To: Miss Jennie Enger

From: Shamsi Sheikhuna

RE: Unit 4 Project Proposal: Proposal on proposing to open an ethnic shopping store targeting
Various cultures and bringing them to one roof.

Date: 18 October 2010

For Unit 4 of English project I want to make a proposal on proposing to open a store called Cultural Link.
I want to expand diversity within Fargo-Moorhead area by opening an ethnic clothing shop that sells
clothing from India, China, United States, Somalia, and other various countries. I feel that the Fargo-
Moorhead area is not diverse like other cities and this would be a benefit for the area. My goal is to
create an inclusive environment where difference in fashion of all people is valued. I want my store to attract
people from various cultures regardless of gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, demographic background and
lifestyles. My goal is to have someone come into my store and feel a sense of belongings and be able to learn
about other cultural dressing. My store will categorize each clothing with country it came from that way when
customers come I hope they walk out with either some education on which country wears what or buy items. I
was looking at the

Situation:
In the Fargo-Moorhead area we are not diverse like other cities just as stated above and we need to
start coming up with solutions to this issue. We want to attract people from various cultures to expand
diversity. According to Adriane Dellorco one in four communities value diversity but are not getting it as
much as they would like. It is evident that areas that embrace diversity are able to attract a wider
diverse population to the communities. By opening this store I want to improve the public image of our
surrounding area and show that as a community we strive to increase diversity and promote people to
come here. If visitors came to see family and they were to check out the local ethnic stores I want them
to see that Fargo-Moorhead is making it imperative to continually increase diversity. According to
DiversityData.org in a population of 174,791, about 164,185 are Non-Hispanic white. This shows that
about 94% of people in Fargo-Moorhead didn’t come from a diverse area in the year 2000. That number
decreased to about 91% in 2009. This shows we are making improvement but it’s not fast enough. By
opening Cultural Link I want to help in the solution to increasing diversity in Fargo-Moorhead area.

Project Summary
This assignment will help me accomplish one of my goals in the future of opening an ethnic clothing
store. With all the research I will do for this project I will get a better understanding of the work, cost,
license, and marketing that is required to open such business. The final project will outline all of this and
provide the types of federal grant one can get to open such store that benefits the community. Also the
final project will list the benefits of expanding diversity within the community and how a store like this
will unite the community.

Details: Writing
The writing part of this project will consist of writing a proposal that includes a cover sheet, table of
contents, table of figures, executive summary (which will include my objectives, methods, and vision
statement), and work cited. The evaluation of the writing works should follow the rubric below. Later on
in the future when my store is in the process of being opened I will have questionnaires, surveys (both
online and on paper), contracts, license agreement, and detailed proposal asking the government to aid me
in opening this by giving me federal grants.

Details: Visual or Technological Components

There won’t be a lot of visual in my project since it mostly involves writing, but I will definitely have
many lists of figures included within my proposal. Some of the visual will be price and merchandise
comparison chart that would list of at least three popular cultural dress from India, China, and Somalia
and the prices for them. I will also have statistics of diversity in Fargo-Moorhead area and other list of
figures. The evaluation of visual or technological components should follow the rubric below.

Objectives:
Learning Objectives:

My major is Business Management and Marketing and for my goal in the future I want to open either an
ethnic restaurant or clothing store. Coming from a different country myself I was always fascinated by
the dress of other cultures and when I took Dress in World Culture at NDSU I got the experience to see
numerous videos and slides on different cultural dress. I became fascinated with this and really want to
open a store that included dress from around the world. I have always wanted to do something like this
that is the reason why I chose my major so it can help me accomplish my goal. The class I took increased
my interest to do this more. To implement my idea I have a lot of learning to do therefore, my learning
objectives for this project are as follows:
 Since I am opening this business in the future, I am only making a proposal proposing to open
this business I hope to do intense research on the costs and benefits of opening this store
 I also want to do more research in finding out federal grants that will help me open this store to
increase diversity within the community
 By opening this store I will be able to express my cultural dress style along with many other
countries dress style.
 I will get a better understanding of the how to obtain my inventory and types license needed to
open this type of business since the merchandise are being shipped from different countries.
 I will conduct questionnaires, surveys, and visual contact to see what my customers would like
showcased in the store or what they are going to go buy.
.

