Santa Ana Unified School District/ Career Development/ ROP

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ELEMENT #8: An effective adult mentoring program designed to complement and ensure attainment of the program's goals for graduation. enrollment in higher education and acquisition of basic career skills. One of the major elements of previous Success Bound' programs has been the adult mentoring program provided by Career Beginnings of Orange County (CBOC). This activity was modeled after a program that originally began over twenty years ago with a grant at Santa Ana College. For the past eleven years, a non-profit Board of Directors has operated CBOC in cooperation with the Secondary Enrichment programs at the ROP in the Santa Ana Unified School District. CBOC no longer is able to provide the 12-month follow-up required by WlA so will the program will still be offered to many of the 2007/08 Success Bound' clients but it will no longer be as significant a component of the Success Bound! program that it has been in the past.. It is planned that each adult mentor will have no more than two mentees. The adult mentor program will be supported by both CBOC and Success Bound' staff. This program will focus around ten monthly "Mentor Nights." Follow-up activities to the CBOC evening meetings will be incorporated into the weekly Success Bound! meetings. It should be noted that while these leadership and guidance/counseling meetings are on a weekly basis, school schedules, assemblies, holidays, etc., often consume at least one of the meeting times each month. Mentors will be recruited in a variety of ways. Each high school campus has several business partners, some schools with as many as fifteen business partners. Community partners are interested in working with the schools to increase student achievement by providing better and more educational opportunities. Recruittnent at these sites enables the business partner the opportunity to get "directly" involved with the srudents. Presentations will be made at breakfast, lunch and evening meetings. Another avenue for recruittnent includes presentations at service organizations, Chamber of Commerce meetings, and the City of Santa. After initial recruittnent. mentors will be asked to fill out an application and attend an orientation meeting and personal interview with staff. The Santa Ana Unified School District requires the volunteer to have fingerprints and TB testing. A physical is not necessary for any part-time volunteer. Fingerprinting will be done at orientation meetings or the first training meeting in a group setting. Orientation sessions will be scheduled to acquaint the potential mentors with the project. Orientation is not training. These sessions identify the who, what, where, why and how about the mentoring project. General information is given about the students, their school environment, the project and how it works. the duration of the volunteer commitment, etc. Training for mentors begins shortly after orientation. All mentors must attend a minimum of three hours of training before being matched with a student. The session identifies the need of the program, clearly defines who the students are, defines the goals ofthe mentor project, identifies the needs of the students and their stage in development, discusses problems that teenagers encounter including peer pressure, substance abuse, child abuse and family violence, and drugs. In addition, the training provides practical advice for the mentors - how to contact the students, their project coordinator. teacher or job developer. The training sessions include a manual that covers the necessary information to make the mentoring experience successful. The Career Beginnings evening begins with a hosted dinner (sponsors are regularly solicited) once a month at a school site, postsecondary campus or business which gives the participants and mentors an opportunity to come directly from school or the workplace without worrying about dinner. It is a great time for the mentor and mentee to socialize and relax. Individual contact and recognition with the mentors is important just to say thank you for volunteering. An end-of-the-year celebration will recognize the accomplishments of the mentees and mentors. Career Beginnings of Orange County,