(From the December 2006 Newsletter)
Earlier this year, we announced our two new investments: the Child Care Improvement Project (CCIP) and the Forest Grove School District Latino Community Network (FGLCN). Both of these programs have children as their main focus and they will expand SVPP's involvement in the Portland metropolitan area providing many volunteering opportunities for our partners. We will provide a comprehensive update on these projects in our next newsletter.
PEP (Parental Engagement Program)
Kelly Elementary:
• Portland Impact, the organization administering the SUN before/after school program at Kelly Elementary, received just over $150,000 in a matching grant from AmeriCorps to fund twelve full time "community resource member" positions at Portland Impact's eleven SUN sites. The "community resource member" position is based in large part on the PEP Coordinator model developed by Kelly Elementary, Portland Impact and SVPP.
• Trisha Balicanta is the new PEP Coordinator at Kelly Elementary as of September 6, 2006. She continues to increase parental engagement at the school by organizing events for parents,facilitating the Family Stories program as well as the Latino Parents Group.
Clark Elementary:
• SVPP Partners Alan and Marissa Crouch are donating $500 toward the purchase of books for the classroom libraries, and a matching grant has been applied for to increase this $500 donation to $1,000.
• Clark Elementary has been chosen to participate in the SUN before/after school program, with Portland Impact serving as the administering organization. This program includes a parental engagement component which will likely incorporate the Parents and Partners for Reading Excellence workshop program.
• The Tech Committee continues work on a new website for Clark Elementary.
• The Parents as Partners for Reading Excellence evening workshops for the 2006-07 school year have begun, with the first evening workshop taking place on October 10, 2006. SVPP volunteers continue to provide literacy events for the children of the parents attending these workshops. Future workshops are scheduled for November 14, 2006, January 9, 2007, February 13, 2007, March 13, 2007, April 10, 2007 and May 8, 2007.
CASH (Creating Assets, Savings and Hope)
For last year's tax season, CASH Oregon opened a Tax-Aide site at the Lloyd Center Mall in Portland, and distributed through its coalition members more than 30,000 brochures, flyers and posters. Despite being open on weekends open, the super site processed 724 returns, the second highest number of returns processed at any site in Oregon. EITC claims at the site totaled $278,732 or an average in excess of $2,000 per family. For 2006, objectives include:
• Tax Preparation - expand Lloyd Center operations to six days per week and open two new super sites in Washington and Clackamas counties. In addition, support community partner tax preparation programs (e.g., the Rockwood Weed and Seed initiative in east Multnomah County)
• Community Outreach – expand efforts to target families eligible for EITC through community partners and employer programs
• Financial Literacy – implement a financial education program
• Volunteer Recruitment and Training – operation of three super sites will require up to: 100 volunteer tax payers, 6 site coordinators, 9 screening and intake individuals, 12 specialist tax advisors, IT support and tax training
• New Initiatives - Evaluate ONE Economy's program to teach low income taxpayers to prepare their own returns on tax software provided by them
Kids Café
• Kids Café at Wattles and Blazers served meals to an average of 361 kids per day during Q2 and Q3 2006, in addition to afternoon snacks averaging 308 kids per day.
• Between both programs, 62,816 dinners and 53,849 snacks have been served to hungry youth since January. As of the end of Q2, the project showed a net loss, but this was primarily due to the Clubs being closed for a total of four weeks at the beginning and end of summer for maintenance so no reimbursements were received while the Club continued to pay the two full time chefs.
• Nutritional education classes continue to be held at Wattles three times per week. An average of 71 members participate each month in the nutrition programs. The Wattles Club will work with Growing Gardens during the next school year to teach youth how to grow and tend for fruits and vegetables and how to incorporate these into their daily diets. The Blazers Club Kids Café Coordinator installed raised garden beds on the south side of the Club so that Club kids can begin to learn how to grow their own food.
• B&GC management have now acquired the warehouse adjacent to the Hillsboro facility which will house a new gym, Kids Café and eating area. Plans are now complete and construction is expected to commence in mid-November. To date, grants totaling $1.77 million have been secured for the project. On October 5th, the Club held a ground braking ceremony led by General Colin Powell. The General addressed the kids for nearly a half hour, taking questions and sharing from his own life experiences.
