Become a mentor!

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT MENTOR APPLICATION ONLINE

Mentor Job Description

The Global Potential Mentoring Program further empowers youth in our community to make positive life choices that enable them to maximize their potential.

The mentoring program works with adult volunteers who commit to supporting and guiding a GP youth throughout the entire GP program. By becoming part of the social network of adults and community members who care about the youth, the mentor helps the youth develop and reach positive academic, career, and personal goals.

Mentor Role
 Take the lead in supporting a young person through an ongoing, one-to-one relationship
 Serve as a positive role model and friend
 Build the relationship by planning and participating in activities together
 Strive for mutual respect
 Build self-esteem and motivation
 Help set goals and work toward accomplishing them
 Support your mentee in staying in touch with other GP youth and with their host family and the community abroad
 Support the GP youth in meeting their fundraising requirements with GP

Time Commitment
 Make a one-year and a half commitment if possible.
 Be in touch with your mentee WEEKLY, through email/text/phone/FB, minimum 15 minutes of contact. Use this time to Check-in with your mentee re: School, Personal Life, GP Phase 1, 2, or 3 Requirements.
 Meet with your mentee face to face at least once monthly
 Attend at least one GP meeting per semester with your mentee, and also GP community service events and mentor social events.
 Check in once per semester with your mentee’s GP track leader (when they are in Phase 3) to see how they have been evolving on their track in their majors and minors
 Attend GP events, including fundraising, whenever possible
 Attend GP events, activities and fundraisers

Participation Requirements

 Complete the online application and screening process (see below)
 Attend mentor training sessions as prescribed (see below)
 Read and learn about GP online. Follow us on FB and Twitter.
 Be interested in working with young people
 Be willing to adhere to all program policies and procedures
 Report back if necessary, in a timely manner, to the GP team on anything relevant: make sure mentee knows that you might need to share some personal information if any red flags come up.
 Report back to the GP Coordinator about any red flags you might be concerned about (depression, risky sexual behavior, suicidal ideation).
 Fill out GoogleDoc (very quick) every time you have a significant interaction with your mentee (CLICK HERE)
 Blog about your experience as a mentor on GP’s blog, once/semester

Other requirements:
 Be dependable and consistent in meeting the time commitments
 Have a clean criminal history
 No use of illicit drugs
 No use of alcohol or controlled substances in an inappropriate manner
 Not currently in treatment for substance abuse and have a non-addictive period of at least five years
 Not currently in treatment for a mental disorder or hospitalized for such in the past three years

Qualities
 Willing listener
 Encouraging and supportive
 Patient and flexible
 Tolerant and respectful of individual differences
 Be willing to have fun and learn! Think of this as a mutually beneficial experience!

Benefits
 Personal fulfillment through contribution to the community and individuals
 Satisfaction in helping an amazing GP youth mature, progress, and achieve goals
 Training sessions and group activities
 Personal ongoing support, supervision to help the match succeed
 Mentee/mentor group activities, complimentary tickets to community events, participant recognition events

Application and Screening Process
 Figure out what YOU would like to get out of this experience as a mentor!, and fill out the Online application
 Personal interview
 Provide two personal references
 If Accepted, Attend the Mentor Training

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT MENTOR APPLICATION ONLINE

PLEASE CLICK HERE IF YOU ALREADY ARE A MENTOR AND NEED TO LOG YOUR MENTORSHIP HOURS

Summer Youth Facilitator

Updated May 20, 2011

Job Title: Summer Youth Facilitator
Job type: Internship
Job location: Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic/Haiti
Salary and benefits: Unpaid. Staff will have to pay for plane ticket and an additional $350 for homestay/food/insurance/coordination *Commitment hours: 10-15 hours per week; full time while on the 1.5 month trip
Job length: 4 Months
Start date – End date:
1) May 1-July 1st: Part-time hours, 5 hours/week helping with weekly workshops
2) July 1st – August 18th: Full-time hours. This is a 24/7 commitment during this time, staff are on-call at all times. However, staff work in teams of 4, and therefore can of course allocate time off accordingly.
3) August 18th-September 4th, Part-time hours, 5 hours a week

