The DREAM Program, Orchard Gardens, February 2013

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The Village Mentoring Organization

The Orchard Gardens DREAM Update February 2013 DREAM Programming: The number of mentees at Saturday activities this month has been lower than usual for a few reasons: tutoring classes, youth being sick, family events, and youth having basketball practice, to name a few. The mentors are continuing to work with the mentees and their families to know in advance when youth will not be able to attend and get families back in the rhythm of DREAM occurring every Saturday.  2/2 (5 mentees, 10 mentors): The mentees and mentors watched movies as a group and prepared Valentine’s Day themed gift bags for a future fundraiser.  2/9: DREAM was cancelled due to the snowstorm.  2/16 (11 mentees, 23 mentors): The group spent the afternoon at the Fit Rec, BU's gym, playing basketball and going swimming. There were a number of potential new mentors there as well to see what a DREAM Saturday is like.  2/23 (8 mentees, 16 mentors): The mentors and mentees split into small groups.

The older youth worked on High Adventure planning, while the younger mentees either went to the Museum of Science or programmed on campus.

Program Development:  High Adventure: The teen mentees and their mentors are continuing to work on making the High Adventure trip to NYC this summer happen. They will be focusing on fundraising and planning for the majority of their DREAM activities the rest of the Spring Semester.  New Mentor Recruitment: The mentors held an informational meeting for students interested in becoming DREAM mentors on February 15th. The meeting was well-attended and the potential new mentors will be joining DREAM Saturdays in the coming weeks to get a better feel for what DREAM is in action.

Community Collaboration:  Orchard Gardens Public Safety Meeting: I attended the Orchard Gardens safety meeting at 25 Ambrose St. on the 2nd floor on February 21st.

DREAM Office:  Mass Mentoring Partnership training: On February 5th, Zahra attended a Mentor Match Support training conducted by the Mass Mentoring Partnership organization and discussed best practices to better assist with our work in match support for the DREAM mentors.

41 Dearborn St., Roxbury, MA 02119 | (617) 699-8408 | boston@dreamprogram.org

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Teen Employment Guide: The teens have all received the DREAM teen employment guide and a few have stopped by the office to request further assistance in applying for summer jobs.

Champions in Action announcement: On February 21st, Citizens Bank formally announced that DREAM had been recognized as the 2013 Champions in Action for the next 6 months. In addition to receiving a monetary award, DREAM will also receive publicity via NECN and have flyers in all of the Citizens Bank branches.

Summer Resources compilation: We are in the process of collecting summer resources and camp information for DREAM’s Summer Resource Guide that will be distributed to all Orchard Garden DREAM families in April/May. We have already distributed the pre-applications for Camp Harbor View to youth ages 1114 years old.

Keep DREAMing!

Chad Butt Program Director