Community Partnership Proposal · Scott Family Amazeum
Confidential · Spring 2026
For the Amazeum Teen Program team
You've built something worth growing.
Fieldwork is here to help you do that.
The Amazeum has 15 teens and a real program. Fieldwork is a concept being built in NWA right now — and the Amazeum is one of the first organizations Adam wants to build it alongside. Not as a vendor relationship. As a co-creator of something new.
15
Teens already in the Amazeum program — the foundation is real
4
Years Fieldwork works alongside each student — a long runway to build something lasting
An honest starting point: Fieldwork has no existing community partnerships — it's being built now. The Amazeum would be a founding partner, helping shape what this program becomes in NWA. That's a different offer than a finished program looking for access.
What Fieldwork Is
A four-year program built around real community work.
Fieldwork is a longitudinal college preparation program for NWA students starting in 9th grade. The core thesis: a student's application should reflect a life actually lived — not a list assembled in senior year.
Community institution partnerships are not a marketing angle. They are the product. Students do real work inside partner organizations, produce tangible outputs, and leave something behind.
The Four-Year Arc
Each year has a purpose.
1
9th Grade
Explore
What does this student care about? First real experience launched.
2
10th–11th
Do
Real work inside a partner institution. Something that exists in the world.
3
11th Grade
Navigate
The narrative that connects everything. School list, test strategy.
4
12th Grade
Tell
Essays and applications — easy, because the story is already true.
The Vision for NWA
Fieldwork is designed to work alongside NWA's cultural institutions — Crystal Bridges, the BFF, the Amazeum, the Momentary — connecting motivated teens to real project work at the places building NWA's civic future. None of those partnerships exist yet. The Amazeum would be the first.
What We're Not Asking For
No MOU to start. No budget. No dedicated staff role. The first step is a conversation about what you've built and where Fieldwork's capacity could be genuinely useful.
Adam Attas · Founder
[email protected]
fieldworknwa.com
Northwestern Kellogg MMM · Johns Hopkins BS/MS Engineering
Staff PM, Walmart · Bentonville, AR · 2026
What Fieldwork Brings to the Amazeum
Four areas of genuine contribution to what you're building.
Adam's background is in product management and human-centered design — building things for real users, iterating based on feedback, and systematizing what works so it can scale. He's looking for an institution to build Fieldwork's community model alongside. Here's what that collaboration could look like.
1
Content Development
Iterate on what you've already built
  • Review existing session structure through a teen-engagement lens
  • Identify where content feels too young, abstract, or disconnected from teen interests
  • Introduce life design frameworks that create lasting value beyond each session
  • Add reflection layers so teens can articulate what they've learned and built
2
Audience Relevance
Meaningful to teens and parents simultaneously
  • Articulate the teen value proposition in teen language, not adult language
  • Design parent-facing communication that shows growth without removing teen ownership
  • Identify moments teens feel most engaged — and build more of those moments
  • Surface what parents actually want to see: evidence of development, not just activity
3
Program Systems
Repeatable pipelines that don't depend on one person
  • Document the intake process — how teens find the program, join, and get oriented
  • Design a consistent monthly engagement rhythm with clear outputs each cycle
  • Build a simple progress tracking system requiring minimal staff overhead
  • Create a handoff protocol so the program doesn't restart when staff changes
4
Program Expansion
Grow what's working — depth before breadth
  • Identify which elements are most valuable to teens — and invest more in those
  • Design a multi-year pathway so teens deepen involvement, not just repeat it
  • Explore grant and scholarship opportunities that become available once the program is documented
  • Position the Amazeum teen program as a model for youth development in NWA
What the Amazeum Gets
Concrete things. Not abstractions.
These are the specific, tangible things a collaboration with Fieldwork would produce for the Amazeum teen program — not what it would "unlock" or "enable," but what would actually be different.
→
Teens who can explain what they're doing — and why
Right now, a parent asks their teen "what did you do at the Amazeum today?" and gets a shrug. Fieldwork introduces reflection practices that help teens articulate what they're learning, what they're building, and how it connects to who they're becoming. That change alone transforms parent perception of the program.
→
Parents who understand what their teen is getting — before they ask
Teen programs lose families not because the teens aren't engaged, but because parents can't see the value. Fieldwork designs simple, honest parent communication that shows growth without requiring the teen to perform for them. Fewer anxious emails to staff. More families who renew next year.
→
A September that doesn't start from scratch
Most teen programs rebuild their intake process every fall — who's coming, how to orient new teens, how to re-engage returning ones. Fieldwork documents this once and makes it repeatable, so staff energy goes into the work, not the logistics of figuring out how the work starts.
→
Teens who produce something they can point to
A teen who spent a year at the Amazeum should be able to show something for it — a project they designed, a program they delivered, a case study of what they built and what they learned. Fieldwork builds the output structure so teens leave each cycle with something tangible, not just hours logged.
→
A reason for teens to come back next year
Most teen programs struggle with retention because each year feels like a reset. Fieldwork designs a multi-year arc — what a teen does in year one is different from year two, and year two deepens what they started. That gives returning teens a clear reason to stay, and gives staff a framework for how to deepen rather than repeat it.
→
Something to show your director and your funders
Teen programming is notoriously hard to measure. Fieldwork builds in simple, honest documentation — what teens produced, how they described their own growth, what parents observed. That documentation becomes the evidence base for grant applications, board presentations, and program expansion conversations.
→
A voice in how Fieldwork gets built in NWA
Fieldwork has no existing community partnerships — this conversation is one of the first. The Amazeum would help shape how the community model works, which institutions it grows to include, and what it means for teens in NWA over the next several years. That's a different offer than being handed a finished program to participate in.

Getting this right is what turns 15 teens into 30 — through word of mouth from both teens and their parents.

The Dual-Audience Problem
Teen programs must work for two people at once.
Getting this right is what turns 15 teens into 30 — through word of mouth from both teens and their parents.
Teens need to feel
  • This is mine — not a parent idea
  • What I do here actually matters
  • I'm building something, not just attending
  • I want to come back next year
Parents need to see
  • My kid is growing — I can observe it
  • This is worth the time commitment
  • There's something to show for it
  • I'd tell another family about this
How This Starts — Three Steps
  • Listen first. A 30-minute conversation about what's working with the current 15 — what the teens respond to, what staff finds challenging, what the program is trying to become.
  • Observe once. Adam sits in on one existing session — not to evaluate, just to understand what the program feels like from inside it.
  • Decide together. Based on what he heard and saw, Adam shares what a collaboration could look like. The Amazeum decides whether it's worth exploring further — no obligation either way.
Do meaningful work. Discover who you're becoming. Tell your story.
fieldworknwa.com · Spring 2026