Showing posts with label P.E.P.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label P.E.P.. Show all posts
From Our President - Megan Leftwich
(From the March 2006 Newsletter)
After serving for five years on the SVPP board, half of them as president, I'll be stepping down when my term expires in May. I can't help but reflect on how much SVPP has accomplished in these five brief years. Here is a brief summary of how it all started:
In the fall of 2000, a group of us with little to no experience in the nonprofit sector heard an inspirational lecture by Paul Brainerd, the founder and creative spirit behind the Social Venture Partners movement. We were energized, and after working with SVP Seattle and spending many months meeting in a partner's living room, we incorporated SVP Portland in December 2000 and were off and rolling. We borrowed heavily from Seattle, from our organizational structure to our investment processes to our marketing materials, adapting along the way to fit our local market. We had no office and no executive director for the first year and a half --- just a lot of very dedicated and committed partners who worked out of their homes and gave generously to this new organization. The biggest thrill that first year was distributing grants to our first two investees, Morrison Child & Family Services and Children's Relief Nursery.
Fast forward to today. We have grown to close to 100 partners and are on our fifth investment cycle. We have granted more than $700,000 and with each cycle our investments have become more strategic with broader impact. Our first four investees have "graduated" after successful completion of their programs. We have been designated a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and can now take contributions directly from partners. A redesigned website is in the works and will be rolled out later this month. We have an executive director who works tirelessly and arranges thought-provoking events with well-known speakers. We continue to attract committed and engaged new partners and have new members to introduce you to in this newsletter. And our most recent investees, CASH and PEP, are already making a measurable impact and receiving recognition from community leaders. You'll read more about them below.
Come October, I'll start my term representing Portland as a member of the SVP International board, so I will continue to stay active and involved. We are now the fifth largest affiliate out of the 21 across the US and Canada and I look forward to sharing our successes and challenges with the rest of the network. I hope you share my excitement about SVPP's progress and strong forward momentum. Thank you for continuing to be a part of the SVP Portland community.
After serving for five years on the SVPP board, half of them as president, I'll be stepping down when my term expires in May. I can't help but reflect on how much SVPP has accomplished in these five brief years. Here is a brief summary of how it all started:
In the fall of 2000, a group of us with little to no experience in the nonprofit sector heard an inspirational lecture by Paul Brainerd, the founder and creative spirit behind the Social Venture Partners movement. We were energized, and after working with SVP Seattle and spending many months meeting in a partner's living room, we incorporated SVP Portland in December 2000 and were off and rolling. We borrowed heavily from Seattle, from our organizational structure to our investment processes to our marketing materials, adapting along the way to fit our local market. We had no office and no executive director for the first year and a half --- just a lot of very dedicated and committed partners who worked out of their homes and gave generously to this new organization. The biggest thrill that first year was distributing grants to our first two investees, Morrison Child & Family Services and Children's Relief Nursery.
Fast forward to today. We have grown to close to 100 partners and are on our fifth investment cycle. We have granted more than $700,000 and with each cycle our investments have become more strategic with broader impact. Our first four investees have "graduated" after successful completion of their programs. We have been designated a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and can now take contributions directly from partners. A redesigned website is in the works and will be rolled out later this month. We have an executive director who works tirelessly and arranges thought-provoking events with well-known speakers. We continue to attract committed and engaged new partners and have new members to introduce you to in this newsletter. And our most recent investees, CASH and PEP, are already making a measurable impact and receiving recognition from community leaders. You'll read more about them below.
Come October, I'll start my term representing Portland as a member of the SVP International board, so I will continue to stay active and involved. We are now the fifth largest affiliate out of the 21 across the US and Canada and I look forward to sharing our successes and challenges with the rest of the network. I hope you share my excitement about SVPP's progress and strong forward momentum. Thank you for continuing to be a part of the SVP Portland community.
From Our Investees
(From the March 2006 Newsletter)
CASH (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) -
Fundraising / Operational Update:
• CASH received a $121,000 three-year grant from the Ann and Bill Swindells Charitable Trust.
• CASH has secured SVPP as fiscal agent for CASH. Grant proposals had been on a hiatus pending resolution of the fiscal agency. CASH expects one or more grant applications to be submitted in Q1 '06.
• Multnomah County is in the early stages of developing its 06-07 budget. There is considerable effort and support to budget $75,000 to fund collaboration between CASH and the county-financed SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) school program. The collaborative effort would use SUN schools as the focus for volunteer recruiting, tax preparation and financial literacy training.
• The City of Portland Water Department included a CASH insert in a mailing to 6,800 low-income customers. The estimated cost of this in-kind contribution was $1,500.
• The CASH website is up and running. It now includes information on the EITC, downloadable brochures and handouts and links to appropriate partners, including SVPP. See www.CASHoregon.org (click).