*Position reports to: Sarah Gogel, Co-Founder, Managing Director, Frank Cohn, Co-Founder, Executive Director, Peter Maugeri, Film Director, Director of operations

Supervising: 8 youth from Boston and New York in the field; might supervisor junior staff depending on qualifications

JOB SUMMARY

Global Potential seeks energetic youth worker to help us lead preparatory workshops for our youth team this May (at least one afternoon a week), and to help accompany and lead the youth team in a field placement this summer starting from July 5 to August 18 (either in Nicaragua, or the Dominican Republic and Haiti). We are especially interested in individuals that would be interested in staying involved after the summer, as well. Bi-lingual (Spanish or Haitian Creole) speakers with experience working and living in developing countries are especially encouraged to apply.

Overall responsibility:

Facilitate GP’s Summer Program by supporting the youth and guiding them through each stage of participation, both locally and internationally. The staff member will also help with curriculum, clinical work with youth, youth development, evaluation, and needs and impact assessments. They will be an integral part of the team and the daily life of the youth participants.

Duties and Responsibilities:
• Run training workshops, type up summaries of trainings, and send out to the team.
• Work closely with GP participants to and provide support for youths’ personal development through weekly individual and group advisory/evaluation meetings.
• Work together as team members and role models with youth on general infrastructure and social development projects in the community, existing projects and new ideas.
• Facilitate participatory dialogue between the community, the NGOs, the youth, and the GP team to ensure empowerment of the community and equal and respectful power dynamic
• Ensure a SAFE and EDUCATIONAL experience for all youth participants.
• Attend conferences, external meetings, or networking events as appropriate.
• Prepare minutes of the meetings and distribute among the staff.
• Work with partners IDDI, CEDESO, Peace Corps, World Vision, the local village Development Associations, the Municipal Government.

QUALIFICATIONS (Who we are looking for):

Skills and Knowledge

• Creation and management of groups, teaching and/or facilitating group discussions.
• Experience working with at-risk youth and communities
• Ability to be both a leader and compatriot to youth participants, an inspiration and a guide
• Experience living in challenging conditions, in rural areas internationally
• Adept interpersonal skills; strength in developing and maintaining relationships with youth, families, community members, GP staff, and partnering agencies
• Self-motivated and capable of working independently as well as with a team
Education: Appropriate fields include: Social Work, Education, Counseling Psychology, Anthropology, Film, Social Entrepreneurship (Business), Political Science. Other fields may be considered.
Language skills: At least a basic level of Spanish or Haitian Creole skills necessary. Fluency in any of these languages is a plus.
Other Work Requirements:
• To adhere to GP’s rules and procedures, including record-keeping requirements and maintaining confidentiality with all GP information and for GP’s participants.
• To meet time and duty commitments, or to provide adequate notice so that alternate arrangements can be made.

Conditions:

Global Potential covers all program-related expenses in the field, including housing. The only responsibility you have is to cover your airfare, room and board, which adds to approximately $950 (between plane ticket and housing/food/insurance). We work together to find the best solution for you if finding these funds are a challenge. In the past our staff have had consistent success with getting fellowships, grants, awards, or personal fundraising to easily cover these costs.
Since GP’s budget is limited to covering most of the expenses for the participants, we work with summer field staff to help find funding through school scholarships and other online opportunities. Social Work, Counseling Psychology or other technical supervision is available to qualified students. We are also willing to work with colleges to negotiate credit for your service.
For individuals with appropriate qualifications including a relevant graduate degree, in-country experience, language fluency, or significant experience leading youth volunteers internationally, these fees will be waived, and a stipend may be available.

How to apply
Interested candidates should send cover letter and resume to sarah@global-potential.org.

Indicate “Summer Youth Facilitator and Organizer” in the subject line.
For more information about Global Potential, please visit our website: http://www.global-potential.org/

Northeastern University Service-Learning or Volunteering!

