The DREAM Program, Riverside, Quarter 3, 2012-2013

dreamprogram.org The DREAM Program @DREAMprogram

The Village Mentoring Organization

Riverside DREAM Quarterly Report April 2013 - June 2013 Greetings from DREAM! This spring held a lot of exciting events for Riverside DREAM mentors and youth including their culminating experience to ArborTrek, The Teen Identity Retreat, and the start of summer DREAM programs. Read below for more information about events and highlights for Riverside DREAM this quarter.

Highlights from the quarter include: • • •

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

Ten Riverside mentors were welcomed into DREAM’s Alumni Organization.

Congratulations are in order for Lizzy Healy and Danielle Novotny who will join Elizabeth Whitney as co-chairs for the fall semester. A special thank you goes to Kaitlyn Lapan and Alyson Wall for their wonderful work as co-chairs this past semester.

Mentors hosted a very successful community dinner for mentees and their families in the Riverside community center.

Mentors and mentees had a great time during their year-end culminating experience to ArborTrek where they went zip-lining high above Smugglers’ Notch. th Summer DREAM activities officially began on June 25 .

One Franklin Square teen attended Camp DREAM’s teen session from June 25-28.

Fridays and Summer Activities: • • • • • • • •

Mentors and mentees travelled to Burlington’s waterfront to play games.

Riverside DREAM mentors and mentees attended Spring Thing, which was hosted by the Elm Stree Local Program on UVM’s Redstone Green.

Mentors and Mentees enjoyed a Friday of swimming at the YMCA pool.

For the last Friday of the year, Riverside DREAM went to the Echo Lake Aquarium and Science Center.

DREAM youth made friendship bracelets and played basketball in the community.

A group of Riverside youth went on a trip to North Beach.

All the youth in the community were invited to participate in a soccer game.

Due to the rain, youth watched Despicable Me in the community center.

Special Events for Children and Mentors: •

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

Mentors and mentees had a great time during their year-end culminating experience to ArborTrek where they went zip-lining high above Smugglers’ Notch.

Capacity Building and Fundraising: •

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

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

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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.

DREAM has launched its summer appeal, which will support summer in-community activities, Camp DREAM, and adventure trips including the annual College Roadtrip.

Long-time DREAM volunteer and alumni, Paul Espina, was honored as a New England Patriot’s MVP for his years of service with DREAM. With this award, Paul received $5000 to donate to DREAM. Summer interns working with the Riverside community have begun to solicit donations for summer activities. So far, Ben and Jerry’s and Essex Cinemas have both kindly donated free ice cream and movie tickets.

Mentor Training and Workshops: •

This quarter, Vermont DREAM staff held orientation for summer interns. Topics included behavior management, DREAM’s theory of change, and an introduction to DREAM’s activity planning tools.

Camp: • This quarter, Camp DREAM was once again happy to host volunteers from IBM through the

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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.

A crew broke ground on construction of a septic system for Camp DREAM. This is an important step in realizing the final development vision for Camp.

Camp Staff enjoyed a week of orientation and work projects to prepare for the 2013 camp season.

22 teens attended DREAM’s co-ed teen camp session, which ran from June 25-28.

Alumni Involvement: •

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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.

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 ran a RAGNAR relay race in West Virginia to support DREAM’s expansion efforts in Washington D.C. DREAM welcomed back alumni Matt Matuszewski and Reuben Jalbert who will be serving as counselors at Camp DREAM this summer

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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

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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 has wrapped up for the season with nearly all positions filled. In June, DREAM welcomed 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.

The 12 Vermont summer interns and 4 Boston summer interns enjoyed a week of orientation at Camp DREAM. This marked the first year when Vermont and Boston interns were oriented th together. Both areas began summer programming on June 25 .

Hallie Gremlitz and Evan Eckstein joined the DREAM office as the College Roadtrip interns. They will be responsible for planning this years trip to Philadelphia.

The Vermont DREAM Office has officially hired two new Program Empowerment VISTAs. Former Elm Street mentor, Kate Cahalane, will be serving with the Dartmouth programs and Mark Hengstler who will be serving with the Burlington area programs.

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