• CASH will need a full-time volunteer coordinator next year. CASH's ability to recruit enthusiastic volunteers is exceeded by the capability to organize, train and deploy them.
Tax Preparation / Financial Literacy Services Update:
• Recruited approximately 70 new volunteer tax preparers and had to turn away six more because of training capacity limitations. Increased training capacity will be a priority next year.
• CASH is now listed on "211" phone service; callers can get questions answered and referrals to tax sites.
• Lloyd Center donated a large office suite that will accommodate up to ten volunteer tax preparers at a given time. The space is located on the third floor office above the food court area. The retail value of the space is $4,000 per month. CASH will have access to the space plus utilities for three months without charge.
• CASH hosted the grand opening of the Lloyd Center supersite on February 10 (story above).
• A CASH capabilities piece was translated into approximately 12 languages (including English, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, etc.) free of charge by the State. The brochures are being printed at CASH's expense and distributed through coalition members. The brochures are into their second printing.
• The State has offered a Russian translator to assist in tax preparation on an as-needed basis.
PEP (Parental Engagement Program) - There has been significant progress in the engagement process of SVPP and the two elementary schools that are part of the PEP program. School Advisory Boards have been formed and are active at both schools, and performance metrics have been defined to allow SVPP and each school to measure progress with parental engagement efforts. Specific accomplishments are:
Kelly Elementary:
• The School Advisory Board has been launched with participants from Kelly, SVPP, SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods), the community, businesses and school volunteers. The focus for this group is: 1) to improve the front entry area for the school, and 2) develop a marketing project to improve the effectiveness of the communications between Kelly Elementary and parents.
• Kelly's new coordinator continues to make progress in reestablishing the PTA and identifying parent volunteers for the school, having recruited 10 new parents for the PTA and 70 parents to volunteer for various school activities.
Clark Elementary:
• The School Advisory Board has been launched and is working on corporate sponsorship and fundraising through the local business community and recruiting additional Board members. In addition, SVPP will be providing assistance in Clark Elementary's efforts to embed technology in the school.
• Two additional "Parents as Partners for Reading Excellence" evening workshops were held on December 6 and January 10 with very high turnout. SVPP volunteers provided literacy events for the children of the parents attending the January workshop. Three more evening workshops will be held throughout the school year.
CASH (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) -
Fundraising / Operational Update:
• CASH received a $121,000 three-year grant from the Ann and Bill Swindells Charitable Trust.
• CASH has secured SVPP as fiscal agent for CASH. Grant proposals had been on a hiatus pending resolution of the fiscal agency. CASH expects one or more grant applications to be submitted in Q1 '06.
• Multnomah County is in the early stages of developing its 06-07 budget. There is considerable effort and support to budget $75,000 to fund collaboration between CASH and the county-financed SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) school program. The collaborative effort would use SUN schools as the focus for volunteer recruiting, tax preparation and financial literacy training.
• The City of Portland Water Department included a CASH insert in a mailing to 6,800 low-income customers. The estimated cost of this in-kind contribution was $1,500.
• The CASH website is up and running. It now includes information on the EITC, downloadable brochures and handouts and links to appropriate partners, including SVPP. See www.CASHoregon.org (click).
• CASH will need a full-time volunteer coordinator next year. CASH's ability to recruit enthusiastic volunteers is exceeded by the capability to organize, train and deploy them.
Tax Preparation / Financial Literacy Services Update:
• Recruited approximately 70 new volunteer tax preparers and had to turn away six more because of training capacity limitations. Increased training capacity will be a priority next year.
• CASH is now listed on "211" phone service; callers can get questions answered and referrals to tax sites.
• Lloyd Center donated a large office suite that will accommodate up to ten volunteer tax preparers at a given time. The space is located on the third floor office above the food court area. The retail value of the space is $4,000 per month. CASH will have access to the space plus utilities for three months without charge.
• CASH hosted the grand opening of the Lloyd Center supersite on February 10 (story above).
• A CASH capabilities piece was translated into approximately 12 languages (including English, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, etc.) free of charge by the State. The brochures are being printed at CASH's expense and distributed through coalition members. The brochures are into their second printing.
• The State has offered a Russian translator to assist in tax preparation on an as-needed basis.