Practical Objectives:

 I will first have to research each country’s clothing and see what the popular dress is in each
country is, therefore, when I order my merchandise I start off with the popular cultural dress of
each culture.
  I will first have to determine which foreign country has the highest population in Fargo-Moorhead
area that way when I open my store I can start by appealing to the three most diverse countries and
then expand from there.
 Location is very important when opening a business, so I will need to find out where is the best
place to open such store.

Methodology:
I have always wanted to open a store like this. To achieve my goals I will first have to work on meeting
the objectives outlined above. To do this I will need to devote a lot of time and effort in researching both
online and books. As a future business management and marketing teacher I will have have two majors
that will fully support me in accomplishing my goal, but for now since I am still going to school I can
start the research process. I will use the following steps and methods to achieve this goal:

 As stated above in my objective I will first research each country’s clothing and see what the
popular dress is in each country is.
 Research on the costs and benefits of opening Diversity Link.
 I also want to do more research in finding out federal grants that will help me open this store to
increase diversity within the community
 I will conduct questionnaires, surveys, and/or interviews to see what people what me to showcase
or sell in the store.
 I will come back and make revisions of my original draft or proposal so I can include my learning
from the research.
 I will create my final proposal.

Timeline:
The following timeline table outlines the anticipated chronology of the steps necessary to incorporate the
previously mentioned methodology:

TASKS WEEKS NOTES

*Week 1= 10/15 –10/22, Wk 2 = 10/21–10/28, Used to check
Wk 3 = 11/19 – 11/26, Wk 4 = 12/01 – 12/7. Project due 1 2 3 4 progress of tasks.
12/3/10.
1. Project proposal turned in to Miss Enger (due 10/22). *
2. Research for my objectives * *
3. Rough outline or draft of information to be included. * *
4. Interviews and discussions with consumers * *
5. Start putting my findings into layout revision. * *
6. Project progress report to Miss Enger (due 11/24). *
7. Final revisions and draft sent to peer for opinion. *
8. Final project submitted to Miss Enger (due 12/3). *
9. Reflection Memo completed to Miss Enger (12/6) *

Benefits:
The benefits are outlined all across the memorandum. I know one day when Diversity Link gets opened it
will help increase diversity within Fargo-Moorhead. The community will feel closer with one another
because there would be a place where they can walk in and see diverse people in one building. The store
will also increase attraction for visitors and bring awareness of other cultural dress to the community.
Overall benefit will be to the consumer and the community. The benefit for me is that I accomplished one
of the goals I have set for the future.

Evaluation:
My final work will be evaluated by Miss Enger. Ms. Enger stated clearly what she is looking for in the
memo; so the memo will be graded by the grading rubric outlined in the assignment sheet in Englsih 320
Unit 4 as well accordance to the rubric I have listed below. I will evaluate my own success and failures in
the progress report which will show how far I have moved along with my project learning. This report
will be due on November 24, 2010. Part 2 of Unit 4 lists the recommendation needed in the progress
report and the criteria Mss. Enger uses when grading the Progress Report. After the Progress Report and
final project have been submitted the last step is to do a Reflection Memo which will be due on December
6, 2010 which would outline the planning and strategies about my learning ability to manage projects.

Rubric

Criteria Beginning Developing Competent Accomplished

1) Document is in formal business plan
layout
2) 2) Does it clearly state why this type
of businesses needed in the community
3) Proper spelling, grammar, and
punctuation
4) Is the visual aid appealing to the eye
and well presented
5) Is it clear the benefits of opening this
type of store for the community.
6) Is the writing portion easy to
understand and written professional for
an English class.
7) Does it show that intense research was
conducted during the project
8) Is the time line probable and easy to
reach

Comments:
Reading References

The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web. 22 Oct 2010.

Other Resources

“Profiles by Metro Area.” DiversityData.org. Diversitydata and Harvard School of Public Health, 2010. Web.
22 Oct 2010.

Dellorco, Adriane. “Culture Clash: Cultural Diversity in Intentional Communities.” 2001. Oberlin College. 22
Oct 2010.

http://diversitydata.sph.harvard.edu/Data/Profiles/Show.aspx?loc=484&notes=True&cat=3

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

http://www.ic.org/pnp/culturediversity.php