The DREAM Program, Inc. 41 Dearborn St. Roxbury, MA 02119 (617) 699-8408 www.dreamprogram.org
January 15, 2013
The Madison Park Village DREAM Update December 2012 A great Fall Semester full of program growth wrapped up this month as the mentors began their final exams. DREAM Programming: 12/7: (19 mentees, 25 mentors): For this semester’s Culminating Experience, the group held a holiday dinner for mentees and their families at the Madison Park Village Community Room at 122 DeWitt Drive. The mentors, the mentees, and the mentees’ families enjoyed a dinner and participated in holiday arts and crafts. A handful of older mentees chose to participate in one-on-one activities with their mentors rather than attend the dinner. Program Development: End of Semester Northeastern Co-Chair Meeting: The end of the semester co-chair meeting occurred on Thursday, December 13th. In this meeting, the co-chairs reflected on the semester’s events, planned for the transition to a new co-chair, and set goals for the Spring Semester. End of Semester Check In Surveys: Northeastern mentors completed end of the semester surveys to evaluate their DREAM experience this fall and provide feedback to the co-chairs and DREAM office. Academic Release Waivers: Academic release waivers were distributed to parents and collected in preparation for the DREAM Office’s effort to establish better connections with the schools our mentees attend. We hope that this will enable us to better assist DREAM youth in school and connect them academic support resources as needed. Academic Support: For a few of the youth that we learned were having issues in school, I scheduled meetings with school personnel and parents. These meetings enabled the parents to become more informed of their children’s academic progress and provided a forum to discuss any issues that had arisen in school. DREAM was able to provide resources to tackle academic challenges and connect them with relevant academic enrichment programs within Roxbury. DREAM Office: Youth and Family Surveys: During December we continued administering surveys to youth and parents of participants in our school year program. This is our first time surveying participants of our Boston area based programs and we are excited to analyze the results. Parental Engagement: As I continue to go door-to-door collecting academic waivers, surveys, and teen employment surveys, parents have expressed their appreciation for the additional time to check-in with DREAM staff in person.
Teen Employment Guide: This month we started working on compiling teen employment resources for a guide that will be distributed to DREAM teens this spring. Additionally, we are surveying DREAM teens to better understand their awareness of employment options and see what types of jobs they are interested in. Summer Resources Guide: The DREAM office also began working on a summer resource guide for DREAM families. This guide will be distributed to families this spring and will include information on free summer camps, free events throughout the Boston area, and additional resources. Domestic Violence Training: Chad Butt attended a domestic Violence Training run by Trinity Management at Orchard Gardens on January 3rd. It was an informative training that provided him with information that he will be able to bring back other DREAM staff and mentors. Gang Prevention Workshop: On January 4th & 5th Chad took part in a Gang Prevention Workshop at the Corcoran-Jennison Harborpoint Conference Center put on by the Dorchester Coalition for Safe Neighborhoods. The two-day workshop helped keep him informed of the current state of gangs in the Boston area and how to continue DREAM’s work in gang prevention. College Fest: Chad attended College Fest, put on by Madison Park Development Corporation at Hibernian Hall on January 12th. Chad was able to connect with college assistance agencies that will be able to help DREAM mentees as they get older and are pursuing a college education Annual Appeals: DREAM is in the midst of both its Annual and Alumni Appeals. It is an exciting time of year when we reach out to our supporters and invite them to contribute to help support the great work we are doing.
Keep DREAMing! Zahra Ohldin, Program Empowerment Director Massachusetts Promise Fellow/Americorps