills and gain a renewed sense of hope.
A major program change that occurred in 2017 is the addition of the YA Grief (Young Adult)
program. YA Grief targets ages 16-30 offering a safe, supportive, non-judgmental space for young
adults to share their loss with others who are also grieving.
4. Describe how the proposed project satisfies one or more of the priority funding areas identified by the
Gila River Indian Community.
Billy’s Place programming targets the mental health of individuals coping with the death of a loved
one directly aligning with the healthcare funding priority of the Gila River Indian Community.
5. Identify the needs/problems to be addressed, target population and number of people to be served by
the project.
An astounding 142 children a day experience the death of a parent in Maricopa County – over
51,976 each year! Additionally, 5% to 8% of children under the age of 18 experience the death of a
sibling. Countless others are impacted by the death of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and
friends.
Additional research reveals:

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2018
• In a poll of 1,000 high school juniors and seniors, 90% indicated that they had experienced the
death of a loved one (nahic.ucsf.edu/downloads/Mortality.pdf).
• Children who have had a parent die, without the support of others and the tools to know how to
grieve, often end up depressed, isolated, dropping out of school, or on a path to destruction.
• A Nationwide Survey among “Classroom Teachers on Childhood Bereavement” conducted by
New York Life Foundation and American Federation of Teachers, 2012 “classroom teachers report
that students who have lost a parent or guardian typically exhibit: - Difficulty concentrating in class
(observed by 87% of teachers) - Withdrawal/disengagement and less class participation (observed
by 82%) - Absenteeism (observed by 72%) - Decrease in quality of work (observed by 68%) - Less
reliability in turning in assignments (observed by 66%) 7 in 10 teachers (69%) currently have at least
one student in their class(es) who has lost a parent, guardian, sibling, or close friend in the past
year”.
• From a report by the Federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the
U.S. Department of Justice, “more than 3/4 of juveniles incarcerated have suffered a major loss in
their family, and anger is a major contributing factor to their crimes”.
With a safe place to process their grief and support from the community, children and teens in
Maricopa County do not need to become another statistic.
6. Define the project as a new or continuing program.
This project is a continuing program increasing services annually. Since Billy’s Place divides
individuals by developmental ages into groups for 3-5 year olds, 6-9 year olds, 10-13 year olds, 14-
17 year olds, and the new YA Grief (Young Adult) group, the number of group nights has been
steadily increasing. Billy’s Place has experienced a 63% growth from 2016 to 2017 and are prepared
to serve an additional 20% in 2018.
7. Provide a brief timeline including start and finish dates. Indicate if the timeline is flexible.
Families contact Billy’s Place every day of the week throughout the year. Individuals can join a group
at any time and attend for as long as they feel appropriate. The four quarterly events (Hike for Hope,
Balloon Release, Butterfly Release and National Children’s Grief Awareness Day) also allow for a
comfortable transition into the support groups.
8. Identify other organizations, partners or funders participating in the project and their roles.

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2018
The most impactful partnership to develop in 2017 was with Adame Family Counseling. By co-
locating with Adame Family Counseling, Billy’s Place has begun the work on their ultimate goal of
creating a grief resource center in the Northwest Valley. Billy’s Place is a safe haven for youth and
families who have suffered a significant loss.
Additional Referral Agencies and partnerships include Banner Health – Mendy’s Place, Honor
Health, Christ Church of the Valley, Benevilla, various school districts, Stepping Stones of Hope,
City of Peoria Mobile Crisis Response Teams, and local fire and police departments. Billy’s Place
has a strong parternship with Trevor Browne High School in the Phoenix Unified School District.
The district provides weekly space to meet, supplies/copies, and arranges the teen’s school
schedule so they may participate.
Current funders include The City of Peoria, The West Valley Mavericks, and the Peoria Diamond
Club. There will be a continued effort to increase grant revenue by submitting applications to The
Thunderbird Charities, APS, Peoria Firefighter Charities, Diamondbacks Foundation, National Bank
of Arizona, John F. Long Foundation, and Larry Miller Charities.
9. Would you be able to implement the proposed plan if your organization received partial funding for this
project?
Yes, Billy’s Place will be able to implement grief support groups with partial funding. Each groups
average cost is approximately $3,900. Billy’s Place would need to adjust the number of groups
delivered based on funding available.
10. Describe your plan for project financial sustainability beyond the grant period. If this is a
program/project previously funded by the Gila River Indian Community describe efforts made towards
the previously described sustainability plan.
Billy’s Place has developed strategies to increase the funding in all areas of fundraising including:
individual contributions, corporate sponsorships, event revenue, employee matching program and
recently became a qualified Arizona Charitable Tax Credit organization.
11. Describe your plan to document progress and results.
The goals for the programming are:

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2018
Goal 1: Offer grieving children safe opportunies for self-expression in healthy and positive ways
alongside peers.
Goal 2: Provide opportunities for children to help them understand the causes of death and
eliminate fears that loved ones will be forgotten
Goal 3: Help children understand everyone grieves differently, and learn skills to help diminish a
sense of isolation and loneliness.
Goal 4: Offer opportunities for children over a one year period to foster friendships with peers who
share the common experience of the death of a loved one.
Goal 5: Teach concrete tools related to increasing self-esteem, understanding appropriate ways to
cope enhancing communication and conflict resolution skills.
Billy’s Place progress and results are documented as follows:
1) Billy’s Place utilizes pre and post surveys that help to document program and results for
participants.
2) Support group facilitators are able to assess the progress from the individual participants.
3) Participants share their individual milestones with their peers and group facilitators.
4) Families are interviewed prior to attending Billy’s Place where an assessment is performed by
the Founder and President.
5) Every family is contacted monthly and asked for feedback on their individual and family progress
as it relates to the support groups and programs they are participating in.
12. Indicate any application to and/or awards made by a tribe other than the Gila River Indian Community
for state shared revenues for this and any other project for the past five (5) years. If this information is
included in a separate attachment, please indicate that here.
There have been no applications or awards made by any tribe to Billy’s Place ever.

