The DREAM Program, Willowbrook, Quarter 1, 2012-2013

The DREAM Program, Inc. P.O. Box 361 Winooski, VT 05404 (802) 338-8979 tel www.dreamprogram.org

Willowbrook DREAM Quarterly Report September-November 2012 Greetings from DREAM! In September, college students and youth returned to school and the exciting DREAM activities began! Bennington College and the Willowbrook community had a wonderful quarter, and here is a summary of Willowbrook DREAM happenings from the Fall.

Highlights from the quarter include:  Returning mentors successfully recruited seven new mentors from Bennington College!  Mentors involved mentees in DREAM’s Alumni Appeal by having them write letters to their former mentors.  Planning for Willowbrook’s Culminating Experience, DREAM Around the World began!

Each mentor/mentee pair chose a country to represent, and together they researched that country’s basic information, food, and culture, which they compiled into a presentation.

Fridays:  Willowbrook mentors and mentees celebrated the start of the school year with a Friday activity in the community.  Mentors and mentees did group games and arts and crafts in the community center.  Mentors led a scavenger hunt for their mentees.  Willowbrook mentors and mentees played group games and had one-on-one time with their mentors.  Mentors and mentees visited the Purple Carrot Farm on Bennington’s campus and painted pumpkins to celebrate Fall.  Mentors and mentees wrote letters to Willowbrook DREAM alumni.  Mentors and mentees celebrated Halloween by trick-or-treating around the Bennington College campus and sharing scary stories.  Mentees had one-on-one time with their mentors on campus.  Mentees chose countries to represent and worked with their mentors to compile research for DREAM Around the World, Willowbrook’s Culminating Experience.

Special Events for Children and Mentors:  On November 3-4, three Willowbrook teens joined 60+ mentors and teens at the Teen Futures Retreat to hear about future opportunities available to them. Teens learned about preparing for college, summer opportunities, and applying for jobs, all while bonding with other DREAM teens from around the state. If you would like more information, check out this article from our website: http://www.dreamprogram.org/about/announcement/teenfutures-retreat-skyrocketing-future.

The DREAM Program, Inc. P.O. Box 361 Winooski, VT 05404 (802) 338-8979 tel www.dreamprogram.org

Capacity Building and Fundraising:  Mentors successfully recruited seven new mentors from Bennington College! They were welcomed with an information session about DREAM, and they took part in a mentor retreat during which they set expectations for themselves and their mentees and developed a mentor contract.  On November 19th, DREAM launched its Annual Appeal! Keep a look out for your letter and please consider donating. So far the Annual Appeal has raised $45k from 73 donors.  Mike Foote re-joined the DREAM office as the Director of Strategy and Growth in early October and will be spearheading expansion efforts into Philadelphia.

Mentor Training and Workshops:  During their retreat, Bennington College mentors received training on Mentor Boundaries, Transportation Guidelines, and Child Abuse & Reporting Procedures to remind new and returning mentors alike about best practices in mentoring.

Camp:  Camp Work Days and Days of Caring occurred in late September and early October.

Approximately 100 volunteers assisted staff in various work projects around Camp in order to clean up from the summer and prep Camp for Winter Adventure Camp in January.  On September 30th, mentors and alumni joined DREAM Staff for the DREAMstock Camp Work Day.  On September 30th a group of Elm Street Mentors and Teens hiked a portion of the Long Trail as part of the Catamountain Classic. The event was in honor of mentor Avi Kurganoff, who passed away last year. Other clubs from UVM also volunteered by hiking their own sections of the Long Trail. This fundraiser helped to set up a scholarship for a DREAM Teen to attend an Outward Bound Program. The event planners hope to make this an annual fundraiser to keep the scholarship available to DREAM teens in the future.  Camp DREAM has partnered with Yestermorrow, a sustainable design school, to create a sustainable design plan for the new bathroom facilities and kitchen at Camp DREAM.  Camp DREAM was proud to be awarded a VT Buildings and General Services Recreational Facilities grant to help fund the new septic system that will be installed at Camp.

Alumni Involvement:  Laura Kingston, a former Champlain College DREAM mentor has joined the Center for Service as a Campus Compact at Champlain College. In this position she is also serving as a Program Partner for DREAM. The South Burlington DREAM Office also welcomed alumni Steph Baer, Nicole Stevenson, and Caitin Patey as Burlington-area Program Partners.

The DREAM Program, Inc. P.O. Box 361 Winooski, VT 05404 (802) 338-8979 tel www.dreamprogram.org

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The South Burlington DREAM office welcome alumni Danielle Jenkins, Andrew Lassiter, Nicole Stevenson, Phil Ortego, Rachel Kauppila, Jenna Rae Genest, Caitlin Patey, Paul Espina, and Megan Kerrigan as volunteers at DREAMstock and the Teen Futures Retreat.

On October 18th, DREAM launched its annual Alumni Appeal. For the appeal, mentors and mentees wrote letters to Willowbrook DREAM alumni. Overall, the Alumni Appeal has raised $33k from 196 donors.

Two former DREAM mentors, Kate Piniewski and Alison Siegel joined the DREAM Support Staff as Program Empowerment VISTAs serving in the White River Junction and Bennington offices.

DREAM Support Staff began the process of engaging with DREAM alumni in Philadelphia, PA and Washington, DC to gauge opportunity for DREAM to have impact in these new cities.

Office:  DREAM launched its new website in October. Check it out at www.dreamprogram.org.  Mike Ewan, former South Burlington DREAM office member, has recently transitioned into a new role as the Program Director, Advanced Support working with all of the DREAM offices.  The DREAM office welcomed back former Program Empowerment VISTA Sarah Caliendo as the Program Director, Direct Support for the South Burlington DREAM office.  DREAM has recently extended its support network through opening a DREAM office in White River Junction at the Northwoods Community.  DREAM moved one step closer to attaining its goal of opening programs at all the State Colleges in Vermont by launching a program at Johnson State College this Fall.

Thank you for your ongoing support of DREAM. If you would like additional or more detailed information, please contact me by email or by phone. You can always look back at past reports or other programs’ reports by visiting the “Local Program Reports” section of our website.

DREAM big, Ali Siegel Program Empowerment VISTA Alison@dreamprogram.org 802.681.3982