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The DREAM Program

@DREAMprogram

The Village Mentoring Organization

41 Dearborn St., Roxbury, MA 02119 | (617) 699-8408 | boston@dreamprogram.org

The Madison Park Village DREAM Update February 2013

Though the snowstorm meant DREAM had to cancel some activities, the youth and mentors still managed to have a fun-filled month. DREAM Programming:

02/01: (22 mentees, 24 mentors): The younger boys went to the Children’s Museum. The younger girls played with dolls and had one-on-one activities. The older girls went to Sky Zone and the older boys were one-on-one in the community.

02/08: NO DREAM due to the snow day.

02/15: (22 mentees, 24 mentors): The younger girls had a Valentine’s Day party. The older girls went rollerblading. The younger boys played in the Game Room. The older boys were one-on-one in the community.

02/22: (16 mentees, 18 mentors): This week’s activities consisted of small groups and one-on-ones for all of the youth.

Program Development:

New mentee additions: Two new youth were added into the program!

Recruitment: The Northeastern mentors have added 9 new mentors of diverse backgrounds. The mentors look forward to interacting with the youth.

School Support:

Re-enrolling a student: Chad Butt, Programs Director, worked with a 9th grade mentee to get him re-enrolled in school. The mentee had informed his mentor that he had stopped going to school because he was being bullied and he didn’t feel safe. As a result, he had been un-enrolled. Working with the BPS Family Resource Center and his school, we were able to get him re-enrolled and has started attending school again.

Making it to school on time: When asked by her mentor how school was going, one 2nd grade mentee, expressed that she was often late. When asked why it became apparent that she was responsible for getting herself up and to school on time, but didn’t have a reliable way to wake up in the morning. Her options were to wake up at 5AM when her mom went to work or to rely on her older brother who didn’t have to be at school as early as her. Her mentor asked her if having an alarm clock would solve the problem and the mentee was confident that it would. DREAM was able to get her an alarm clock from Goodwill and she is now getting to school on time.

Community Collaboration:

Movie night at Madison Park Village: In conjunction with the Resident Services Coordinator of MPV, DREAM hosted a movie night on February 19th featuring Hotel Transylvania and popcorn. There were many youth in attendance and some of those in attendance also participate in DREAM.

DREAM Office:

Mass Mentoring Partnership training: On February 5th, I attended a Mentor Match Support training conducted by the Mass Mentoring Partnership organization and discussed best practices to better assist with my work in match support for the DREAM mentors.

Parental Engagement: I continued to meet with parents to discuss how their children were adjusting to being newly matched and to hear any feedback or suggestions that they may have.

Teen Employment Guide: The teens have all received the DREAM teen employment guide and a few have stopped by the office to request further assistance in applying for summer jobs.

Champions in Action announcement: On February 21st, Citizens Bank formally announced that DREAM had been recognized as the 2013 Champions in Action for the next 6 months. In addition to receiving a monetary award, DREAM will also receive publicity via NECN and have flyers in all of the Citizens Bank branches.

Summer Resources compilation: I am in the process of collecting summer resources and camp information for DREAM’s Summer Resource Guide that will be distributed to all Madison Park Village and Ruggles Shawmut DREAM families in April/May. I have also found some scholarship opportunities for those interested in certain camps. We have already distributed the pre-applications for Camp Harbor View to youth ages 11-14 years old.

Keep DREAMing! Zahra Ohldin Program Empowerment Director/Mass Promise Fellow/Americorps The DREAM Program 41 Dearborn Street Roxbury, MA 02119 zahra@dreamprogram.org