PEP (Parental Engagement Program) - There has been significant progress in the engagement process of SVPP and the two elementary schools that are part of the PEP program. School Advisory Boards have been formed and are active at both schools, and performance metrics have been defined to allow SVPP and each school to measure progress with parental engagement efforts. Specific accomplishments are:
Kelly Elementary:
• The School Advisory Board has been launched with participants from Kelly, SVPP, SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods), the community, businesses and school volunteers. The focus for this group is: 1) to improve the front entry area for the school, and 2) develop a marketing project to improve the effectiveness of the communications between Kelly Elementary and parents.
• Kelly's new coordinator continues to make progress in reestablishing the PTA and identifying parent volunteers for the school, having recruited 10 new parents for the PTA and 70 parents to volunteer for various school activities.
Clark Elementary:
• The School Advisory Board has been launched and is working on corporate sponsorship and fundraising through the local business community and recruiting additional Board members. In addition, SVPP will be providing assistance in Clark Elementary's efforts to embed technology in the school.
• Two additional "Parents as Partners for Reading Excellence" evening workshops were held on December 6 and January 10 with very high turnout. SVPP volunteers provided literacy events for the children of the parents attending the January workshop. Three more evening workshops will be held throughout the school year.
From Our Investees - SVPP 2005 Investments Under Way
(From the December 2005 Newsletter)
CASH (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) - CASH seeks to help low-income families take advantage of state and federal income tax credits and build solid financial futures through savings, credit repair and financial literacy programs. SVPP's objective is to evolve the current loosely-organized Oregon Tax Credit Coalition into a self-sustaining organization with professional staff and strong community and government support.
Accomplishments:
- Executive Director hired and on-board as of August ‘05.
- A "Pilot" tax preparation session was held on November 5th, over 20 returns were filed for low-income families and over $25K in refunds were secured. Tax and financial counseling was also provided.
- One "super site" was secured for tax preparations in Q1 '06, several others sites are under discussion.
- Two grants were secured for over $100K and several others are pending for program funding.
If you have any questions or are interested in volunteering, please contact the CASH project leader Joel Kaplan.
PEP (Parental Engagement Program) - PEP is focused on creating a sustainable partnership model to improve elementary school performance at low-income schools through collaboration of businesses, community groups, parents and school leaders. SVPP's objective is to provide funding and volunteer power to build a strong community of engaged parents at the Kelly and Clark elementary schools of SE Portland.
Accomplishments:
- The PEP Coordinator at Kelly Elementary was hired and she has begun building relationships with parents with very positive results. The Kelly School Advisory Board has been formed and the first meeting was held in late November.
- The first Parents as Partners for Reading Excellence workshop was held at Clark Elementary. The Clark School Advisory Board met for the first time in November.
CASH (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) - CASH seeks to help low-income families take advantage of state and federal income tax credits and build solid financial futures through savings, credit repair and financial literacy programs. SVPP's objective is to evolve the current loosely-organized Oregon Tax Credit Coalition into a self-sustaining organization with professional staff and strong community and government support.
Accomplishments:
- Executive Director hired and on-board as of August ‘05.
- A "Pilot" tax preparation session was held on November 5th, over 20 returns were filed for low-income families and over $25K in refunds were secured. Tax and financial counseling was also provided.
- One "super site" was secured for tax preparations in Q1 '06, several others sites are under discussion.
- Two grants were secured for over $100K and several others are pending for program funding.
If you have any questions or are interested in volunteering, please contact the CASH project leader Joel Kaplan.
PEP (Parental Engagement Program) - PEP is focused on creating a sustainable partnership model to improve elementary school performance at low-income schools through collaboration of businesses, community groups, parents and school leaders. SVPP's objective is to provide funding and volunteer power to build a strong community of engaged parents at the Kelly and Clark elementary schools of SE Portland.
Accomplishments:
- The PEP Coordinator at Kelly Elementary was hired and she has begun building relationships with parents with very positive results. The Kelly School Advisory Board has been formed and the first meeting was held in late November.
- The first Parents as Partners for Reading Excellence workshop was held at Clark Elementary. The Clark School Advisory Board met for the first time in November.
SVPP 2005 Investments
C.A.S.H. - "Creating Assets, Savings and Hope"
(From the September 2004 Newsletter)
This new SVPP project is a community partnership that promotes financial stability for low-income families in the Tri-County area by expanding the use of low-income tax credits. CASH will encourage eligible families to apply for low-income tax credits and provide free tax return preparation services. CASH will encourage the wise use of the tax credits by promoting financial literacy and savings programs.
