The DREAM Program, Elm Street, Quarter 1, 2016-2017

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The Village Mentoring Organization

Program –DREAM Quarterly Report Quarter 1 September – November 2016

Greetings from DREAM! The Elm Street DREAM program has finished up another wonderful semester of activities. Here is a summary of all the Elm Street DREAM happenings from the last quarter.

Highlights from the quarter include:  

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Mentors returned from their summer breaks and were excited to be reunited with their mentees!

Elm Street mentors joined forces with Salmon Run and Riverside for a joint recruitment push. They held several info sessions and a joint DREAM Friday where new recruits could meet the mentees from each of the three communities. Elm Street more than doubled their program, recruiting 30 new mentors!

Several Elm Street mentors volunteered at the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury, VT during peak weekends. Not only did they receive pints for their service, but also funds for their program!

DREAM partnered with the UVM Outing Club for the Catamount Classic to honor the memory of Avi Kurganoff and Mary Wilk. Both Avi and Mary were avid members of both DREAM and the Outing Club. A group of mentors and mentees hiked at Niquette Bay with Avi and Mary’s parents as a celebration of their lives.

Mentors from all of the northern programs gathered for DREAMstock, our annual mentor conference. They attended sessions on behavior management, race and racism, and nurturing healthy sexual development. Three teen mentees also did a panel on teen engagement.

Weekly Programming:       

Mentors kicked off the semester with a field day in the community!

Elm Street, Salmon Run, and Riverside gathered at North Beach for a fun afternoon of games. New mentors were able to meet the kids and choose which program they wanted to join.

Mentors and mentees participated in a scavenger hunt at UVM. A group of younger mentees enjoyed the afternoon at Zachary’s playing games. A group of mentors went to watch their mentees play soccer.

The group went apple picking at Adams Orchard and had a blast!

Whitcomb’s Land of Pumpkins and Corn Maze generously donated pumpkins and tickets to the Elm Street program. Mentors and mentees had a lot of fun figuring out the corn maze!

Mentors and mentees did a coin drop fundraiser on campus and raised over $600!

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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The group broke up into small groups to do Halloween activities. These activities included pumpkin carving, baking, and donut-on-a-string contest.

Two Fridays were spent doing mentor/mentee one-on-one activities.

Everyone came together for a Thanksgiving celebration at UVM. Mentors and mentees enjoyed food, games, and a movie!

Special Events for Children and Mentors: 

DREAM hosted its annual mentor conference, DREAMstock. Mentors from Poultney, Bennington, and Rutland got together for a Southern DREAMstock. Mentors from Champlain, Saint Michael’s, UVM, Johnson State, and Middlebury got together for a Northern DREAM Stock. This year mentors were able to collaborate with each other to learn about other programs and brainstorm new ideas. Mentors were also trained in a number of areas thanks to outside presenters.

Capacity Building and Fundraising:      

DREAM participated in the Rodman Ride. DREAM had 34 stakeholders working to raise money - together they raised $30,000.

DREAM received a $3500 grant from People’s United Trust for the White River Junction programs.

DREAM received a grant from the Donley Foundation for $10,000.

DREAM received a grant of $40,000 from Byrne.

Dartmouth Mentor, Henry Gardner applied for a grant from Dartmouth Class of 1969 and received $10,000 which will go toward their High Adventure to California!

DREAM kicked off its annual appeal this quarter. Office members and volunteers are working hard to get letters signed!

Camp:  

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Lodge project is getting ready to go out for bid. We will select the best proposal from a local contractor and then move forward with the project.

The Davis Conservation Foundation, based in Maine and granting funds to organizations in the Northeast, awarded DREAM $5,000 to purchase winter outdoor gear. We will be able to provide equipment for more youth to get outside and snowshoe and crosscountry ski this winter and for years to come!

DREAM held a Day of Caring this fall. Volunteers from IBM came and helped to clear out an area for the orchard.

Boston DREAM was recognized as the NCCC Sponsor of the year. Our Boston office also hosted NCCC members to assist with summer programming. The Boston NCCC members came to Camp DREAM for our week long camp session and served as camp counselors!

Teen Accomplishments:

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Nikki, Teen Futures Coordinator, and Kelsea, the Program Empowerment Director for the University of Vermont DREAM programs led “Girl Talk” for the Elm St. program with some mentors. This event was a safe space for female identifying teens to ask questions and talk about a variety of topics like social media, bullying, and relationships.

Nikki, our Teen Futures Coordinator, held a Veterans Day event for the teens in Birchwood. The teens cooked a meal that was later served at an area shelter.

A few of our teens were able to attend Baku, an Anime conference, in Burlington. The teens played games and got to attend some informational sessions.

A group of Burlington area teens went to Salem, MA for a weekend. The teens were able to take a tour of the town.

Northwoods mentee, Nakaya Mitchell, started school at New England School of Hair Design.

Justice, a Birchwood mentee, recently applied early decision to University of Vermont and is waiting for her decision letter.

Alumni: 

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DREAM alumni voted for a new President of DREAM’s Alumni Organization and is honored to announce that Gabby Fisher, a former UVM mentor, will serve as the President.

Nikki Duran, former Champlain College mentor, joined DREAM as an AmeriCoprs VYDC member to serve as the Teen Futures Coordinator. Nikki will focus on developing our teen programming for the next year!

Former mentee and Camp DREAM Staff, Luigi Alger, joined the office this fall as our new Development Assistant. Luigi will be working out of our Burlington office!

Paul Espina, former Dartmouth mentor and DREAM office staff, held a training for staff and mentors on behavior management.

Office: 

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Rachel Kauppila, former Bennington PED, assisted DREAM this fall by serving as a temporary Camp Director while Ashleigh, Camp DREAM Director, was on parental leave!

DREAM has expanded its relationship with Champlain Housing Trust (CHT) this academic year. DREAM assisted CHT in running summer programming at Winchester Place this past summer. DREAM was very well received in the community and will now open a new DREAM program in partnership with UVM. DREAM staff and AmeriCorps members from Vermont, Boston, and Philly got together this fall for a retreat. The retreat was focused on teambuilding, training for the upcoming year, and creating a plan for the next year.

Burlington area staff spent a day volunteering at Vermont Youth Conservation Corps with Ben & Jerry’s staff for a company wide volunteer day put on by their Community Action Team.

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, Kelsea Moulton Program Empowerment Director, VYT AmeriCorps VISTA kylie@dreamprogram.org, 802.338.8936