Program Feedback Turns into Action

In the last several months the Cabrini Connections' staff has received program feedback in a variety of ways. We have received feedback from our surveys from volunteers, students, and parents, we have received feedback during our Volunteer Appreciation Ice Cream Social event, from emails, and from conversations during and after several program events. And what have we done with this feedback you may ask. We have turned the feedback into action in an attempt to better the Cabrini Connections' program!!!

Feedback: "Is there a way to provide more resources for mentors and mentees during tutoring sessions?:

Cabrini Connections action:

-Several folders with worksheets full of activities have been put together and placed in the program's work area to provide both mentors and mentees with a wide variety of options on tutoring nights

-An Activity catalog (over 100) has been put together and added in the form of a resource for mentors and mentees. This catalog is not only full of activities, but the activities are broken down by subject in order to make it easy for mentors and mentees to locate the most appropriate activity.

-BrainWare, which is an animated brain enhancement and learning game has been added to our computer lab this summer, and we currently have 3 students taking part in this experience. The students are required to 'play' the game atleast 3 hours a week, and studies show that the skills acquired for participating in this activity will lead to higher test scores

-The 'game room' has also been updated. Over 12 new fun and engaging board and electronic games...and Uno cards have been added to the game room with a sign in/out sheet to ensure the longevity of the materials.

-And there will be more and more resources available for all mentors and mentees in the upcoming weeks!

Feedback: "Will more trainings be made available to assist current mentors and new mentors to the program?"

Cabrini Connections' action:

-All throughout the summer the Administrative Coordinator has been hosting Open Interview/Informational trainings to not only educate and gain interest of prospective volunteers and veteran volunteers, but also to provide any and all in attendance with knowledge of and location of helpful resources, tips on how to become even better mentors, and further knowledge of program procedures

-3 Orientation opportunities have been scheduled for mentors before the first day of tutoring

-A Tutor Training Conference has been scheduled for ALL current, new, and/or prospective volunteers/mentors/tutors on Sept. 27, 2008

-Staff and several volunteers have began talks of offering topic specific trainings/discussions if not monthly then quarterly to provide all in attendance with the knowledge needed to become successful mentors.

Feedback: "It would be a good idea for mentors to have the opportunity to meet with the students parents in an effort to make it easier to communicate with parents about the students throughout the year."

Cabrini Connections' action:

-We are putting together a Welcome-Back Brunch for all volunteers, students, and parents on Sept. 6th, 2008 in an effort to not only kick off the start of school and the start of the '08-'09 tutor/mentor program, but to provide an opportunity for all volunteers to interact with the parents and students BEFORE tutoring starts and vice versa.

-We also have been working hard at encouraging interactions between mentors, mentees, and parents during the summer so that when tutoring sessions do begin everybody is already familiar with each other.

Feedback: "Is it possible to post the rules and expectations of the program so that both mentors and mentees have a visual.

Cabrini Connections' action:

-We not only updated the program rules and expectations, but we posted them throughout the program (walls, bulletin board, and pillars) and we also are providing every volunteer and student with their own individual copy.

Feedback: "Is there a way to have a buddy system for new volunteers so that we have a 'go-to' person, among the mentors, for questions?"

Cabrini Connections' action:

-We have been providing new volunteers and mentors with the email information of volunteers who can assist them with any and all questions that they may have.

-We have extended invites to new volunteers to events and socials to provide the opportunity for new mentors to meet veteran volunteers and begin building a bond.

-We will hopefully be having name tags for all mentors and mentees on tutoring nights so that everybody knows everybody by name.

-We have also upgraded our tutoring session structure by allowing mentors and mentees to select either Wednesday or Thursday to meet (Wed. used to be for high school students/Thurs. used to be for middle school students) so that the older students and veteran volunteers could also be utilized as leaders and teachers to the new/younger students and the new volunteers.

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Here are just a few examples of how we have taken the various feedback about ways in which we could better the Cabrini Connections' program and turned that feedback into action. Hopefully mentors, mentees, and parents will not only take advantage of these modifications and enhancements, but will continue to provide helpful feedback as we strive to provide the best tutor/mentor program that we can!

Moving in the Right Direction...Together!

Cabrini Connections' newest mentor and mentee pair have a long history together. As of August 7, 2008 Marcus Burks has become an official Cabrini Connections' mentee. Marcus has been around the program and attended several of the Cabrini Connections' events over the years as a guest of several of his cousins who have been members of the program for several years. During this summer Marcus has attended the Edgewood College events (3-day event provided by members of Edgewood College in WI) and shortly after those events Marcus decided that it was time to join the program officially.

Marcus comes to the Cabrini Connections' program from the Cabrini Green Tutoring Program and has brought a familiar face with him. Joe Fridlin was not only Marcus' mentor in the Cabrini Green Tutoring Program and is joining Marcus at Cabrini Connections, but Joe is not new to the program. Joe Fridlin was a Cabrini Connections mentor several years ago with another student, and stated that he was glad to be back at Cabrini Connections and continuing to assist Marcus with reaching his goals. And one of the many goals that Marcus Burks has is to attend and graduate from Northwestern University.

This is an example of not only how mentors and mentees build a bond and a relationship through their interactions with each other, but this is an example of how both mentors and mentees become attached to the Cabrini Connections' program! Hopefully more and more potential mentors and mentees will join the program begin to move in the right direction....together!

Cabrini Connections' is going 'Clubbing'

The Cabrini Connections' program goes beyond the standard of matching each mentor and mentee together when it comes to providing the youth with more and more resources here in the program. Cabrini Connections' offers the students the opportunity to participate in fun and engaging clubs throughout the year. There has been a variety of clubs offered throughout the years; Art Club, Technology Club, Writing Club, IYP(Video Club), Music Club, a Youth Leadership Club, and there was also a Parent Club offered for the parents of the students who participated in the Cabrini Connections' program. These clubs not only give the opportunity to explore and learn new and exciting skills, but these clubs also provide the volunteers who lead these clubs the opportunity to share their talents, expertise', and experiences with an engaged audience.

Currently the Cabrini Connections' program is offering an Art Club, a new and improved Technology Club, and the Writing Club will resume in the fall. We are currently looking to revitalize the IYP Club(Video Club) in an effort to teach our youth various journalism, broadcasting, filming, and film editing skills so they too can continue to 'tell the Cabrini Connections' story through their work. So if you or anybody you know have expertise in the wonderful world of video come and join the 'Club!"

Listed below are a few quotes from the Writing Club coordinator (Jen King) and the Tech Club coordinators (Alice Toth and Steve Pawlik) as they prepare for another fun and exciting year of 'Clubbing....'

"The writing club will be doing much of the same as last year. We will continue to provide opportunity for the participants to express themselves in various forms of writing emphasizing and encouraging the creative writing skills. We will be exposing the participants to new forms of writing while hopefully showing them the power of words and the impact they have. Each week we will have a new activity which is recorded in each of their journals. The journals are turned in at the end of each class and the participants are encouraged to participate in the activity or free write."

-Jen King

"Tech Club is very excited about its program for the Fall '08 session. We'll be delving into digital photography and learning some tips of the trade on what makes a good photograph -- you'll learn that some very simple techniques that can have a big impact. But why stop there? Now that you have the perfectly composed photo, we'll move onto learning a bunch of ways you can digitally alter your photos; such as applying filters so it looks like a sketch, removing the ugly billboard from the background, adding in a few more clouds -- the sky's the limit (so to speak). For more details, check out our blog post at:" http://cabrinitechclub.blogspot.com/2008/07/fall-session-preview.html

Alice Toth and Steve Pawlik