In 2010, Global Potential formed a graduate student organization (GP NU) at Northeastern University with the mission to support Global Potential Boston in its mission to “provide urban youth from low-income communities with the skills and perspective that enable them to effect positive change in their lives, communities, and the global community, through engagement in leadership training, social entrepreneurship, international cultural exchange and service learning.”

For the purpose of supporting this mission, GP NU student group carries out the following activities:

1) Raise awareness about issues that are key to attaining GP’s mission (such as innovative solutions to poverty, empowering youth from urban marginalized neighborhoods, creating dialogue among racially and culturally diverse populations) through inviting speakers and holding conferences and other events on campus and in the wider Boston community.

2) Raise funds to ensure GP’s priority of making its program accessible to youth from low-income environments.

3) Pair up mentors from the NU community with the high school youth served by GP in order to provide an additional opportunity for both NU students and GP participants in terms of intercultural dialogue, understanding and learning.

4) Partner with relevant organizations on campus, in greater Boston, and internationally to coalesce efforts of solidarity and to mobilize efforts to study and replicate GP’s areas of Best Practices with youth and community development, locally and internationally.

If you are a Northeastern Student, you can sign up as a member to find out more about volunteer opportunities on involveNU by CLICKING HERE

GP also has accepted volunteers from NEU-approved service-learning courses. Please click here to read the biographies of service-learning students in 2010-2011.

March 18, 2010

GP Seeks Energetic Youth Worker Intern to Lead Boston Team in Boston and Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic this Summer 2010

• Interested in working with urban youth who are changing the world?•

• Want to spend a summer working with young people on service projects in solidarity with communities in Nicaragua or the Dominica Republic?•

• Come and join Global Potential’s newly forming Boston team!•

Since its founding in New York in 2007, Global Potential (GP) has provided life-transforming experiences with over 75 high-school age young people. These young adults, in turn, have facilitated great impacts in the international and local communities in which they serve.

Global Potential’s model is to partner with educators and urban schools in order to help young people:
• experience immersive and transformative projects
• increase confidence and leadership skills
• explore across boundaries and assumptions
• create concrete benefits for, and lifelong relationships with the international communities where they work
• identify and meet local community needs through the creation of social entrepreneurship projects.

These outcomes are facilitated locally and international over the course of a year and a half. To begin, they are engaged in 5 months of intensive workshops, leading up to a 1.5-month field placement in a rural village in the Dominican Republic or Nicaragua. They then receive 10 months of on-going support in defining and fulfilling next-step goals in education, job skills, and social engagement and entrepreneurship. Young people work in solidarity with each other and their host communities in order to create innovative solutions to poverty and to generate opportunities for intercultural exchange.

Here, in our first year in Boston, Global Potential (GP) has partnered with educators from Health Careers Academy (HcA), and a pioneering group of 12 young people (www.global-potential.org/summer-10). These young people and teachers are heading for a 6-week long service-learning and intercultural exchange project in Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic this summer. We are looking for a phenomenal youth worker to help us lead preparatory workshops for our youth team this April and May (one afternoon a week), and to help accompany and lead the youth team in a field placement this summer (either in Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic). We are especially interested in a youth worker that would be interested in staying involved after the summer, as well. Bi-lingual (Spanish-English) speaking youth workers with experience working and living in developing countries are especially encouraged to apply.

To be considered for this position, please send an email noting relevant experience and a copy of your resume to Sarah Gogel, Co-Founder and Managing Director: sarah@global-potential.org

Global Potential covers all program-related expenses in the field. The only responsibility you have is to cover your airfare, room and board, which adds to approximately $750. We work together to find the best solution for you if finding these funds are a challenge. Since GP’s budget is limited to covering most of the expenses for the participants, we work with summer field staff to help find funding through school scholarships and other online opportunities. Social work supervision hours are available. We are also willing to work with colleges to negotiate credit for your service.

For more information, please feel free to visit our website: http://www.global-potential.org/

Thank you for your interest in Global Potential’s Youth Worker position.

Updated: March 18, 2010