The DREAM Program, Elm Street, Quarter 3, 2012-2013

dreamprogram.org The DREAM Program @DREAMprogram

The Village Mentoring Organization

Elm Street DREAM Quarterly Report March 2013 - May 2013 Greetings from DREAM! This spring held a lot of exciting events for Elm Street DREAM mentors and youth including an Elm Street teen being awarded a scholarship through Avi’s Adventures, the DREAM Teen Identity Retreat, and Alumni welcoming events for graduating mentors and youth. Please read below for more information about events and highlights for Elm Street DREAM this quarter.

Highlights from the quarter include: Hahmdi Muya, an Elm Street DREAM teen, was awarded a scholarship to attend an Outward Bound trip through Avi’s Adventures. Avi’s Adventures is an adventure partnership with the Outing Club and the Dewey House at the University of Vermont.

Elm Street teens enjoyed an educational panel on healthy relationships with guest presenters from 6 organizations including the Vermont Department of Health, Vermont Cares, and Planned Parenthood.

Seven Elm Street DREAM teens attended the Teen Identity Retreat hosted by the Vermont DREAM staff. Teens explored Church Street, discussed healthy relationships, and practiced hula hooping.

DREAM welcomed 16 senior mentors and 2 Elm Street teens to the Alumni Organization.

Members of the UVM Outing Club joined Elm Street DREAM for a Saturday hike up Mt. Philo.

Mentors and mentees had a great time during their year-end culminating experience to Jay Peak’s Water Park, The Pumphouse.

Fridays: Mentors and mentees did one-on-one activities on the Friday before the mentors left for spring break.

The Elm Street program had an amazing time ice-skating at Leddy Park. For many of the mentors and the mentees, this was their first time on ice skates.

Elm Street DREAM mentors and mentees participated in small group activities that included pottery painting, cooking, and basketball.

Teen mentees attended a panel on healthy relationships while younger mentees spent their afternoon at the University of Vermont CREAM Barn.

Mentors and mentees enjoyed a Friday of small-group activities. Choices included baking, playing basketball, and going to Battery Park.

The Elm Street Program hosted Spring Thing on the University of Vermont’s Redstone Green.

Youth and mentors played lawn games, had a dance party, and made tie-dye shirts.

Teams of mentors and mentees competed in a scavenger hunt on UVM’s campus.

Mentees enjoyed a final Friday of one-on-ones with their mentors.

For the last Friday of the year, Elm Street mentors organized a barbecue in the community.

Mentees and mentors said goodbye for the year and celebrated summer with a water-balloon toss, basketball tournament, and a delicious dinner.

Office: 30 Community Drive, South Burlington, VT | Mail: P.O. Box 361, Winooski, VT 05404 │ (802) 338-8979 | info@dreamprogram.org

Special Events for Children and Mentors: Twenty-five teens attended DREAM’s annual Teen Identity Retreat in Burlington. This years retreat featured sessions on healthy relationships, a reflection on DREAM’s Theory of Change for older mentees, and a hula hooping tutorial lead by DREAM alumna, Nicole Stevenson.

Elm Street DREAM was joined by members of the UVM outing club for a hike up Mt. Philo. This event was held as part of Avi’s Adventures, a series of outdoor activities for DREAM teens.

Mentors and mentees had a great time during their year-end culminating experience to Jay Peak’s Water Park, The Pumphouse.

Capacity Building and Fundraising: Elm Street DREAM was awarded a grant from the DREAM Alumni Organization to help fund a community garden project that will take place over the summer. Madeleine Gibson, a mentor and former summer intern, will be working with DREAM youth to plant, tend, and harvest a garden plot at the O’Brien Community Center in Winooski, Vermont.

Elm Street DREAM was the beneficiary of this March’s “Park for a Purpose” fundraiser at Dealer.com. Employees bid on parking spots near the building entrance and all of the proceeds go to charity. This event raised $160 to support Elm Street DREAM’s spring programs.

In order to raise money for Elm Street’s culminating to Jay Peak, mentors and youth stormed UVM dorms to solicit donations during their annual Spring Thing event.

