Hello everyone!
I am a little over a month into the full-time portion of my fellowship project. Feel free to read up on the last few updates and send me any comments you may have. I try to make a post roughly every week or so.
I've now had my first four weekly LAB (Local Advisory Board) meetings for the parents in both communities. Overall I've been very pleased with the turnout and quality of discussion. Just yesterday we had a parent educator from The Family Place come in and facilitate an awesome informal discussion of parenting strategies & struggles. We actually probably had a few too many parents turnout to the meeting, as a few times it was tough to keep the discussion focused and on track. Last week I brought in an internet safety specialist from Prevent Child Abuse Vermont and she gave a nice presentation about the dangers and powers of the internet and how to monitor / teach your child how to use it responsibly. Two weeks from now we'll be having a teen parenting workshop, and the following week we will likely have a program put on by the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of VT/NH. So weekly meetings are going well, as are my one-on-one interactions with individual parents. One of my big struggles though continues to be how to help parents follow through with the little things that add up, like making a follow up phone call to get their child signed up for something. I've frequently found myself realizing that it's often not that parents are unaware of resources or opportunities, but are often too overwhelmed by their own personal health issues or the craziness of raising young kids to get the little things done.
The computers are finally behaving themselves for the most part. I fixed all the major bugs, and finally got Comcast internet service installed and funded at Northwoods last week. Though I'm still working to secure long-term funding for the internet at Hollow Drive. The computers are also finally being used by parents as well as the kids, which is awesome to see. It's definitely been a struggle engaging and introducing the completely computer-illiterate parents to the world of e-mail, but I've now gotten all except for one to at least sign-up an account.
As far as everything else goes, I've been doing more and more thinking and brainstorming this past week about how to sustain the work I've been doing and what changes to the DREAM leadership structure will be appropriate. And as far as living in state-housing surrounded by kids and parents non-stop, it's definitely at times overwhelming, but very worth it.
Thanks for all your continued support, sorry this post was a bit long!
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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2 comments:
Brian,
Thanks for your updates. This is a great way for all of us in the Class of 1982 to see how you are doing and how our Class Gift is working. It sounds like you are enriching the lives of many less fortunate Upper Valley families.
Thanks for all of your hard work and keep up the good work.
John Hastings (Class VP)
Wonderful to read about your work - well done .. and wonderful to know the fellowship is finally in Use - having heard of it since its conception ..if this blog works, maybe we can keep in touch - thanks for all you're doing- margaret carlson
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