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The Village Mentoring Organization
The SHA DREAM Update 2nd Quarter Report 2013-2014 Program Year (December-February) The SHA DREAM Program ended the Fall Semester with an exciting trip to the Science Museum. The Tufts mentors returned to campus after Winter Break eager to begin a new semester of DREAM. The Spring Semester is off to a great start with the program focusing on one-on-one and small group programming to provide the youth with purposeful and varying activities.
DREAM Weekly programming: DREAM programming happens every Friday afternoon that the Tufts mentors are on campus and in classes.
12/06 (13 youth, 11 mentors): The SHA Program ended the semester with a fun-filled trip to the Science Museum. Using the passes generously donated by Citizens Bank to DREAM, mentors and mentees explored the exhibit halls and some attended a show at the Omni Theater. 12/07 (3 youth, 3 mentors): As an additional, make up activity, two matches went to Frog Pond to ice skate. They later met up with another mentor and mentee and attended the Longwood Symphony Orchestra’s concert. 1/31 (15 youth, 13 mentors): For the first Friday of Spring Semester programming, the group split up into small groups and one-on-one parings. Small group activities included attending a planetarium show at the Science Museum, making puppy chow, and playing games. One-on-one activities included going out to dinner, playing instruments together, and catching up after the long break. 2/7 (12 youth, 12 mentors): The group again broke up into small groups and one-on-one matches. Small group activities included going to the gym, playing ping pong in the campus center, and playing board games. One-on-one activities included homework help and dinner in the dining hall. 2/14 (12 youth, 11 mentors): For this Friday, the program held a large group activity and took the kids sledding. For many of our youth this was the first time they had ever been sledding. They loved it and had a great afternoon. Mentees who didn’t attend sledding did one-on-one activities with their mentors. 2/21 (14 youth, 15 mentors): The program held its first fundraising event of the semester. They sold drinks and bake goods outside of the Campus Center. Mentees participated in shifts through helping bake, decorate, and sell cookies and cupcakes. 2/28 (12 youth, 12 mentors): Friday the group again split into small groups and one-on-one matches. Small group activities included going to the computer lab, making pizzas, and playing games while wearing fake mustaches. One-on-one activities included going into Boston, watching movies to explore healthy relationships, and playing games.
41 Dearborn St., Roxbury, MA 02119 | (617) 699-8408 | boston@dreamprogram.org
DREAM Participants: Mentors: There are currently 16 active DREAM mentors. Youth: Over the last quarter, 16 youth participated in DREAM, one less than last quarter. Due to another Friday after school program, one mentee is taking this semester off. While the program does not have the capacity to take on youth this spring semester, they hope to next fall. Program Development: Mentor Training and Background Checks: Three of the five mentors recruited last semester have completed their background checks. The other two are waiting for their FBI fingerprint checks to come back. Until then, they will participate alongside mentos who have been cleared. Mentor Elections and Executive Board: The program decided to elect an Executive Board for this semester, adding five new elected positions. The results of this election are below. The executive board meets monthly and as needed. Each officer reports on their project during mentor meetings and recruits other mentors to help accomplish tasks. o Returning co-chair: Jill Kelly o Incoming co-chair: Natasha Chabria o Secretary: Meaghan Annett o Treasurer: Solana Davis o Fundraising Chair: Chelsea Newman o Culminating Co-chairs: Aditi Ashok and Lesya Horyn o Group Liaison Chair: Calvin Liang o Mentor Development Chairs: Natasha Chabria and Stephen Walsh New Matches: Two of the mentors that were recruited last semester have been officially matched with a mentee. The other three mentors will be matched in early March. Fundraising: The group held its first fundraising event of the semester on Friday, February 21st. The group held a bake sale in front of the campus center and made a profit of about $30. Behavior Management: Given the young age range of the mentees in this program, the group decided to do behavior contracts with all youth under 12. This is an agreement between the mentor, mentee, and parent that lists out expectations of behavior at DREAM. Mentor Recognition: The program has begun recognizing a “Mentor of the Week” at every Monday meeting. This recognition is given to a mentor who has gone above and beyond in the past week either with their mentee, on a Friday, or with other DREAM planning. DREAMstock: Mentors attended DREAMstock, DREAM’s annual mentor training, on February 22nd. Mentors from Northeastern, Tufts, Harvard, and Boston University were all present for a day full of workshops, networking, and fun. Workshops included cultural competency, age-specific mentoring, purposeful programming, and diverse recruitment. All mentors were encouraged to continue networking with each other outside of
DREAMstock and take the knowledge they learned back to their respective programs. Additionally, co-chairs arrived two hours early to participate in a session dedicated to exchanging ideas across programs and addressing the issue of mentor retention. DREAM Office News: Teen Program: In December, we began outlining our teen program. I met with youth from SHA and Putnam Gardens in January to gather their ideas for activities and focus of the program. Additionally, in February I met with Tufts mentors about the DREAM teen program. I am working to recruit one or two mentors per program to help organize a teen wide activity on March 28th. Teen Employment Guide: I have been compiling DREAM’s 2014 Somerville teen employment guide. It is expected to be distributed to eligible youth during the beginning of March. The DREAM Office is hosting optional office hours for those interested in receiving more assistance with resumes or applying to jobs within the city. South Boston Local Program: University of Massachusetts (UMass) Boston has been selected as the partner school for our new community in South Boston: Old Colony. Mentor recruitment has begun and will continue into March. Longwood Symphony Orchestra Benefit Concert: The LSO concert, which was held on December 7th, went extremely well and was enjoyed by all attendees. Mentor and mentee matches from the Madison Park/Northeastern University Local Program, the Orchard Gardens/Boston University Local Program, and the Somerville Housing Authority/Tufts University Local Program attended the concert. For most of our youth, this was the first classical concert they have ever attended. We want to say thanks to the LSO, our sponsor UBS, all who attended, and those who sponsored a mentor/mentee match to join us. This has been a really exciting quarter. I am looking forward to the program’s continued process throughout the semester! Keep DREAMing! Katie Purcell Program Empowerment Director Mass Promise Fellow/Americorps The DREAM Program 41 Dearborn Street Roxbury, MA 02119 katiea@dreamprogram.org