The program also held a “doughraiser” at UNO’s Pizzeria to earn money for their culminating trip.

This year, DREAM was honored as the beneficiary of The Clothes Exchange. The Clothes Exchange is an annual event that is dedicated to turning clothing into cash to benefit the community. TCE collects gently used and new apparel from generous retailers and then sell it at bargain prices. This year’s event raised $8000 to support DREAM. A special thank you goes to all of the DREAM mentors, mentees, staff, board members, and volunteers who made the event a success.

As DREAM looks toward expansion, we have undertaken efforts to codify our programs. Mike Foote, Director of Strategy and Growth, spearheaded this work. This quarter, the codification work has moved into its second stage, which is creating training and orientation materials for new offices so they can carry on the DREAM culture.

Camp: This quarter, Camp DREAM was once again happy to host volunteers from IBM through the United Way’s Days of Caring program. Volunteers worked on clearing trails, installing new trail signs, building an awning for the porch connected to our DREAM bus that has been converted into a kitchen, and sprucing up Camp’s drainage systems.

Alumni Involvement: Steph Baer, Elm Street DREAM alumna, was welcomed back as the Elm Street Program Partner.

In this role, Steph supports the Program Empowerment Director as a liaison for co-chairs and mentors.

This year DREAM’s Alumni Organization welcomed 73 new members from 11 Local Programs across Vermont and Massachusetts. Welcoming events were hosted for each Local Program to congratulate both mentees and mentors as they graduate from high school and college.16 Elm Street mentors and two teens were welcomed into the Alumni Organization.

This year’s Teen Identity Retreat was a success due in part to all of the support from DREAM’s alumni volunteers: Paul Espina, Nicole Stevenson, Claudine Nkurinziza, and Susie Silva.

A group of DREAM alumni are running a RAGNAR relay race in West Virginia to support DREAM’s expansion efforts in Washington D.C.

Office: For this year’s DREAM sprinter retreat, Vermont staff headed down to the Boston office.

Discussion topics included incorporating Results Based Accountability, DREAM expansion, and redesigning DREAM’s annual mentor training event, DREAMstock.

This quarter, Camp DREAM welcomed back Birchwood mentor, Matt Karkut as the Adventure Program Coordinator.

This past May, DREAM hosted its first ever combined staff, alumni council, and board retreat at Camp DREAM. Discussion topics included incorporating Results Based Accountability, staff and board structure, and coordinating calendars for the upcoming year.

The Vermont DREAM office recently participated in Unbridled Innovation Day, taking the full day off from regularly scheduled work tasks in order to research, interview, learn and explore the next frontier of DREAM growth. Among the questions we sought to answer were: how can DREAM reduce its carbon footprint without reducing its impact? Are car dealerships willing to help out a local nonprofit with its transportation costs? How do youth from affordable housing neighborhoods compare to other peer groups in terms of high school graduation rates? And, how does obesity affect the children and families in DREAM, both short- and long-term?

Vermont Office Staff had a very successful Adventure Teaching Day in May. Adventure teaching days are an opportunity to continue to grow, learn, and bond as an organization. The discussion topics included how to support mentees who are being bullied or bullying others and codifying orientation materials for future offices. Staff then headed down to the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center for an afternoon of sailing.

This quarter DREAM launched its new database through Salesforce. This new platform will allow staff to more effectively monitor outcomes for DREAM youth as well as mentoring relationships and attendance at office lead events.

Summer hiring for DREAM is wrapping up for the season with nearly all positions filled. In June, DREAM will welcome 16 summer interns who will organize in-community programs and 6 camp staff who will run summer camp programming.

This quarter DREAM said goodbye to Boston Program Director Chad Butt. Chad has been a staple of the DREAM office for over 8 years and we wish him all the best in his new role as Executive Director of Mobius, a state-wide mentoring organization in Vermont.

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 going to: http://dreamprogram.org/mentor-program/vermont/local-program-reports.

DREAM big, Britt Wedenoja Program Empowerment VISTA Britt@dreamprogram.org 802.338.8979