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2018
Project Budget
Budget Period: 1/1/18 to 12/31/19
For each budget item listed here please provide a narrative description on the following Project Budget Detail
page.
Proposed Budget Expense Amount Amount In Kind Total Budget
(list each budget item) requested from requested or contributions
GRIC secured from
other funders
1. Program Coordination $10,000 $3,000 $87,730 $100,730
Personnel and Volunteers
2. Rent and Venues $2,000 $8,800 $5,260 $16,060
3. Program Supplies $13,000 $30,350 $1,300 $44,650
4. Operational Expenses $0 $10,180 $0 $10,180
5. Insurance $0 $1,250 $0 $1,250
6. Marketing and Promotion $0 $3,250 $0 $3,250
7. Professional Services $0 $1,800 $0 $1,800
8. Special Event Programming $0 $3,600 $0 $3,600
9. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0
10. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0
11. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0
12. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0
13. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0
14. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0
15. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0
16. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0
17. Click here to enter text. $0 $0 $0 $0
Total Budget $25,000 $62,230 $94,290 $181,520

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2018
Project Budget Detail
Please provide a narrative description for each of the project budget items listed on the previous page. Include
the dollar figure and how it was derived.
1. Billy’s Place is committed to quality programming and does not take a true salary for the work done.
Additionally, Billy’s Place runs on a strong volunteer team. Thus, only $13,000 is the actual cash needed at this
time for the total $100,730 in personnel.
2. Starting in 2018, Billy’s Place began co-locating with Adame Family Counseling. Billy’s Place has begun the
work on their ultimate goal of creating a grief resource center in the Northwest Valley. Billy’s Place will become
a physical and permanent space for youth and families who have suffered a significant loss. Co-locating and
paying $10,800 yearly with an additional in-kind of $5,260 has significant advantages for Billy’s Place to remain
sustainable throughout our growth .
3. Supplies include workbooks, handouts for group sessions, and art supplies for the younger groups. The cost
of each session varies, but in general is about $1,353 with a total in supplies of $48,700.
4. The operational expenses is $10,180 including postage, office furnishings, computers, bank fees, etc.
5. The insurance of $1,250 includes Board of Directors and Business Liability insurance.
6. Marketing and Promotions of $3,250 represents website, advertising, and printing flyers.
7. Professional Services of $1,800 is the accountant fees.
8. The special event programming of $3,600 covers the costs of the four quartering events, Hike for Hope,
Balloon Releae, Butterfly Release, and Children’s Grief Awareness Day.
9. Click here to enter text.
10. Click here to enter text.
11. Click here to enter text.
12. Click here to enter text.
13. Click here to enter text.
14. Click here to enter text.
15. Click here to enter text.

Gila River Indian Community Grant Application
Grant Cycle 2018
16. Click here to enter text.
17. Click here to enter text.
Other explanation: Click here to enter text.

December 5, 2016
I cannot adequately express my gratitude and admiration for Billy’s Place. When my 36-
year-old husband Chad passed away, leaving me to raise our 5-year-old son, Billy’s Place was
an irreplaceable gift that was recommended to me as a safe place for my son and me to
navigate through our grief with other families experiencing tremendous loss. Because of Billy’s
Place, my son was able to see right away that he was not the only little kid in the world who had
lost a parent. Not that knowing this takes the pain away, but something about knowing you are
not alone, speaks volumes in such a vulnerable state. The opportunity that Billy’s Place
provided for me to participate in discussions amongst other parents facing their own grief and
supporting a young grieving child at the same time was simply priceless.
At Billy’s Place, my son and I learned how to boldly and unashamedly celebrate his
dad/my husband, and in a sense train others around us how to not shy away from grief but
instead embrace it. Unfortunately, society generally does not cope well with people grieving.
But Billy’s Place really challenged us step up and endure our grief in a healthy way, so that
unresolved emotions would not manifest later in an unhealthy or potentially dangerous way.
Thanks to Billy’s Place, my son and I processed our grief in such a way that we proudly
include Chad in our daily lives and we have found a way to smile and live a very joyous life. We
are not afraid or ashamed to speak of our lost loved one, and we have a whole new perspective
and understanding for others experiencing grief. Billy’s Place is literally changing the grieving
community one family at a time.
Sincerely,
Kara Washington

November 30, 2016
Gracious Supporters,
My son Jacob suffered with bipolar disorder and died by suicide leaving behind a five year old
daughter and seven-year-old niece as well as the rest of our family.
How do you tell young children about death? How do you explain suicide? How, when you
struggle to find the will to go on, reassure children that things will get better?
In the turmoil of our darkest hour a friend who is a first responder provided us with information
about Billy's Place. Billy’s Place was a beacon in the darkness. We found love acceptance
guidance, reassurance and support. The programs and activities that they have for children
draw them out and help them express their feelings of fear, insecurity, abandonment, anger
and sadness in a constructive.way. Supportive bonds are formed between the children. When a
child is having an especially rough day they gather around them with love, support and positive
affirmations. At Billy's Place Children find the assurance that they are not alone in this world.
That they are not the only children grieving. This healing is made possible by the founders,
volunteers, sponsors who make up the loving supportiive community that we call Billy's Place.
Please help them continue this vital work by pledging your support!
Thank you for being a beacon in the Darkness!
Melinda Villela