Hello everyone! This will be my first blog report of my Class of '82 UVSE Fellowship, and I will be making updates once a week, probably every Friday. I just got back from an 11-day adventure in Florida with the DREAM High Adventure program, where I led a group of 16 teenagers and 8 other Dartmouth students on an adventure of a lifetime. Now that I'm back in the Upper Valley, I'm quickly transitioning into my fellowship work, settling into my apartment in the Northwoods housing complex where I'll be living for the rest of the summer. I do not know how familiar most of you are with my project goals and specific plans, (and I will be the first to admit that the specifics are still evolving), so I will keep this first update brief and will have much more information to share in a week from now. I did start installing the new computers in the Northoods community center today, and will be going door-to-door tomorrow re-introducing myself and my role for the summer to the parents that are now my neighbors. Overall, I am tremendously excited for the experiences that await me in the next few months and beyond.
Feel free to send me comments or questions at brian.j.bensch@dartmouth.edu.
Until next time,
Brian
UVSE Fellowship Overview
The *Class of 1982 Upper Valley Social Entrepreneur Fellowship* supports a Dartmouth undergraduate who will devote full time work in one leave-term and part-time work in several academic terms to working with an Upper Valley non-profit organization on social entrepreneurial ventures. Each fellow is selected based on their grant application which presents a plan for innovative and sustainable change in the way the organization serves the local community. This all falls under the umbrella of the Tucker Foundation, whose mission is to help students develop to be "Ethical Leaders and Responsible Citizens" during their four years at Dartmouth.
Brian's Fellowship Project Overview
As the first recipient of the Upper Valley Social Entrepreneurial Fellowship funded by the Dartmouth Class of '82, I am working for DREAM as the the first ever Community Liaison. DREAM is a student-led non-profit 501(c)3 mentoring organization that matches college students with youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods in Vermont. Having been a DREAM mentor for three years and co-chair of the program for about a year, I became aware that one of the biggest issues DREAM has trouble with is that our mentoring efforts have been almost exclusively focused on the children without engaging and reaching out to their parents', who ultimately have the biggest impact on their children's lives. I've therefore started the position of Community Liaison, whose fundamental responsibility is to serve as a liaison for the parents in the communities. By improving parents' access to existing resources which allow them to increase their financial stability and parenting skills, and by facilitating communication between parents and child's mentor, DREAM is better able to make more long-term impact on the children's lives.
I have four specific action plan components of my project. First, I've installed two new computer systems in each of the community centers, to allow everyone in the community, especially parents, access to e-mail, the DREAM Google Calendar, and the infinite ability of the web to network, job search, and troubleshoot daily problems. A second component of my project has been starting up weekly parent meetings in each of the communities. Meetings focus on DREAM's role in the community and how it can be improved, on various community issues such as recycling and proper use of the community center, and often incorporate programs or speakers that give presentations targeted toward needs of the community. The third component of my project involves meeting individually with each parent at least once a week in order to address individual concerns, ranging from financial difficulties to specific problems with their kids, and offering referrals when appropriate. The final component of my project involves simply facilitating the communication between each parent and their child's mentor in order to ensure that each mentor is working in conjunction with individual parents' efforts and disciplinary systems, which allows our mentoring efforts to be much more effective.
The *Class of 1982 Upper Valley Social Entrepreneur Fellowship* supports a Dartmouth undergraduate who will devote full time work in one leave-term and part-time work in several academic terms to working with an Upper Valley non-profit organization on social entrepreneurial ventures. Each fellow is selected based on their grant application which presents a plan for innovative and sustainable change in the way the organization serves the local community. This all falls under the umbrella of the Tucker Foundation, whose mission is to help students develop to be "Ethical Leaders and Responsible Citizens" during their four years at Dartmouth.
Brian's Fellowship Project Overview
As the first recipient of the Upper Valley Social Entrepreneurial Fellowship funded by the Dartmouth Class of '82, I am working for DREAM as the the first ever Community Liaison. DREAM is a student-led non-profit 501(c)3 mentoring organization that matches college students with youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods in Vermont. Having been a DREAM mentor for three years and co-chair of the program for about a year, I became aware that one of the biggest issues DREAM has trouble with is that our mentoring efforts have been almost exclusively focused on the children without engaging and reaching out to their parents', who ultimately have the biggest impact on their children's lives. I've therefore started the position of Community Liaison, whose fundamental responsibility is to serve as a liaison for the parents in the communities. By improving parents' access to existing resources which allow them to increase their financial stability and parenting skills, and by facilitating communication between parents and child's mentor, DREAM is better able to make more long-term impact on the children's lives.
I have four specific action plan components of my project. First, I've installed two new computer systems in each of the community centers, to allow everyone in the community, especially parents, access to e-mail, the DREAM Google Calendar, and the infinite ability of the web to network, job search, and troubleshoot daily problems. A second component of my project has been starting up weekly parent meetings in each of the communities. Meetings focus on DREAM's role in the community and how it can be improved, on various community issues such as recycling and proper use of the community center, and often incorporate programs or speakers that give presentations targeted toward needs of the community. The third component of my project involves meeting individually with each parent at least once a week in order to address individual concerns, ranging from financial difficulties to specific problems with their kids, and offering referrals when appropriate. The final component of my project involves simply facilitating the communication between each parent and their child's mentor in order to ensure that each mentor is working in conjunction with individual parents' efforts and disciplinary systems, which allows our mentoring efforts to be much more effective.
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1 comment:
Brian,
This looks great. I will try to upload some of the pictures we took during our stop at your new place.
We are out on Martha's Vineyard for the next three weeks, so on the same time zone.
Thanks for all you are doing and for being open to sharing with the rest of our class. Let's see where this goes.
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