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) provides tax credits to low-income working individuals and families. The credit is nominal to families without children and scales up to over $4,000 for families with two or more children. Approximately $75 million of EITC go unclaimed each year in Oregon, with about half that amount in the Tri-County area. That dollar amount does not include the Oregon earned income tax credit or child dependent care and other credits. EITC and other credits puts badly needed dollars into the pockets of hard-working, deserving working families.
CASH wants to make sure that every individual and family eligible for the EITC receives the credits to which they are entitled. CASH will do so with outreach programs geared to educate people on the availability of the EITC. These programs will target locations with concentrations of low-income families such as employers, churches and social service agencies. CASH will help coordinate free tax preparation services to be delivered at workplaces, churches and public locations such as banks. Finally, CASH will promote financial literacy and encourage savings for home ownership and education.
A major recent accomplishment was selecting CASH's first Executive Director, Jim Harper. Jim formerly served as the VP of Administration for Arras/Morrison Child and Family Services and previously established a school-to-career program for Multnomah County. These positions followed a successful career in HR and manufacturing management positions with Wacker Siltronic and Tektronix. CASH is an opportunity for Jim to continue giving to the community and working to improve the lives of low-income working families. CASH is fortunate to have someone with Jim's organization skills and passion for helping at-risk children.
CASH is perfectly suited for SVPP's focus on helping at-risk children. The overwhelming majority of the EITC goes to low-income working families with children. As CASH gets organized over the coming months, there will be numerous opportunities for partner volunteer participation, including:
• Recruiting employers, churches and social services organizations to help serve as distribution channels for CASH's projects
• Coordinating recruiting and training tax preparers
• Coordinating tax preparation events
• Working with civic leaders - both elected officials and staff
• Development work to raise funds for CASH's operations
If you have an interest in joining the SVPP team supporting CASH, please contact the CASH project leader, Joel Kaplan, at 503.221.1287 or email Joel Kaplan.
PEP - "Parental Engagement Program"
This exciting program gives SVPP the opportunity to get directly involved with public schools by forming partnerships with two Portland elementary schools: Clark and Kelly Elementary Schools. The program will focus on building stronger parental involvement in these schools.
About the schools: Both Clark and Kelly Elementary are Title 1 Schools located in SE Portland. A significant majority of the students at each school qualify for free lunch and breakfast. Both also have a significant (over 35%) minority population, spread amongst many different immigrant groups. Both are headed by terrific leaders, Christine Anderud (Clark) and John Horn (Kelly), both of them are very motivated to improve student performance and reduce the achievement gap. Clark Elementary was recently awarded a Blazer award by Portland Schools Foundation for the second year in a row in recognition of their school improvement efforts. Kelly Elementary is a SUN school and John has already marshaled a number of funding sources and partnerships to build stronger community support.
About the partnership with SVPP: A lot of research supports the fact that kids' achievement is heavily correlated with parental engagement and involvement in their child's education. But high poverty schools struggle to find ways to create strong parent communities, for many reasons.
SVPP's goal is to provide funding and volunteer power to help build a strong community of engaged parents at each school. Another SVPP goal is to define a model for community building that can be replicated and sustained across a large number of schools. The specific elements of the program include:
• Creation of a School Advisory Council at each school comprised of the principal, teachers, parents, and community members such as SVPP. The Advisory Council will work with the principal on strategies to build community partnerships to facilitate school improvement. The focus is also on building a core group of committed parents who gradually can form the basis of an active PTA and Site Council at each school.
• Sponsorship and coordination of a range of outreach activities and events to draw parents into the school.
Progress to date: Now that the 2005-2006 school year is about to begin, the PEP team has had meetings with each school to start planning the PEP-related activities and identifying volunteer opportunities for SVPP partners. Kelly has hired a dedicated coordinator which will be managing PEP and providing focus for the program. At Clark, the PEP activities will be managed with existing resources.
Volunteer opportunities:
1 - School Advisory Council: PEP needs two SVPP partners to sit on the School Advisory Board for each school. This will involve a monthly meeting with the principal, relevant staff and a small group of parents. Time commitment will be roughly 3-4 hours per month including meeting time. The role of SVPP on the School Advisory Board will be to act as an objective outside voice providing input to the creation of a school improvement plan, and possibly assisting in identifying potential sources of revenue or support from the community and helping with grant writing activities. SVPP's role is primarily to provide the principals with sound judgment, thoughtful advice, knowledge of the business community and a network to possible other partnerships. This will be a very rewarding volunteer experience for someone who is interested in establishing a meaningful relationship with a school community.
