Thursday, May 12, 2011

Dedication of Recruitment Programme to Charles and Christina Bascom


We are dedicating the first recruitment for our Mentorship Programme to Charles and Christina Bascom for their invaluable donations to the organisation and the communities it serves. Their support for our work, during the early stages of our organisation, enabled us to grow and begin to roll out our programmes.

We are dedicating the first recruitment for our Mentorship Programme to Charles and Christina Bascom for their invaluable financial investment in the organisation and the communities it serves.

The mentorship programme’s goal is to facilitate a rite of passage process that empowers youth to become adults with balanced relationships with themselves, their community and the earth. The programme is supported by community leaders, businesses, mentors in training and our Partner Exchange Web of organizations in the sectors of: Environment, Creativity, Reconciliation and Public Health.

The recruitment process is a three-day workshop followed by an application and interview process. Youth are drawn from different cultures, religions, sexual orientations, and classes through 6 community partner organizations.

A total of 120 youth, or 20 in each community, are reached. The workshop involves life storytelling, environmental education and dialogue. Of the 120 youth, 20 are selected for our programme while the remainder may also be recruited for various programmes offered by our partner organisations.

During the programme there is a 2-day entering process, bi-monthly half-day meetings, four five-day camps and 3 full-day dialogue sessions. The program has three phases: relationship to self, relationship to others and relationship to the environment. Participants have creative projects throughout the two years and each participant also plants and maintains a vegetable garden. Further, participants exit the program with relationships to mentors who will continue to support them in creating their life vision. The participants also become mentors to the new intake into the program and other youth in their community.