6 April 2017
Dear Valued Volunteer Mentor, Re: Changes to the Wheels in Motion – Salisbury Only – Mentor Updates To all of our amazing Wheels in Motion mentors – thank you for your continued efforts. This letter is to update you about some positive changes we are trialling at Salisbury. I have attached a letter that the participants will receive shortly, but I wanted you to get a brief summary as well. Hopefully this will free up some of our administrative pressure and allow us to focus on you the mentors more and getting extra mentors on the road. The changes are :
Participants will need to book and pay online, in advance. This means even the weekend mentors will not have to handle any money.
We anticipate 90% of students will pay with EFTPOS Visa or MasterCard. Those that don’t have a card, we will try and help but the only other way of booking a session is by coming (in person) to Twelve25 after 10am on Tuesdays.
Participants will self-select their choice of time and will know whom is their mentor when they book.
No shows should reduce significantly because they will have already paid and will loose that money. No refunds.
Our staff will continue to ring mentors to confirm availability on Mondays and a electronic release of sessions will occur on Tuesdays at 10am.
We are increasing the price to $12 per session.
Eventually we will introduce a self-check in (where on arrival at Twelve25 they will check in electronically).
We are going to stop the SMS reminders and make students even more responsible for remembering their lesson.
If you hear complaints or concerns please write them in the communication book (even the minor ones ….. we generally want to make the process better for students as well).
What other changes are occurring in the Wheels in Motion program ? (1) We are really struggling for mentors at the moment with a number of mentors having reduced availability, holidays or being unwell. Please remember we need you . (2) We have been actively recruiting new mentors with a goal of getting to 35 x 1 hr sessions per week. (We are below 12 this week ). Hopefully we can get some night time sessions which numerous students need in order to be able to complete. (3) We have been working with Bagster Road Community Centre and Australian Refugees Association to start a specialist program for people who are over 26 years and not eligible for the youth program. This program will be known as WheelsinMotion@Bagster and you should see this start in the next few weeks with a Holden Barina. We believe the key clients for this program will be new arrival women. If you would like to mentor with this client group please speak to Rick. (4) Many of you will fondly remember the little silver Astra car we shared with Playford and which they assumed when we got the Black Cruze we currently have. The silver Astra has now done over 250,000kms and is about to be retired and replaced by a Holden Barina in Playford. Peter Page Holden remains a strong sponsor of the program. Things we need you to be more conscious off as we move to a self-booking system . Day 1 protocol. If you have not been with that particular student before you must follow the day one protocol and you drive to Parafield Airport and go through the protocol. For a competent driver it will take <10 minutes – for a new driver you may spend longer at Parafield. Remember, it’s your choice when you are comfortable to move into heavier traffic. The protocol is written in the blue folder in the car. Licences. Learners are required by law to carry their learners permit at all times when driving. Until now we have been asking to use the licence when we write out a receipt at the front counter ….. in the future this subconscious check won’t occur. It is perfectly reasonable for you to ask to sight their licence before departure. Financial hardship The online prepayment system means that students struggling are more likely to drop out (rather than speak with us about their challenges). If you hear students talk about financial problems – let us know and we will try to help them. You are our ears
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Mentor availability Changes to mentor availability for the week (Wednesday to Monday) that occur after 5pm on a Monday will cause bigger headaches for us in the future. The reason for this is that after 10am Tuesdays – participants are booking and paying for sessions. Cancellations by us will in future need not only rescheduling but also financial reversal of the transactions. We know that things happen, people get sick or unpredictable things happen. As soon as you know that your availability has changed please ring the centre on 8406 8555. Even Tuesday morning ring and speak to staff. Initial transition issues. We are a little unsure how well the transition across to the new system will happen. We will be trying to watch for :
Sessions not booked by students (impacting on mentors time) – vacancies
Students being smart and booking more than 1 session on a Tuesday (they are told that they can book 1 on a Tuesday and if there are further vacancies still on the Wednesday they can book a second lesson).
Student who don’t transition to the new system and drop out
Personality clashes (poor match ups between mentor and mentee)
With the removal of the SMS reminders and placing greater responsibility on the students we don’t know what impact this will have.
The changes come into effect Tuesday 18th April. We have deliberately started in school holidays when we have less programs running so we can problem solve. Thank you for your continued volunteer efforts with this program. If you have further questions or feedback please don’t hesitate to call and speak to Sarah or myself at the office or email me on rhenke@salisbury.sa.gov.au Yours sincerely
Rick Henke Manager Twelve25 Salisbury Youth Enterprise Centre Phone: 08 8406 8556 Email: rhenke@salisbury.sa.gov.au
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