2 - Support of specific school events: Throughout the year each school will be organizing various events for parents and families in their school community. PEP will be looking for volunteers on an as-needed basis to support these events. This will require 2-3 hours on a one-off basis and will likely involve such activities as help in designing marketing materials for the event, staffing the door, administrative support, assisting with literacy events for the children of parents attending the event, etc. PEP would like to create a list of interested SVPP partners who can be called upon on an infrequent basis to help with these events.
3 - SMART program: Many SVPP partners have been involved in the SMART program as volunteer readers in the past. One way to support your investment in these schools is to request Kelly or Clark Elementary as your SMART school this year. This will provide partners a chance to interact directly with kids and teachers in the schools we supported by PEP. PEP encourages partners who are already or are interested in becoming SMART volunteers to get in touch with the SMART organization in the next month and request to volunteer at these two schools this year.
The PEP team will be reaching out to a subset of partners over the next weeks who have already indicated some interest. But there are still lots of spots to fill, so please get in touch if you are interested in getting more involved. The School Advisory Boards will be kicking off in early September so the goal is to get the SVPP advisors named within the next month.
About the schools: Both Clark and Kelly Elementary are Title 1 Schools located in SE Portland. A significant majority of the students at each school qualify for free lunch and breakfast. Both also have a significant (over 35%) minority population, spread amongst many different immigrant groups. Both are headed by terrific leaders, Christine Anderud (Clark) and John Horn (Kelly), both of them are very motivated to improve student performance and reduce the achievement gap. Clark Elementary was recently awarded a Blazer award by Portland Schools Foundation for the second year in a row in recognition of their school improvement efforts. Kelly Elementary is a SUN school and John has already marshaled a number of funding sources and partnerships to build stronger community support.
About the partnership with SVPP: A lot of research supports the fact that kids' achievement is heavily correlated with parental engagement and involvement in their child's education. But high poverty schools struggle to find ways to create strong parent communities, for many reasons.
SVPP's goal is to provide funding and volunteer power to help build a strong community of engaged parents at each school. Another SVPP goal is to define a model for community building that can be replicated and sustained across a large number of schools. The specific elements of the program include:
• Creation of a School Advisory Council at each school comprised of the principal, teachers, parents, and community members such as SVPP. The Advisory Council will work with the principal on strategies to build community partnerships to facilitate school improvement. The focus is also on building a core group of committed parents who gradually can form the basis of an active PTA and Site Council at each school.
• Sponsorship and coordination of a range of outreach activities and events to draw parents into the school.
Progress to date: Now that the 2005-2006 school year is about to begin, the PEP team has had meetings with each school to start planning the PEP-related activities and identifying volunteer opportunities for SVPP partners. Kelly has hired a dedicated coordinator which will be managing PEP and providing focus for the program. At Clark, the PEP activities will be managed with existing resources.
Volunteer opportunities:
1 - School Advisory Council: PEP needs two SVPP partners to sit on the School Advisory Board for each school. This will involve a monthly meeting with the principal, relevant staff and a small group of parents. Time commitment will be roughly 3-4 hours per month including meeting time. The role of SVPP on the School Advisory Board will be to act as an objective outside voice providing input to the creation of a school improvement plan, and possibly assisting in identifying potential sources of revenue or support from the community and helping with grant writing activities. SVPP's role is primarily to provide the principals with sound judgment, thoughtful advice, knowledge of the business community and a network to possible other partnerships. This will be a very rewarding volunteer experience for someone who is interested in establishing a meaningful relationship with a school community.
2 - Support of specific school events: Throughout the year each school will be organizing various events for parents and families in their school community. PEP will be looking for volunteers on an as-needed basis to support these events. This will require 2-3 hours on a one-off basis and will likely involve such activities as help in designing marketing materials for the event, staffing the door, administrative support, assisting with literacy events for the children of parents attending the event, etc. PEP would like to create a list of interested SVPP partners who can be called upon on an infrequent basis to help with these events.
3 - SMART program: Many SVPP partners have been involved in the SMART program as volunteer readers in the past. One way to support your investment in these schools is to request Kelly or Clark Elementary as your SMART school this year. This will provide partners a chance to interact directly with kids and teachers in the schools we supported by PEP. PEP encourages partners who are already or are interested in becoming SMART volunteers to get in touch with the SMART organization in the next month and request to volunteer at these two schools this year.
The PEP team will be reaching out to a subset of partners over the next weeks who have already indicated some interest. But there are still lots of spots to fill, so please get in touch if you are interested in getting more involved. The School Advisory Boards will be kicking off in early September so the goal is to get the SVPP advisors named within the next month.
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